Taking the Plunge

[Spence]

20 years ago was the last time I worked in Engineering. that was the last time I used a lathe and a mill. It has struck me for sometime that the little guy asking industry to make things is like pissing into the wind and so it would be much easier to make my own parts. Of course I, like a lot of guys on this forum have no time for manufacturing parts but I am still drawn to it.

Last week I took delivery of a mini mill. It sat in it's crate for a couple of days in my lounge; too heavy to move single handed. It came in handy for child control as I told the kids that there was a very angry gorilla inside the crate. So I did seriously consider just using it for that.
However, yesterday morning I duly unpacked it and transported it to my workshop. It took a while to complete the assembly but the memories started to flood back straight away.

It didn't come supplied with bits or collets or even a chip rake. I had ordered the collets and bits at the time so that was OK but the whole thing about a mill is that you need to keep everything free of swarf or you'll lose that accuracy that cost so much money. There was nothing for it other than to make my own chip rake before anything else.

I didn't make mine to look nice and marketable but rather it should be functional. In any case, I now feel that with a little more use I'll be ready to start making dies, formers and moulds.

Maybe in the new year I'll get a small lathe but for now, the mill together with other tools like an arc welder and fly press will keep me enthusiastic about pickup making.

As a reference for you US guys, Micro Mark supply truely excellent mini mills and lathes with metal gears very cheaply.

[Possum]

Congrats....

Wow thats cool, Spence, smart idea. OK, I need 500 keeper bars PAF spec in two different alloys, can you ship in two weeks? Seriously, I've been thinking about some kind of rudimentary rig for making my own keepers since they are so simple physically and last machinist I wanted a quote from wasn't interested at all.

I'm curious what parts can you make with one of these besides the obvious keepers?

[Spence]

I'm looking at making some pretty simple dies for making proper PAF covers but also baseplates.

It wouldn't take a lot of work to make a die or jig, whatever you want to call it, for bending a baseplate in one move. It may be easier to buy ready-made parts but I hate carrying stock especially when it's shit. I'd rather make my own stuff a little at a time.

You could also make your own tele baseplates with one of these. If you're really fanatical, you could mill some tele jack cups. I have it in mind to make a die for pressing out tele bridge plates.

But here's another thing, everytime you need to make a tool to help with production or a part for a new winder idea, you may have put it off for want of a mill.

[Joe Gwinn]

Who makes (well, sells) this mill? I don't recognise it, aside from the fact that it's a square-column mill. What does it weigh?

Mills are real useful. I recently bought an old (~1965) manual vertical knee mill, a Burke Millrite MVI. Weighs only 1,200 pounds, looks like a half-size Bridgeport. (If it were any larger, it wouldn't fit through the basement door, or under the ceiling.)

I no sooner got it up and running when a paying job came my way.

[NightWinder]

Kickass Tools Do Kickass Work!

[Spence]

This is sold by a company here in the UK. it's a company called Axminster tools. It's a benchtop style mill. In the crate I could barely lift it and I'm pretty strong. Once out of the crate I managed to carry it into my workshop but nearly failed to get it on the bench. Faced with the posibility of it crashing through the floor and killing someone in Australia, I summoned up enough strength to get it on the bench. Chances are it would have missed Mick anyway :-)

I don't mind if it takes me all day to make a die for a humbucker cover just so long as I get it right. Now I've also found this :



with this I hope to be able to punch the screw holes in my PAF covers. you may have noticed that genuine PAF covers have a rolled edge on each screw hole. I suspect that this type of punch:



will do the job in one move.

[mick]

Spence said..

Faced with the posibility of it crashing through the floor and killing someone in Australia, I summoned up enough strength to get it on the bench. Chances are it would have missed Mick anyway :-)


I Dunno I'm getting pretty fat Spence....

Mick

[Joe Gwinn]

I doubt that is strong enough for punching metal. It seems to be intended for setting grommets.

[Phil m]

Who makes (well, sells) this mill? I don't recognise it, aside from the fact that it's a square-column mill. What does it weigh?

It looks like a X1 mill which is manufactured in China, I believe. In Australia they're available through Carbatec http://www.carbatec.com.au/store/ind..._380_2400_2430 and hafco and probably a few other places too! In the US you can get them through Harbor Freight. They also have a X2 and X3 model. Google up "X1 mill" and you'll find plenty of links.

[ken]

Ebay sells a 'generic' kit for turning your mill into a CNC mill, I think it's about $395USD for a 2axis (X-Y) setup.

A nice sized press of 2 tons pressure or so is more than adequate for punching small round holes in things. I'm looking for a powered press for making baseplates myself too.

Ken

[David Schwab]

Spence, nice mini-mill! I've been eyeing the ones in Micro Mark for a while. As soon as I have a shop to put one in, I'll get one. I'm mostly interested in making bass bridges and other hardware.

[Spence]

I have a 4 ton fly press which will handle any pressing I do in the future.
It has a cannon ball for a weight on the handle. It's old school but reliable. As an alternative there are plenty of hydraulic presses out there which are cheap and space saving.
the fly press looks a bit like this :



It took three burly guys to lift it into my old Land Rover, threatened to roll out the back door ( which would have killed the occupants of at least 3 cars following ) and took all my ingenuity to move into the workshop.

A typical hydraulic press looks more like this :



I nearly bought one of these but they are insensitive and require certification once a year to be H & S compliant. Bollocks to that...

The arbor with the punch attachments that I mentioned in this thread will easily punch holes through german silver PAF covers.

One other thing I've considered making are cutters for flatwork. They would be failrly straight forward to make on the mill. Imagine a cookie cutter. That's the idea only I'd harden the steel and mount it on a 1" shaft to fit the fly press. Making parts on demand has to be the way to go in 2007.

[ken]

Hello...

That fly press of yours looks positively dangerous!

I have a machining book from the 1930's around here somewhere that has long detailed chapters on pressing out things like HB pickup covers. I'm looking for it, and I will post the book's title and author when I find it so you can read it too.

Ken

[Spence]

It's a great machine; helped to build our long lost empire. It's only dangerous if you drop the weight on your foot.

I'd be very interested to see that article.

[ken]

Here you go... New Encyclopedia of Machine Shop Practice, George W. Barnwell, published 1941 by Wm. H. Wise and Co. Inc.

This is the main one, I have some others around with deep drawing info inside too but I think they are at work.

Enjoy,
Ken