DIYbanter - View Single Post - Mill reccomendations for a robotics team?

wrote:

Up until now, we've relied upon generous machine time donations from
machinists in our area, but we would like to do machining in house (for
both learning and time purposes, we only have 6 weeks to make our
robot, and the lead-times for machinists are long).

What Bill said, and more.

The real value in the donated time you were getting was not the machine
but the machinist. The 'lead time' for learning machining is measured in
years. Presuming, of course, that you have a qualified instructor to
help you keep all your fingers, etc. while you are learning.

That said, it still might be worthwhile to buy or even borrow a benchtop
mill/drill for minor quick modifications. You will need a considerable
assortment of cutting, fixturing, and measurement tools that will cost
more than the mill/drill - the "borrow" option might provide all of
those if you are lucky. And you will still need the qualified instructor.

If any machinists local to Tatsunori are listening: you should consider
offering your time and equipment to help. I've done this and working
with bright, motivated high schoolers is an absolute boatload of fun.

The kids these days are awesome, incredibly more aware and sophisticated
than we were at their age. 'Public opinion' tends to be stilted by the
press' choice to publicize only the dysfunctional kids. (Imagine that!!
The press doing a bad job .... snort)
--
Fred R
"It doesn't really take all kinds; there just *are* all kinds".
Drop TROU to email.