Looking for a machinist

[Bryguy17]

Well, I've finally decided that I want to get my bike lights made. There's only one problem, I no longer have access to the CNC machines that I was going to use to make the housings (or any machines for that matter).

So, I was wondering if anybody was/is/has friends that are competent CNC machinists? I've got the design pretty much worked out and modeled in solidworks, and can provide detailed engineering drawings if necessary (they come out kinda messy ).

If anybody was willing to help, There would probably be a light housing in it for them, and perhaps a full light head built at cost
Here's a teaser just for the heck of it (and to mess with brewmaster, who is probably tired of seeing me post these threads )

[RacinJason]

Nice I will look into it.

[destroyer]

I used to be in the CNC business. Are the 2 holes connected? Or is there a cap or is it one piece?

I take it 6061 T6 + Anodizing?

[bighit8]

I know a few peeps, but not sure of the avalibilty to do side work.I will make some calls.

[Bryguy17]

Originally Posted by destroyer

I used to be in the CNC business. Are the 2 holes connected? Or is there a cap or is it one piece?

I take it 6061 T6 + Anodizing?

The holes that hold the optics are connected. Theres a little slot between them for weight reduction as well as some room for wires to/from the LEDs.

There are 3 pieces total to the housing:
one front piece that holds the optics in place.
one LED plate that the stars will be mounted to, and will screw onto the front piece (theres a revised design from the one in the pics)
then there's a back shell that seals around the other two and houses the switch and a bflex driver.

Everything is designed to be made on a 3-axis mill. .25" endmill will do most of the work, but you could go as high as half inch to do everything except the heatsink fins in front. .25" ball end mill for the fins on the back.

perhaps these will make things clearer:

front piece, with LED plate bolted to back, and main sealing o-ring (that goes in a slot formed by the front and led plate)

[spookydave]

looks like 3 parts but 2 of those have second ops on the back side. So now really we are up to 5. And you only want one set, maybe 2.

So with that thinking if I made one or 2 sets and ONLY charged you 600 bucks ....... I would be better off doing something else. Gotta make those machine payments ya know.

Should have done it in school mang.

On the other hand I just happen to have a older cnc mill for sale. Slap that puppy in the corner of a garage with a phase converter and you could make all kinds of stuff.

[destroyer]

Originally Posted by spookydave

looks like 3 parts but 2 of those have second ops on the back side. So now really we are up to 5. And you only want one set, maybe 2.

That was the point I was getting to. If you could get away with the two holes and not connected you would have one less operation. The amount of operations is what kills the price of a part, it takes a while to take each piece out and put it back in.

How many of these suckers would you be making? I think you're over $10 each + material and setup fee. But to find out you would have to give your drawings to a shop and see what they quote you. I would look for a high end job shop that would already have a fixture to hold that middle piece since it will have have to be cut on the outside. Some places might have vacuum tables which would make it easy, while other might not making the cost skyrocket.

Good Luck!

@ Spookydave, What kind of mill do you have for sale?

[OTHRIDER]

Yeah, the setups are what kill all easy jobs. I've only got a 2-axis CNC and dealing with how to grab a part is always a problem with short runs. How do you justify the time and $ for tooling?

On the engineering side of things - is the o-ring sealing feature based on a standard o-ring? It's amazing how many o-ring grooves (circular or otherwise) we're asked to cut that require a custom o-ring. At the very least, the customer has to get a larger ring, cut it an glue it to size. Just sloppy details.

Good luck.

[BrewMaster]

For all the time you taken posting and designing Bryan, you could have taken a 1" square aluminum tube and made and bunch of lights using a table saw and some JB Weld. It's not as nice as the designs you've made, but in the end, all its going to do is light the trail in front of you. Good luck.

That reminds me, I need to get to building my new light...

Originally Posted by OTHRIDER

On the engineering side of things - is the o-ring sealing feature based on a standard o-ring? It's amazing how many o-ring grooves (circular or otherwise) we're asked to cut that require a custom o-ring. At the very least, the customer has to get a larger ring, cut it an glue it to size. Just sloppy details.

Good luck.

So true! I used to work for an o-ring manufacturer and you'd be surprised how many custom sized o-rings we made that were close, but not close enough, to standard sizes. We had a joke that the o-ring was the last thing to make the design but ended up being the most expensive piece.

[spookydave]

I don't think it would take any wiz bang tooling. I would do it in a vice with some step jaws. Flip it around and take off the extra and do the second op.

Here is the mill that's gotta go. Comes fully tooled with a vice. Good for what it is but you won't compete with a new machine. If it had a tool changer I would keep it. Perfect for a garage.

[destroyer]

I would love to get a CNC but my mill and lathe take up too much room as is. If you don't mind me asking how much do you want for it? I seem to run across people that are looking for this stuff from time to time.

[spookydave]

speaking of price, I would think he would be way over 10 bucks. Heck, I get 12.75 for 2 of these. They take under 2 minutes each and will run over 150 feet of stock before I have to reload. They are running right now.

[Rockinthecasbah]

bryguy I have a dremel you can use !!lol

[roguemoog]

Is that in SolidWorks?? That looks too familiar...

[Bryguy17]

well, I've pretty much thought about all of the things you guys have brought up (at least at some point in time).

The oring is a standard size (dash 32 or 33 iirc), designed for specific compression %'s despite tolerance. It just ends up as an oval instead of a circle. Sure that's not ideal, but for the application, it will work fine. Oring's to seal where the bolts go in the back are also standard size, as well as the one's sealing around the optics. I didn't want to custom order anything, so the light got designed to fit the rings.

The holes for the optics are connected, but everything is just an endmill process. plunge, cut. No drillbits needed (its essentially a counterbore for the hole out the front, just really deep)

For everything but the middle piece, I'll be using a regular vice with a locating pin at the end to zero the X-axis of the part.

workflow:
Front piece:
1. rough cut the stock to size.
2. clamp it in the vice against the zero pin
3. cut the front profile, heatsinking fins, and the chamfered holes for the optics. .5" endmill for all rough shaping, .25" endmill for heatsink fin cuts
4. unclamp part, flip over, locate to end of housing (the pin will be touching the circular edge of the housing profile cut in part 3)
5. cut the BACK profiles (where the oring sits), cut the pocket that holds the optics, and drill holes for bolts. .5" endmill for all milling operations, whatever size drillbit is needed for an M3 hole for the holes.
6. tap the holes and party. thats only 2 operations, and it's easily located in the vice. Perhaps you have to change the parallels between steps.

Back piece:
clamp in vice, cut main outside profile, rear chamfer around main profile, cut heatsinking, drill holes for switch, wire, and bolts.

While this is the msot involved step, it's only a .5" endmill, for all major profiling, .25" ball endmill for heatsinking, chamfer tool, and 2 drillbits.

Flip the part over, locate it, and cut the pocket using a .5" endmill.

As far as the middle piece goes, grab some 3/16th plate, and run a mill over it to smooth the finish on both sides, and just run it through a waterjet. the tolerances aren't critical aside from the thickness (which is controlled by the milling at the beginning), and it would only take a few minutes to cut several pieces out of a sheet.

man, that was a huge post, and I dont think i covered everything

[destroyer]

How many pieces are you making? Get a quote on the waterjet and Laser. A few years back laser was a lot cheaper, not sure if that's the case now.

[g-dub]

I don't think you'd need CNC if you found a manual machine-this looks pretty straightforward if you're patient.

Do community colleges have shops anymore?

$600 sounds about right for one, if you went through the front door. Heck, that even sounds cheap these days...

[Wrecker]

I'm forwarding this to John, he has a friend with a CNC thingie madoodle..said he can do it cheap. Not sure what cheap is?!?!?!

[Bryguy17]

Originally Posted by Wrecker

I'm forwarding this to John, he has a friend with a CNC thingie madoodle..said he can do it cheap. Not sure what cheap is?!?!?!

I'm not so sure what cheap is either. Cheap to me was cost of materials and a case of beer for my friend that was going to help me set up the machines. it would be awesome if I could find someone interested in bikes that might be willing to help me out though, even if it is a bit of money.

g-dub, I'm pretty sure that at least some of the community colleges have machines, but I don't know if they're CNC. Also, it is completely possible to make it on a manual machine, but you have to make fixtures etc. to be able to mount it to a rotary table. Its a huge hassle, even compared to setting up CNC mechs for 2-3 parts.

destroyer, I was thinking about laser, but I'm not sure how well they will go through .125" of aluminum. I know they CAN, but its a matter of finding someone local that has the machine and will do it. I'll definitely look into it though.

Brewmaster, I'm actually considering breaking down and making a more ghetto light set up. I've got a few computer heatsinks floating around, so I only need some AA adhesive and a decent switch. Depending on how much these housings end up costing, I may just do that.

[spookydave]

Originally Posted by g-dub

I don't think you'd need CNC if you found a manual machine-this looks pretty straightforward if you're patient.

Do community colleges have shops anymore?

$600 sounds about right for one, if you went through the front door. Heck, that even sounds cheap these days...

That would be a fun project on a handle machine. Rotary table sets up and all. Of course I think every one should be able to crank that kind of stuff out before they even touch a CNC. The old skool machinists have some real talent.

It's a real nice design. Looks more refined then when it was first posted.