SpudFiles

I didn't know where else to post this, so please correct me if I am wrong.

I am going to buy a lathe this summer (read, in a month or two) and was planning on using it to make some sweat stuff. Unfortunately it will cost a bit more than an arm and a leg and I was looking for ways to make up for the huge money loss.

Long story short, I was wondering how interested you guys would be in having work done on a lathe cheaply.

We're looking at a cost for the metal, the shipping and maybe a small hourly fee (something low, close to minimum wage?).

work would be done to within .005" +/- and maximum working area of about 7" in diameter and 10" long.

so let's here it, would you guys like a cheap alternate to those pricey machine shop fee's? or is it not worth the effort.

Possibly. Where are you located and what would you charge?

starman wrote:Possibly. Where are you located and what would you charge?

Ontario, Canada. Lower part, closer to the states.
I'm not sure on the cost yet, It would probably change from piece to piece. I'm thinking maybe an hourly fee?

well its nice to have a lathe man offering his services, i would love to have some stuff turned but i could not justify the shipping costs piece by piece unless i had alot of items that needs work. what size of late are u getting. i been wanting the harbor freight 7 x 10, they run about $350 unless they went up recently.

Spuddin wrote:well its nice to have a lathe man offering his services, i would love to have some stuff turned but i could not justify the shipping costs piece by piece unless i had alot of items that needs work. what size of late are u getting. i been wanting the harbor freight 7 x 10, they run about $350 unless they went up recently.

Grizzly 7"x12" - a bit more expensive at around $600, but much more reliable (a classic if you will).

I would likely be working with aluminum so the weight wouldn't be too much. Although you're right, piece by piece might be a fair amount.
Maybe if someone needed pieces for a whole gun?

something else u might find interesting is casting your own aluminum parts. with a lathe u could make just about anything.

Spuddin wrote:something else u might find interesting is casting your own aluminum parts. with a lathe u could make just about anything.

Funny you mention it, I was interested in that less than a month ago, got my friend interested too, so that might not be a far off idea!

I would be interested too, Canada ftw.

Philbob1 wrote:I would be interested too, Canada ftw.

rock on man!

SteelSovereignty wrote:...maximum working area of about 7" in diameter and 10" long.

Although you could theoretically turn something 7" in diameter on a 7x12, it isn't very practical to do work with anything that big because:
o You would have to figure out a way to bolt the work to the faceplate rather than using a chuck (unless you could grip the part from the inside). I've never tried bolting a part to the faceplate, but I would expect that it would be a PITA.
o The part can't clear the carriage so you are very limited how far in you can work on the piece.
o The tool post can't go out that far so you would have to be very creative in your method of attaching a cutting tool.

Without modification to your lathe and with a 4" chuck I would say the biggest practical diameter for a workpiece is 4.5". Even then it takes some special accommodations. The diameter that you can work easily with would be more around 3" once you have a bigger chuck than the one included with the lathe.

Just thought I would let you know so you don't regret telling someone you could make them a big diameter part before actually trying it.

Too bad I live on the other side of the ocean
I would love to get stuff machined.

clide wrote:

SteelSovereignty wrote: Just thought I would let you know so you don't regret telling someone you could make them a big diameter part before actually trying it.

thanks for the thought mate, You make a good point.
Face-plating isn't too hard however, as long as you leave room for cut-off, I figure working area is probably closer to 5"/5.5"

@ psycix:
yeah, I'm assuming that this will be the biggest problem I'd run into.

To be honest, after all of the shipping fees and such, it's just about worth it to buy your own lathe. I've just left school in the Uk so I use/used their lathes and mills, this way it was free.
But for people who don't have that kind of access, it's just as worthwhile saving some money and buying your own.

Maybe you could contract work for Solar on the Eclipse parts?
Or someone/thing similar.
Then you'd also get experience and be running an actual business/profession. 8)

EDIT:If I ever come up with a design to go commercial,and needed machinist services, a fellow SpudFilian would be the first I'd try out.

So you never know. That's why I'm thinking you could post something in classified here once you're ready to take orders in. Couldn't hurt. 8)