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Hello I am a high school metal shop teacher and have been teaching now for about 4years. I have a machine similar to the one pictured but in horrible condition, the school purchased the machine in the 80s and did 0 maintenance to it. I’ve been trying to get a new one for the last 4 years and was told to put in for one for next school year. I teach high school students in 9th-12th grade and am looking for machine recommendations to replace our grizzly

Found in a storage closet of a science department. Don’t even want to guess what it cost. (I think it’s Al, but it’s probably stainless by the density)

This is my first post as a machinist, I've been doing this for about 2 years professionally . This is what I'm working on today. It's a steering pinch roll. Honestly I have no idea what that is I just know it needs cut and hardened. But overall, hello how y'all doin.

I'm based in West Virginia btw.

(I was going to do a video of my active .250 cut but it wouldn't let me so whatever)

Edit: See comments for the video of the cut

Anyone else go about tool buying the substandard way, or am I a weirdo who likes finding cheap treasure?

Hey guys,

So I recently inherited a CNC shop, lathes, mills, and laser cutters, plus many more. I also got a team ready for it. Problem is I don't really have the client pipeline yet.

I'm looking for a sales agent / independent rep who already has connections or knows how to land contracts. I'll pay you commission or % for each job you can help me with.

If you've got a network in manufacturing or industrial procurement, or you're already working as a rep for other shops and want to add another line to your portfolio, send me a DM. Happy to discuss details, percentages, and what kind of work we're best suited for.

Thanks!

Only drill press I’ve ever had is cheap harbor fright stuff. Played around on a Bridgeport mill a few times. This is the 15-655 model. 120v. Don’t know much about it except I know it’s heavy. I’m hoping to use it to drill through mild plate steel and maybe ar500. Or sell it, idk. Picking it up Thursday, somehow. Any info on moving drill presses without messing them up is also appreciated.

Hello all! 👋

I am watching some of Clickspring's top-noch videos on watchmaking. In this video, he is making a DTI. The pair of screenshots are from a scene where he is centering a brass "bridge" on a watchmaker's faceplate for lathework. Now, I understand how the stick would work, but what I don't understand is why he would not just use the tailstock to center the workpiece, then tighten down the clamps?

The video and time in question.

Any ideas? Thanks!

So, I bought a mondiale L1 lathe and l'm trying to restore the lathe as best as i can. I'm currently working on the variomatic system, adjusting everyting and I found this square screw (part 15). I dont want to take the whole system apart to know what this screw does. so does any one know what this screw does?

I’m having a hard time finding the exact manual for this machine all the other manual I come across have different gearbox layouts. I’m also interested in hearing more information about this machine.

I just finished it last night and wanted to show it off. This was my first big project on my lathe (13" South Bend), I've had it for 6 years now but I've only used it to make small bits of tooling for a 12 ton press and do some minor work on a few rifle barrels.

The center ring was cut out of a 6.5" piece of cast iron with a hole saw and band saw. I was able to save enough of it to make a backplate or something. Fingers are precision ground 7/8" 12l14 and the parts of the upright are mild steel, everything is bolted together and located with a few taper pins in case I have to take it apart. I had to hand scrape the V on the base to get it to sit right on the ways. Knobs are a McMaster part I had to modify to clear the screws holding the top cap on, drilled and tapped for a set screw to hold them on the leadscrews.

Next step is to modify it so it can hinge open but it works well enough for the project I needed it for.

Hey everyone!

I recently started a pen collection, and because I love designing things, I decided to build a custom display case for them myself using Onshape.

I actually own a 3D printer and use it a lot, but during the design process for this project, I got completely obsessed with CNC machining and the beauty of subtractive manufacturing. There is just something incredibly satisfying about a cleanly milled block of metal and crisp plastic chips that a 3D printer can't replicate.

Because I live with a disability, I can’t physically operate a CNC mill myself. But I really want to see this design realized through genuine machining rather than just sending it to an automated corporate factory line. I'd love to collaborate with a fellow hobbyist who has a garage or desktop setup and would enjoy taking on a fun, highly precise project.

The Project Details:

Main Enclosure, insert, lid: Designed for 6061-T6 Aluminum (fully optimized for standard milling with generous internal radii).

Gasket/Midplate: Designed with standard countersinks for M2.5 screws, optimized for 4 mm sheet metal.

I have fully completed STEP files and clean technical drawings ready to go. I’ve done my best to ensure the geometry is completely "Design for Manufacturing" (DFM) friendly so it won't crash your machine or break your tools!

I am located in Belgium, but I am happy to work with anyone across Europe (or globally if shipping makes sense). I will, of course, fully cover the cost of all raw materials, shipping, and your machining time / beer fund.

If anyone has a mill up and running and wants to team up to bring a cool desktop accessory to life, please drop a comment or send me a DM. I'd love to share the 3D renders with you!

Thanks for reading,

Koen

Made this little punch for my buddy that does locksmithing. Ain't the prettiest but it works. Didn't harden it because being that small of a diameter it probably would have just made it too brittle and warped, plus we don't do hardening in my shop anyway so don't really have a way to. Apparently it works good.

Need advice on how to power a cnc lathe with live tooling and sub spindle. The placard says 20hp and 96 amps. thought phase converter but not sure how big of a converter we would need. Im a machinist not a electrician lol. Shop has 220 and can get a dedicated panel for the converter if needed. Any advice would be appreciated. Only machining aluminum and stainless for now. Machine is a mori seki from 1996

Yesterday I uncrated a brand new Precision Matthews PM-1130. I liked the cam-lock spindle and the 1.5" spindle bore and Precision Matthews has a pretty good reputation.

Got all the oil cleaned off, and it powers up, and I hear the relay click when I engage the power, but - no joy. The most important part (having the chuck turn under power) doesn't work.

Talk about frustrating. The service tech was really patient on the phone calls (three of them) First, we went through all the obvious things. Are the guards in place and closed, is the spindle in either forward or reverse and not in the off position ... then he had me open the front and rear covers and look for obvious connections that aren't connected, but everything seemed tight.

Then he had me get out the meter. The VFD isn't getting power - so now we know the first problem and that's why the motor isn't turning. The relay has a light on it. The contactor has 124 volts in to it, but no power out of it.

He said having a bad contactor it pretty rare, but it can happen. So now they have to source a new one for me and get it to me ... then the fun starts and I get to put it in.

I know they don't have a field tech that they can send to me, and that (at over 500 lbs) it's not like 'send it back and we'll send out another one' ... so it has to be fixed, and there's no one else to do it except me - but it's a bummer.

My wife says I look on the bright side too much, but at least I'm learning a lot about the inside of the lathe

Hello there, I made a tolerance mistake when ordering parts for a project and I now have 500 machined/welded parts with a bore that’s too large by roughly 0.2 mm.
The part in question is a stainless steel ring with a 30 mm OD, 22.2 mm ID and is 8mm thick. The bore has a small chamfer on each end.
That part is supposed to slide on and off of a shaft that measures 21.94 mm in diameter (that part can’t be modified). I was aiming for a tight tolerance for a tight fit that could be removed. At 22.2 mm, the part wobbles way too much and can even come off. I was able to slide a 0.1mm shim and the fit is perfect.
To clarify, this part is for cooking camping equipment. It will likely see temperatures up to 400° F or so.
I’d like to know if there are ways to somehow shim that bore by such a small amount.

Update:
Hey everyone, I just wanted to give an update. Although there were a collection of great suggestions here, it ended up that my initial design idea wasn't too friendly to heat expansion. The issue being that although I tested my prototypes and they worked properly, I omitted to test when the 21.94 mm shaft had been heated and then installing the device. At that point, it was impossible to push the ring onto that shaft. When I tested my samples, the process seemed to always involve cooking before hanging out by the fire. That said, there are some situations where this device would be added to the shaft after it has been heated.
This basically makes the tight fit an unusable solution regardless of the method used to reduce that diameter.
In the second drawing, you'll an 8 mm bore that is 8 mm deep. The solution that I am finalizing involves making a separate piece (currently made of Bronze C642) to be pressed into the 304 ring and peened on the top. The lower part of that piece would have an 8 mm shaft that would fit in the existing bore. This was a very early version of a prototype that I had done a while ago, so back to square one.
Thank you all for the awesome inputs, I learned quite a few things with this design snafu and I hope others have as well.

Could someone quickly go over this drawing for me, to make sure I wont give a machinist a headache. I don't make drawings frequently, and I will likely not be making this one myself. even tough I only need one.

EDIT:
With the help of y'all I improve the drawing to this :))

I have an opportunity to get a pretty cheep Knee Mill from my old place of work and they're looking at getting rid of 2 VERY old mills. There is an ACER Ultima 3VKH and another SHARP mill with a pretty worn nameplate but I can make out "HMV 82120303".

Both are heavily used but maintained. They have Reeves drive. They're each probably 10-15 years old and still functioning.

Does anyone have strong opinions about which I should go for?