BoOsTeD_eK

Sup guys..I am in the infant stages (1 year maybe 2 away from actually opening doors) of making my dream of owning and operating an engineering principle based shop. I plan on having my own necessary machine shop (small and mostly specific tasks e.g boring, honing, sleeving, milling) The location will remailn undisclosed for now, but it is between 4 top U.S. cities where I wouldnt mind settling down and raising a family down the line. But I am posting so that if anyone has any knowledge of how and where most machinists get there start in the business I would appreciate your iput. Do community colleges or trade schools offer this kind of training as they do auto body repair? If anyone has any thoughts and is willing to share then please do. Thanks again.

zer0s0n5

Most tech schools offer apprenticeship programs. I'm hoping you're not assuming this is going to be easy. I've worked in a machine shop for almost 7 years now, and it's a very steep learn curve for most people I have to train. I was lucky and learned from my uncle at a young age so I already knew how to do most of it. It' also might help to take some metalworking/fabrication courses too. I can't weld as good as I wuld like which real hurts when making some of the tooling require for what I make. Tha's if you don't already know though. Also the machines to do engine work aren't cheap at all. I'm talking at least $50,000 for a low-end milling machine. That's minus the CNC equipment. Your going to need a lot more than that too. Tooling isn't cheap either. Also having the materials to make the sleeves costs. It's cheap to source your sleeves out-of-house, but the casts or molds will cost. Un-less you machine them from solid billet. YEEECH... Not to scare you away, but I just wanted to let you know a little of what your looking at. If you stick to, and have lots of support, good luck to you. .

BoOsTeD_eK

Thanks for the reply...I know most trade and skilled labor work is a career that is built on experience..but you have to start somewhere or at least have someone in the industry to show you a thing or two. I have started sourcing maching equipment and you are right with their exuberant prices...but buying used, leasing, and even outsourcing of the machine work for early customers are definitely still options being considered for the business plan. Sleeving...well hell no I would not be designing my sleeves...why bother when Dart and Benson already have developed them..I am talking more of an installation of sleeves capability for the shop. Also..like you said most of the machine work I would perform would be on a low scale amount so CNC machines for now would be pointless as they are designed with high production in mind. I have found a couple of decent used Boring/Milling bars for good prices. Any ideas on which manufacturers to go with in terms of reliability, construction, and ease of operation..I am looking at some Berco/Peterson units at the moment. Dyno and flowbench based design will be the shops main source of revenue as I already have experience in both.

rjardy

My grandfather is a very talented machinest. He worked for Aerojet and machined many of the parts for the shuttle discovery. The actual art of a machinist has all but fadded into the back drops due to computer driven machinery. In my opinion, line boring, decking, and honing, is a very minute part of being a machinist. More or less just another part in engine rebuilding anymore. Sure these can be preformed in a machine shop by a machinist. And any more if you go to an automotive machine shop, these are all the services that are offered. A full operating machine shop is few and far between any more. but as to your originall question, is it a full machine shop you are looking to open? or a shop where automotive machining can be done?


Rob

BoOsTeD_eK

Just a BASIC BASIC machine shop where new piston installations (boring, honing) could be performed, milling, and I am under the impression that with these simple machining centers sleeves could also be installed. I understand the theory behind maching as far as materials, feed rates, speeds, as I have taken two manufacturing classes, two hands on machining intensive labs(lathe, CNC, milling) where I understand the basics...I just want to have the machines to gain my experience...be it on ruined or useless motors until I feel confident enough to do it on my personal motor to then move onto customers when I feel ready.

Matty.

I just want to say that I hope everything works out for you.

Definetly look into metal fab / welding classes if you have not already. There is a great program here at my local community college and there probably is one there as well.

FIGARILA

iTrader: (1)

I work at a machine shop aswell, we make plastic injection molding. I'm not questioning your machining abillities but it's a tuff buisness to break into. The seed of most machine shops is one person's dream and a large amount of debt. My dream is similar to your's, an engineering based machine shop. unfortunetly, I don't cut metal all i do is work upstairs in engineering. Solidworks and other cad programs are fun but i just want to cut some steel. If you need any help (software wise) let me know???

Good luck

pngfolife

Don't even think about coming to Cali. You will be eaten alive by the competition (especially down south) unless you are innovative, do quality work, and are dirt cheap. Your shop may be able to do well in northern Cali but the extremely high cost of living will make your life a living hell.

underpressure02

I know nothing about machining but try and contact Scott from STR. His screen name is STR. When I was in CA a few weeks ago he showed me around all the different buildings where STR makes their products. He spent over 4 hours with me showing me everything from how they melt the aluminum to cutting the different products out of a solid piece of aluminum. He explained all the different processes and also explained why they do things the way they do. The one building he took me to had 50 CNC machines. None of them were older then 2000. He may be able to give you some helpful guidance and some good advice. Hope that helps.

AP-Signworks1

Sort of related question, how do you like Solidworks? The reason I ask is because my shop is about to get a new mill, and I'm looking for new design software. Right now, we're only into 2D stuff as we run waterjets and plasma cutters, but I'm going to invest in a 3 axis mill to expand our capabilities. Butting metal is a lot of fun though.

And to the original poster, good luck. It is going to be incredibly expensive, interest rates on equipment are not low, and there is a lot of competition. Also, there is a very steep learning curve for most of the machines, and if you break one, it is outrageously expensive to fix. In the last 3 months, we've had to spend almost $20K in just repairs on the waterjets due to the morons that were running them. That number doesn't include regular maintenance or consumables.

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by FIGARILA &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">I work at a machine shop aswell, we make plastic injection molding. I'm not questioning your machining abillities but it's a tuff buisness to break into. The seed of most machine shops is one person's dream and a large amount of debt. My dream is similar to your's, an engineering based machine shop. unfortunetly, I don't cut metal all i do is work upstairs in engineering. Solidworks and other cad programs are fun but i just want to cut some steel. If you need any help (software wise) let me know???

Good luck </TD></TR></TABLE>

pngfolife

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by AP-Signworks1 &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">Sort of related question, how do you like Solidworks?</TD></TR></TABLE>

Pro/Engineer, yeah!!!

FIGARILA

iTrader: (1)

Solidworks is a powerful program and so is pro E, I belive pro E is more surface oriented. Which is handy when it comes time to use the surface to cut with (cnc). Solidworks is good for design but becomes difficult when working off of a converted non-solid file. Solidworks is like a diva, will only work when given exactly what i wants, no tight solid ,it's going to drag it's feet. Try Cadkey easy to learn but not very powerful either way it's going to be expensive........good luck
oh yeah ...don't come to cali. it's a saturated market, some rough trade y0

pngfolife

As a beginner, Soliworks is easier to use, but if you can use Pro/E, you can use almost any other CAD software.

FIGARILA

iTrader: (1)

<TABLE WIDTH="90%" CELLSPACING=0 CELLPADDING=0 ALIGN=CENTER><TR><TD>Quote, originally posted by pngfolife &raquo;</TD></TR><TR><TD CLASS="quote">As a beginner, Soliworks is easier to use, but if you can use Pro/E, you can use almost any other CAD software.</TD></TR></TABLE>

ShaunRR

Very interesting thread.

Free bump.