Have no idea what I'm doing, but want to learn!

I don't want to throw gas on your fire, but the last time I did a job like you want with someone that said " that's close enough" I ended up putting in over 35 hours on a job that should have been done in 4. It only ended after I had enough of his " close enough revisions", and told him to find someone else. Of course I didn't get paid if you're wondering. From that point on if there's no print or dimensioned sketch, there's not going to be any work done.

Thanks for taking the time to reply. I have never asked anyone to make this, so telling me what you wouldn't do doesn't really help me figure out what I need to do. Thanks!
 
Those could eisily be made on a mill with common tooling.
Are you trying to learn how ro make these parts yourself?
If you want a machinist to make them for you, you just supply a blueprint or a drawings with dementions on it and let the machinist do what he does.

Thanks for the reply. Did you see the part where I wanted to start a discussion on learning what I needed to know, about how to dimension, detail, and mark up the drawings?
 
Shapers are a drug on the market, especially large ones. Small ones bring good money, but that one is not small. Never buy a shaper that does not have it's vise. Even if sold for half the lowered price it would not be a deal without the vise.
 
Remember there are no dumb questions. Only dumb answers. I see this site as a learning experience for me even though I have been around machining operations for over 50 years. So keep asking those questions. I do.
Regards, Chuck
 
Shapers are a drug on the market, especially large ones. Small ones bring good money, but that one is not small. Never buy a shaper that does not have it's vise. Even if sold for half the lowered price it would not be a deal without the vise.

Just between you and me, if they offered me the one in the picture for $300 I'd be on my way to pick it up , vice or no vice.

But yeah, I'm not paying $799 for it. :grin:
 
Thanks for the reply. Did you see the part where I wanted to start a discussion on learning what I needed to know, about how to dimension, detail, and mark up the drawings?

What CAD program are you using?
 
I like how you believe in yourself. The mind is the strongest muscle we have . It s all sttitude!
Take your part and look at it in three views. Top view, Front view, and side view. In those views you dimension what you want. Circles dotted circles, lines and dotted lines represent seen and unseen or features. Like a hole and a thread. What you see in your views is drawn. A hole one inch from an edge will have a circle drawn and the dimension away from the edge given and size of hole. It doesn t have to be an engineers drawing.Some times top and side views are enough. A tolerance is given for the operation. The more decimals used the more precision. Machinist love seeing two decimals.
X left and right y forward and back, z up and down is how we machine.
Just some things to ponder. Go look at an engineers drawing for a simple shaft. Look into tolerances study for a bit and send me a drawing of your part or whatever and l ill help to educate yourself and could make that if you need. Simple flatbar will do.
Something to think about being a maker and working with machinist. Try to understand tooling and processes. Like your part. Do you require a v groove, a radius, or would a simple small slot be sufficent from a tiny endmill.
 
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Some things do matter to you; I’m guessing you care that the grooves mate. So for that you might dimension from one peak to the next and designate that as typical.

Also the holes seem likely to allow relative motion of some parts? Allowing for sufficient tolerance on diameter means the holes can be drilled instead of also reamed or bored. That makes a big difference. If the holes are, say +-0.010 then someone reading the drawing knows they may be drilled.

The radiused back running along one of the parts looks to be the most difficult feature. Knowing the tolerance on radius is important. You said it would be welded to a pipe. I would think that a c-channel or a rectilinear recess rather than the radius would be better because it facilitates line contact for welding. But you don’t want that. Are you okay with the radius being more than that of the pipe? The tolerance will be driven by the tolerance of the pipe and your design considerations.

You're right. Some things do matter. The grooves mating, or knowing what the dimensions are isn't one of them. They are specifically intended not to mate, as they are intended to grasp something between them. Ooops, I gave something away!

The only way I can think of to describe it, is to just show a sketch of the cross section. It's attached. The red part is where I thought the weld would go. If the pipe just fits up inside the "groove" then the weld will have a better area to hold. If there's all sorts of space between the pipe and the part, well, I could foresee problems.

The thickness of the walls of the pipe is (at a guess, I've never measured it) a little more than 1/8" and it's 1-1/2" in diameter. So that would be the radius, I'm guessing.

Does this help any?
 
I like how you believe in yourself. The mind is the strongest muscle we have . It s all sttitude!
Take your part and look at it in three views. Top view, Front view, and side view. In those views you dimension what you want. Circles dotted circles, lines and dotted lines represent seen and unseen or features. Like a hole and a thread. What you see in your views is drawn. A hole one inch from an edge will have a circle drawn and the dimension away from the edge given and size of hole. It doesn t have to be an engineers drawing.Some times top and side views are enough. A tolerance is given for the operation. The more decimals used the more precision. Machinist love seeing two decimals.
X left and right y forward and back, z up and down is how we machine.
Just some things to ponder. Go look at an engineers drawing for a simple shaft. Look into tolerances study for a bit and send me a drawing of your part or whatever and l ill help to educate yourself and could make that if you need. Simple flatbar will do.
Something to think about being a maker and working with machinist. Try to understand tooling and processes. Like your part. Do you require a v groove, a radius, or would a simple small slot be sufficent from a tiny endmill.

Those are just a few of the very many things I have never considered. One thing sticks out. If I don't know what "tooling" and "processes" are, I really can't understand them. As I mentioned, if this were wood, I could figure it out. I'd take a router with a triangular profile, and cut my grooves. I'd take one with a much bigger round profile, and cut out the bottom groove. And I have a nice 1/2" forstner bit that would cut my holes. But this isn't wood, and I don't have a clue how metal machines work. I think I have a great deal to learn.
 
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