LinkBack URL
About LinkBacks
Welcome to the Zone.Where abouts in west Ga are you located?
| | |
hello. i have recently gotten a 3 axis cnc knee mill. i still have my full time job and will be looking for work to do on the side until hopefully i can be self employed as soon as possible. how did you get started? im looking for advice from people who have already been down this road. i am open to one-offs, prototyping, production parts, .......... just about anything really. i already have cad/cam software. just not sure how to get people to start sending drawings or parts for me to quote. thanks. BRMachineShop@yahoo.com. i am located in west georgia, united states.
Welcome to the Zone.Where abouts in west Ga are you located?
What are your hobbies ? Is there any manufacturing possibilities there? It's always more fun to make stuff to sell that your in to. I'm in to RC airplanes, but that market is flooded with stuff. Also love my Porsche 914, people have built nice business from that, making custom parts. Another friend of mine loved racing, so he started a rocker arm business. His rockers are now in Nascar, drags, off road, employs 30+ people, has a million dollar yacht, multiple hot cars, and financed nothing.
I am located in buchanan georgia. Off i-20 near the alabama line. My main hobby is golf, however I have an interest in trying to get work making custom car, motorcycle, or gun parts. I am open to any type of work I can get right now though. Just not sure how to find it.
I'd be careful with gun parts, lots of laws of what you can/can't make without a FFL. Visit car and motorcycle forums like this one. Maybe post that you can do one off machine parts, the guys that have rare stuff and can't find parts might just hit you up. Worth a shot. Job shop stuff is harder unless you know someone.
thank you, i did not know their were regulations to making gun parts. I will make sure to look at the car forums and see if I find some parts to make. hopefully over time i will be able to find some jobs that will be higher quantities and repeat work.
BR:
I did the same thing. Bought a couple of used CNC's and put them in my garage. I've never looked back!
For getting the work in, my advice is:
Get a dedicated phone line JUST for the business. Same for fax and email.
Go to the local print shop of business/office supply and get some business cards printed. minimum of 500, preferably 1000.
On some free time, drive over to the local hot rod shops, motorcycle places, boat/marine shops and industrial parks. Knock on doors and introduce yourself and start passing out cards.
Before you know it, you'll get faxes/email/calls.
When I started my own, I was still working full time and HATING it. I would knock on doors every saturday. Before long, I was on my own and told my old boss to stick it.
What type of cad/cam do you have? I am not very far west from you. What are type of kneemill do you have and what are the travels? I have been on my own for 20+ years, some days its a good thing some days its not.
we have only had our machine running a couple of weeks. i am still looking for our first job. i will be using the mastercam where i work until we can buy our own cad/cam. i have a supermax ycm40 3 axis cnc knee mill. i havent checked the travels but i believe they are 24 in x and 15 in y and 5 in z (quill). plus the knee has a good bit of travel. i am hoping to start getting work soon and be self employed one of these days.
Using the CAD/CAM at work to make money on the side is a huge NO, and can get you fired faster than you can blink. I'm assuming your YCM-40 is using an Anilam Crusader M control? If also, you can forget 3D work as the Crusader M just doesn't have the memory capacity for any program bigger than 1,400 lines. Drip feeding is out without a lot of hair pulling and placing "%" in proper places so the control can grab each chunk as needed. Not a true drip feed scenario. How do I know this? I own one.
I wish you luck, but you have a bit more money to spend before you are up and running.
actually, my situation may be a little unique as far as work goes. the owner where i work bought the building two years ago and sold most of the existing machinery and bought new 5 axes machines. he stored a few machines in the warehouse he didnt sell and the one i have is one of those. it wasnt working so i got it cheap. as he was talking me into buying it, he aquired the crusader post for their mastercam and allows me to program things for home on my lunch break or before or after work. i have not had any luck getting my drip feed to even start to work. (may not have the correct aux code) every time i put it in i get an error #40 message. the few programs i have ran with 3d contouring i have had to post a new program for each contour. its a headache, but will work until i can upgrade the controller or buy another machine. what aux code do you use for drip feed? i dont get on the pc much, best way for me to reply is generally my email, brmachineshop@yahoo.com. any advise and help will be greatly appreciated, thanks.
As soon as possible, get your own legit copies of software. Arrangements with your boss can so sour fast once you really start getting busy. I've been there.Originally Posted by brmachineshop
Posting Permissions
| | |
