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I went to look at a machine today and I have a few concerns.

First of all, the machine is housed 200 feet from a major body of water....with that in mind....

1....one of the vertical rails has...

I heard....the boaters happiest days were the day he bought it..........and the day he sold it.

Back in the day were money was made by the wheelbarrow, I had a fantasy of buying a 50 foot...

I simply can't thank you guys enough! *tentative group hug*

Besides this thread, I got pm of shops offering to quote, offering advice if they were too far away....and in one case, offering as much...

I'm heading down the route.......

You guys are killing me with kindness!

Thank you for the invitation but I made up my mind not to go with either the Novakon or the Tormach. They are great machines, but I need to be able to work...

Of course I'm bringing my VMC home, In fact, I think I should upgrade to a Haas VF 12/50 and park it in the basement..........yup!

The wife is very understanding........

been there, done that....LOL!

Everything in my company that made serious money was used. If it wasn't used, we made it. That is why I also have a well equipped machine shop. Or at least it's well...

You are not the first person who said that. The big boys and large machine shops won't normally buy 15 year old machines....so the bottom dwellers like me, with a lot of caution, can find them.

My...

I'm really surprised at the roughing times. My totally amateur guess would be 30 minutes or less with a half inch carbide roughing mill.

4.5 hours a 15 inch section roughly corresponds to 80% more...

Send it.

Depending on the times/info you send back, I may go into it full steam.....or locate a cheaper CNC shop.....or give up fighting China Inc and go fishing.

BTW....all my end mills are...

Of course I want to keep it. How else do I torment the big boss by trekking filings around the house! LOL!

It has to earn it's keep first......and then she can bury it with me.....

Steve and Hirundin, thank you. This the kind of information I'm trying to get.

Steve, (or anyone)......any chance you can give me a ballpark on time with the following criteria.....

1...Assume...

Again and again....I like to thank those who participated in this thread. You opinions and ideas are helpful to draw a conclusion.

So far.....some conclusions

*The small machines will do the...

ONE mould will makes ONE specific product at time multiplied by many cycles . In the case of hardened and chromed 4130, Short of an accidental damage, it should make hundreds of thousand...if not a...

It's expensive and ultimately, 316ss or 4130 is much tougher. I don't really want to go with aluminum but the upside is that it's easier to machine with smaller equipment. And also easier to polish.

The economics don't work out that way.

Machining one mould is $2,400 and makes ONE product per cycle. I can only get a limited amount of cycles an hour. To the operator, there is very little...

I have a manufacturing plant....(although I did start from my garage 24 years ago!).

Two related reasons for this thread.....

1.....I want to sink as little money as possible in what may be...

BTW....I'm going through all the pricing. It's NOT as cheap as I first thought. I'm hitting $14k without the tool changer or a power draw bar. Add a tool changer and a burger with fries and I'm...

??????

I'm not casting anything. I'm machining a 4 inch wide and 120 inch long profile INTO steel or aluminum.

Hogging through the aluminum was not much of a problem on the knee mill. I put the mold face up and ran 3/4 ball mill through it until I was close enough to the final design then put them sideways...

Some npt40 but either machine will need money in tooling. Obviously prefer cat 40.

Pretty good with software but my learning curve will suck up time.

The thing I want to establish without any...

If I'm machining it afterwards, why not machine the entire thing. Plus if it is in one piece, I'm back to using the big boys.

First of all, my drawing is misleading. Its' a lot more complex then the the opening post. See below.

The shops I have gone into are telling me that they have to use a 1/2 ball bit and run it in...

I own a business and developing a new product that needs molds.

*The molds are 2"x 4"x 120" Only the 4 inch face has a mould profile.

*I'm making them on a knee mill in 36" sections. I can...