Small Metal lathe/milling machine jobs

[minilathe22]

Hello everyone

I have been trying to find someone to do a small metworking job I need doing, one simple metal lathe job and a simple milling machine job both in mild steel. However the general metalworking companies I have approached so far have responded with "what is your company name" followed by silence as I am not a business, just a woodturning hobbyist looking to have a few metal parts made.

I have considered buying a metal lathe but it seems a bit over the top and I think I would rarely use it again.


Any suggestions for a company/individual that would take on small metalworking jobs?

 

[marcros]

what is the job? pop a sketch up, you may find somebody on here with the means and a bit of spare time.

 

[sunnybob]

Youre obviosusly approaching large companies. They cant be bothered with one offs because the cost is unrealistic. Go through your local yellow pages and find an engineer registered at a house address.
OR..... contact a local railways enthusiast or model making club. They are chocker block with old boys and their lathes and mills.

 

[TFrench]

As Marcros said, there's quite of few of us here with metalworking equipment - stick a sketch up!

 

[AES]

And if that fails (unlikely, knowing this Forum) then contact your local Model Engineering Club/Society - list available on the "Model Engineer" website (see link in sticky at the top of the General Metalworking section here)

 

[minilathe22]

Thanks for the ideas. I will post some hand drawn diagrams on here shortly and see if anyone is able to help me out.

 

[Rorschach]

If it's a really small job you will probably need to find a hobbyist, anyone commercial will charge too much just to setup the machine.

I have had some work done by small engineering firms, it wasn't cheap but it was way cheaper than I could have done it. Guess it depends on what you are looking for.

 

[minilathe22]

Ok so I have drawn this in SketchUp, material is mild steel and 60mm thickness. The holes need to clear 1" bar woodturning toolposts.

The dashed lines need to be 5/8" UNC threaded, I have a tap for this so a suitably sized hole instead would be ok.

I have another small metal lathe task I am going to draw up as well.

 

[minilathe22]

And a circular bar, mild steel. This is the side cross section. The smaller end should fit in the holes in the part above, and then the larger section fit into a measured at 28.7mm (approx 1 1/8") hole in my toolrest. I guess a small radius in the inside corners is ok.

 

[TFrench]

Looks simple enough. How thick is the plate in the milling job? Do the ends have to be an exact radius or can they be bandsawed and linished to "about right" - Would save a setup on the rotary table if so. Do you have the steel for it already?

 

[minilathe22]

Well guessed, the rounded edges are just for clearance against the workpiece and do not need to be accurately machined. I started the job myself on a pillar drill with a 50mm wide by 60mm deep piece of steel but after nearly 2 hours of faffing around I found I could not get the drill running true, and the hole was way oversize. Perhaps this piece can be salvaged for the job though?

Thinking about it, the lathe part could be 28.5mm bar and the wider part just a washer press fitted. The purpose of the washer is to stop the part falling through if I slacken both clamp bolts at the same time. See photos below of what I am hoping to achieve. It is an extension piece with two settings.

 

[Blockplane]

Try signing up to Model Engineer magazine forum - you may have more joy finding someone to take the job on there.

 

[TFrench]

Definitely looks like something I could take on. I might not be very fast though! I probably have some 40mm bar stock I can make the lathe part from. It would be better in one piece I think.

 

[minilathe22]

Definitely looks like something I could take on. I might not be very fast though! I probably have some 40mm bar stock I can make the lathe part from. It would be better in one piece I think.

Thanks for considering it, It seems 60x60mm steel bar, the size I really want, is not easy to find. Would you consider making it to my dimensions if I manage to source a suitably sized bar?

 

[TFrench]

If you can find some, I'll have a go. If not the bit you have already would probably be salvageable - the hole doesn't look too deep?

Would the collar in the middle of the turned part be better if it was wider? The way I understand it working, the whole thing will be sat on that 5mm shoulder - if it was wider it would help with stability.

 

[minilathe22]

I will send you a PM, perhaps I can post you the existing metal bar and see if you are able to work with it.

 

[minilathe22]

Thanks to TFrench, we have come to an arrangement to get the parts made.

Although I nearly pulled the trigger on an ML7 on ebay this morning instead :shock:

 

[marcros]

very nearly expensive parts!!!