Machine shops for CNC milling???

[tahitianstud]

Hi all,

Just curious, does anyone have any experiences/thoughts on the availability of milling services to make a waterblock?

Not that I want to right now, but since I don't have any equipment (being a student and all) I thought that if ever I come up with a cool concept that I could just buy a piece of copper and take it to some machine shops to mill for me.

Anyone's done it?

 

[sunama]

this is exactly the question i wanted to know the answer to.

i live in the uk though, and from what i see, there are no such places such as this, maybe the only way we can get milling services, is to just go upto some engineering works, and ask someone to do some milling and cutting in exchange for some cash. i dont think there are any places that offer this sort of service professionaly. what u could do is gain access to a workshop in your college or school. they might let u use their tools.

 

[JFettig]

yea check your school for equiptment, thats were im milling my waterblocks

or you could use a drill press and cross drill a block...

 

[sunama]

i dont even have a drill press

 

[Sonny]

What would be cheaper buying & shipping the water block or having one made in a machine shop?

 

[Ugmore Baggage]

I needed a carburetor adaptor for a car once (the car had been stolen and a new carb was available but the adaptor was not) and I contacted a machine shop. They were willing to do it, but the cost was $50 plus materials and labor, plus more for certain metals. The $50 was in addition to taking any order and could only be waved if all I wanted was a single straight cut.

Different shops will of course have different ways they price. Basically, they have to charge you for setup time, machine time, materials, overhead, and wear and tear, and the inevitable profit.
My guess based on my tiny experience would be $100-150, not counting welding or precision fitting.

 

[Sonny]

If it's going to cost more to machine than the actuall wb+s&h what would you guys do? Your design could be the best wb or it could be a flop. I don't think buying a wb makes you less of an overclocker since the main enemy is spending more than you really have to in order to get the performance that we can achieve.

 

[Spartacus51]

I don't really know where you could do it. There are some machine shops around here, but again, you'll probably pay quite a bit for one. Now if you wanted to have 100 blocks it would be cheaper (assuming they're all the same) to take it to a machine shop than to order online. The majority of the cost will be setup. If all you have is a drawing the machine shop will have to write up a CNC routine, figure out all the measurements etc. Where you might be able to save yourself some money is in design. Many CNCs have the ability to simply take in a CAD file and spit out a product. So if you have cad don't just print them a copy, bring the file along.

Odds are you won't be able to walk up to a random industrial corporation though and ask them to mill you out a block. I can, but that's because my dad works there. It's all about connections in a place like that. Things that will take 5 minutes and cost next to nothing are frowned upon, especially for other people.

 

[sunama]

dude its not a case of which is cheaper. in my case, i want a geforce 4 waterblock which simply isnt commerically available in the uk. i also wanna cool the memory, again this isnt commercially available. sure, if it was available ready made, then i would buy from the shop, however, in my case....its just doesnt exist, hence i have to get it custom built.

 

[ed8150]

perhaps a communal cnc mill owned by skip or someone trustworthy would be in order? we could all chip in and buy one. then we skip could buy the copper/alum in bulk and sell it to us as we wanted to make a block, use the machine to make it and we could send him a self addressed box or somthing. are there enough intrested people to make this work?

 

[sunama]

alas, i live in uk, so it would be difficult for me to be involved.

 

[Sonny]

dude its not a case of which is cheaper. in my case, i want a geforce 4 waterblock which simply isnt commerically available in the uk. i also wanna cool the memory, again this isnt commercially available. sure, if it was available ready made, then i would buy from the shop, however, in my case....its just doesnt exist, hence i have to get it custom built.

I was under the impression that it was about CPU waterblocks since there was no mention, until now, that you wanted it for your video card. I believe Maximus Nickus should be able to point you in the right direction for your product needs since he has been down this route before & lives in the same country as you. Just PM him. You could also take a look at BLADERUNNER'S SITE & learn how he made this;

There is something similar for sale on the market & I'm sure you can find on thru Google™.

 

[tahitianstud]

Hey thanks for the replies guys, it's great.


Anyways, I am down for the group order and design and stuff. If one of us has really easy access to the mill then it's just the best solution.

Anyways, keep talking... hehe

 

[sunama]

indeed bladerunner did a great job, and a similar thing is available for about $100. however, the geforce 4 has different mounting holes. also the memory is bga, which means cooling both sides of the card. the waterblocks that might be used for this, would almost certainly have to be custom built...no way will there be a commercially available product that meets my reqts. so, a custom built waterblock is the only way for me to go.

personally, if i was cpu cooling, then i think it would be cheaper and be much less hassle to buy a ready made waterblock, that have been tested to perform well and give great results. i would only go the custom build route if there was no other alternative.

thanx for the info though...much appreciated.

ive currently got my exams on but immediately after that i shall make enquiries at my uni as to whether they will let me use their engineering facility to manufacture my waterblock.

 

[ed8150]

i have to disagree with you sunama. we are overclockers which are a subdivision of hackers(not media portrayed type but the actual definition) hackers by design are innovative and perseverant and make efficent use of the resources at hand. i sincerely encourage people to come up with their own designs and try to implement them if possible for the good of the community. if one person comes up with an idea, it may not be too great but it might give some inspiration to another person that will create a groundbreaking componet.

 

[Spartacus51]

Ummm, great idea on a communal CNC, anyone wanna donate $40,000 for a decent cheap one? Yes, you can get a cheap desktop one for about $2000 - $3000, but it will have severe limitations. The other issue is your block designs would all have to be done on some form of CAD program... no sending skip (or whoever had the mill) Orthagonal views in MS paint. Unless whoever was in charge had cad themselves and a lot of free time. Also there's an issue with end mills. In talking to maskedgeek (who has access to a cheap desktop CNC he can only get 1/4 inch shank in it. That means unless we ordered a variety of end mills which were reduced to fit a 1/4" chuck (probably $15-$20 apiece) all designs would have to be with small channels, or take longer to run.

It is certainly an interesting idea, and one that could possibly add a bit of profitabilty to this site if the blocks were sold through the forums or the front page. Perhaps Highlander (maker of the gemini blocks) would be willing to sound off on this topic. HEHE, maybe he'd even donate one of those nice CNCs he's got in his shop... at any rate I bet he'd tell us it's a fair amount of work to start mass producing blocks, especially ones with unique requirements of a GF4 or RAM.

At any rate Highlander944 (I think is his screen name) would be a good person to make contact with. Even if he didn't have good input on this topic he may be able/willing to put together a GF4 and/or RAM block for you.

 

[gone_fishin]

Heres some small mills for the home enthusiast.
$530.00 and lots of patience not included.
http://www.newsales.com/TOOLS/sherline_products/sherline_products_index.htm

Buy bits and learn how to choose and use them here.

http://www.robbjack.com/html/sitemap.html

 

[Spartacus51]

Heres some small mills for the home enthusiast.
$530.00 and lots of patience not included.
http://www.newsales.com/TOOLS/sherline_products/sherline_products_index.htm

Buy bits and learn how to choose and use them here.

http://www.robbjack.com/html/sitemap.html

This is for simply a milling machine, it is not a CNC. All blocks then would have to be straight channel with even no diagonals. If that's what we got then whoever was running it would have to have no job or life, each block would have to be hand milled (generally a couple hours, especially with something that weak.

 

[gone_fishin]

This is for simply a milling machine, it is not a CNC. All blocks then would have to be straight channel with even no diagonals. If that's what we got then whoever was running it would have to have no job or life, each block would have to be hand milled (generally a couple hours, especially with something that weak.

If you look a little more there you can get a model that's cnc ready for $730. You supply the three stepper motors and the computer.

http://www.newsales.com/TOOLS/sherline_products/model_2000_5410_cnc_milling_machine.htm

 

[ed8150]

masked geek you got any input?