quote: Their website says they have FORTY Jig Grinders and 12 Jig Borers. That is some serious Jiggin'! Jig borers sell for what drill presses use to sell for..and Jig grinders sell for less than a Bridgeport all day long...pathetic really..My first Jig grinder came out of a shop with 35 moore jig grinders... owner died....

quote: We had one at my last job that cost $18K.. (Ø4" x 60" long) It was a sad day when a careless rookie blew it up and I felt bad when I did that to my .500 dia. carbide bar..in a programming wreck when in a hurry..

quote: I just think you are a toolroom guy Soooooooo true on toolmaking, but I think of toolroom guys as slow:) ( I have always been job shop) .....I am thinking of buying a battery of CNCs this fall and hope this won't be fatal for me. Anyway what I am trying to say is "is this a negative rake tool you are using"?

Dave, I probably should have said "sorta gummy"since its copper..I wonder if anyone makes Cobalt HS inserts for cutting plastic. They may not wear as much as you think on this material..then again... I use alot of cobalt HS boring bars for 4 inch deep close tol.holes in toolsteel and they hold up very well(cobalt is the secret). Use alot solid carbide ones also..not completely old school.

Its only an educated guess from fighting chatter on my machines when doing i.d. O-rings...but a cobalt HS tool that is "very sharp" with cutting oil would probably solve this. I made a .040 width one for some ring clip grooves in 420FSS 32-38RC several years ago and have still not sharpened it, but use it occasionally. This is on the o.d. Even though material is fairley soft it is gummy...I have machine lots of copper-berlyium that was in the heat treated state for plastic Molds.. [ 05-18-2010, 08:55 AM: Message edited by: Kevangel ]

"Dave Lelonek, please report to the Principals office".

Just one more thought since its heat treated copper and I don't know if it pertains, but machining ampco 21 (aluminum bronze) to make lifters for molds , you must use a brand new VIRGIN cobalt HS endmill that has never touched metal..even if it feels very sharp it won't cut right. I had a leading area moldshop give me a whole box of carbide cutters to machine some Ampco 19 and I just used cobalt HS and it was a breeze and they asked me how did I do that...maybe carbide is not sharp enough..

If it were me I would try 100 RPM...My machines chatter very easily on ID grooves...I would mix some EDM fluid and cutting oil (kerosene /cutting oil) and brush or squirt it also. If that does not work I would re-check tightness everywhere I can...I would assume nothing on tightness. Can you get away from the surface feed and just go inches per revolution to finish.

Dave have you tried slowing down RPM to the extreme and see if that helps and then start speeding back up.

I bought a bunch of 3R type tooling for sinker EDMs at online auctions for the most part...10 cents on the dollar compared to new.. Just bought a Charmilles Iso-cut sinker today...local auction. Machines are starting to sell higher which is good news.. I guess.

quote: I've never heard of actually renting a machine for some months or a year to clean up a backlog of work. They rent machines around here. All used I think. (Normal CNC machines). Such a glut of used machines, I suspect it made sense for dealers. Some people think you should lease from a local company in case you end up in court...

quote: By Far linear ways will be much easier to rebuild. BUT, it takes a lot or a lot of mis-use to damage these Very true. 2 quick ways to ruin them are improperly mixed coolant and machining graphite. If I see a rusty machine I would look it over very carefully. A duplicating shop closed up several years ago (went to auction/forclosure)and I did not see much in the way of vacums when they made electrodes and one mill did have new linear ways recently and I wonder why.

The salesman always told me , "ya just slap some new linear ways on there". " "Boxways are much more difficult"...I have not had either done.

quote: Why not be a Doctor or Lawyer or Engineer Almost nobody can get into medical school anymore as they have so many top top applicants.. my last biz partners daughter just got into a D.O. school and still waiting for a M.D. school. (she got accepted at several D.O. medical schools and was top of her class,etc)..

"Crazy", the profession has to fit the person. This trade is a good fit for a thinking person that is fascinated by things mechanical...look at all the gun/ motorcycle / flying posts in off topic. I would not want to do anything else... They had a retired aerospace Machinist on CSI last thursday night with a shop in his garage and basement....pretty cool except he shot and killed his neighbors!!! course not his fault, a serial killer had hired him to make some special fixtures for brain surgery and then used them on him (did surgery on him on his surface plate). He somehow knocked him out and planted radioactive material in his brain and he woke up and did not know what had happedend, etc. Bad headache that made him crazy hot tempered killer.

To go to their web page, those 2 guys bought the company in 2007...60 employees. I am always curious about stuff like that...couple of real go-getters I suspect. Got 2 openings at webpage. High wages possibal. Guys are strong in sales I suspect.

liek A way of spelling "like" to make fun of valley-girls and lemmings. "Omg, I am liek so totally cool!"

quote: .501" reamer you may get a hole on the highside.

18 holes, I would get a quote from a gundriller first and go from there. 10 inches is not that far, I have done that in mold work in a bridgeport, just crank the table up. If I reamed it in a CNC I would manually turn the reamer spindle off as it retracts to clear the chips every so often (don't want to catch a chip and chew up hole and use a good liquid aluminum cutting fluid ( acid brush and spray bottle when reaming, maybe). Coming in from two sides with 2 holes (dead on) (drill/bore) or maybe a carbide drill that won't deflect might be a good idea. Gun drilling might be cheaper than you think and they can be amazing...( if I reamed it for a bushing I would just use a new.500 reamer from one side and make an extension if needed)

All you guys beating on the spindles with hammers...you must be frustrated diemakers

Wow simply wow..thanks for posting..

I would NOT personally hit with a Hammer...I put a block of wood under the stuck tool (apx.1 inch clearance), then while pressing the release button I pry between stuck tool and machine with a die-bar and tool will pop out....unless its REALLY stuck, then I use a bearing puller from harbor frieght ( the kind that uses a wedge action "behind" the bearing) and put it between the stuck holder and machine spindle. Just what I do. i suspect if I have tightened the snot out of bearing puller and it still has not released I would give a light tap with the hammer , just like I would with a bearing puller on a motorcyle flywheel, except I would try to hit both sides of the wedge puller at the same time with 2 hammers...block of wood under contraption.. Have someone else push tool release button while doing.

Gary what does a top toolmaker/ prototype CNC machinist make down there on the hour?

I guess you know you could sinker EDM the the corner sharp on the first part if needed...machine the boss (female) in your electrode and machine the angle on bottom of trode.

I thought the USA dollar was devalued 40 percent to the Aussie dollar about a year ago? Does our equipment seem like a real bargain to you? WE have a steady stream of Proto-traks at auction in Ohio, so here I would buy a used machine at auction for way less money. I just had the prototrak dealer demo them for me, they have their place for sure. Good support for them.