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Subject: 
Re: New to me 2x2 Green Window
Newsgroups: 
lugnet.trains
Date: 
Fri, 3 May 2002 20:55:30 GMT
Viewed: 
1544 times
  
:)

I got that much from reading the thread. I was hoping that John might have
some advice or tips for those of us who do not have access to a computer
controlled milling machine.

Mark <<

This was the culmination of one of those slippery slopes you'd never have
started out on, had you known the final destination and the cost ahead of time!

Start with a cheapish Sears drill press. Add an x/y cross slide vise and use
dremel tool bits.

The bits wear out fast. The drill press bearings are not rated for side load.

- but you can do passable work in ABS as if it were a real milling machine.

Then I started buying carbide endmills. They last a lot longer and are
sharper than dremel tool bits by orders of magnitude.

Then I bought a modest priced ($450) milling machine from Grizzly after I
went through three cheap drill presses! I already said - they aren't rated
for side load!

Now I can make almost anything I want except curves and except in quantity.
Each brick is a hand made item and can take an hour or more to mill out to
the kinds of tolerances that Lego parts demand (believe it or not!)

So then I had to add a computer controlled milling machine which makes parts
fast and accurately and can do long complex curves if necessary.

So I don't exactly have access to a CNC machine, I bought one! ($1,800)

And all I can say is, I wish the machine you can buy today for that price
had been available 5 years ago! Because I could have made 1000s of green
windows by now :)

JB



Message is in Reply To:
  Re: New to me 2x2 Green Window
 
(...) I got that much from reading the thread. I was hoping that John might have some advice or tips for those of us who do not have access to a computer controlled milling machine. >> Mark << (23 years ago, 3-May-02, to lugnet.trains)

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