[drakke]

Hello,

I am thinking of setting up a small shop for prototyping and looking at small non-cnc machines.

The problem is that I don't have money to rent a dedicated shop space and I don't have a garage either. I live in a basement apartment and want to dedicate a room to keep these machines.

I am not going to run these 24/7, just long enough to make parts for machines I design.

1) What kinds of machines do I need? Lathe, Mill, Combo-machine?

2) Are these machines good? What do you recommend? Price is not an object. I want high-quality, reliability and precision.

Gear-Head Milling Machine With DRO and Power Feeder - Milling Machines at Bolton Hardware

Grizzly.com® -- Product Categories

3) How much noise do these machines make? Is there any way to reduce the noise? Is it possible to build a small soundproof chamber around these machines for the machine and operator only?

4) Is it legal to run these in a rental apartment in a residential community? What kind of insurance should I get?

This is NOT CNC. I just want to create and test prototypes of smaller machines.

Thanks.

[awerby]

[QUOTE=drakke;1136086]Hello,

I am thinking of setting up a small shop for prototyping and looking at small non-cnc machines.

The problem is that I don't have money to rent a dedicated shop space and I don't have a garage either. I live in a basement apartment and want to dedicate a room to keep these machines.

I am not going to run these 24/7, just long enough to make parts for machines I design.

1) What kinds of machines do I need? Lathe, Mill, Combo-machine?

[Without getting more specific about the parts you want to make, it's hard to answer that question. All you've told us is that they are "non cnc" machines, which covers a lot of territory.]

2) Are these machines good? What do you recommend? Price is not an object. I want high-quality, reliability and precision.

[Are what machines good? The ones you link to below are cheap made-in-China machines, not the sort of price-is-no-object ultra-precise high quality machines you speak of, which would cost several times more - and up. ]

Gear-Head Milling Machine With DRO and Power Feeder - Milling Machines at Bolton Hardware

Grizzly.com® -- Product Categories

3) How much noise do these machines make? Is there any way to reduce the noise? Is it possible to build a small soundproof chamber around these machines for the machine and operator only?

[Milling machines can make quite a bit of noise, which varies depending on which machine and tooling you use, what you're cutting and how fast. Try looking on YouTube for milling videos, and turn the sound up to get an idea. Yes, you can mitigate it somewhat, but "soundproof" is a relative term.]

4) Is it legal to run these in a rental apartment in a residential community? What kind of insurance should I get?

[I can't say what's legal in your particular community in Canada, but in general, if you make enough noise to create a nuisance, people can complain and shut you down. Did you get permission from the landlord and/or manager to install a bunch of machinery in your apartment? Some municipalities allow that sort of thing, others don't - you might check with the local authorities. If you do get renter's insurance, make sure it covers your home business, or hobby.]

Andrew Werby
ComputerSculpture.com — Home Page for Discount Hardware & Software

[arizonavideo]

The gear head RF-45's make a lot of noise stock. If you go to a belt drive and a VFD they can be quits quiet if you use a smaller cutter and run the RPM a bit slow.

That is a fair amount of work. You might look at a Weiss 30/ PM30 size mill. If your doing smaller parts it runs much quieter and is easy to CNC and might be more accurate.

I have one non CNC and it is a fine mill and is much quieter than my stock IH mill.

Now that I have a VFD and a belt drive on the IH I can mill lighter cuts and still talk and hear the radio if I'm doing light cuts with a 1/4" or 3/8 cutter.

Put in a 3" face mill and crank things up and it is so loud it will almost scare you.

A lot could be done with a enclosure but you will have to let in air so sound will come out.