Anyone with a hobby mini-lathe here ?

Thread Starter

Externet

Joined Nov 29, 2005
2,200
Hi.
If someone plays with a hobby lathe, please let me know if I can have a small piece made to link two rotating items. No machinists nearby my town. :(
At once, will tell what I need:

One 25 mm long shaft.
Half of its length 5.0 mm diameter.
The other half 7.0 mm diameter.
In any steel.

Will pay, of course. Better if within U.S.
 
Last edited:

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
Hi.
If someone plays with a hobby lathe, please let me know if I can have a small piece made to link two rotating items. No machinists nearby my town. :(
At once, will tell what I need:

One 25 mm long shaft.
Half of its length 5.0 mm diameter.
The other half 7.0 mm diameter.
In any steel.

Will pay, of course. Better if within U.S.
Easy for me. Next time I am machining something out of grade 5 or grade 8 bolt stock I can knock one out for you for no charge being I occasionally do more precise test parts as tolerance calibration pieces while tightening up the lathe before doing large pieces I only get one shot at making. ;)

What tolerances do you need? I can do down to +- ~.001" (~.025mm.) tolerances easily enough.


I can make one for you but I cannot do steel, it will be aluminum. I can do it for $50 and I will even anodize it blue for you. It may be longer than 25mm.
$50 for a colored aluminum rivet? Greedy much? :oops:
 

SLK001

Joined Nov 29, 2011
1,549
One 25 mm long shaft.
Half of its length 5.0 mm diameter.
The other half 7.0 mm diameter.
In any steel.
Do you have the description in real dimensions? Do you have a print/sketch?

I don't have a toy lathe, but I have a South Bend Heavy 10 that I could whip it out on.
 

GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
$50 for a colored aluminum rivet? Greedy much? :oops:
Setup $10
Materials: $3
Machine time: $25
Cleanup: $10
Quality testing:
- diameter1: $5
- diameter2: $5
- concentricity: $5
- surface finish (3 points): $15
- length: $5
- certificate of compliance documentation fee: $5
Packaging: $5
Postage: $7

Then I offer a 50% discount for AAC members, which is a really good deal.
 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
Setup $10
Materials: $3
Machine time: $25
Cleanup: $10
Quality testing:
- diameter1: $5
- diameter2: $5
- concentricity: $5
- surface finish (3 points): $15
- length: $5
- certificate of compliance documentation fee: $5
Packaging: $5
Postage: $7

Then I offer a 50% discount for AAC members, which is a really good deal.
Really, you think it's worth $5 every time you have to turn a friggin handle on your lathe and take a micrometer measurement on a piece of aluminum? What sort of pieces of overpriced junk do you have? :rolleyes:

From me, pretty much everything you list in process I'm doing for my own project just as calibration testing before doing a critical job so by 'mass production cost savings' it's free in my views.:rolleyes:

Plus I tend to have to mail stuff out every week anyway so an the tiny bit and extra envelope costs to send just to make someone happy is just a bonus in my book. ;)

And you think charging $100 then given a 50% off for a piddly piece of machined aluminum, that shouldn't take more hte few minutes to make, 'is a good deal' when I am willing to knock the same part out of grade 5 or 8 bolt stock for free? WTF?:confused:
 

Thread Starter

Externet

Joined Nov 29, 2005
2,200
Thank you for your prompt responses, gentlemen.

Tolerance +/- 0.1 mm to diameters, +/- 1mm to length.
If any steel is too vague, whatever ironish piece of remnants or stainless will do very well, but not from a broken drillbit shank. Will have little torque and nothing important. Not keyed.
Mailing and labor covered; and if you want some free electronic parts on top, make a wish list; I may be lucky and have it.

Understand the convenience of a drawing (I would ask the same), but perhaps a picture of a similar piece works:P1010651.JPG
 

GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
Really, you think it's worth $5 every time you have to turn a friggin handle on your lathe and take a micrometer measurement on a piece of aluminum? What sort of pieces of overpriced junk do you have? :rolleyes:

From me, pretty much everything you list in process I'm doing for my own project just as calibration testing before doing a critical job so by 'mass production cost savings' it's free in my views.:rolleyes:

Plus I tend to have to mail stuff out every week anyway so an the tiny bit and extra envelope costs to send just to make someone happy is just a bonus in my book. ;)

And you think charging $100 then given a 50% off for a piddly piece of machined aluminum, that shouldn't take more hte few minutes to make, 'is a good deal' when I am willing to knock the same part out of grade 5 or 8 bolt stock for free? WTF?:confused:
My price is an excellent deal for me.

My price is not a good deal for @Externet (if his alternative is you and your free labor and machine time)

I don't know if you realize this, but your offer is a terrible deal for you from a strictly financial point of view. If, however, your offer gives you other non-financial benefits, then that math is up to you.
 

#12

Joined Nov 30, 2010
18,224
I tend to be in the tcm camp. Probably why my best car is 12 years old.:(
I was taught that measuring what you make is part of the making, not a separate charge. Then I saw a hospital charge $50 for a blank piece of paper placed on a tray before the tools were placed on the tray. Then I thought I should charge $50 for the piece of tape I use to hold my thermometer against a pipe in an air conditioner. Where does this end? It ends where the market won't pay $5 for measuring your own work and charging separately for the measuring.
 

GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
I tend to be in the tcm camp. Probably why my best car is 12 years old.:(
I was taught that measuring what you make is part of the making, not a separate charge. Then I saw a hospital charge $50 for a blank piece of paper placed on a tray before the tools were placed on the tray. Then I thought I should charge $50 for the piece of tape I use to hold my thermometer against a pipe in an air conditioner. Where does this end? It ends where the market won't pay $5 for measuring your own work and charging separately for the measuring.
Come on, it was a joke! I was laughing about how cheap the part in @paulktreg 's post was ($2.99). I thought I was being overly obvious in my endorsement of Paul's option when I offered to blue anodize the part - I don't even own a milling machine. After that, I was pulling TCM's chain and the "pork chop" (free machining services) he hung around his neck to become the popular kid.
 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
Come on, it was a joke! I was laughing about how cheap the part in @paulktreg 's post was ($2.99). I thought I was being overly obvious in my endorsement of Paul's option when I offered to blue anodize the part - I don't even own a milling machine. After that, I was pulling TCM's chain and the "pork chop" (free machining services) he hung around his neck to become the popular kid.
No joke on me in any such way.

He has a similar thread going on ETO and someone over there also offered free machining before I even knew about any of this. :rolleyes:

http://www.electro-tech-online.com/threads/anyone-with-a-hobby-mini-lathe-here.150986/#post-1296368

Seems the be generous with one resources thing isn't just something I and #12 believe in. :cool:

As for the value of my time I already have myself set up well enough to not need to worry about working for money to any degree which leaves me the much higher life value of time for philanthropic sharing of my resources with others as I see fit if for nothing else but for my own personal ' feel goods' over having both helped someone who was in need and screwed some greedy SOB out of any possibility of having made money for doing the same work for whomever did it for. That feeling right there is priceless to me! :D

So yea, maybe you weren't serious but unfortunately I know far too many contractors who work exactly like you represented yourself that screw anyone they can exactly as you showed. :(
 

GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
No joke on me in any such way.

He has a similar thread going on ETO and someone over there also offered free machining before I even knew about any of this. :rolleyes:

http://www.electro-tech-online.com/threads/anyone-with-a-hobby-mini-lathe-here.150986/#post-1296368

Seems the be generous with one resources thing isn't just something I and #12 believe in. :cool:

As for the value of my time I already have myself set up well enough to not need to worry about working for money to any degree which leaves me the much higher life value of time for philanthropic sharing of my resources with others as I see fit if for nothing else but for my own personal ' feel goods' over having both helped someone who was in need and screwed some greedy SOB out of any possibility of having made money for doing the same work for whomever did it for. That feeling right there is priceless to me! :D

So yea, maybe you weren't serious but unfortunately I know far too many contractors who work exactly like you represented yourself that screw anyone they can exactly as you showed. :(

I had to include all of my fees. I'm not as good at it as this Verizon girl in the T-Mobile commercial...

 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
Have you found a source yet? I have a 7 mm rod stepped down to 5.7 mm, too hot outside to finish today
Yea he gave me a shout. Unfortunately it's been a busier than anticipated week with everything else that came up and have not had any lathe time. :(
 

GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
Yea he gave me a shout. Unfortunately it's been a busier than anticipated week with everything else that came up and have not had any lathe time. :(

If you drag your feet any longer, the project won't be done in time for his daughters birthday!
My $50 option isn't looking too bad now, is it? I would have shipped it the same day.
 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
If you drag your feet any longer, the project won't be done in time for his daughters birthday!
My $50 option isn't looking too bad now, is it? I would have shipped it the same day.
Life happens and I have to prioritize but feel free to ship yours to him for free, as I am, and see if he feels it's worth $50 when it gets there. :rolleyes:

As far as I know others offered the same deal as me and they too are apparently sitting right were I am on shipping as well.
 

GopherT

Joined Nov 23, 2012
8,009
Life happens and I have to prioritize but feel free to ship yours to him for free, as I am, and see if he feels it's worth $50 when it gets there. :rolleyes:

As far as I know others offered the same deal as me and they too are apparently sitting right were I am on shipping as well.
Money talks and BS walks. Cash in advance.

Or in your case, BS spends dozens of hours typing long posts on AAC instead of getting your promised donation finished and shipped.
 

tcmtech

Joined Nov 4, 2013
2,867
Money talks and BS walks. Cash in advance.

Or in your case, BS spends dozens of hours typing long posts on AAC instead of getting your promised donation finished and shipped.
Back to posting without thinking I see. :oops:

Never occur to you that just maybe I am not at home or maybe haven't been most of the week and or that just maybe my lathe might not have been anywhere within reasonable traveling distance either? :rolleyes:
 
Top