Any MACH gurus in northern Sonoma (CA) County?

[gheumann]

Hi - first post here.

I'm a hobbyist machinist, and I've built a small business (you won't believe this) making stuff for harmonica players - another hobby of mine. I have been running a Grizzly G0516 lathe/mill for the last 3 years.
I just inherited my 83 year old Dad's old mill - he got himself a new one because he couldn't reach the drawbar nut on this one any more! The good news is that it is way more mill than what I have. The other good news is that it is set up for CNC. I have both Mach 2 and Mach 3 - the computer was his so it is all set up and appears to be communicating properly with the mill. (That doesn't mean the setup is optimal. How would I know?)

So I am machine literate and computer literate, but I don't know squat about Mach (yet). I'm a fast learner. I wonder if there is anyone in my area willing to exchange some lessons and handholding for money, wine, beer, food..... or harmonica microphones.

My goal is to be able to make custom microphone grills beyond what I have been able to accomplish with my rotary table. You can see pictures of the stuff I make on my website - http://www.blowsmeaway.com. Wood mics, "ultimate series" mics and volume controls, as well as custom work all involve my use of the lathe and mill.

Finally - I know it is bad form but I am going to double-post this - in the Mach Mill forum for its specificity and the "newbie - first post place" whose name escapes me at the moment.

Thanks in advance!

P.S. - best to contact me via email - greg AT heumann DOT com (the preceding form used to deter SPAM, not to make your life more difficult!)

[gheumann]

Never mind. I got the mill up and running and I'm writing some simple gcode programs. I can do what I need to do with it - so the pressure is off. I still need to come up with a complete CAD/CAM solution that works well with Mach3 and learn it. Needs to be inexpensive - so suggestions are welcome.

/Greg
http://www.blowsmeaway.com

[cob]

I am not familiar with bobcat but it looks pretty inxpensive to other cams
and by the way it looks it can do bassicaly the things a expensive one can do .
also are you doing really complex stuff