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The first and last Haas I'll ever buy
Four spindles?! I get that mill spindles need rebuilding now and then but rarely hear of lathe spindles really needing anything unless the machine has a big crash, was there a specific recurring issue with them? I love my little Haas OL-1 and I am keeping an eye out for a used Mini Mill at the...- Rob L
- Post #51
- Forum: Shop Management and Owner Issues
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Knife making - CNC options?
What I'd call 'Novelty' or 'Luxury collectors' knives are one of the many things where I wonder where they all go and how stable the market really is, nothing against people doing it but if it was me I sure as hell wouldn't want to saddle myself with much if any debt on machinery and try to run...- Rob L
- Post #11
- Forum: CNC Machining
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Hardinge Collet Closer
Is it a Varigrip unit? I have one of those and I have a full set of seals ready for a potential rebuild, I didn't get them through Hardinge though, I found someone else who had rebuilt one and had listed all the sizes and quantities, think I spent sub £30 sourcing them all. In terms of full...- Rob L
- Post #8
- Forum: CNC Machining
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Hardinge Collet Closer
What machine is it on? A search of that code doesn't give many links apart from a collet closer kit on the Hardinge site at a whopping $17,563.00!- Rob L
- Post #2
- Forum: CNC Machining
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Blue Pipe Airline Fitting Systems is one better than another?
I have a mix of Prevost fittings, mainly the wall mounted outlets/manifolds and John Guest pipe (made in the UK, probably not available where you are) and I really like the Prevost stuff, it's really neat, well designed, well made and the bits I have were cheaper than similar products from other... -
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Small shop material storage?
At the end of 2019/start of 2020 (can't quite remember) I bought enough alu bar to last just shy of 2 years of production of my own products, this was just before the UK officially left the EU and since the aluminium I use comes from Italy, I had the cash for it and the space it didn't seem like...- Rob L
- Post #12
- Forum: Material Handling and Rigging
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Small shop material storage?
I have more spare roof height than I do floor space so I have a sturdy crate a small low noise compressor came in filled with large diameter poster tubes that I stack bars 1m - 3m long in vertically. It's a bit awkward and not ideal however it was essentially free and allows me to keep different...- Rob L
- Post #6
- Forum: Material Handling and Rigging
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A suggestion for dealing with hobby machinist posts
I didn't start as a hobby shop as such but I did start to learn with Chinese hobby grade machines. They taught me a valuable lesson, when it comes to iron more is more and cheap used 'industrial' machines beat the socks off new small import machines. Having been there done that I have respect... -
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Help OD threads on CNC lathe - rough first couple threads
I do M16x1 a lot and I run 2000rpm and start the threading 3mm away from where the threaded section actually starts. I also don't cut my start chamfer or relief cuts until I've done the threading, always find the start and end can be a bit ratty as mentioned above so doing those after just...- Rob L
- Post #7
- Forum: CNC Machining
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Anyone ever watch these "machinists"?
That right there is the definition of a hack job. They have nicer looking lathes than the ones seen in the other videos for sure, question is are they a machine shop or a basic mechanical repair shop that has a lot of metal working machines? There must be actual production shops there that... -
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Anyone ever watch these "machinists"?
You'd think that is the obvious answer but I've seen younger people straight up sheer bolts off using torque wrenches because they either don't know how to set it, what setting it needs to be or simply forget to even check the torque it's set to. It also doesn't solve the real issue that is a... -
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Anyone ever watch these "machinists"?
One of the comments I see most often on those videos is "Why don't they just get a CNC?" (as if a CNC is a definitive machine) but in the background of one video was a Colchester Tornado turning centre, looked beat up, I guess they ran it into the ground then realised Fanuc controls can't be... -
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Tips for indicating drills in lathe turret?
Interesting idea, are you using a proper floating reamer holder or will it work with floating tapping holders too (the type that can draw out slightly)? One of my lathes (Emco Turn 325) is pretty limited on turret space so a floating reamer holder would most likely be far too big but I do have...- Rob L
- Post #23
- Forum: CNC Machining
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Doesnt it make your cringe when an operator does this
Nope, I end up doing that on my Haas because it's easier than using the jog keys. Meanwhile in antiquated Fanuc world the jog keys are far simpler and give a nice smooth constant movement at a constant speed and the MPG only gets used for the last fine movement, plus I can move X and Z at the...- Rob L
- Post #6
- Forum: CNC Machining
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BEST METHOD for cleaning coolant-machined Al parts for blasting and anodization??
I do the same although I have started running parts through deionised water in a heated ultrasonic cleaner just before sending them for anodising, mainly to get any gunk out of threads. I haven't noticed any real difference in the quality of the anodising but it can only help if they are cleaner...- Rob L
- Post #13
- Forum: CNC Machining
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Which lathe to buy? New Doosan vs used Haas??
I think the solution is to get a used machine with a control many people complain about. A control with excellent long term parts support. One all the new Fusion 360 & Pathpilot boys would rather not have even if it was the last machine on earth. One that typically has a lower value on the...- Rob L
- Post #10
- Forum: CNC Machining
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New Thread Calculator
The old Maryland Metrics is a go to for quick reference for me, but it's the same in various workshop books that I have, I have never seen anything other than 0.61343 x pitch referenced anywhere.- Rob L
- Post #16
- Forum: CNC Machining
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New Thread Calculator
All my charts say 0.61343 for metric external threads and that is what I've been using for years to work them out. I've just tried the special option for an M14x1 external and it shows the thread depth as 0.541 which would be fine if it was actually an internal thread, the pitch diameter is...- Rob L
- Post #14
- Forum: CNC Machining
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Own products
I make my own products and sell them. Imo your approach is completely wrong, if you are on a forum asking for ideas then making your own products to sell isn't for you. If you make your own products they should be related to something you are interested in or to solve a problem you've come...- Rob L
- Post #16
- Forum: Shop Management and Owner Issues
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Advice needed on buying a new or used Tormach CNC Mill
I use an old Dell laptop that I got for free, presumably because half of the keyboard doesn't work, no matter as I already have a keyboard and mouse I can plug in if I need to edit a program, prior to that I was using an old desktop PC that I got for school work back in 2003, both running NC...- Rob L
- Post #55
- Forum: CNC Machining