dakota.potts
New member
As you can see from my signature, I spend a fair amount of time running machines between my time at school for gunsmithing and my job operating CNC machines. I've had previous jobs running manual machines (Surface grinder and mill mostly) and do a lot of reading on the subject.
It seems, after all the time being around it, I've caught the bug. I want to work on things on my own time. I don't often have a lot of time to just experiment with making things on the machines at school, and I'm generally not allowed to run manual machines at work even if I were to stay after my shift (which is fine, it's their machine and their liability).
Anyways, I'm thinking about making an investment this tax season and getting a Mini Lathe and/or Mill (lathe most likely taking priority). The problem is I live in an apartment. We're on the top floor. The only room I can put it in would be carpeted. My lease doesn't have any statements against power tools and from what I've heard, the machines under 1 HP don't have a terrible amount of noise - no more than a dishwasher or washing machine.
I could probably find space in the spare room for a decent sized work table or two for the machines to go on, but it's not a huge amount of space and I have to share it with some other items. I would surround the area with a tarp and maybe fabricate some type of shield to keep chips somewhat contained. Coolant would be limited to what could be applied directly with either a small brush or misted on.
What I would be looking at is something like a Grizzly 7X12" and some kind of small mill that I haven't decided on yet. Purpose would be making hand tools and small gun parts as well as making modifications to parts. Would have been great to have one when removing the sear catch notch on my CETME bolt as well as demilling the old receiver and for modifying my trigger pack to semi auto instead of buying a new one. Materials I would like to work would include plastic, brass, aluminum, and steels. Would love to experiment with other metals such as nickel and titanium, but I'm sure that's pushing it a little. I get lots of cut off pieces from work made from ABS, delrin, Nylon, PVC etc. that would be great to practice on at home or maybe make items like tool handles and washers. I'm comfortable with major operations (turning, facing, threading, reaming, etc.) as well as basic machine maintenance. If I'm being really ambitious, I'd like to eventually make some muzzle brakes and maybe even some baffles for a silencer I'd like to build on a Form 1. I have experience working in tolerances of thousandths and ten-thousandths.
Anybody done something similar before? Any advice or experience?
It seems, after all the time being around it, I've caught the bug. I want to work on things on my own time. I don't often have a lot of time to just experiment with making things on the machines at school, and I'm generally not allowed to run manual machines at work even if I were to stay after my shift (which is fine, it's their machine and their liability).
Anyways, I'm thinking about making an investment this tax season and getting a Mini Lathe and/or Mill (lathe most likely taking priority). The problem is I live in an apartment. We're on the top floor. The only room I can put it in would be carpeted. My lease doesn't have any statements against power tools and from what I've heard, the machines under 1 HP don't have a terrible amount of noise - no more than a dishwasher or washing machine.
I could probably find space in the spare room for a decent sized work table or two for the machines to go on, but it's not a huge amount of space and I have to share it with some other items. I would surround the area with a tarp and maybe fabricate some type of shield to keep chips somewhat contained. Coolant would be limited to what could be applied directly with either a small brush or misted on.
What I would be looking at is something like a Grizzly 7X12" and some kind of small mill that I haven't decided on yet. Purpose would be making hand tools and small gun parts as well as making modifications to parts. Would have been great to have one when removing the sear catch notch on my CETME bolt as well as demilling the old receiver and for modifying my trigger pack to semi auto instead of buying a new one. Materials I would like to work would include plastic, brass, aluminum, and steels. Would love to experiment with other metals such as nickel and titanium, but I'm sure that's pushing it a little. I get lots of cut off pieces from work made from ABS, delrin, Nylon, PVC etc. that would be great to practice on at home or maybe make items like tool handles and washers. I'm comfortable with major operations (turning, facing, threading, reaming, etc.) as well as basic machine maintenance. If I'm being really ambitious, I'd like to eventually make some muzzle brakes and maybe even some baffles for a silencer I'd like to build on a Form 1. I have experience working in tolerances of thousandths and ten-thousandths.
Anybody done something similar before? Any advice or experience?