The Home Machinist!

I don’t disagree; Honesty is a better all around policy over unfounded promises and a lack of proper updates. I read the other thread too, and it seems like this is a different subject entirely. This isn’t a product that’s promised, it’s new development. Hopefully nobody has made big claims to bring...

Any clues where it’s going to end up?

The Valley Railroad just did a superb job restoring an NH caboose.

A standard robodrill from Fanuc starts at 60k new, and they have an eco model that’s even cheaper. That mill runs circles around even more expensive counterparts, especially Haas.

If conversational is the goal, Fryer or a Southwestern Trak machine are the way to go, so the toolmaker says.

It’s weird how close you get to the suppliers on this forum, I guess I’m still getting used to it. A machine my company just purchased was listed at 55k for a few years, and they offered it at a bargain price of 45k to us. We declined and waited for it to go to auction; came off at 24k with another ...

I think that a lot of people who are 'operators' actually call themselves machinists, and that may be where the disagreement is. For example, the person in the factory or job shop who puts a piece of material in a CNC mill, indicates it, bolts it down, Calls down the program, and then hits to go bu...

Ok, I see that now. I work pretty much exclusively with carbide, so I wasn’t comparing to HSS which makes sense in your case. And yea, their slit saws are a bit pricy. Seems they have both HSS and carbide. https://www.maritool.com/Cutting-Tools-Keyseat-/-Milling-Cutters-Slitting-Saws/c78_231_281/ind...

Maritool's prices are at least four times those of Shars for anything I'd want. The Shars stuff I've purchased has all worked ok. I’m just curious what it is you use? I’ve compared holders, endmills, drill chucks, even the NPT tap you just mentioned, and they’re all comparable. Don’t take me wrong ...

rrnut-2 wrote:I know the feeling. I bought a R8 shell mill holder from Shars, after all it was cheap.

Jim B

Try out Maritool: same price as Shars, and Frank works right here in the US. Just got the 90 deg and the 45 face mill from him; they work great.

Jack makes an important point. When I taught photography I'd spend one class session with my advanced students on how to do a "cost of doing business analysis." After this heavy dose of reality, most of my students were not smiling when the session was over. Many folks wander into something without...

Don’t let me distract anyone from answering the last question there. I know the castings have disappeared, but is there a source for the 1” scale and smaller LE drawings? I’ve barked up the email tree with no response as of yet. I guess one could just scale down the bigger set, but there’s kinks to ...

I just met someone volunteering at the local full-size railroad, she’d joined with her husband. Her husband fell out after a while and she kept going, enjoyed it too much. Also asked my wife. She thinks it’s cool and all, but when I asked her if she’d do it on her own, she said it’s too expensive, h...

I’m not sure I wouldn’t baby sit it...