mikeee Posted May 6, 2015 Share Posted May 6, 2015 Caleb, Just trying to enlighten people on the realities of tools, equipment, materials and labor. Ben Smith crashed a cnc lathe last year after sinking an investment into an automated machine. It has been about 9 months since he crashed the machine and he is still playing catch up. Locating another machine shipping it to your shop, lining up equipment to unload the equipment from a truck, moving the equipment into your shop, hiring an electrician to wire the equipment, learning the software to run the equipment, purchasing cutting tools that fit your equipment, writing programs for each tool you want to make, and making monthly payments to the bank. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calebkessinger Posted May 7, 2015 Share Posted May 7, 2015 For sure Mike. Life ain't cheap.. I couldn't do this if I had to pay shop rent, machine rent, and cover all the bills at the house.. ( my wife does still work ) I have spent the last six months or so just paying for tools, supplies and equipt... and not any nice ones either.. cheap, cheap !! I'm not sure I am back to even yet. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeee Posted May 7, 2015 Share Posted May 7, 2015 Every piece of machine equipment is like having a child, from the first day you bring it home it requires constant attention, with never ending maintenance, repairs, upgrades, replacement cutters and bits, feed it lubricants and electricity every day, and give it a bath every other day. :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rocketier Posted May 7, 2015 Share Posted May 7, 2015 (edited) @Mikeee, Brass is nice to mill but it splinters of a lot and those splints always are propelled towards your face. And the disadvantage is the softness. I prefer to do the stainlesssteel 304 to the mill. When your nice to the tools it's lifetime warranty. Edited May 7, 2015 by Rocketier Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeee Posted May 7, 2015 Share Posted May 7, 2015 There are pros and cons for both brass and stainless steel. Turning brass on a lathe tends to make a lot of very fine metal chips that like to find there way in between moving parts. :-( Threading stainless steel requires more work and the threads can gall more easily compared to brass. There are a number of people that claim rocket motors release from a brass spindle more readily than stainless steel. Stainless steel is a lot harder to deform then a brass spindle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calebkessinger Posted May 8, 2015 Share Posted May 8, 2015 My brass curls coming off of roughing in a spindle look like springs... I could wear a wrap of them around my neck some of them are so long.. nothing like taking off over .050 thousandths in one pass... You need a different cutter if you can't make them curl I would suspect. ( I'm no real machinist though ) so I would know nothing of what others do I just know what I get by with. I make a pretty decent amount of stainless spindles too. More and more every day. They do take longer. and if you get them too hot.... you're in trouble. They all bend when abused... here is the key... Pay attention when making rockets ! Clean your rammers ! and Make sure the spindle is centered when pressing the first increments of your rockets.. us an insert in your first rammers to center the spindle up every time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deer Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 (edited) Sorry to butt in, but looking again at the e-bay tooling, what would be the exact weak point of it?I'm asking since I'm thinking of making my own tooling, but to economy on materials use metal only on contact surfaces: I'm just thinking if I can do with wood in aluminium pipe, or it'll compress and the tube will get crooked. If so, how safe it is to use sparking metal on non contact surfaces (like just throw a steel rod in the middle of tube)? Also I’m wondering if I should use steel cap and retaining pin on hammering end of tool, or sparking in there is too a matter of concern? Edited May 15, 2015 by deer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeee Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 Deer, Most people use non-sparking (non-ferrous) materials like brass or stainless steel for materials in contact with the rocket fuel. Aluminum would be another non-sparking material but the metal is too soft for use as a spindle for most sizes of rockets. Other types of ferrous metals will rust and have the potential for creating a spark if there is any contaminate in your fuel. The more pitting and corrosion on a spindle will hinder the ability to extract the motor from the spindle. Certain types of metals are somewhat self lubricating and seem to allow easier extraction of the motor from the spindle. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
calebkessinger Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 I have some tube aluminum tooling.. works fine.. keep it non sparking and go on. aluminum spindles work fine also.. wolter makes a lot of his stuff out of alum and then has it anodized. I have made some of aluminum and had no trouble making rockets with them.. softer is safer in some opinions.. You can slide a socket over the wooden rods to keep them from breaking.... just use a mallet and not a metal hammer. You could just buckle down and order some from me I'd be glad to make you some. Be careful and HAVE FUN !! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeee Posted May 20, 2015 Share Posted May 20, 2015 Here is an 8-oz rocket tooling I made that uses a taper pin and an adapter base. The taper pins come in stainless steel and in various lengths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dragonflightpyro Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 That's crap dude. Good tool look like this. The long spindles are the bp related ones. That is an amazing looking set. Are those self made or bought? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mikeee Posted July 8, 2015 Share Posted July 8, 2015 Dragonflight, The stainless steel spindle was purchased but I made the adapter base that the taper pin spindle threads into and I also am making aluminum bases that the adapter base bolts into. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
screentoppers Posted July 20, 2015 Share Posted July 20, 2015 I am in the market for some BP core burning rocket tooling 1"/3lb and stumbled across this, will this serve my needs as a beginner? Thanks! http://www.ebay.com/itm/Pyro-rocket-tooling-set-Precision-Brass-1ins-with-two-rammers-/181714996488you would be amazed what kind of performance you can get by simple spindles made in your shop Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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