Updated mill order: Matt and Ray graciously allowed me to change from a 932 to a 935

Congrats on the upgrade!!!! Having a case of buyers remorse even before the machine arrived was a bad sign, but you went the way I would have recommended. Once you got it in your head you wanted the 935 you probably would never have been happy with the 932. Now other than playing the waiting game your good to go, budget be damned. You can always make a bit more money before it arrives to cover the extra cost and you will be happier with your purchase too. Good luck and don't forget the arrival pics for the rest of us!!!

Bob
 
Rbeckett said:
Congrats on the upgrade!!!! Having a case of buyers remorse even before the machine arrived was a bad sign, but you went the way I would have recommended. Once you got it in your head you wanted the 935 you probably would never have been happy with the 932. Now other than playing the waiting game your good to go, budget be damned. You can always make a bit more money before it arrives to cover the extra cost and you will be happier with your purchase too. Good luck and don't forget the arrival pics for the rest of us!!!

Bob
Click to expand...

THX Bob!

I have had this rule with myself since I was in my 20's: A hobby MUST pay its own way... or I do not allow myself to get into it.
I can say from experience this is one of the hardest rules one can put themselves under... worse than, well, never mind... :roflmao:

I did a business plan back in August, when I more or less decided I was serious about setting up a shop. The main part of the plan was realistic expectations of what I could sell in the way of making parts for folks. By Mid September I knew I could make enough $$$ to pay for the machines and tooling. Then a few more potential deals came along... so I became more bold about the machines to buy (first it was upgrading from a 1236 to a 1340GT, then the topic of this thread; upgrading from a 932 to a 935). Still would like to have a head style mill... probably build a CNC version one of these days.

The part which really got me going: was/is the Taiwanese quality. I am a quality buff... appreciate things made well; the subtle details are worth the $$$ to me.

So now that I have the potential business, I get to have the machines I wanted... :)

As some of my friends in the gyro world say: Life is Grand! :thumbzup3:
 
catoctin said:
My only concerns with these guys are the wheel axles and the wheel bearings. The small screws mounting the wheel axles to the shell caught my eye. I looked up the wheels on Footmaster's website and these wheels are nylon with no bearings. The Albions I used (21NG03201S) are glass filled nylon with roller bearings. Just be careful on the ratings. I got real skeptical on wheel rating after looking at the offerings on Ebay. It then boiled down to could I believe the ratings based on the way the casters are constructed. The problem is there is no uniform way to rate casters. Once a company comes up with a metric, how much are they guard banding their rating? What is the metric for the rating based on?

There are a few things I would have done differently with my base design. I used four swivel wheels and it would have been better to use two fixed. If you think about it, my mill weighs maybe 1600lbs due to the single phase motor. The mobile base and power feeds probably brings it up to 1800-1900lbs. I needed to move the mill maybe 25 feet across a pebble surfaced driveway with expansion joints and over the big expansion joint entering the garage. Two fixed wheels would have made this monster a little more controllable. Moving it in the garage was a bit of an exercise. I needed to move some equipment out of the out of the garage to prevent slamming into it. An object in motion tends to stay in motion and it is a ***** to stop once it gets going. It wouldn't always go where I wanted it to with four swivel wheels.

One of the guys suggested doing an outrigger design on the base. I change my plan to accommodate this. This was a real good idea since the mill is a bit tall. Also, it is best to keep the motor down while moving to lower the center of gravity to prevent tip over. All I can say is moving this guy around is like dancing with the Queen Mary. A humbling experience.

-Joe
Click to expand...

Interesting thoughts there... Got me to thinking about the total weight of the mill after accessories are mounted. I think a reasonable weight expectation would be around 2000#; perhaps more with a vise and work are on the table... but one will not be moving it around when using it.

In my case, I will have the mill (still in the crate) inside the basement and a few feet from its place... before it goes into the stand. The point of the castors was to make it portable if I ever needed to move it. Probably will not happen more than a couple of times a year... and then only a few feet at a time. The idea of 2 fixed and 2 steerable makes sense, will look into it. Also the idea of designing the wheels on the base as 'outriggers' makes good sense also! Now I understand why you had that extra block on the bottom for the fixed feet. :)

I do appreciate the basic frame you posted in your thread... especially with the lip inside to hold the machine. May take some of your advise on the castors and outrigger design... time to think this one out.
Will post my thoughts when I decide what to do.

Appreciate your input!

GA
 
GA said:
Sent an Email to Matt this morning, looking to see if there is a collar for the quill of a 935, similar to the one on the 45/932--for a mounting point for the slide of a spindle DRO. They are looking into it.
Click to expand...
this mill is designed just like a bridgeport; the quill position is indicated by a traveling nut inside a slot; most spindle dro conversion I have seen bolts one end of the dro to that traveling nut.

Google "bridgeport quill dro" and you will find a bunch of example pictures. You can buy fairly low priced kits designed exactly for that purpose. No collar is needed.

note that on a knee milling, vertical movement for milling is done with the knee. The quill is used for drilling, or boring. DRO on the knee (which I think you are getting) is a must-have in my book; I have spent way too much time counting hand cranks in the absence of one. Dro in the quill is a "nice to have".
 
>I have had this rule with myself since I was in my 20's: A hobby MUST pay its own way... or I do not allow myself to get into it.
Hahaha. Thinking of "hobbys" in the price range of machines -

Drag racing - way to make 1 million $ is to start with 10 million $
Rock Climbing - "pay" is not killing yourself
Photography - maybe, if good and lucky at marketing. Say Cheese, is that a L Grade lens?
Flying - only if you take paid passengers
RV - see Flying (these two may be a bit much since we just priced a used RV. I could buy a whole machine shop)
Fishing - Lots of minnows died while we owned a boat and 99% of the fish we ate was served at a restaurant. 220HP Ranger bass boat, who cares about them damn fish, we're flyin' baby!
Golf - got to get in the PGA first I think. Must...have...Ping...
Shooting - how many rifles and pistols does one person need? Oooh look at that Ruger .357, bet that shoots nice...
Model Trains - priced vintage Lionel rolling stock lately?

Just have fun and let the kin folk part it out later to cover expenses.
 
Problem is.... too many things I enjoy doing... had to draw a line somewhere or I would always be broke... :phew:

And that line is hard to follow sometimes. :makingdecision:

SOOO:

Each of them needs to pay their own way... or at least make up the investment... even if there are endless hours I do not get paid for. :dunno:

The solution... turn a hobby into a business; Just takes some thinking, some planning, some marketing, some work... and one can most times break even or maybe hustle a few bucks... :holdphone:
Rarely, do I get a decent return on the time I put in... but most of the time I get my investment back. :allgood:
 
I would predict that unless you have a few friends who appreciate high quality parts and accessories. Otherwise it is going to be a while before the street trade starts walking and asking the question of how much to do something. But it will happen and you can make it work it's just how determined you plan to be. I predict that you are doing something rather that worry about what you can't change

Bob
 
GA said:
Problem is.... too many things I enjoy doing... had to draw a line somewhere or I would always be broke... :phew:

And that line is hard to follow sometimes. :makingdecision:

SOOO:

Each of them needs to pay their own way... or at least make up the investment... even if there are endless hours I do not get paid for. :dunno:

The solution... turn a hobby into a business; Just takes some thinking, some planning, some marketing, some work... and one can most times break even or maybe hustle a few bucks... :holdphone:
Rarely, do I get a decent return on the time I put in... but most of the time I get my investment back. :allgood:
Click to expand...

I understand your plan but unless you have contacts it may be hard to get enough machine work to get a very quick ROI on the machinery. I have been in business since 1997 and it is just a side business. I have always worked on automotive and motorcycles for friends and friends of friends which helped to support my racing addiction as well as my tool addiction. My goal was to eventually have a shop that was equipped well enough to perform any and all jobs that I required. Once I had that I would stop doing side work and only work on my own stuff. So basically the side business was a means to an end not something to get rich at. I knew that going in to it and accepted that. I actually made more money before I got my business license when everything was under the table. The only two reasons I got my business license were one, so I could get discounts and parts which would allow me to have a small mark-up and make a few bucks on parts in addition to my labor and second, because I wanted to be legal just in case any of my neighbors turned me in for working in my home shop. Turns out that was paranoia because my neighbors couldn't care less and several are my best customers. Then again I am respectful of the time in which I am out there and don't run any air tools nor work with the shop door open after 9:00 pm. I also work by appointment ONLY so there are no vehicles sitting around in the yard (wish I could say the same thing for my neighbors).

All that said, I have been at this a long time and had a small lathe/mill combo that merely supported my racing as well as some of the chassis that I was getting in to fabricating for clients. Over the past nearly two years now I have had many more machining specific jobs come through the door once people found out that I do machining (and welding). This is why I was able to justify stepping up to larger and nicer equipment. I looked for nearly a year for old iron but living in a machinery desert I didn't want a lengthy restoration project, I wanted to hook up and make chips (ie. money) right away.

I went back through my records and calculated approx. how much I had been making off of just machining projects alone then added just a little for growth with new equipment. I told my wife I wanted a maximum of 2-year ROI. I did not finance any equipment because we had just sold our race car and race quads so the money was liquid to purchase the equipment but I wanted to recoupe it as quickly as possible and thought two-years should be achievable.

Currently I am on target after only having my equipment a couple of months but my wife would like me to "take time to smell the roses" sort of speak. I don't know that I will ever completely quit doing work for other people because to be honest I really enjoy it, other than the dealing with people part.:nuts: Most people are good but there are a few that really get under my skin. I am definitely going to cut back in the near future though on the amount of work I do for others. I am lucky as I have the luxury of being picky about "who" I do work for as I still have a full-time job and don't rely 100% on my home shop business. If a job comes up that I am not interested in doing, I simply turn it away. I only do the jobs that interest me, unlike when I first got started and took anything and everything that came my way. I have also gotten very cautious about WHO I do work for because of who I want in my shop. I am not allowed to advertise as part of the stipulation with the city when I got my business license so everything is word of mouth. I am to a point where if I don't know the person they had better come from one of my reputable clients or contacts, otherwise I turn them away. This again may be paranoia but my brother was robbed a few years back and even with alarms and monitoring I worry about some low-life taking my life's work.

I only mention this because I highly recommend you go into this with a plan rather than just winging it. If you have to make money at it then calculate accordingly and plan accordingly. If you don't absolutely need to make the money then that is an added benefit and can give you some movement on the equipment choices. This was the way it was for me. Plus my wife wanted me to have the kind of quality machines that I have set my standards to.

All this is just my opinion based on my experience, so take it for what it is worth.
 
THX Bob and Mike for you posts... Appreciate the input!

My brother spent over a decade in a machine shop, became an accomplished 'manual' machinist... then around 1980 when the shop bought some NC machines, he started doing the 'tapes' (remember the tele-type machine with 1" wide paper tape). Richard (brother) even wrote some code in 'Basic' for running NC machines back when.
I spent a summer at the same shop, took to it easily.

When I first decided I was gonna set up a shop in my basement... Richard tried to discourage me. Said it was difficult to learn, hard to get business, and expensive (machines are less than 1/2 the expense)... all very true.
Just one problem: When folks try to discourage me from doing something... it seems to encourage me instead... :) I am sure many others here have that same defective gene... :lmao:

Tomorrow (Oct 23) I will be 62 :bday:
Other than a few short stints at sales (independent contractor), I have been self employed since 1979, the better part of my life... literally learned how to run a business the hard way... just jumped in. Now running a business is another thread... one I will gladly add my $0.02 to if someone is interested.
(Did not see an emoticon for 2 cents).

I think it was in the Spring of 2014, when I more or less realized if I wanted to do some specific modifications on gyro-copters... I would have to either pay for custom parts to be made, or get a lathe and mill. The idea of setting up a shop has been something I have always wanted to do... just for fun (insert that rule to keep me from going broke). :phew:

I decided I would spread the word around and see what response I received about making custom parts...
So far the response is much better than I suspected. :thumbsup2:
If I can get my investment back in 2-3 years... I think I will be doing well. If actually 2 years or less... I will consider that a big success. :thumbzup3:

There are some ideas I have to design some specific parts, test them, and if they work... make a few and sell them... will discuss that next year when I have the design done and start in on the proto-type.

I see this shop thingy as an adventure... as I do most of life... Plan ahead, then dive in and have a good time figuring it out. Like taking a bushel of lemons and making lemonaide from them... :victory:

THX again for the input... probably will be back asking questions along the way.

GA
 
One of the power tools I need for the shop is a bandsaw... Sent Matt an Email to see what he offered.
Matt said he does not have many in stock currently (that is, currently as of the date of this post); he is not planning to carry any more Chinese saws. I asked Matt about the saw in the link below... he said it was Taiwanese.

Went ahead and ordered this bandsaw:

http://www.amazon.com/414459-HVBS-7...8&qid=1414113866&sr=8-5&keywords=jet+bandsaws

When I was at 'checkout' at Amazon, I saw one can link their CC rewards points to Amazon for a purchase... Since I rack up a bunch of them using the AmEx card in the business... And I am having a B-day... I decided to use the points to buy a grown up guy toy... :) (Did not want to use the phrase adult toy.... whoops).

Crate arrived today... will unpack it and set it up over the weekend.

Pictures to follow.

GA
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top