Maryland

[joet1324]

HI everyone i work for a high end mill work metal work company and program and operate a cnc router i was wondering if anyone in the area was looking for any help in any of these areas, i also do design and work with auto-cad

[Rance]

Where in MD are you? I'm in VA (22405) and would enjoy peeking in on an experienced mill worker. However, I'd like to visit someone fairly close.

[jkeyser14]

It's nice to see someone else from MD on these boards!

[joet1324]

i live in frederick md and i work in gathersburgh

[dammachines]

So, are there any home machinist "clubs" in the area anywhere?

Up until about 3 years ago I lived in Mt. Airy, MD. Now I'm about 20 miles west of Frederick in Harpers Ferry, WV.

jkeyser14, looks like a pretty cool group of engineers you've got rounded up there. I started out an EE major at College Park back in '89, but ended up graduating with a CS degree from UMUC quite a few years later.

By day I'm a software engineer working on flight simulators for a government contractor. But in what little free time I have I'm working on this: http://www.dammachines.com

I sold my Taig CNC mill and replaced it with a Tormach PCNC1100 last year. This spring I added a Dyna Mechtronics DM3000H CNC lathe to the shop. Unfortunately I'm not a machinist so I'm learning at the same time as I'm trying make parts for sale.

I've tried to get some of the guys at work involved, but I guess since most of them are more of the software type (even those with ME degrees) no one's really been interested...

Of course with 4 young children (from ages 6 to 2 months) I don't have a heck of a lot of free time right now to play...

[jkeyser14]

If someone had enough time to put together a MD area get together during the holidays, I'd go. I haven't been able to find any real machinist clubs either. The only sort of club I've ran into have been guys on manual machines building model railroad stuff, which isn't very interesting to me.

Here at school is the closest I've found. I'm part of the baja team, so we build an off-road vehicle each year. It's a great experience but after you've done it for several years, it starts to get old (you don't learn anything new making the same parts over and over).

Also, as far as the mechanical engineers go, I'd say only 1 out of 10 who graduate actually have any interest in getting their hands dirty. It's quite sad. One of our professors asked a sophomore class how many people had used a ratchet before and less than 10% of the class responded .

[craignott]

This has been my problem for sometime... Where does someone go to get some experience or knowledge with all this stuff before running out and dropping lots of money on gear. And being a computer geek with no access to this equipment at work and no time to even think about taking courses you kind of wind up doing a lot of reading and plotting.

[jkeyser14]

I got some hands on experience using manual machines at school, and went from there. I'm still by no means proficient with cnc, but I know enough to build machines and get by making simple parts.

No matter what you do, it will cost you money. You can't learn without a machine to use, and you'll learn a lot more by building your own machine (although it won't be anywhere near as nice as one you could purchase). There are also community colleges that have machining programs, but you have to have the time to attend.

[gmfoster]

Originally Posted by craignott This has been my problem for sometime... Where does someone go to get some experience or knowledge with all this stuff before running out and dropping lots of money on gear. And being a computer geek with no access to this equipment at work and no time to even think about taking courses you kind of wind up doing a lot of reading and plotting.

I have mentioned this ion the board but there is an active group of metalworkers that meet every month on th eDC area. One month down in Va. the next up at Burtinsville, MD. They also have a list server that is very active at times but may go a week at a time with no posts. All levels of expertese here...

CAMS Chesapeak Area Metalworkers....

http://www.cams-club.org/


Sign up fpr the list Server and join is.
Garry

[hoge_1234]

Buy the old old book called the machinest handbook the one from 1950 on back but not any further back then 1930 because they standardized threads around that time. I got one on ebay for $35. and has every thing you need the cnc comes after you get the theory down pat. I am also from the free state.

[BC Boatworks]

Hello,

I'm looking for someone in the Maryland area who can CNC mill a shape out of mdf particle board for me. Dimensions of the shape are 81" x 22.3" x 3".

I need to make a two female molds for each side of a composite sailboat keel. So far I'm having some trouble finding someone who can do the job.

Any suggestions?

Thanks, Brian

[deputy4hcso]

Hello all,
I am looking for CNC schools in the Baltimore area. I have been on a lathe for 2 yrs and now am working on mills in the Security area. Are there any classes or schools close to thast area?

Thanks,
Elliott