What's new
What's new

Getting Started

Ritz

Plastic
Joined
Feb 13, 2018
Quick background...my intro to machining anything was as a youngster working at the ancestral family business (a car repair and tuning shop since the 30's). So I have some experience in doing things like machining brake discs/drums and fabricating parts out of aluminum on a crude mill. Sometimes a part just wasn't available and you had to improvise. I've done some basic machining recently with a cheapo HarborFreight mill and some jigs to finish off some parts for various gunsmithing projects (another interest of mine along with hotrodding cars and woodworking).

So I've got this cheap Sieg/HF mill and some basic tooling and I'd like some advice on how to get better at this. I've thought of joining a local "maker coop". If you had an eager recruit today and could offer some advice on where to start if they were interested in doing CNC projects in materials like aluminum and wood, what advice would you give them? I've got a good job and a fair amount of space to work with and am not particularly budget constrained. Just looking to develop good habits and improve my understanding. I'm a computer guy so CNC tools have me intrigued. You mean I could just write some code and bang out cool stuff? Awesome!

Where's the best place to start?

Best,
 
Where in Virginia are you? Check your local community colleges. Not all have machining departments, so also check neighboring communities...

I spent most of 2014-2016 taking machining classes at DeAnza community college (Cupertino, CA). Found that to be a very effective way to get some hands on time (on industrial quality machines) and good instruction on the basics. A makerspace or coop will likely limit you to more hobby / home shop grade machines like your Sieg and possibly up to something like a Tormach. I've since bought a "real" machine (Okuma M560), but wouldn't have known enough to do so without the community college education...

If in Northern Virginia, you should take a peek at Nova Labs (Reston, VA). They are a great coop makerspace and have various CNC equipment and do some training...
Nova Labs | Rediscover the joy of making things.
 
Not comprehensive, but a couple easily available things that helped me a lot coming from a similar starting point:

  • Go through Sandvik's free online training courses. They are a tool manufacturer but the info is not specific to their tools and will give you good foundational knowledge about machining. There is an actual course with assessment quizzes here or you can browse a more encyclopedic format here.

  • Get Fusion360 (free for non-commercial use) and learn it as an introduction to CAD/CAM software. There are many different software packages in use but Fusion has the best capability/price ratio for a beginner. Fundamental concepts will transfer to Solidworks, mastercam, or whatever software you move on to (IF you move on, lots of people do great with Fusion alone- I use it alongside Solidworks for certain things). Learning CAD/CAM will dramatically increase your productivity and capability compared to hand-coding, although knowing G-Code is also necessary.

FYI discussion of mini-mills or other hobby/low-end machines is forbidden here, try the "see and see zone" forum for specific info on that machine. But you are welcome to read and ask questions here as long as you keep away from discussing home-shop/hobby type equipment. PM has been a great learning resource for me.
 
My bad on missing the ban on hobby tools. I'm certainly up for buying professional grade machinery and tools. Just trying to limit the wife blast radius in terms of space requirements and things that need a crane to move around. :)

Best,
 








 
Back
Top