Newbie...here's who I am

[NavyShooter]

Hello fellow Canucks!

I did a little intro in another thread, and figured instead of re-writing the whole thing, I'd copy and paste a bit of it in here as a little hello:


I'm a Sonar Technician in the Canadian Navy for, well, going on 19 years now. That involves electronics repair, and maintenance of everything from the 510 Hull Mounted Sonar, the SQR-19 Towed Array, plus various navigation systems including the Mk. 49 Ring Laser Gyro Compass, a couple different GPS systems, etc etc. So, I'm reasonably technically savvy.

BACKGROUND

Before I joined the Navy, I completed the first semester of a machining course at a community college, and alas, the fact that I dropped the course to join the Navy without completing the other 3 semesters has been one of my few regrets.

Since I moved into my current home (6 years ago) I've been working on building up my home machine-shop. I'm now in posession of a RF-31 style manual benchtop mill, and an old Southbend 10K lathe that's mostly clapped out, but for $400, I couldn't say no.

Before the 10K and the -31, I had a Sherline 4400 lathe/mill combo setup that I was into for the better part of $2000 in parts, tooling, etc. I was, well, substantially disappointed by it's slow cutting and small work-space.

I'm now able to make some decent sized items, and have built, among other things, parts for some of my firearms, and some other little jobbies that have kept me busy and amused.

I am, foremost, a hobby machinist, not a production guy. I have helped friends out with some little jobs here and there, and enjoy that.

FUTURE PLANS

That said, I'm looking down the road towards my retirement from the Canadian Forces, and am pondering the idea of a small prototyping machine-shop setup.

For that, I would consider a CNC mill a mandatory item, and would think that for the size jobs I'd consider doing, a Tormach 770 or 1100 would be adequate, or at least a machine in that class/size. (I have thought about getting the CNC Masters Junior CNC upgrade for my RF-31 mill, but at $4500-ish, I think I'm almost better tossing the $$ into getting a dedicated CNC mill such as the Tormach for only 1/4 more money.)

GOALS

The primary goal for this level of machine is to learn CNC.

The secondary goal for this machine is to produce some small parts, ie, rifle bolts, optic mounts, etc, for my own use. Some parts will be steel, some may be aluminium.

The tertiary goal for this machine is to retain some capital value so that I can sell it down the road when the time is right to upgrade to a larger CNC setup.



Anyhow, there's a little about me, figured I'd drop in here and say hello.

I've done some thinking and am leaning towards either a Taig CNC, or a Seig X2 conversion to CNC as my first machine.

I'm in the reading/research mode right now, and will be for the next couple of months until I return to Canada, I'm currently deployed in the Med with the Canadian Navy.

NS

[jezx]

syil canada may have some small mills , i ordered one a while back ( x6) , should be getting it next month , i know they have some x4 models that may be ready to ship out . might be worth writing them . an they are in canada , %5 tax .
i know very little about maching cnc aswell . but seems like a good hobby , i build gun parts also . good luck

[3illmesmart]

I second the recommendation of Syil. I just got my X4, and Keith is fantastic to work with, plus, no border charges and hassles for us Canucks.

[NavyShooter]

Thanks guys,

I'm looking at probably getting an X2L and building on with the CNC Fusion kit.

Brad