# Where to get small mill work done?



## Tmad (Apr 9, 2010)

I'm looking to get a handful of stuff some trit slots, anybody know of someplace I can send it too? Thanks in advance.


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## chew socks (Apr 10, 2010)

There are several people here that you could send the parts to to have this done.

I could most likely do this kind of work for you if you would like, just post some details.

I'm sure several other people will also pipe in and offer soon enough, there is a great machining community here.

Kirk


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## Tmad (Apr 11, 2010)

Thanks Kirk, I'll pm you what I'm looking for.


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## Tmad (Apr 13, 2010)

Still looking. I'm wanting to get some phillips head bits milled.


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## gadget_lover (Apr 13, 2010)

Bits? As in screwdriver tips? Coincidentally I made one a few weeks back. 

Daniel


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## socal8080 (Apr 14, 2010)

I'm pretty much looking for the same thing- having someone mill the piston heads of a few D10's and EX10's to fit 2x8mm trits that are in the mail from Bart. There is "Pugga" the Australian guy that i think is offering this service, but i don't really want to send a handful of pistons down there. If anyone out there can hook this up let me know. I already have a slotted piston off a Tribute that i just got that you could use to match up the cut on the others. Thanks


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## PhotonFanatic (Apr 14, 2010)

I've done a few Trit slots, and other oddball milling, too. 

But doing this is somewhat of a PITA, since the set-up work can be fairly complicated, while the actual machining time is fairly low. 







But if you can't find anyone else, send me an e-mail detailing what you want done and I can provide a quote. But it won't be cheap. :devil:


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## precisionworks (Apr 14, 2010)

> I can provide a quote. But it won't be cheap.


+1

The part that needs the trit slot is delicate, meaning that a set of aluminum soft jaws have to be bored to size. Figure $25 for soft jaws plus $60 to set up the Kurt vise & bore the jaws. Add $30 for machine time and clean up and the total is roughly $115 for one trit slot. 

The second trit slot *in an identical part* would cost just $30. Switch to a slightly different part (or different brand of light) and the cost goes back to $115 for the next slot.


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## socal8080 (Apr 15, 2010)

errrr


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## socal8080 (Apr 15, 2010)

thats pretty flippin hefty pricing, even for say six piston slots its about $250ish. I'm thinking that i may have better luck with instead of milling a slot, that i just take an angle grinder with a thin blade and score a slot straight across the top of it. Or even just hand file a groove across the top if i have a few hours to spare... it doesn't have to be perfect, since i wouldn't be selling them anyway.... just big enough to fit the trit in it, tape the exposed edges and norland away. Done. Thanks for the info guys...


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## PhotonFanatic (Apr 15, 2010)

socal8080,

You do not want to do a Trit slot by hand--it will look like sh*t.

Not every job has to cost as much as Barry's estimate--it really does depend on the part and where and how many slots you need.

A pic of what you want milled helps a lot. Not all of us are familiar with every flashlight part in existence. :devil:


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## precisionworks (Apr 15, 2010)

> thats pretty flippin hefty pricing


That's the price with the CPF discount. Double that for someone that walks through the door :lolsign:


> hand file a groove across the top if i have a few hours to spare


Another way is a small burr in a Dremel tool. Mark the edges of the groove with score lines, take light cuts with the Dremel until the groove size is correct, not too difficult if you have some time. The edges can be nearly milling machine perfect *IF *you go slow when approaching final size, and you'll probably want to switch to a Swiss Cut (very fine) file to finish the groove.

File work is under rated :twothumbs


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## gadget_lover (Apr 15, 2010)

In defense of high prices:

When CPFers do these things for free or cheap for other members, they are usually doing it to be nice to someone, to pass on a favor that was done to them or to get the experience. Sometimes it's out of pity for a person who has no resources themselves. There are all sorts of motivations.

Expendables like soft jaws (that are only good for a specific part once they are used) or other tooling have to be paid for somehow. If a person offers to do the same job for lots of folks, they can set up jigs and fixtures to hold the parts so the time involved is drastically reduced. One time jobs are always the most time consuming.

What most folks don't take into account is the time spent aligning things, mounting them so they are not damaged, changing tools between operations, etc. They also discount the fact that even with 'click and ship' you spend 15 to 30 minutes packing the part and labeling the package. The trip to the post office is another 1/2 hour minimum.

The last 'simple' job I did took close to 2 hours of my time.

And the final point.... Professionals have to charge their normal prices. When they are doing things for CPF members they are not making money from other jobs. Besides. They do better work. 


Dan


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## precisionworks (Apr 15, 2010)

> Besides, they do better work.


Probably faster and more efficiently, but a lot of non-professionals on this board produce work that is absolute top quality. And the majority of those do it with 1/4 the tools & tooling of a for-profit shop. I see some decent machine work on other boards, but it rarely compares to what I see here


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## KC2IXE (Apr 17, 2010)

Some of the "Non Pro" machinists out there will do every bit as good a job as a pro. Maybe not as fast, but. (I'm NOT one of them - I won't even call myself a machinist - an apprentice maybe - but)

I'll give you the late Prof Chaddok as an example

Or Cherry Hill (nee Cherry Hinds)
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z19/h12721/scan0002-1.jpg
http://i192.photobucket.com/albums/z19/h12721/scan0003-1.jpg

I WON'T count George Luhrs, as he is a retired machinist, but if you want to see some amazing work! (I used to belong to the Long Island Live Steamers, and he is/was a member)


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## gadget_lover (Apr 17, 2010)

OK, Ok.

Us tinkerer's can and often do produce good work. Even I have done some work that turned out very nice.

I tend to think that the professionals will deliver what they promise, on time and they will guarantee the work. 

Daniel


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## Rothrandir (Apr 17, 2010)

There is also a flip side to the professionals vs hobbyists argument.

If I wanted a part (not a run of parts) made, and cosmetic quality was a high priority, I might try to find an experienced hobbyist rather than a true machine shop.
The reason for this is most machine shops receive a blueprint, a check, and crank the parts out. The majority of parts a machine shop makes are industrial parts, or even parts that go inside a larger assembly. Tool marks, surface finish, even burrs sometimes are acceptable on such parts, and it's a machine shops job to make the part as efficiently as possible and "good enough" for the customer.
Lets face it, if you're making a run of 1000 parts and taking twice as long on the finish pass of each part to get a mirror finish on a part that goes inside an industrial machine, you're losing money and also making the part cost more for the customer. Another thing to consider is that in many machine shops, the "machinists" might just be operators hitting the green button on a $100,000 CNC vending machine. And to be perfectly honest, even a lot of machinists who know what they're doing may not be capable of delivering a truly perfect part.
Machinists are just like any professionals. There are good doctors and bad doctors, good mechanics and bad mechanics, good carpenters and bad carpenters, and there are good machinists and bad machinists. Just because a machinist can do the job does not mean he's necessarily good at it, and it certainly doesn't mean he's a Gregory House.

There are all kinds of different machine shops serving all kinds of different industries. Just looking in the yellowpages for a machine shop and expecting them to do a great job on your custom part is likely going to yield poor results.

Certainly there are shops out there that can and do amazing work, and understand when and where to make the part just right, but most of them aren't going to deliver what you expect, either because they're not capable, or because it's just so different from what they normally that they don't know how to handle it.

And of course in addition to all of that, first you have to find a shop that is even interested in talking to a bum off the street :devil:


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## kingofwylietx (Apr 17, 2010)

There are machine shops that market to low volume, high quality jobs....but they charge a premium for it.

I had a part that I wanted to have made and I couldn't even find a shop that was set up to make it [locally]. So, not only do you have to find a shop that is interested in producing your widget, you have to find one capable of producing your widget.


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## precisionworks (Apr 18, 2010)

Most machine shop customers want three things - highest quality, lowest price, fastest turn around. I ask only that they select two from that list


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## Tmad (Apr 20, 2010)

Sorry all, I've been away for a week. Thanks for all the responses. 

I have talked to a few people and they all come back to the same thing...the bits are hardened steel and takes a few passes to handle something that small and hard. 

None the less I'm still interested in pursuing this project if I can get it done somewhere in between cheap and expensive. If bulk is cheaper then I'd look into that option as well. I'll send a few of yall some pm's here in a minute but please pm me if you think you can help.

Thanks again.


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## PhotonFanatic (Apr 20, 2010)

More importantly, it takes the right kind of tool to cut anything that has been hardened. And the quality if the finish you need on that cut makes a difference, too.

If your part is hardened to 52Rc to 68Rc, anyone trying to mill that piece will need either an ALTiN Nano coated end mill, or a CBN coated end mill--and those don't come cheap--the ALTiN mills are in the $50-$60 range, while the CBN mills are over $200 each.


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## precisionworks (Apr 20, 2010)

The easy, quick, and least expensive way to do this is with a ram EDM (aka plunger EDM). Any EDM shop can do this, as the carbon "positive" needs to be only a fraction larger than the actual trit size. Probably looking at a carbon 2mmx8mm ... even I could cut one of those in 15 minutes, as carbon machines like buttah 

Plunging a slot like that would take probably 20-30 minutes of EDM time. Sounds like a $100 job on the first one, less for multiples if the trit size stays the same.


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## tino_ale (Apr 20, 2010)

Someone on this forum made trit slots for me for $5 each in 6Al-4V titanium. I won't name this member because I don't want him to be flooded by requests (he will speak out if he wishes to).

I know the price was a SMOKIN DEAL, it was nothing, and I believe he offered his service because he is a true flashaholic and we share the same passion. I'm very gratefull he helped me out :kiss: :wave: . Not mentionning the work was top notch!

My point is, it doesn't hurt to ask around and there are great guys over here. Someone helping you with a perfectly executed job, for a few bucks... it can _happen_ here.


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## KC2IXE (Apr 20, 2010)

RE One off jobs

Shops that do "1 offs" are fairly common, but it's expensive, as someone said - there is either setup time, or even expensive jigging that can't be amortized over many parts

Basically, with machining, you have 2 real choices - CNC and Manual

Manual - Your gonna pay for EXPERIENCED time to do the job, and each part costs pretty much the same as the nezt, unless there happens to be enough being done to pay for jigging/fixtures

CNC - You spend a LOT of money for setup/programming etc - and then each part after that is fairly cheap

It basically comes down to, you pay expensive time, up to the point you order enough to pay for expensive jigs/fixtures/tooling/programming, and above that, price per unit drops


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## Tmad (Apr 20, 2010)

precisionworks said:


> Plunging a slot like that would take probably 20-30 minutes of EDM time. Sounds like a $100 job on the first one, less for multiples if the trit size stays the same.




Bulk may not be a problem BUT I wanted to get a smallish run of 20 done to gauge interest on my project and keeping costs fairly low will be a must as I WANTED(may not be possible) to have less than $15 in the machining to offer at an affordable price.

May not be able to happen, but that's what this thread is for right :twothumbs . Thanks so much to everybody who's chimed in. Not looking bright for this project but I still have hopes. Obviously more research needed.


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## DuncanHynes (Apr 22, 2010)

I had G1K (Ryan) do some work for me. I had one of his pendants made from titanium, but also asked if he would slot a NiteCore D10 piston along with slotting out a MagLite D size tail cap that I wanted to drop a tritium vial in. This was all started before spring break but we did constantly keep in contact and make any changes, he sent a CAD drawing that had the exact dimensions before the work was done and sent pictures at each major stage. I won't go into the price as it was custom but it was very reasonable and any similar work should be much easier as he has the method down. Very honest and skilled miller. Two pics of the items, I did the Norland61. http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad65/DuncanHynes/Work%20by%20G1K http://i922.photobucket.com/albums/ad65/DuncanHynes/Work by G1K/IMG_6574.jpg


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