But in fact, there's no reason for gun control advocates to "be very afraid." Hoplophobia is an irrational condition. They need to calm down and learn to live amicably with firearms and firearm owners.
There are instructional videos all over the net which give explicit directions to convert even a cheap Harbor Freight mill over to CNC control. The genie will not go back in the bottle.
The particular mill linked to isn't much of a mill -- it doesn't have the work area, spindle horsepower, or precision to do an AR-15 lower from an 80% forging, for instance. It can use soft materials only -- even aluminum is going to require very light cuts which translates into looooong work times. Not that I disagree with the concept at all -- but a practical home armory requires a step up from the specs of this mill, IMHO.
@AJ -- and I encourage you to not do it. People hear "CNC" and think "Magic Pixie Dust". Cheap manual mills usually have fairly sloppy lead screws, which means lots of backlash, which is not a problem on a low-end manual mill because a human can think through how to compensate for that. Converting that mill to CNC causes nightmarish software problems. Save your money. Also, guess what, the vises, clamps, collets, callipers, cutters, dial indicators, etc, etc, for a cheap mill are *exactly* the same ones you need for a decent mill, and cost *exactly* the same, there is no "but I have a cheap mill" discount on tooling. The cost of the mill starts getting swamped by tools at some point. That said: You can easily complete an 80% AR-15 lower on a cheap manual mill, and I think that is well worth it and a great set up for a lot of people. But there is a minimum CNC that makes sense and isn't a waste of money, and a conversion job on a cheap manual mill is a waste of time and money, IMHO.
That is as small as anyone can realistically go. The mini-mills can do a 1919A4 semiauto sideplate with a little creative (and precise) repositioning,but can be a hassle. Best bang for the buck is a Grizzly G0516, and can be CNC-ed. This will allow you to mill parts and turn barrels - all with only 5' of bench space.
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Very good news.
But in fact, there's no reason for gun control advocates to "be very afraid." Hoplophobia is an irrational condition. They need to calm down and learn to live amicably with firearms and firearm owners.
There are instructional videos all over the net which give explicit directions to convert even a cheap Harbor Freight mill over to CNC control. The genie will not go back in the bottle.
The particular mill linked to isn't much of a mill -- it doesn't have the work area, spindle horsepower, or precision to do an AR-15 lower from an 80% forging, for instance. It can use soft materials only -- even aluminum is going to require very light cuts which translates into looooong work times. Not that I disagree with the concept at all -- but a practical home armory requires a step up from the specs of this mill, IMHO.
@AJ -- and I encourage you to not do it. People hear "CNC" and think "Magic Pixie Dust". Cheap manual mills usually have fairly sloppy lead screws, which means lots of backlash, which is not a problem on a low-end manual mill because a human can think through how to compensate for that. Converting that mill to CNC causes nightmarish software problems. Save your money. Also, guess what, the vises, clamps, collets, callipers, cutters, dial indicators, etc, etc, for a cheap mill are *exactly* the same ones you need for a decent mill, and cost *exactly* the same, there is no "but I have a cheap mill" discount on tooling. The cost of the mill starts getting swamped by tools at some point. That said: You can easily complete an 80% AR-15 lower on a cheap manual mill, and I think that is well worth it and a great set up for a lot of people. But there is a minimum CNC that makes sense and isn't a waste of money, and a conversion job on a cheap manual mill is a waste of time and money, IMHO.
www.littlemachineshop.com
That is as small as anyone can realistically go. The mini-mills can do a 1919A4 semiauto sideplate with a little creative (and precise) repositioning,but can be a hassle. Best bang for the buck is a Grizzly G0516, and can be CNC-ed. This will allow you to mill parts and turn barrels - all with only 5' of bench space.
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