New guy.......retired machinist just looking around.

I answered a help wanted ad for a local job shop in the mid-1970s. I didn't know the difference between a drill and an end mill at the time, but I was pretty good with math. I went thru an apprenticeship and worked in a half dozen or so different shops and factories over the years. I spent the last few years doing field machining all over the country, mostly on gas and steam turbines.
Grampdad

Welcome, Grampdad! I look forward to your comments.

Pull up a chair around the ol' potbelly stove. Lots of us. We need some new war story's

Tom

Hi, there! I'm new here too and upon looking around, I can say that I'll have an enjoyable and interesting stay here.

Its addicting, reading the post here. I find I'd rather do that than produce product.

I'm looking for advice from experienced machinist on a used machining center

Grampdad said:

I answered a help wanted ad for a local job shop in the mid-1970s. I didn't know the difference between a drill and an end mill at the time, but I was pretty good with math. I went thru an apprenticeship and worked in a half dozen or so different shops and factories over the years. I spent the last few years doing field machining all over the country, mostly on gas and steam turbines.
Grampdad

Click to expand...

So like you I answered an help wanted ad in the mid 70's but it was in the automotive repair field, but now almost 48 years later I'm semi-retired as a project engineer at a small engineering company. We have been sending our R&D work out to small job shops to have the parts machined but I'm finding that harder to do in a timely and cost effective fashion. I often have to wait 4 to 8 weeks to receive the parts and by then I've lost my train of thought on the project and need to get my mind wrapped around it again!

All of our parts are very small, less than 6" cubed and most are made from stainless. I've had a fair amount of experience with manual lathes and mills so this last summer I convinced management to purchase a used small CNC lathe and that has proved to be such a huge success that now they are saying I should begin looking for a small machining center.

So I found a used Cincinnati Arrow 500 Machining Center with updated flat screen display, 6,000RPM spindle, 20"x20"x20" 10HP CAT40 21 pocket tool changer for $6,000 (no tooling included). I've had lots of time on manual lathe and mills but this is my first CNC experience. What should I been looking for in a used MC and what should I stay away from? There are many used MC on E-Bay and other used sites for under $10,000 (my budget limit). Like I said earlier, all of our parts are small and stainless, most have generous tolerances (+/- .005") and not high volume, mostly R&D work. I will need a fourth axis for a rotary table.

Any helpful suggestions/comments from experienced machinists will be appreciated.

Rick

start a new post in the CNC section.