Advice

[jsa2001]

Hi i'm hoping to buy a 7x12 lathe soon by real bull from a dealer in the UK.
I'd like to use it for making parts and upgrades for RC bikes cars and helicopter's
and hopefully do some engine building (stirling engines etc) and pen making.

I'm not sure what tooling and accessories i'll need. Any advice on that?
Also are there any simple engines that i could have ago at building
and have a chance at making? :-\

I'm thinking of getting a milling machine also, i'm short on space so it needs to be a mini mill
Ive seen the Sherlines but these seem expensive but easily turned into cnc.
any recommendations on a good mini mill to achieve what i layed out in this post.

Thanks.

 

[Mainer]

Just beginning, I'd start with the most simple single-cylinder barstock steam engine I could find. If you strive to do a nice job of it, such an engine will be plenty difficult enough and teach you a lot.

While a IC engine or a Stirling engine has a lot of appeal, they are many times more difficult to get running. Do a few simple steam engines first.

I know there is probably some genius, somewhere, who has built a prize-winning V8 IC engine as his first model...but I wouldn't recommend it.

The Sherline mill is good, but small. I think I'd want something a bit heftier...but that's just me.

 

[Krown Kustoms]

Welcome to the forum. Are you new to machining?
I build a lot of RC parts, custom parts are not bad, but to duplicate something is a different ball game.
most rc parts are made an a CNC machine.
I have a 7 x 12 lathe and it came with everything to get started.
May I suggest a drill chuck for the tailshaft, a live center, and a 4 jaw chuck.
It should come with everything else you need to get started.

I also have a mini mill from Grizzlyhttp://www.grizzly.com/products/Mini-Milling-Machine/G8689
I have had no problem with this mill, I converted it to CNC and use it all the time. (duplicating RC parts)
-B-

 

[jsa2001]

Yeah new to machining. I believe those mills have been discontinued, yours looks like a sieg x2. Been looking into cnc and mach3 software but it looks daunting to set up and run.
Been playing with the demo.

 

[vlmarshall]

Been looking into cnc and mach3 software but it looks daunting to set up and run.
Been playing with the demo.

Mach's not too bad to set up and run, but I kept wanting it to act more like a "real" machine. Eventually I gave up playing with it, and installed Linux and EMC2 on my mill's computer... and I haven't been sorry yet.

 

[Krown Kustoms]

I have a few CNC programs and Mach 3 I think is the easiest to set up.
I had more trouble setting up my controller than anything.

Don't let all of the settings in the drop down menus scare you, most of them are not used to set up only to tweak settings later after you are up and running.

As for someone new to machining I would get used to a manual machine first, and CNC upgrading adds a pretty good chunk to the price.

Running a manual lathe and mill you will get the "feel" if a cut too deep or a feed rate too fast, the computer doesn't care if you told it to cut .5 instead of .05 deep it will do it anyway and destroy a few things while it is still trying to finish the command you gave it.

The Grizzly mill I posted the link to is not discontinued, I just checked.
It is one of the mass produced Chinese mills, that companies buy and put their name on and paint it their color.
Micro Mark, Homier, and Harbor Freight, are the same mill.

I cant wait to see what you come up with, I haven't used a lathe or mill that didn't do what it was designed to do, just some do it better.
Usually that involves a price increase.
-B-