Any Metal Fans (Light Engineering Tips)

[Macavity]

No, not "Heavy" metal. But are there any DIY'ers who attempt small projects using (usually light!) metals. Just musing over possibilities, really. I have SOME ability with (inherited!) tools, but no access to a machine shop. When I DID have, I was trusted (after the appropriate laughter!) with drills & taps - even lathes. From time to time, I still ponder customised mounting (non-dovetail!) bars, brackets, rings (probably too difficult!). I just wonder how any others here might address problems of availability and ability. E.G. Where do you begin looking for sources of "metal" e.g. (light) Dural(?) bar. For "harder" jobs, do you use some... "light engineering" firm. Are they HUGELY expensive. I suppose one could bang on doors 'round the typical industrial estate, but does anyone know of any "astro-friendy" man-plus-machine(s) establishments? Nothing specific, just looking for any general TIPS!

[OlympusMons]

Hello,

I get all adaptors etc, cut and coated at an steel fabricator as they have all the expensive tools required for the finishing i am looking for.

Yes i pay a fairly hefty price but the quality is good.

The right fabricator was hard to find. I drove to every local fabricator and all of them said they could do the job and will get back to me. Only one ever did and they are very good at what they do.

Finding a good fabricator who is willing to carry out the work is harder than i ever thought!

Kind Regards and Clear Skies to all!

Stewart Waters

http://tinyurl.com/yl23wl

[barkis]

Hi. I find ebay has a few suppliers of Aluminium, Delrin, and other machinable stuff. It will depend what you would like to make.

I know it is difficult to make things without a lathe or milling machine. I am fortunate in that respect, I bought myself a lathe + vertical mill about a year ago. I have spent most of the time since then converting my once domed observatory, into a workshop to accommodate this machine. I will post some images when I have finished the work. I need to make a dovetail bar to mount a 6" refractor and a ED80 in tandem.

I bought a short dovetail from Steve at FLO for the ED80, but the larger one I will make myself. I bought the aluminium bar ofI a site on Eba. It was 1000mm x 60mm x 15mm. It cost me £30 inc postage which I thought was not too bad.

I still have some tooling to buy, and some knowledge to acquire, (I bought some books which are quite informative, also on ebay).

I have an old lathe which I used to use for making adapters for my self build scopes from way back. I need to tidy the old girl up a bit. The lead screw needs repairing, which I will get around to one day. It is just the end fixing bolt that broke, not a big job.

I will put it up for sale when I get it tidied up a bit. It is still capable of doing a decent job, but screw cutting is not one of them.

It is an awful dilemma for DIY enthusiasts, it is not easy unless you have certain equipment, but some of the prices you find certain suppliers are asking is horrendous, but there again, machine time is a very expensive commodity too, and they have to factor that into their business.

cheers. Ron.

[Kaptain Klevtsov]

Check out www.metalsupermarkets.com they supply odds and sods with no minimum order. If you get friendly with them they'll probably let you root through their skip for pennies. I got the Ali square tube for the Skelescope there after comparing prices. They were about 10% dearer than other stockists but you don't need an account with them, turn up with some tenners and you can get what you want.

Captain Chaos

[Macavity]

Thanks CC for the useful link. And indeed the fresh ideas - "You understood"! A few years back, I had easy access to "machine time" and the technically (skilled) mates too. Also, the odd (ahem) "offcut" could be exchanged for my many(!) hours of unofficial and UNPAID overtime?

One can lament the (supposedly) halcyon days of "Two Ronnies" type (Got any 'ose!) suppliers but, as was remarked, skills and time are a justifiably valuable commodity! Anyway Cheers for this... If there are MORE thoughts here, doubtless (generally) they might be "grist for the mill"?

[Macmarch]

Hi there,

Can I be of help?.

cheers

Ray

[Macavity]

Ray, perhaps not (now) on this one - Having bought some of the "bits", I feel constrained to "have a go". <G> But thanks - and power to your (useful!) enterprise. Now, if only I could find a marketable skill...