Hardcore Aluminum milling on an S3

Call me crazy
But the hard way teaches better lessons
:wink:

not a fish eye lens

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Funny, when I was in the military the only way you knew you were in the squadrons Airframes shop is because they had a vice :wink: I was a little luckier, I worked at a little deeper level of aircraft maintenance, we had manual brakes, shears and rollers. Now I work with vendors that have all sorts of cool stuff, while I’m stuck at my desk :man_facepalming:

Dan

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Yeah while very useful and the price is right, it makes my Swag 20T finger break look very basic. Like the song says: If I had a million dollars…

Datron 8mm 4in1 magic shine
200ipm
4.5thou actual chip


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Dude! Your skills are off da’ chain! I’m always looking forward to seeing what you’re going to do next!!! Great stuff!!!

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C3PO glasses…haha.

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Small batch of dual sensor mounts done. Something in the cam is putting lines on some faces, i’ll change some things and try again.

Switching back to 3mm Datron SF and going to knock out the last remaining brackets on the red evo RS. Starting to get the hang of this lol, superlight, super strong, hexy is the new sexy

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Well…I done messed up and broke a Datron 3mm, didn’t clear another fixture on homing… threw in the carbide 0.125 sf and finished the part. Its proper, real proper. After this car gets an intake manifold it will be making a solid 650hp, looks stock. P.s. - cheap collet reducers suck

Those hexi are only 50 thou deep, bracket weights grams. Finishing this job buys more endmills

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The bolt is for contrast?

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Its stock hardware, aside from what that bolt looks like this is one of the cleanest Evos ive ever seen lol.

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Does anyone else get an optical illusion from this video thumbnail of the pieces coming toward you?

Ok, I’m convinced. This Vince guy is actually a robot.
If by some remote chance he actually is human, he’s definitely not married. :stuck_out_tongue_closed_eyes:
I probably spend 1% of the time he does on my CNC addiction, and the wife isn’t at all happy about it.

Anyway, great stuff here. Lots of great details that will help me with diving into milling aluminum. :+1:

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A word of caution, considering your wife comment…Mind the sparkles/glitter!

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Hahaha, definitely not married, but the right woman would be using my other s3, sadly those are hard to find. Maybe if you find a way to involve her in a design she might get interested and let you play more?

I live a simple life, chalk full of craziness and projects to keep it interesting. Left a 70k a year fabrication job and sacraficed that life for freedom and a chance at real happiness and working under my own name. I share the shop 30/70 with an auto tech and repair business, very synergistic work relationship. We are on a few acres of land and I live at the shop, usually sleep in a Skoolie I’m converting. I have solar power on the bus and the shop has a huge rainwater recycle and storage system complete with hot shower.

A simple, efficient, low waste life. Bills low enough to only take in the work that makes me grow as a Fabricator and Machinist. It’s not an easy or cushy life, but I smile in the morning thinking about the future, and that’s worth a ton.

Wait till the skoolie is done and the mini-shop is operational. Complete freedom travelling the US, living the tiny home life and using my cncs wherever I want.

Lifes too short to not shoot for the stars. edit btw it is awesome to hear more and more people cutting metal! Have fun and definitely keep us updated

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Been yelled at quite a few times for that. She now hates aluminum!
And that was only from building my machine. Just wait until I start actually machining aluminum parts!
…might have to find a good lawyer. :wink:

@Vince.Fab, must say I’m a little bit jealous. Can’t deny that I’ve fantasized at times about living a similar lifestyle. but hey, have to work with the choices I’ve made.

Again, thanks for sharing all the work you’re doing. the passion really shows through. :+1:

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To keep clean I would think an enclosure, apron, and set of work area only shoes would be pretty sufficient. The new shop has a 10x12 Cnc room and it would be nice to be setup to contain the mess.

Always happy to share! Hopefully adding something positive to the community.

4am and the pipes are done, brackets torch annealed and bent then tig welded. They rubber mount to factory locations and another kit was already sold so its really nice to be able to cut another set easy peasy. With the cnc, I’ve been able to make 100% stock compatible designs that are infinitely repeatable. That’s the dream

Same low pro billet endtanks, bar and plate 800hp core

In case anyone is wondering. Those are dual temp/pressure sensor bungs for pre/post intercooler performance data

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I’m sure you already know this, but I’ll say it anyway. Backup all your work! I prefer a combination of online like google drive and a usb stick. Because I’m anal like that. :wink:
My favorite ‘trick’ for a quick backup of an important file (assuming it’s not too large) is to email it to myself.
because, yeah, losing work sucks.

I also go back to my original thought… you’re a robot! :smile:

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Fusion is cloud based so im good on not losing any work. Everything else I do has very standardized processes so by looking at photos I can reproduce no issues. Most of everything is custom anyway, the best customers.

The best ideas happen at night :wink:

Well… maaaaybe not all the best

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Oh, no. What have you done…