Tucson, Arizona

[ViperTX]

Check Capitol Metals in Phoenix....if not order from McMasterCarr.com

[Nonoriginal]

Jorgensen Metals sells a lot to my shop.

[l u k e]

I buy allot of material from onlinemetals.com

I'm in Cottonwood BTW...

[digilord]

I am looking for a mentor to help me get started. I live in Tempe, AZ. I am an IT professional by trade. Machining has always interested me, but I have no idea where to start. I thought I would do what I do when I want to learn a new IT related skill: Go find a mentor.

My e-mail address is in the attached graphic if anyone would be willing to take me on as an apprentice.

[DieGuy]

Originally Posted by digilord I am looking for a mentor to help me get started. I live in Tempe, AZ. I am an IT professional by trade. Machining has always interested me, but I have no idea where to start. I thought I would do what I do when I want to learn a new IT related skill: Go find a mentor. My e-mail address is in the attached graphic if anyone would be willing to take me on as an apprentice.

No problem, I live up in Glendale, what kind of help are you looking for?

I suggest you take a day and look at everything here. If it is CNC programming I am probably not the right guy (yet) but if it is build, connect, and design I think I could be a great help.

WHat Kind of machine interests you?

[digilord]

Originally Posted by DieGuy No problem, I live up in Glendale, what kind of help are you looking for? I suggest you take a day and look at everything here. If it is CNC programming I am probably not the right guy (yet) but if it is build, connect, and design I think I could be a great help. IWHat Kind of machine interests you?

I do some embedded systems design work. All digital stuff. I don't like using chemical etchant. I had a friend make some boards for a low volume project and they worked great. He used his CNC Mill to make the boards. I guess I want to know where to begin. I know I want my own machine. So I guess that is a start. But I don't have any wood or metal working experience.

Where is Glendale?

[DieGuy]

Originally Posted by digilord Where is Glendale?

GLendale is up in the northwest valley. Really how much do you paln on spending to get where you want to go? Milling PCB's is pretty low tech and can be done with a simple setup..

[digilord]

Originally Posted by DieGuy GLendale is up in the northwest valley. Really how much do you paln on spending to get where you want to go? Milling PCB's is pretty low tech and can be done with a simple setup..

I want to start with PCB's. I would like the ability to do more with my setup as my skills grow. $500-$1000 is what I can spend initially on a homebuilt machine. I want to build it myself but like I have said I don't have the tools.

[webbch]

Just joined the board here...

I live in Tucson, AZ. My brother and I (He's an electrical engineer, I'm a little more mechanical) are in the beginning stages of building a CNC router. We've decided to go with a servo system, and we're starting to play around with the motors and encoders, but that's about it so far.

Although we'll probably go with either Rutex or Gecko drives for the control, I've just barely started a side project of playing around with some PIC microcontrollers on a small X-Y table I built a couple years back. I hope to make a PID controller for a couple servo motors, but this project is going to take me awhile. How does one have time for a day job amidst all these projects!

I'm working on getting a mill and lathe so we can make the metal parts needed for his router and my new motor brackets for my X-Y table (The old gearhead motors were entirely underpowered for the job, so I'm upgrading to some servo motors with a bit more torque). I have a little bit of machining experience (still very slow and make lots of mistakes though), including CNC (MasterCAM only), but have never made a living at it, and am in the "acquiring-tools" stage right now. I did build a rotary phase converter about 6 months ago to power my future mill or lathe if needed.

Anyone in Tucson who has the same interests, feel free to PM me.

Chad