@DavidLively - This is you all day long :o)

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 sweet

I just built a mill, mostly from spare parts. Now I'm using that to make some new parts for the router.

One day I'll use these to make something that ISN'T a part or tool for working on these. Need to figure out how to automate that.

I'm wondering how hard it would be to make the mill double as a 3D printer.

@DavidLively - I'm sure with a good print head it wouldn't be an issue.

Yep. Need to read up on that. Might be fun.

At this point, I think have every tool ever made except for a 3D printer. Wish I had a good product idea - maybe I could sell some things and pay for all of this equipment I have sitting around. :)

@DavidLively - The new Lost in Space on Netflix takes 3D printing up a notch. Pretty kewl.

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 yeah - printing a ratchet, with the socket already in place.

And guns, of course, but we already do that. :)

hehe

My dad asked me to machine an AR lower. I was thinking more along the lines of e-brake caliper brackets, picture frames, and fiberglass part plugs.

That would be a little complicated ... but pretty kewl. If it didn't have a serial number on it, though, might get you in trouble.

It's the only part of the AR which has a serial number on it.

It's not illegal to make, just illegal to sell.

Certainly not going to start a business doing that.

I don't have a problem with guns - but there's a line.

And I hate prison.

why oh why did it have to be rainy today

our CEO brought his R8 with him to visit and offered to let people drive it

but it's super wet and doesn't really sound like ideal conditions for trying it out to me

personally, I wish he had brought his Tesla

@AJHenderson Ha. Go online, up your insurance, go for a drive.

It rained during my first track event. Like, torrential downpour, standing water on the track. I was on slicks. It was great fun.

@DavidLively but can you build a mobile, robotic mill?

@Ceshion - Oooooooo ... good question!

just set up a block of billet and have it motor around and sculpt it sort of thing

@Ceshion - A BIG block of billet, lol.

I mean- I've seen the steel they use to melt down and make sheet metal out of-- I figure something like that would work nicely

@Ceshion @Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 Sounds like a great application for a drone.

I’d need some more motors. Have 8 running between the two gadgets. This is a money pit.

But sooo much fun.

And I can;’t cut steel. Maybe we could use recycled aluminum cans?

So for the 3D printer onversion, I’d need a new controller board 9it takes 4 axes, one to feed the filament), a heated bed, and some sensors for temp, etc.

what could possibly go wrong.

I hate not being able to see what I’m typing in this app on the iPad.

Now there’s an idea: like a trash compactor, but put in your spare beer cans and out come machinable aluminum block.

@DavidLively - I would bet the aluminum is not of the same quality, but yah, quite an idea. You should roll with it, lol!

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 There’s a video on The Tubes called ‘what’s in an anvil’. It really made me think about the quality of commercially-available large chunks of metal.

May be a market there, though. A 6’ x 4” x 0.5” chunk of 6061 AL cost me $80. And I had to pick it up. In person. Like, 10 miles from my house. How inconvenient.

Amazon will have to break out the big drones for that stuff, though.

Maybe they could string it between two drones, like swallows carrying coconuts.

Watched Fast and Furious with Wyatt (8 year oldest) last night. I noticed in the scene where Paul Walker is picking out cars in FBI impound from which to build a very nice GTR, there’s a yellow Solstice with Norm’s awesome front bumper and my hood. AND, I am rambling. I’ve been told that if the block of blue text (my stuff) exceeds half the window, I should shut up. Cheers.

@DavidLively - Please don't shut up ... you're too entertaining!

:o)

:)

@Pᴀᴜʟsᴛᴇʀ2 roll with it. Awesome. We could make sheet metal for @Ceshion that way. Fairings are easier to ship than hoods.

At some point, traditional manufacturing and distribution channels are going to go the way of record stores, for a lot of products. As the printing / CNC tech gets faster, and can to larger pieces in wider variety of materials... food’s here! Cheers.