I am thinking about my rotary table. It is a 12" rotary table with
full 4th axis control (G code, not M code). The only thing that it
lacks is a brake (and it is slow).

A comparable table costs $25,990.

http://vse.ats-s.com/SmartCatalogPor...D=Q6UJ9A00LTIA

The troyke table was $149 plus $150 for resolver converter. I also
bought an encoder card from Jon, but its cost allocation is shared
between the rotary table and the motor on the knee, so I would say
$100.

$100 + $149 + $150 = $399.

Add to this at least 50 hours of my time, which I am not sure how to
value.

i

Ignoramus20691 wrote:

I am thinking about my rotary table. It is a 12" rotary table with
full 4th axis control (G code, not M code). The only thing that it
lacks is a brake (and it is slow).

A comparable table costs $25,990.

http://vse.ats-s.com/SmartCatalogPor...D=Q6UJ9A00LTIA

The troyke table was $149 plus $150 for resolver converter. I also
bought an encoder card from Jon, but its cost allocation is shared
between the rotary table and the motor on the knee, so I would say
$100.

$100 + $149 + $150 = $399.

Add to this at least 50 hours of my time, which I am not sure how to
value.

Value your time at the the income you could have generated using that
time for a side job (it cost you this amount), or if you could not have
used the time to generate income it has no monetary value. If the time
you spent working on the project was enjoyable, value that time at a
negative dollar amount equivalent to what you would pay for
entertainment out such as movies or sports (it saved you this amount).

"Ignoramus20691" wrote in message
...
I am thinking about my rotary table. It is a 12" rotary table with
full 4th axis control (G code, not M code). The only thing that it
lacks is a brake (and it is slow).

A comparable table costs $25,990.

http://vse.ats-s.com/SmartCatalogPor...D=Q6UJ9A00LTIA

The troyke table was $149 plus $150 for resolver converter. I also
bought an encoder card from Jon, but its cost allocation is shared
between the rotary table and the motor on the knee, so I would say
$100.

$100 + $149 + $150 = $399.

Add to this at least 50 hours of my time, which I am not sure how to
value.

i

Are you going to be looking for jobs? Let me know when you are ready, what
capabilities you will be marketing and what pricing structure you want to use. My
mill is stuffed for the foreseeable future and I don't have your capabilities for
complex parts.

On 2011-03-04, Pete C. wrote:

Ignoramus20691 wrote:

I am thinking about my rotary table. It is a 12" rotary table with
full 4th axis control (G code, not M code). The only thing that it
lacks is a brake (and it is slow).

A comparable table costs $25,990.

http://vse.ats-s.com/SmartCatalogPor...D=Q6UJ9A00LTIA

The troyke table was $149 plus $150 for resolver converter. I also
bought an encoder card from Jon, but its cost allocation is shared
between the rotary table and the motor on the knee, so I would say
$100.

$100 + $149 + $150 = $399.

Add to this at least 50 hours of my time, which I am not sure how to
value.

Value your time at the the income you could have generated using that
time for a side job (it cost you this amount), or if you could not have
used the time to generate income it has no monetary value. If the time
you spent working on the project was enjoyable, value that time at a
negative dollar amount equivalent to what you would pay for
entertainment out such as movies or sports (it saved you this amount).

It was enjoyable and a good life lesson (redo things that I did badly,
etc).

i

On 2011-03-04, Tom Gardner w@w wrote:

"Ignoramus20691" wrote in message
...
I am thinking about my rotary table. It is a 12" rotary table with
full 4th axis control (G code, not M code). The only thing that it
lacks is a brake (and it is slow).

A comparable table costs $25,990.

http://vse.ats-s.com/SmartCatalogPor...D=Q6UJ9A00LTIA

The troyke table was $149 plus $150 for resolver converter. I also
bought an encoder card from Jon, but its cost allocation is shared
between the rotary table and the motor on the knee, so I would say
$100.

$100 + $149 + $150 = $399.

Add to this at least 50 hours of my time, which I am not sure how to
value.

i

Are you going to be looking for jobs? Let me know when you are ready, what
capabilities you will be marketing and what pricing structure you want to use. My
mill is stuffed for the foreseeable future and I don't have your capabilities for
complex parts.



Not yet, I have not acquired or learned any CAD/CAM software.

I was kind of hoping, one day, to make parts, but have someone else
stand on front of the mill and change tools etc.

I also realize that making a living making stuff is a big challenge.
It is hard to compete against talented and underpaid people like the
Chinese.

I once heard some guy who makes oddball things say "if I see anyone
else make the same thing that I make, I stop making it". This sort of
thing kind of appeals to me. Say, making spare parts for old machines
where it is easy to make them.

i

On Fri, 04 Mar 2011 18:25:22 -0600, Ignoramus20691 wrote:
On 2011-03-04, Tom Gardner w@w wrote:
"Ignoramus20691" ... wrote ...
I am thinking about my rotary table. It is a 12" rotary table with
full 4th axis control (G code, not M code). The only thing that it
lacks is a brake (and it is slow).
[...]
Are you going to be looking for jobs? Let me know when you are ready,
what capabilities you will be marketing and what pricing structure you
want to use. My mill is stuffed for the foreseeable future and I don't
have your capabilities for complex parts.

Not yet, I have not acquired or learned any CAD/CAM software.

I was kind of hoping, one day, to make parts, but have someone else
stand on front of the mill and change tools etc.

I also realize that making a living making stuff is a big challenge. It
is hard to compete against talented and underpaid people like the
Chinese.

I once heard some guy who makes oddball things say "if I see anyone else
make the same thing that I make, I stop making it". This sort of thing
kind of appeals to me. Say, making spare parts for old machines where it
is easy to make them.

Seems likely that Tom probably has designs ready to go, ie,
that he can readily translate to G code. Maybe even has
tooling and fixtures for the jobs.

--
jiw

On 3/4/2011 2:30 PM, Tom Gardner wrote:

Are you going to be looking for jobs? Let me know when you are ready, what
capabilities you will be marketing and what pricing structure you want to use. My
mill is stuffed for the foreseeable future and I don't have your capabilities for
complex parts.

Tom,

Would like to know what sort of work you might have. You can ping me
direct, email is good.

Thanks,


Jon