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Machining at home.........Finally

Finished, all assembled and ready to go.
Now on to the next parts, door hinges for my Charger.
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I'm an old school self-taught machinest. Moving to what you are doing (with CNC) always has seemed like a step too big for me to take. (I'm an old dog).
A close friend from childhood took that step and spent MANY hours (and bought a large size used cnc machine) learning how to make something we both could make in just a few hours on a manual machine --and he soon made his own business work from it.
My hat is off to you for what I see in your finished pieces.--Outstanding!!
I am looking at your next project with the eye I have for making it (in concept) on my mill and lathe and am curious about what your total man-hours would be to make a --one-off-- of those? --Start to finish--(I used to work in a fab shop and one of a kind stuff is costly time wise)
This is by no means meant to be a challenge. I am exploring the CNC world fully aware that there are advantages I need to learn.
I will study and estimate how long it would take me to make what you have proposed in your last post and assume it is out of steel. (I know what it is so dimensions are incidental). For me, this is a puzzle to work on just like everything I do these days since I am essentially retired. I'm not done learning.:)
 
I'm an old school self-taught machinest. Moving to what you are doing (with CNC) always has seemed like a step too big for me to take. (I'm an old dog).
A close friend from childhood took that step and spent MANY hours (and bought a large size used cnc machine) learning how to make something we both could make in just a few hours on a manual machine --and he soon made his own business work from it.
My hat is off to you for what I see in your finished pieces.--Outstanding!!
I am looking at your next project with the eye I have for making it (in concept) on my mill and lathe and am curious about what your total man-hours would be to make a --one-off-- of those? --Start to finish--(I used to work in a fab shop and one of a kind stuff is costly time wise)
This is by no means meant to be a challenge. I am exploring the CNC world fully aware that there are advantages I need to learn.
I will study and estimate how long it would take me to make what you have proposed in your last post and assume it is out of steel. (I know what it is so dimensions are incidental). For me, this is a puzzle to work on just like everything I do these days since I am essentially retired. I'm not done learning.:)

Thank you. I reverse engineered the hinges too the original dementions. I was thinking of making them out 304 stainless but started thinking about 7075 aluminium, but wasn't sure if it would hold the weight of the door.
Then I saw some aluminum corvette hinges (but those are fiberglass), looking around more I found some for 70-78 Camaros. Then I found an article about a auto manufacturer experimenting with aluminumdie hinges. They used 6068 witch supposedly has 91% of the same properties as 7075. They found that the aluminium would work if they added another .100 of material around the hinge pin.

With that in mind and lots of 7075 laying around I just modified the original model increasing the thickness to .437 and figured what do I have to lose. If they fail I'll go to 304.
I have it all programmed but don't remember the estimated time from the CAM, I'll check tomorrow. I know the door side is around 20 minuets with all the surfacing and 3 set ups. The body side was gonna take longer and again 3 set ups.
 
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Thank you. I reverse engineered the hinges too the original dementions. I was thinking of making them out 304 stainless but started thinking about 7075 aluminium, but wasn't sure if it would hold the weight of the door.
Then I saw some aluminum corvette hinges (but those are fiberglass), looking around more I found some for 70-78 Camaros. Then I found an article about a auto manufacturer experimenting with aluminumdie hinges. They used 6068 witch supposedly has 91% of the same properties as 7075. They found that the aluminium would work if they added another .100 of material around the hinge pin.

With that in mind and lots of 7075 laying around I just modified the original model increasing the thickness to .437 and figured what do I have to lose. If they fail I'll go to 304.
I have it all programmed but don't have the estimated time right now but I'll check it tomorrow at work.


There is a BIG difference in machining those two different materials. 7075 alum. is a breeze. Tooling cost could drag you down with using stainless unless you already have that figured with how your machine programming works.
For manual machining, (for my estimate)I would add 100% actual machining time for 304 stainless.
 
wow, that is way cool, would love to have and learn how to use that!
 
There is a BIG difference in machining those two different materials. 7075 alum. is a breeze. Tooling cost could drag you down with using stainless unless you already have that figured with how your machine programming works.
For manual machining, (for my estimate)I would add 100% actual machining time for 304 stainless.

With the high speed toolpaths and machining at full depth, the tooling last longer and will speed things up.
I rough everything with one endmill leaving .01-.02 of stock then start the finishing work.
I love 304 so I'll make 2 sets one 7075 and one 304.
 
With the high speed toolpaths and machining at full depth, the tooling last longer and will speed things up.
I rough everything with one endmill leaving .01-.02 of stock then start the finishing work.
I love 304 so I'll make 2 sets one 7075 and one 304.


BTW That square hole shown in your post images is a time and money killer to get correct in real life.:)
I have forty years of stories about engineering/design conflicting with practical reality. I have made square holes because they are called out and not needed. -The customers have been both pleased and sad at the same time with the bottom line cost.
One-off (or even short production) of a part is a collaboration.
Mass production (however) of a design is another matter and not a part of my world.
 
Beyond the machining of these parts is the "rest of the story"?:).
They have been "finished"---polished/plated,etc.
It looks like - Bigred68- Is working on the whole meal deal.:thumbsup:
 
BTW That square hole shown in your post images is a time and money killer to get correct in real life.:)
I have forty years of stories about engineering/design conflicting with practical reality. I have made square holes because they are called out and not needed. -The customers have been both pleased and sad at the same time with the bottom line cost.
One-off (or even short production) of a part is a collaboration.
Mass production (however) of a design is another matter and not a part of my world.

I modeled it to the original hinge but wasn't planning on sharp corners. There's no way a 3/8-16 is going to need to get into that corner. I'm using a 1/8 endmill to finish the inside leaving the corners with a radius. But if I want it to look close to stock and need sharp corners i could use the wire EDM at work.
 
I modeled it to the original hinge but wasn't planning on sharp corners. There's no way a 3/8-16 is going to need to get into that corner. I'm using a 1/8 endmill to finish the inside leaving the corners with a radius. But if I want it to look close to stock and need sharp corners i could use the wire EDM at work.

I'm laughing in agreement with you. Also a few strokes with a file in hand can save hours with a machine set up in some applications.
A friend of mine made a good living for some time with EDM for the time between the manually operated machines and the ones that put him out of business happened.
This is a fast-moving world indeed for a guy working at home to step into.
All I have is a great mill and lathe with DRO on both. I can make what I need but cannot repeat like CNC does.
 
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I'm laughing in agreement with you. Also a few strokes with a file in hand can save hours with a machine set up in some applications.
A friend of mine made a good living for some time with EDM for the time between the manually operated machines and the ones that put him out of business happened.
This is a fast-moving world indeed for a guy working at home to step into.
All I have is a great mill and lathe with DRO on both. I can make what I need but cannot repeat like CNC does.

This is my start and fist step from home. I still machine 50 hours a week running a 5 axis DMU 50.
I'll think production of there's an interest in these parts. I also have prototype piece work contracted from other shops and I'm working on getting work from the labs out here.
 
Those turned out great, really nice work!
 
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