Machining

1fastredsc · 09-08-2005, 08:28 AM

How do you learn the trade of machining? Do you have to work at a shop and have it taught to you, are there classes to take?
My curiousity spawned during my intro to product development class. They are teaching us very basic machine skills, but nothing fancy. I like it, and want to learn more, hence my curiousity.

Joeaksa · 09-08-2005, 08:32 AM

I learned from various people as a young pup, then took several classes in school. There is nothing like taking a solid piece of metal and making a tool or part out of it.

Still have a small lathe in the garage and while its not needed that often, when it is it makes a big difference.

JoeA

legion · 09-08-2005, 09:26 AM

One of my roommates in college majored in machining (can't remember the real name of the major, but that's what it was). He'd come home from class from time to time with meat tenderizer that he'd machined from billet aluminum or some kind of bracket.

RickM · RickM's Garage

I did research, searced the web, talked to lots of people and went out and bought the machinery. A Clausing 8530 Mill and 6308 Lathe. You're best off finding a retired machinist or business where you can get all the toolojg along with the machine.

Luckily I have a friend who was a master machinest many years ago. Add to that the advice given here and the many books and sites and you have a good starting point.

That said, I'm still at the bottom of the ladder skillwise.

RickM · RickM's Garage

BTW, here's a nice Pelican like site for the hobby/industry: http://www.practicalmachinist.com/cgi-bin/ubbcgi/ultimatebb.cgi

5axis · 09-08-2005, 03:05 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by 1fastredsc
How do you learn the trade of machining? Do you have to work at a shop and have it taught to you, are there classes to take?
.

A bit of both.. Many, many tricks to make things easier and quicker are picked up by working with the oldtimers. Lots of CAD CAM stuff to learn too. Whitling down a 40,000 block of steel is interesting, fun, and scary. DONT EFFF IT UP says the boss

jim72911t · 09-08-2005, 05:37 PM

Sounds like you are already taking a class, so that's a good start. Does the school you're attending offer a class in basic machining? If so, jump on it, and take advantage of the Labs.

After that, it really just takes time. Start slow, be careful, and learn as you go. There are some simple projects you can start with; I made a nifty dead blow hammer about ten years ago that I still use to this day, and the project required me to do things with both a mill and a lathe.

I've been doing it for a dozen or so years. I literally started by drilling holes (thousands of them

) and have worked my way up from there. Today, I am a production manager at a small CNC shop that has three mills and two lathes, as well as the manual support equipment.

What do I do for fun when I get sick of CAD modeling, NC programming, writing quotes, etc?

I go out into the shop and machine me somthin' out of metal!

Takes the edge off, ya know?

Jim

2.7RACER · 09-08-2005, 08:00 PM

I was fortunate to go to high school in Portland, Oregon. At Benson Tech we had a fully equipped machine shop, automotive shop, electrical shop, foundry, aviation shop, print shop, pattern making shop, radio station, sheet metal shop, carpentry shop and welding shop. You could major in any of the above or go for a college prep loaded with math and sciences.
Benson graduated 18 year olds trained and ready to go. Alas that was 1959. It was boys only then. I haven't kept up with what is going on there today.
I'll say this, a graduate from Benson was in demand. At night the school was filled with 18 to 25 year old students that went to the typical high schools in town and couldn't support themselves after graduation.
What I learned at Benson helped me through out life.

Willem Fick · 09-09-2005, 12:17 AM

Some folks laughed at my choice to opt for machineshop training at school. Right now I the one doing the laughing - probably the most rewarding thing you can do is to turn a block of metal into something useful!

kycarguy 935 · 09-09-2005, 03:16 AM

Im enrolled in college right now learning CNC and CAD programming and have another class in basic machine shop training. I love it.

If you looking to do it full time as a career I know my instructors phone rings everyday from businesses looking for people to fill their open positions.

1fastredsc · 09-09-2005, 11:54 AM

Well, CAD I know very well, with ProE anyway, CAM i'm supposed to be learning in the next few weeks on ProE. CNC i know nothing about. Oh, and i got to use the lathe yesterday, they have some brand new really nice lathes at nmsu machining lab. They purchased 5 of them, full digital readouts on the x and z axis. Next week is milling. Btw, our project is a slot car drag racer. So i was making wheels and axles last class. Got my axles within .005 of spec

.
On a quick related note, but off topic. I need to widen out the opening of a stainless steel exhaust flange. They won't allow me use of the machining lab for personal use (can't use there milling machine to do it). I have a grinder, dremel, and a rotary air tool. What should i use? And what kind of bit (stainless is hard stuff)?

BGCarrera32 · 09-09-2005, 12:23 PM

If you absolutely are bored enough to sit for a few hours with a dremel, you'll need a carbide cutting bit. Gotta cut something hard with something harder...

Is the opening round? Sneak it on to one of their lathes and chuck it up with a 4 jaw chuck and bore out the opening...

5axis · 09-10-2005, 07:55 AM

We just did this for someone. Pretty cool desktop toy

on-ramp · 09-10-2005, 07:56 AM

that's awsome, how do i get one? and can I get it in Titanium?

5axis · 09-10-2005, 06:07 PM

Quote:

Originally posted by on-ramp
that's awsome, how do i get one? and can I get it in Titanium?

send me your cc # and we will get right on it.

I imagine Ti will get a bit spendy.. in al it was about 1/2 of a decent SC.

red-beard · red-beard's Garage

Engineering Technology is a 4 yr Bach degree which focus on the machining, making, welding, etc. It would be a good choice for someone looking to run a shop and end up with some skill in the process. It's hands on engineering without all of the math and calculus

5axis · 09-10-2005, 09:30 PM

what-a-i know I did this to buy a econ skin.
One of the best lead moldmakers I ever worked for was formerly a CPA.
If you have the gift, you have the gift. The tech behind it has not really changed that much. A tool still flexes and deflects in certain ways, we just do it faster with fancier tools.
It's not a bad biz, but I hesitate to recomend it.

mmmmm scotchyyyyyy make it all better please!

jim72911t · 09-10-2005, 09:46 PM

5axis, I see that you get to have all the fun! I've been working with 2-1/2 axis the whole time I've been programming/machining. Does this mean you are twice as good as me?

There are ways, however, to "trick" the machine/software into doing some pretty cool stuff. Just takes a bunch more time and a little enginuity.

BTW, the boss man just asked me on Friday if I'd be interested in getting a mill with a 4th axis. This would require, in addition to the machine, a pretty major software upgrade. Of course, I said yes (hell yea, actually) so we might be searching for some new equipment after the first of the year!

kycarguy 935 · 09-10-2005, 10:14 PM

5axis what are the dimensions on the Lambo and what would something like this cost to have made? It looks awsum. Thanks.

A Quiet Boom · A Quiet Boom's Garage

I've learned a lot from these websites, I use the handle rsr911.

http://www.homeshopmachinist.net

http://www.chaski-test.com/ubb/ubbthreads.php

http://www.cnczone.com

I've got an old Bridgeport Boss 5 CNC that I'm getting ready to upgrade to modern controls as well as a manual Bridgeport we just added ballscrews to and a 10x20 Logan lathe built around 1950. All of this is at work in our fab shop but the CNC belongs to me. I was working on the lathe today cutting a new transfer roll for our coater from 303 stainless, I've only got the major diameter done so far but I got it within a thou of spec end to end, not bad for a lathe they where going to scrap before I got my hands on it.