Posted: 7/13/2008 1:02:43 PM EDT
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Well for one the forums need a gunsmithing/manufacturing forum. I'm looking for a good lathe, mill, drill press, etc equipment for gunsmithing. I want to be able to go from concept and raw materials to a functioning firearm. I may be working on projects up to 50bmg and 36'' barrels. Depending on cost of equipment I would probably outsource barrels for rifling and chamber and profile them myself. I was looking at a Smithy Granite 1340 Industrial MAX but it is a mediocre machine at best and sucks for milling work. I'm also looking for equipment that can be upgraded to CNC control. My budget is $5000 to $7500 |
| It may be a long shot, considering that your state is listed as Montana, but try eBay. I found a nice Bridgeport J-head milling machine about 7 miles from my house a few years ago at a reasonable price. Also, look in the yellow pages or online for a used machinery dealer. It may take a while, but you can find some nice used equipment that will either cost a lot less than new low-end stuff, or will be better equipment for the same budget. |
I agree with that. 20k-30k is more like it. The small stuff really adds up fast and basic machinery won't be able to do everything you want without the tools, jigs, etc. |
At this point I'm just looking for Ideas. The major one is a good lathe with 36'' center to center and a 10'' or so deck. I'd really like to know specific equipment, brands models etc so I can search the for sale adds on line. Both HSM munitions and BVAC ammo operate within 10 miles of me. They use lots of old and rare loading equipment but the work they want done is just the odd part every so often. The problem is they have trouble finding anyone to make the parts they need since the workload is so small. If I had a good lathe and mill I could handle the workload from both places to fund more equipment. |
Looks a little small for what I want. I have a 50bmg project in mind. How much is it? It might be fun to learn on. |
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See if there are any machinist schools Machining is fun as a hobby if you are of the right mindset, but the tools are very expensive. Another plus about schools is that the ones I knew would let you do personal projects on the side. |
Learn at a junior college. BTW, you might want to check out used lathes. If you get to run it and cut something, you can check it's precision. The lathes at Lassen College (Susanville, CA) were so old and worn that many did a tapered cut.  The reason why I recommend used is that when a shop closes or when a machinst throws in the towel, you can pick up the stuff cheap. It's all the accessories that will kill you and he'll throw them in with the lathe and milling machine. |
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I would get a 11x36 lathe and run that for a while before wading too deep in metalworking. You can get a milling attachment to do milling work before getting a real mill. The cost of a mill is only the entrance fee. The tooling will be your real costs. I love mill and lathe work and was thinking of getting into the parts business myself. Bottom line, I did not want to have this business control every spare minute I don't have. Think this through carefully. There are a few guys who got in way over their heads. |
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sometimes stuff goes for cheap, check the local papers often, a lot of times, when industries, and small shops go out of business, they auction off the whole place. they are out there. you can get mills and lathes, good ones, for VERY cheap, picking it up locally from a retiring machinists, etc. I saw a nice lathe go for $200 a few years back. |
Badly. What everyone has said is pretty much spot on, but if you want to learn gunsmithing, learn gunsmithing. It's not quite the same as straight machine work. A lathe or mill is not going to do what you want (and may eat you) if you don't have good training on it. I'm currently enrolled at the school in Trinidad and think that it's one of the best decisions I've ever made. BTW: Why do so many folks think a gunsmith makes a barrel from stock? I think I've been asked a dozen times if I've rifled a barrel. |
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A decent used Bridgeport should run you around $2500. An older Clausing, Colchester, South Bend, etc. lathe in the 10"x42" range should be around the same, maybe a little less, in good shape. That leaves you with $2500 for tooling and cutters. A 6" Kurt mill vise is $400-$600, and a good set of collets is going to be between $100 and $260. That's just basic stuff you can't really get by without. Figure in that you're also going to need a toe clamp set, plus indicators, etc. and your budget is already blown on the necessities. The machines aren't the major expense, it's all the other stuff that kills you. You'd also need to have your measuring instruments certified to national standards most likely. Machining is fine as a hobby, but I wouldn't advise trying to learn and make money with it as a business at the same time... It's not the gig you think it's going to be--especially when it comes to CNC. A missed decimal place or a negative sign where it shouldn't be can seriously f*** your world up when it's in 8000 lines of code and the part needs to be OTD RFN. Even better when it breaks a $300 tool required for the job and you don't have a replacement, or fries a servo motor/bends a ballscrew/destroys the spindle. You miss deadlines, you lose customers---and those customers are ALWAYS hard to get back. The best thing you can do is find an old school toolmaker and see if he'll take you under his wing for a while. If you decide on taking some community college courses(I recommend it), remember that a classroom environment is FAR different than working as a machinist. You'll get the basics, but once you hit the machines for real quite a bit of that classroom environment stuff goes right out the window. I learned a lot more in 6 month on the job than I learned in two years worth of machining courses..... |
Bit low on your estimates for used Bridgeports. Damn things have jumped up in price tremendously in the last 3 years. I've seen beat up Series I with worn out ways and wobbly tables go for $5K. Honestly, find a used Sharp, DoAll, or hell, even a Supermax mill. The heavier the better. As for Lathe, Clausing has always been the go to lathe, and Summit builds excellent lathes. Ganesh is ok, but seems some of their smaller lathes, like the 11x36 are a bit lightweight. Jet makes some nice equipment also, some nice lathes, but I don't have any production experience with them. Haunt the papers for auctions, try to find out who does the industrial auctions in your area and go to the auctions when you can. I picked up a little under $4K in lathe tooling for $250 at auction. Seen machines go for pennies on the dollar - get in contact with used equipment salesmen, they have lots of connections. As to the CNC posted earlier - that machine is really lightweight - for metal working I wouldn't trust it. Also, get yourself a DRO, or digital read out for the lathe and mill - Sony and Newall make some great linear readouts and pretty easy to setup. Lastly, teach yourself Solidworks, it's a great program to sketch up mechanical ideas. |
Ditto. Badly. Centerfire Central has an awesome gunsmithing forum. "Build it yourself" just doesnt' it, and the herd mentality denigrates anyone who truly Builds it Himself. I posted my last project in that forum a year ago. I was going to post something unique there once a month or two, but I don't have the time nor do I want to suffer obnoxious comments by guys who have not handled anything other than a screwdriver or hammer. |
Are you shitting me? $5k?  I recommend Alibre Design. Very user friendly. |
+1 on the 'smithing forum |
I couldn't agree more. The ar15 BIY forum was educational to a point but once you get into actually "building" something there just isn't much there. It took me a while to sift through all of the "I just built a rifle" threads that we just assembly of parts. Please please let there be a gunsmithing\machinist forum addition.  |
The PM site was more oriented towards "profeshunal"(read lots of attitude) machinists than hobbyists when I still frequented it. There are a couple of others that are more hobby oriented. |
Very true. They seem to know what they are doing at times. , IM me or post a few links. I don't have much going on this week and could use some reading. 
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If we had a gun smithing forum I could post all of my prints there... www.flickr.com/photos/77356801@N00/[ www.flickr.com/photos/23748706@N08/ |
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This is great. I now have a list of brands I can google and figure out what models to look for. I'll be able to hunt the local market from that and know a good deal from a ripoff when I see it. It sounds like I'll be starting with a lathe and working my way up from there. Maybe I'll scale up a 700 action to 50bmg
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