Any of you Guys or Girls Machining/ Fabricating from Home with Manual Machines?

Good morning ATS,

I was curious if any of you guys out there are machinists and metal fabricators working from home whether professionally or just for fun? What kind of machines do you have and what do you make? Perhaps we can all share tips and tricks here too.

I'll go first, I run an old mill (this is going to get confusing) I have a very very old Cincinnati No. 1 1/2 horizontal mill that my room mate and I retro fitted with a 1970s Bridgeport J head style vertical mill. I am also running a 1936 South Bend Model 180 R 9"x 4.5" manual lathe (we restored this guy and added an electric motor to replace the old school belt system). On top of that I have the full array of benders, brakes, saws, and welding machines.

Most recently I had to make new torsion bars, flanges, and brackets for my friend who wanted to turbo charge his 91 Ford F150. Here pretty soon I am gearing up to make a new exhaust manifold and fabricate some custom headers for a good friend of mines bike for her birthday coming up around the corner.

Brotherman-

I've done some minor work, mostly making long guns and so called "ghost guns" to # off the mouth breathers

A little work fabricating an obscure headliner clip for Mrs Burns trail blazers

I have all 40+ year old equipment but I love it

originally posted by: JBurns
I've done some minor work, mostly making long guns and so called "ghost guns" to # off the mouth breathers

A little work fabricating an obscure headliner clip for Mrs Burns trail blazers

I have all 40+ year old equipment but I love it

I've never even thought about firearm making/ modifying in my shop ever lol what kind of beer do ya drink?

I use lots of CNC style machines professionally when I'm not sent to welding from time to time at my Job. That being said I was fortunate enough to acquire old manual machines, and that's where learning machining started for me. Traditionally I am a welder/fitter/fabricator been doing that since I got out of the Marines back in 2009. Machining for me was the next step in metal manufacturing and fabbing. I just love to make things, currently I've been reading a ton on gear making and started taking online classes to improve my knowledge and skills on G and M coding. I am most familiar with Fanuc Controllers and I use a bastard Semi Communicative Siemens Tech controller (I HATE) so been getting familiar with other ways using HAAS and Lynux based G/M Codes. Soon when I get enough spare cash I want to build my own CNC vertical mill and I would be interested in getting a jewelers lathe cause I would like to make my woman a ring and want to try making a clock out of bearing oiled bronze, titanium, and wood.

a reply to: Brotherman

i'm taking a mastercam class online through our local community college.
i'm about 5 classes away from obtaining a certificate in machining. i already have an associate degree in electronics tech.
unfortunately covid19 is not allowing any in shop lessons. because of these restrictions, it may take me a long time to finish my certificate.

i eventually want to purchase my own equipment. it's a daydream of mine to be in my garage, have fresh coffee brewing, my classic rock playing on a small radio, my wife complimenting my work with a "wow that's cool!", and just plain have fun on a Saturday afternoon.

a reply to: subfab

Do yourself a favor then. Never trust using CAD/CAM generated programming without being able to program and machine yourself. CAD/CAM is a great tool but depending on what you are "programming" for using their generated systems may not always translate well on the platform you are using. For example from one machine to another if you wanted your spindle to rotate clockwise with flood coolant turned on , say on a cincinnati sabre model machine running a GE/windows based controller the command would look like this

T1 M6
g0 g90 g54 x0y0 s6000 m13
z.1
Where as if you wanted the same result on a Siemens it would look like this

T1
M6
G0 G90 x0y0 S6000 M3
M7
z.1
And running a fanuc

T1 M6;
G0 G90 G54 x0y0 S6000 M3;
z.1 M8


IT will be really good for you to run the machines yourself and crash them to really give yourself some great experience. I only been CNC machining for 3 years and learned so much just from diving right on it and choking it to death.




It is always rewarding when I make something and my fiancee is super proud of my work, its a good feeling different then getting paid. She has a 5 year old that's been helping me in the shop learning fractions by helping me with hardware putting away wrenches, tooling, collets etc. At 5 he understands the drastic difference between an r8 1/8" collet for the bridgeport and an 1/8" wrench and also knows the differences in the sizes. He impresses me all the time with what he learns and retains and then applies it just to help me out even if it is cleaning up, I hope you get your day dream because it is super rewarding.

a reply to: Brotherman

i completed the manual lathe portion of the course. i enjoyed the heck out of it. i made a screw jack for my project.
i still need to take the manual mill class.

it will be some time before i can actually test out my code on the CNC machines in the classroom. i want to learn how to set up and run this equipment. the online class is my only option at the moment due to covid restrictions. technically i was supposed to complete all the manual machining first before taking mastercam. but situation as it is, i received approval to sign up and keep some momentum going towards my certificate without the manual machining work first. i'm essentially putting the cart before the horse.

i hope our program survives the quarantine. i'm currently the only student taking this course at the moment.

a reply to: subfab

I made a big edit to the last reply I made to you...

I prefer Milling manually over turning (at least on my equipment) primarily because I have the ability to more or less "turn mill" I have a retro fit power feed on X and Y on my mill but also have power feed on separate A and B Axis. My Lathe works great but like I said it is quite a bit older. I have learned over time the machine never had the idea of carbide insert turning in mind when it was designed much less having its own electric motor. When we re outfitted the lathe at first we were breaking teeth on our gearing and getting lots of interrupted cuts using carbide... after a whole slew of trial and error we re outfitted our back gears and had to make our own pulleys to make the thing thread correctly with HSS form tools. About the only carbide cutters I can use if for turning an OD or Facing, otherwise HSS works the best. I hate breaking things on the old girl cause she is old and tired and I lover her.

a reply to: Brotherman

part of the manual lathe class was to make some cutting tools out of HSS.

that was fun.

it was a real kick in the pants when i used the cutting tools on my project. when i was done and brought home my project, i was one of the happiest grandpas in the state. machining is not only a mechanical practice but an artistic outlet as well.

machining is cool.

a reply to: subfab

What kind of tooling were you making? Like rake angle and geometry for what purposes? Did you incorporate chip breaking (relief) on them and what type of manual lathe were they for/ how powerful was it?

a reply to: Brotherman

A valuable skill to have. Especially in 2020 with the collapse, war or whatever right around the corner.

You should be able to barter for whatever you need.

a reply to: LookingAtMars

Valuable skill indeed, but if the situation was that dire I may refuse to make things for people if I don't want to. Just because can don't mean should, and machines will sit with people not able to use them and I will be dead or stubborn or both.

a reply to: Brotherman

i made a right hand cutting tool and a single point threading tool out of HSS on the bench grinder.

this video from a youtuber named "this old tony" shows what i did in class.

youtu.be...

i practiced on some scrap metal before i committed to the HSS. it was a good assignment. every step taught me something. the time i spent at the grinder was valuable. i began to look at the bit in a different way. i recognize the rake and relief angles.

i haven't been in the shop in almost a year. going from memory i believe the machine i used was a clausing colchester 13 lathe. i was allowed to use the school's cutting tool. i opted to used the bits i made instead. mainly basic turning, facing, and tapering. i used the class boring bar, but i'd like to one day make a boring cutting tool and see what i can do with it.

I used to make parts for things I had but haven't done much for many years. My brother does way more than I do with that, he is a better welder than I am. I do have quite a bit of metal working tools and of course two sets of acetylene tanks and hoses and torches. Not to mention a mig and stick welder and eight foot extremely heavy brake for bending metal. A large variety of air tools too, and of course one of my three bandsaws is set up for metal cutting. I don't own a milling machine at all, but I do know someone who does, I do have two heavy duty drill presses though witth a carriage I can use for milling but it is not very fast or perfect, but I have lots of milling bits for it.

If things fall apart these are very good tools and skills, for sure. I welded for a bunch of years and did the lesser associated tasks such as threading, riveting, grinding, forging etc, not machining per se but did love doing precision drilling on the drill press so think it is something I'd enjoy doing. I kind of see being able to weld but not machine stuff as me not having the full set of skills as they go hand in hand.

originally posted by: rickymouse
I used to make parts for things I had but haven't done much for many years. My brother does way more than I do with that, he is a better welder than I am. I do have quite a bit of metal working tools and of course two sets of acetylene tanks and hoses and torches. Not to mention a mig and stick welder and eight foot extremely heavy brake for bending metal. A large variety of air tools too, and of course one of my three bandsaws is set up for metal cutting. I don't own a milling machine at all, but I do know someone who does, I do have two heavy duty drill presses though witth a carriage I can use for milling but it is not very fast or perfect, but I have lots of milling bits for it.

What do you make with these things? I’m not asking because I’m an asshole but I do know you from around here, I may be wrong but are you not a medical professional? Not that it matters around here people would recognize me as a painter. It’s cool to see you in this thread.

a reply to: subfab
I hope you can get your own machines and wish u the best in your education. Making things is one of my favorite things to do. I watched your video linked and thought it was definitely a worthwhile watch if your into this type of thing.

All my stone cutting and metal fabricating equipment is stilll in use from when I started the business 1978. I seldom use it anymore but my apprentice does. I do need to replace the motors on the forge and grinders occasionally.

Shears and rolling mills last forever.

a reply to: olaru12

I don’t own a forge, however if you brought material work I can do something with it depending on its quality 😬

a reply to: Brotherman

Now that you mention it...as a matter of fact my interest has caught the workings of a metal lathe. There is some study involved how to make stuff on such a machine but I would very much like to have a mini lathe.

a reply to: zatara

My suggestion is go big or go home with some things. A mini lathe would be cool to have but for the things I like to make is well way to mini. What kind of things do you want to make with your mini lathe? Are you into making hardware for wood working out of brass or jewelry for example.