I've been reading a lot of late as to why mods and accessories are so expensive, at least the better made or customs. I'm not trying to berate anyone, just want to give an idea of what it really costs to make some of these things!
You want a decent box mod made out of metal? You will need one of these, http://www1.mscdirect.com/eCommerce...e=Category-_-BodyLink-_-Knee+Milling+Machines $16k in the door. Then you need a vise to hold it, http://www1.mscdirect.com/eCommerce...77dlo?refinement=4288224896&searchandizedOk=Y so $830 for a decent one. You want to get fancy and cut some radii? No problem, you just need a rotary table, http://www1.mscdirect.com/eCommerce...tial&Nty=1&rawInput=rotary+table¢rotary+table pick which one you like, but remember, you WILL have to be able to clamp it down, so it has to be large enough to accommodate that! Want to do some counter boring or have a fancy dripwell? You're going to need a Boring head, http://www1.mscdirect.com/eCommerce...?cm_re=Category-_-BodyLink-_-Boring+Head+Sets
OK, so you just want a basic tube mod, you can buy the tubing, how hard can it be to cut some threads and turn it down? Well, you'll need one of these first, http://www1.mscdirect.com/eCommerce...tial&Nty=1&rawInput=engine+lathe¢engine+lathe pick which ever one suits your needs, but you are around $3k to start.
Then if you want to use most of this stuff in your garage, you can either pay the electric company to drop 3phase in your house, that's cheap, or get a phase inverter, a bit cheaper. Then you have to buy the tooling, for instance let's price out some 1/2" end mills, I've narrowed the search down, 1/2", 1" LOC 2 1/2" OAL http://www1.mscdirect.com/eCommerce...Ctk=All_MSC¤tMSCtx=mode+matchallpartial That's just for ONE! Specialty tools go up from there!
OK, this all too much work, you just want to punch in some numbers and make something happen, CNC is the way!
Great, http://www1.mscdirect.com/eCommerce...challpartial&Nty=1&rawInput=CNC+mill¢CNC+mill now, these are really pretty bare bone machines! You want to do production, you will need something better as these are designed for low production/economy machining.
CNC lathe, http://www1.mscdirect.com/eCommerce...allpartial&Nty=1&rawInput=cnc+lathe¢cnc+lathe again, low production units.
Then you need the software to be able to write what's on the blueprint into a program which generally starts around $1k, then, again, you need tooling to cut the metal.
Want to make a Provari tube? Well you need something along these lines, I wont even bother getting into the price, I'd like to think you get that buy now!
I'm not trying to be nasty with this, I just don't think many people realize how much of a monetary investment it takes to do this! Never mind the hours and hours it takes to sit down, design, then redesign to make everything fit together and work! I feel certain the gentleman that builds the juicebox could and would add a lot more to what I'm trying to say here!
You want a decent box mod made out of metal? You will need one of these, http://www1.mscdirect.com/eCommerce...e=Category-_-BodyLink-_-Knee+Milling+Machines $16k in the door. Then you need a vise to hold it, http://www1.mscdirect.com/eCommerce...77dlo?refinement=4288224896&searchandizedOk=Y so $830 for a decent one. You want to get fancy and cut some radii? No problem, you just need a rotary table, http://www1.mscdirect.com/eCommerce...tial&Nty=1&rawInput=rotary+table¢rotary+table pick which one you like, but remember, you WILL have to be able to clamp it down, so it has to be large enough to accommodate that! Want to do some counter boring or have a fancy dripwell? You're going to need a Boring head, http://www1.mscdirect.com/eCommerce...?cm_re=Category-_-BodyLink-_-Boring+Head+Sets
OK, so you just want a basic tube mod, you can buy the tubing, how hard can it be to cut some threads and turn it down? Well, you'll need one of these first, http://www1.mscdirect.com/eCommerce...tial&Nty=1&rawInput=engine+lathe¢engine+lathe pick which ever one suits your needs, but you are around $3k to start.
Then if you want to use most of this stuff in your garage, you can either pay the electric company to drop 3phase in your house, that's cheap, or get a phase inverter, a bit cheaper. Then you have to buy the tooling, for instance let's price out some 1/2" end mills, I've narrowed the search down, 1/2", 1" LOC 2 1/2" OAL http://www1.mscdirect.com/eCommerce...Ctk=All_MSC¤tMSCtx=mode+matchallpartial That's just for ONE! Specialty tools go up from there!
OK, this all too much work, you just want to punch in some numbers and make something happen, CNC is the way!
Great, http://www1.mscdirect.com/eCommerce...challpartial&Nty=1&rawInput=CNC+mill¢CNC+mill now, these are really pretty bare bone machines! You want to do production, you will need something better as these are designed for low production/economy machining.
CNC lathe, http://www1.mscdirect.com/eCommerce...allpartial&Nty=1&rawInput=cnc+lathe¢cnc+lathe again, low production units.
Then you need the software to be able to write what's on the blueprint into a program which generally starts around $1k, then, again, you need tooling to cut the metal.
Want to make a Provari tube? Well you need something along these lines, I wont even bother getting into the price, I'd like to think you get that buy now!
I'm not trying to be nasty with this, I just don't think many people realize how much of a monetary investment it takes to do this! Never mind the hours and hours it takes to sit down, design, then redesign to make everything fit together and work! I feel certain the gentleman that builds the juicebox could and would add a lot more to what I'm trying to say here!
