Machine rebuild time - options...

[Jonathan]

Yes pillow drills can be expensive

Mine was about £50 from Tesco, probably 8 years ago now. It's not particularly fast if you want to start drilling big holes in steel/aluminium, but it does work and for <=6mm it's perfectly good. Now I use the milling machine for any 'significant' drilling.

I'm amused by your spelling of pillar drill.

Also with the money saved you could probably buy a cheap stick welder and learn a new skill along the way.! . .:dance:

Mine was just a cheapo 160A welder from Aldi. Think it was £35, might have been less.

[JAZZCNC]

I'm amused by your spelling of pillar drill.

Ye I'm ready for bed. . Lol . . . . also didn't goto school much.!! . . . Or should say didn't arrive at school much some how always got lost and ended up in my uncles workshop.

[m_c]

Also with the money saved you could probably buy a cheap stick welder and learn a new skill along the way.! . .:dance:

Don't get me started on cheap arc welders. They're horrendous to use, and produce good quality welds. Far better to spend a bit extra for a MIG, and get something easier to use and more versatile.


But getting back to the original posters question, yes it will be fine to upgrade/replace in stages.
Might not be ideal, but there's not any set rules on how diy machines should be built (other than the laws of physics that is!)
As for the types of profile, download whatever specification sheets you can find (I used the sheets from http://www.aluminium-profile.co.uk/), and compare the load capacities to find something suitable.

[JAZZCNC]

Don't get me started on cheap arc welders. They're horrendous to use, and produce good quality welds. Far better to spend a bit extra for a MIG, and get something easier to use and more versatile.

Well don't get me started on cheap migs. . .Lol
Cheap migs are usually low powered and useless for welding thick material (Above 3mm). Cheap migs come with crappy wire feeds, crappy regulators and tiny stupidly expensive gas bottles.
If you want to weld thicker material you need high power mig with decent wire feed and larger gas bottles other wise your wasting your time with a Mig IMO. . . . .Thou I do agree they are very versatile if you have decent one.

Cheap stick welders with decent quality rods can weld thick steel with excellent results with a little time and practice. Far better and lot cheaper than a cheap mig for thicker material.

[CraftyGeek]

Thanks for the replies chaps.

I didn't realise that you could get a drill press so cheap - looked at some on Machine Mart earlier...there's a branch just down the road from where I work, so i'm tempted to go that route.
I already have scribes/punches etc - thats not a problem.

Regarding the brackets for creating the frame - can anyone point me in the direction of some suitable candidates?

Going to look into the price of steel box in this area....i'm assuming that you're all referring to mild steel & not stainless?

[m_c]

Regarding the brackets for creating the frame - can anyone point me in the direction of some suitable candidates?

It all depends on what you're trying to join, but flat plates, or sections of angle will work depending on how/where you want to join sections.

Going to look into the price of steel box in this area....i'm assuming that you're all referring to mild steel & not stainless?

Yes, mild steel, unless you're suddenly got lots of money burning a hole in your pocket!

[JAZZCNC]

Regarding the brackets for creating the frame - can anyone point me in the direction of some suitable candidates?

Just order a length of wide flat plate then mark cut to shape and size using the angle grinder with the micro thin cutting disc's I mentioned before. Very quick and easy.

The combination of Pillar drill, Angle grinder, decent elec hand drill with a few basic tools like sharp scribes etc is all you need to make a very strong frame.

One good piece of equipment I recommend buying is set of transfer punch's like these. . .http://www.rdgtools.co.uk/acatalog/info_1791.html
They make transfering holes from one piece of metal to the other very accurate and easy.!! . . .Very good when making multple brackets etc.

[CraftyGeek]

I'm liking the punch set...I think I'll get myself one of those.

When you say micro thin cutting disk..what thickness are they? I have some 2.5mm discs already...how would they do?

Got a quote earlier for 50mm box steel (3mm) it does work out a lot cheaper, so I'm going that route.

Need to get the workshop sorted, then get on to designing the frame.

[Jonathan]

When you say micro thin cutting disk..what thickness are they? I have some 2.5mm discs already...how would they do?

tool and cheap thats quick for cutting steel is 1mm micro cutting disc's

2.5mm is bad as it has to remove a greater amount of material, so the cutting force and wear on the grinder is higher and it's not as fast.

Need to get the workshop sorted, then get on to designing the frame.

Design everything before making, else you'll likely regret it.

[m_c]

When you say micro thin cutting disk..what thickness are they? I have some 2.5mm discs already...how would they do?

2.5mm are the older standard thickness cutting disks. Nothing wrong with them if that's what you already have.

2.5mm is bad as it has to remove a greater amount of material, so the cutting force and wear on the grinder is higher and it's not as fast.

I wouldn't call them bad. They were used for many years as cutting discs.
And how does a thicker disc increase cutting force on the grinder?
You shouldn't be forcing the disc into the metal anyway, as all you do is cause extra heat, wear the disc quicker, and put unecessary strain on the grinder.