Ready the ammo, Here comes a newbie!

[tripslip]

Ok, so I’ve been lurking around here for a while and thought it was time to make my first post with an intro and a question. I live in Seattle and build motorcycles for fun and am a fabricator for a living.

This is one of the bikes I’m building now…



So this weekend I go to grizzly and pick up my first mill or possibly mill drill lathe (am I wasting time on a mill drill lathe?) I really need them all.

Anyway to my question. I would like to know if anyone could give me some advise as to where I can find a kit to do my own conversion. I have a few items that I may be able to use but being a newbie I don’t know if they will work for this type of application. First is a Indramat Ecodrive DKC01 1-030-3-FW and the other pieces of Mitsubishi MELSEC controllers. Most of witch are FX1N-40MT. Is any of this usable to me.

Like I said, I am a complete newbie to this but don’t plane on being one for long

[ViperTX]

Lock and Loaded!

The 3 way machine is a compromise....you need to determine what you plan to do with the machine.....personally, if you can afford it....I would go with one of the knee mills that has an x of at least 28" and a y of at least 10"...

For a lathe...you also need to determine what you can live with......if 8x14 will work....then Lathemaster is your answer....if you need something larger I would go with a Jet....they are better then the Grizzly lathes.

[norvil1]

imho if the combo is your choice,then the shoptask tri-power is the way to go
if the mill is your choice,then the tormach
fi lathe is your choice,then smithy 14 x 40

[Pres]

"imho if the combo is your choice,then the shoptask tri-power is the way to go
if the mill is your choice,then the tormach
fi lathe is your choice,then smithy 14 x 40"
I'll second that!
(good selection for that type/size of work.)

[ViperTX]

Remember that the Tormach is a CNC machine and it is double the price of a Jet knee mill.

[Pres]

Oops!
I mistakenly thought he had decided "Si NC".

[tripslip]

Wow, at 6g's it's a lil out of my price range. It looks to be a awesome setup, but not in my budget. I was thinking of the X2/X3 type machines and doing my own mods to convert it to a CNC down the road. I would buy one already set up but, I would like to have manual controls as well as CNC. Have any input on the electronics I have? BTW, thanks for the super QUICK input. And mill is my first choice. I'll get a lathe down the road.

[keebler303]

Its not for everyone but I picked up an old bridgeport cnc knee mill and converted to modern computer control and I am still under 1K on total cost including a full set of collets, some tooling, etc.

Matt