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The making of a Treepanning Tool

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Darren:
That's impressive Bernd, nice drill press too.... :D

Bernd:
Thanks Darren.

Drill press cost me $100. It's what they call a #21. Meaning it is 10.5" from center to column. It had a 3 phase motor on it. The only thing wrong with is the miter gears at the top. One has one tooth missing the other 2 teeth. When I get the time I'm going to fix those with some false teeth.

Here's a pic of the gears.


Here's another of it still in the garage.


I started a web page explaining how I added the tread mill motor to it but never got the page done. Need to finish that one day.

Bernd

Darren:
Are you sure on those prices for water jetting Roger?
I realise we are in two different continents, but even so.
Here's some experiences on this side of the pond

I've had a lot of water jetting done over the last 3 yrs and I've never found it to be cheap. Effective and quick yes, finish is ok depending on what you require but I always had a lot of work to do to finish my parts.

My costs are £120 = VAT/tax (about $250) an hour with a minimum charge of one hour just for the machine time alone. So a one off gets kinda expensive.
Then there is the CAD work to pay for. Thankfully I can do that myself.

But if you want 1,000s or even 100s of 1000's of items cut it's deff the way to go.

Rog02:
Yep I am sure!   

Of course what I did not mention is that I have been racing with guy for most of my life and we trade some work from time to time.  He does enough torque plates he has the bolt patterns set up in "blocks" ready to be inserted into designs.  I don't know what he would charge a "walk in" but I called him cause I haven't spoken with him in some time.  He informed me he had a new "toy".  A bright, shiny, brand spanking new laser table!  I asked him how much extra that would cost and he said "No more that waterjetting and usually less. No "washout" and basically no kerf clearances." 

A lot of shops will shoot out what we refer to as PIA (Pain In A$$) bids just to get rid of the hobbyists.  They will price something way to high just so they won't have to mess with it and if they do get the job they will make enough money to overcome the inconvenience.

Waterjet machines are quickly becoming surplus items  as lasers are taking over.  They surface on surplus auction from time to time for short money, but be advised that the controllers are often obsolete and upgrades are expensive.

With the proliferation of free CAD programs floating around the internet there is no reason to not have one and most come with reasonable tutorials to get you started.  CAD is a basic skill these days and required for most machine shop related employment.

I do my CAD work in IntelliCad as I dumped my subscription to AutoDesk after they couldn't fix their update and expected me to pay them to fix a problem that was a defect in their product. 

Yep I had all the brackets, gussets, and other miscellaneous parts cut for the helicopter lasered out.  I could spec a hole and hold tolerance to a +/- .001".  Weld ready parts at that (plasma needs to have the oxides knocked off prior to welding to prevent porosity problems).  Waste material is kept to a minimum by using a "cut optimizer" program or brushing up on your "Ascher Tiling".

I would suggest you shop your work a bit.  Sounds like you are getting the PIA rate.  With the economy slowing down, as it has I am seeing quotes that 1/3 to 1/2 of what they were a few months ago.  I refuse any bid that comes with a minimum time charge attached!  I pay for actual set up and cut time.

Of course I have been at this for a long time and have a hard ass reputation and the shops I do business with, understand I ain't a hobbyist.

Tinkering_Guy:
[Coming to this thread years later, wanting to make concentric gimbal rings..]

Unfortunately, the images in the base topic appear to have bit-rotted away.  Or am I just not looking at them correctly? :-)

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