Hit my 1000th paid part on Shopmaster

[uberlinuxgeek]

I know there are some that have had issues. For me I expected it on a China built machine. But for those like me who have pushed through them. You can sure make quality built parts from a Shopmaster. I just hit my 1000th paid part from it. I make from simple spacers of dom all the way to complicated multi axis items on mill. Most are for customers so can't post pics of them but will post soon what I can. I work with 7075, 12l14, and stainless steel most of the time. I made my own qctp using piston style lock on the Shopmaster that holds +/- .001 and shares holders with a custom qctp on my other lathe.
I have a 2014 model with several improvements. So like jt says can be used for hobby all the way to production runs. I use cnc as much as I can. I knew the specs of the machine when purchased and I can live within them, plus a lot has to do with the machinist and not just the tool. I own 2 other mills and 2 other lathes, 1 usa made of each and they all needed some work before a masterpiece. So it can be done. Here's to a 1000 more.

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[jdclark]

Do you have any pictures or videos- would like to see what you are making.

[uberlinuxgeek]

Here are a couple parts I make. It is a qctp solution for the Taig micro lathe.


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[uberlinuxgeek]

Here are some turned parts including tapers cut cnc.


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[uberlinuxgeek]

Well the bar was not turned just in by mistake but was a cnc part.


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[jdclark]

Those toolholders are nice- I'm guessing they would retail for at least 25.00-30.00 each. Would you be willing to share how long it takes to make one?

[uberlinuxgeek]

Hard to say for sure how long as I run them in batches. I would say 15 min a part from rough oversized stock to finished part. Including setups but that is why I batch it so my time might be less. Market is influenced by cheap China parts that drives down the cost to remain competitive.
Thank you


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[instructor37]

Hard to say for sure how long as I run them in batches. I would say 15 min a part from rough oversized stock to finished part. Including setups but that is why I batch it so my time might be less. Market is influenced by cheap China parts that drives down the cost to remain competitive.
Thank you

That's an interesting comment with a bit of irony. You are using a Chinese machine to manufacture parts here in direct competition with the Chinese. When given a choice, I think most people would buy your product even if it were a bit higher in price just for the knowledge that it is USA made and that they can find support directly from you. There are a lot of cottage industries now thriving in the US and they are quite competitive with imports because they can be run out of a home garage and sell the products through E-Bay or on a website. In most places, a one man band operation has practically no overhead, few government regulations and of course does not have all the paperwork, health care, tax forms etc. that are associated with having employees. Having your business in a home garage frees you from a lot of expenses related to driving to work and back every day etc. and allows you to set your own hours, so you can take time off if there is slack or work as long as you want when busy.

[RussellCofID]

That's an interesting comment with a bit of irony. You are using a Chinese machine to manufacture parts here in direct competition with the Chinese. When given a choice, I think most people would buy your product even if it were a bit higher in price just for the knowledge that it is USA made and that they can find support directly from you. There are a lot of cottage industries now thriving in the US and they are quite competitive with imports because they can be run out of a home garage and sell the products through E-Bay or on a website. In most places, a one man band operation has practically no overhead, few government regulations and of course does not have all the paperwork, health care, tax forms etc. that are associated with having employees. Having your business in a home garage frees you from a lot of expenses related to driving to work and back every day etc. and allows you to set your own hours, so you can take time off if there is slack or work as long as you want when busy.

So true! I have been imagineering machining projects for years and will start soon several on my old ShopTask 12-22...

I remember a guy who owned a machine shop when I was just out of high school, I would peek in the door and see what was going on and what stories were being told. He evidently found a way to quickly produce parts in quantity for a big project and I marveled at his big beautiful DROs on all of his machines. He said he never used them on the project but from that one set of parts he made $20,000 profit over a couple months, paid for all of his machines and bought digital readouts for everything!

There is something to be said for individual ingenuity that will find a way to make it work some way and get the job done. As a former farmer, I have seen this daily. Once in a while after that I would see him working but most of the time he seemed to be drinking coffee or over at the hardware store next door telling stories. I'm sure he was dreaming up the 'next big thing'...