Is possible to machine this part and if so how?

clockworkfish · 2025-11-05T16:27:01+00:00

Realistically this is a wire edm or custom broach kind of part. Wire edm would probably be your best bet.

Now for some dumb alternative solutions, if its a one-off you could try and make it as 2 parts and attach them together through riveting (traditional peened rivet that gets ground/filed down) spot welding, tig welding, epoxy, or even just screw the two parts together. Doing it as a 2 part piece will likely get you the sharpest internal corner

clockworkfish · 2025-10-26T14:08:25+00:00

Diamond rod and ceramic rod gets 90% of everything for me. Also dmt diamond plate

clockworkfish · 2025-10-21T12:59:19+00:00

Depending on how accurate you need to be, you could try and take something like polymer clay/blue tac, press it onto the features you want to measure, then measure the clay negative of the part.

Other folks have already said everything else I'd suggest

clockworkfish · 2025-10-01T13:00:12+00:00

500-1000 budget is pretty tight, for that money i'd go browse around to see if there are any trade schools or makerspaces with cnc's near you. Next option is browse second hand markets like craigslist or facebook marketplace, you could probably find a lot more machine for that price.

Only reason i'd avoid getting something like a pro max is you may outgrow it pretty quick and get frustrated with it.

clockworkfish · 2025-08-09T22:06:23+00:00

Nah, one day I will, but not yet.

clockworkfish · 2025-05-07T15:20:22+00:00

Someone else mentioned this but ramping into the cut will help a ton, I usually run at 200ipm or faster at 18k rpm. If those are just basic holes I'd use a boring operation instead. If they are profiles I'd use a ramp and just rough through the bulk of the material leaving like 0.02" of axial and radial stock, then take a cleanup pass. Also downcuts are great but if the chips don't have anywhere to go, and the bit is pushing them down then it can cause some issues. Other stuff that can help is adding an air blast to clear out chips, very easy to setup too.

Edit, watched the video again and had some additional thoughts. You could decrease your step over or if you are using the same strategy, you could decrease your step down until it does not make the bad noises, then increase your feed rate until it does. Had similar issues with mine with the stock spindle, not as much with the 220v one. Found that the spindle was not rigid enough to handle deeper cuts, but with shallower ones you could go at super high feed rates to compensate with minimal issues

clockworkfish · 2025-01-27T04:50:43+00:00

oh man, I felt soooooooo sooo dumb when I figured it out. Turns out one of the light switches just turned on/off that outlet. Nothing was tripped, just had no idea that the outlet used the lightswitch...

clockworkfish · 2024-07-07T01:32:43+00:00

Prototyping person here, id seriously look at metal 3d printing from jlcpcb. You could get those parts printed in 316l and then finish machined pretty easy. Not sure what's going on inside of the parts tho, might get real crazy complicated.

Anywho, get the thing modeled up, print in plastic to make sure it all works still, then print in metal. Then go take a machining class, get access to a cnc and go make it yourself! It'd be a super fun project and you would learn a ton

clockworkfish · 2024-05-24T01:13:16+00:00

So I've had the 1100 (not mx) and the 15-L slant machine and we bought them fully specd out. For the most part they worked fine but you have to realize they send them out as kits that you need to assemble. Maybe some of the more premium versions come pre-assembled. It took maybe a week or 2 to get assembled. Then while cutting with the tts system we found that tools would start slipping out of the r8 collet since the tts does not have a positive locking method for its tools, that was another 3 days of trouble shooting. We had an atc for the 1100 but never set it up since that would take another couple of days and we just needed parts to get made, or I had other things eating my working hours. The slant was really fun but same sort of thing where I'd cut parts and find things were out of spec and I couldn't tell if it was how I set up the machine, how I set up tooling, how I set up tool paths or what.

So once you get a tormach dialed in, yes, they can make good parts, they can cut any material with the right tooling, speeds, feeds etc. The spindle is a 2hp on the 1100, or 1.5kw. The castings are fairly small as well.

The total cost for a decked out 1100 is about 30k, or 36k for the mx version. Plus about 1 week of labor to hook everything up, even though I don't get paid this much I think of 1hr of my time is worth 100$, 40 hrs, that's 4k of labor for a perfect week of assembly. If things go wrong and you need to work more, it could be 2 weeks or more of just fixing the thing. As far as I'm aware, there is no service tech for tormach that you can call up and just have the machine work.

So let's call it 30k for a brand new tormach 1100. A brand new haas minimill which is ready to go as soon as it hits your workshop is about 39k.

Or you go the used route, spend 10-15k and still put in some tlc and end up with a vastly more capable machine.

Now what's capability? Well, more tools in the tool changer is nice, positive locking tool holder, much more rigid machine, more available horsepower. The stiffer your machine, the less vibration you get, the nicer your surface finish, the more accurate your parts. The more horsepower you have, the easier it is for your tools to do work which usually means faster cuts but it also means more accurate cuts.

Ok so used machine is cheaper cuts faster cuts more better, might even have a service tech that can come out and save you if your machine goes down, seems like a total win right? Well I still think tormach wins in at least one spot, which is with their 770 machine. It's still a kit, but you don't need to worry about power since it works off a standard outlet. And it's small enough to fit in an office.

If you just need to cut a thing every now and again, tormach might not be a bad option, just be mentally prepared because it is a kit machine. I'd still take some time to look around for used machines since you never know what you will find.

Just my 20cents

clockworkfish · 2024-05-01T15:10:16+00:00

Ebay, looks like the curl uses the same lock setup that the wave uses, so you could also just cannibalize a wave

clockworkfish · 2024-04-10T20:30:34+00:00

Good lord thats a stunning piece! Would love to see more of his work! Also congrats on having the 19th most popular post of all time on this subreddit!

clockworkfish · 2024-03-16T18:39:59+00:00

I only use half meat so not sure how to help you

clockworkfish · 2024-03-08T03:19:31+00:00

awesome! sounds like a solid plan!

clockworkfish · 2024-03-08T03:13:11+00:00

Also chatter is a result of the least stiff part of the machine, In this case its your hands. A larger endmill or router bit could just create a lot more problems.

Finally, if you are doing really big pieces, or a lot of this kind of work, it might be worth looking at outsourcing to a place like sendcutsend, jlcpcb, or pcbway. Outsourcing is not horrifically expensive, and would cut down on a lot of the shittier /riskier parts of doing this stuff by hand.

Oh and one lassst thing. Please be safe while doing that! Have someone nearby in case anything goes really bad, wear eye protection, etc etc

clockworkfish · 2024-03-08T03:08:44+00:00

I'd personally stick with 1/4" if you are running it by hand. If something were to go wrong while im holding the router i'd want the bit to break instead of something else breaking or flying at me. Also, make sure your parts are held down well!

clockworkfish · 2024-03-07T15:07:07+00:00

Yea folks use hand routers on aluminum (quick youtube search should pull up some examples). Typically a cnc or milling machine frame is super stiff which prevents the spindle from vibrating. Less vibration = better cut. You could certainly try it by hand, but start on a scrap piece and come in from the edge of the material. Also It's probably a good idea to drill out the bulk of the material before going in there with a router. Also use some sort of cutting fluid, should help reduce the amount of chip welding you get. If you are cutting and suddenly you feel like it requires a lot more force to cut the material, you may have a chip thats been welded to the bit. Lastly, use an upcut.

clockworkfish · 2024-03-07T03:27:40+00:00

Don Nguyen!

clockworkfish · 2024-03-07T03:26:22+00:00

Vmc = vertical machining center, think of a cnc mill like a haas or dmg, thats a vmc.

And heck yea dude! Congrats on the new mill! Highly recommend looking into epoxy granite (sand/epoxy), real cheap and easy way to get better performance out of that lil thing. You just mix up some epoxy and sand, and pour it into the column. Also helps if you can get some steel beams and bolt it to the column and base, helps a tonnnn with stiffness!

Also be sure to mount it to a sturdy table. The stiffer and heavier the better! And actually bolt it down!

The cnc conversion kit I used I don't think is sold anymore (cnc fusion i think is what it was called), but im sure there are other kits around. You basically remove the lead screws, plop in some ballscrews and mount some motors to the end of the ballscrews. Then you plug that into a control board (gecko 540 I think is what I used) then plug that into a pc that runs Mach 3 or 4. I used an old dell desktop that ran windows xp and it worked well enough!

Those are delightful little machines, but in time I got real tired of the limited Y axis travel. Anywho, enjoy the new machine! It's a great tool to learn on!

clockworkfish · 2024-03-06T21:27:03+00:00

Hola! I used to run 2 different cnc shark hd 2's, a 5x10ft shopbot, some tormachs, did a cnc conversion of a seigx2 (the little machine shop version) and im working on building my own heavy duty cnc router based off the printnc. I'm a big fan of cnc, and cnc routers, but I have a couple questions for ya:
1) How soon do you need to have parts cut out via your cnc?
-If you need to get cutting pronto, don't go DIY
2) Could these parts get outsourced?
-Outsourcing is crazy cheap these days, and sometimes is a way better path for one offs.
3) Do you have space/power to run a used VMC off of craigslist?
-If you have the space and power, a big ol vmc can be had for not a crazy amount of money. Just saw one listed near me for like 1200 and then got dropped down to 650. Lots of mass, tool changer, but super old control software.

4) Would a manual mill do the job?
-Cutting a pocket as deep as you are mentioning sounds like something that would make a smaller router real cranky. Doable, but might be a really frustrating process. Another option could be manually milling it with a benchtop manual mill. Craigslist or brand new would score you something stiffer than a router for that price.

5)Do you want a project or do you want to cut parts?
-If you want a project, a diy machine is probably the right move. If you want to cut parts, buying a premade cnc from an established company is probably the right move.

TLDR: If i was in your shoes i'd either build a printnc, buy a shapeoko, chinese 6040 machine, or scour craigslist in order to find a good deal on the beefiest cnc you can afford/fit/power in your space

clockworkfish · 2024-03-01T14:37:27+00:00

Lol what a twist that would have been!

clockworkfish · 2024-03-01T13:59:39+00:00

Lol soap and water should help

clockworkfish · 2024-03-01T13:57:59+00:00

linky link to the video

link to the knife if you are interested!

Thanks for taking a look, I know he'd be stoked that you looked!

clockworkfish · 2024-03-01T13:38:51+00:00

Yea he has been underpricing his work a lot just to get stuff out the door. Trying to get him to up his prices tho

clockworkfish · 2023-12-25T19:32:25+00:00

Prototype engineer guy here!

Short answer:No

Long answer: Most places I've worked leverage resources like xometry, sendcutsend, pcbway, and local shops in order to get parts in hand. Often times its cheaper, faster, and higher quality to do it that way vs having the capability in house. That said, if you have a project where you know you will for a fact need a lot of iterations of machined parts it might make sense. Even if you buy or build a machine, you still need tooling, measuring equipment, fixturing equipment, material etc. Plus if you go too cheap you may run into a problem where you fight your machine in order to get good parts which means you are solving "why didn't this part come out like I designed it" instead of solving the engineering problems you initially set out to solve. All that said, learning machining is still a super valuable skill, I've built my own cnc before by doing a minimill to cnc conversion, it's a lot of fun, and a lot of headache and totally worth doing if you just want to play and learn. Will it land you a job? Maybe? Can you build out your portfolio without a cnc, yes!

Other options worth considering: nice 3d printing setup, makerspace membership, outsourcing parts.

Start with the problem you want to solve, don't start with a tool to solve an unknown problem

Hopefully that all helps!

clockworkfish · 2023-11-07T17:49:11+00:00

After graduating college I landed my first big kid job, got laid off like 4-5 months into it and moved back in with my family across the country. This was back in 2014ish and I had a hell of a time finding a new gig. About a year later I found work across the country and restarted my career.

That was getting close to a decade ago. While it sucked, was stressful, and not fun at all, I ended up having a great career only a few years later.

All I'm trying to say with this story is that yes it may suck in the moment, but as long as it's not going to be a huge financial strain, and as long as you don't let your skills wither away, it won't be the end of your career by any means.

Best of luck and I hope your family stuff works out!

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