Help with identifying a machine needed for my business..

[GTO-3R]

Afternoon all. I'm putting together plans for a business and I'm in the development stages at the moment. What I need help with is the type of machine needed to produce my idea as I'm not from that background and don't know the terminology etc! I know it's a form of lathe but it needs to be automated with a constant feed of dowels which are then shaped. If you watch the video below from 2 mins to 2 mins 50 secs it will show a similar process to what I need as I'm producing a similar shape to a golf tee.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nucdgtSvWYY

Does anyone know what type of machine this is? Or If there is something similar which would do the same job?

Any help would be hugely appreciated

[fossilfuelled]

Would really help if you could indicate the volume of production you are planning.
Just a heads up, fully automated machines require capital investments probably much greater than you'd imagine. Plus you'll need to pay a manufacturing engineer to make it work.
Or you could buy a different machine which could be slower, but cheaper and more versatile for much smaller volumes. Whatcha making?

[red22]

Surely just a normal lathe with the part turned and parted off from a length of rod. Unless making thousands on a regular basis.

[anonymous-user]

Wema minimat 25 lathe would do it

Here is one for $67,250

http://www.exfactory.com/DetailNew.aspx?recnum=LC-...

[mr.man]

The machine in the video is a Sliding Head Auto. (quite an old one)
Older machines are still in the market but mostly new machines are CNC for more complex parts.

[GTO-3R]

Thanks for the replies.

I will be starting off making reasonably low volumes of 50,000 ish per annum, which based on 365 days a year is 137 a day. As with any new business I want to keep my costs down so will be operating the machinine myself intitially. I just don't know what to look for as it's a whole new world to me!

Fossilfuelled - you mentioned a machine that might be slower but less expensive?

I'd rather not say exactly what I'm producing just yet as I'm just applying for my patent

[GTO-3R]

JPJPJP said:

Wema minimat 25 lathe would do it

Here is one for $67,250

http://www.exfactory.com/DetailNew.aspx?recnum=LC-...

That is exactly what I need but $67,250

[dudleybloke]

An olde BSA type cam auto would be slow and cheap, auto capstan a bit faster and slightly dearer, a copy lathe could do it if you can find one.
All depends on finish/tolerance needed.

Edited by dudleybloke on Friday 10th February 12:40

[spikeyhead]

If you don't know how to run a machine like that, then outsource the work.

[j80jpw]

Definitely outsource, if it's the same thing you require every time get some form of call off order organised with a machine shop. This is the sort of job they can run on a quiet day and stock untill you require a more. The headache you would have trying to do this yourself with no experience and the cost of the machine would not be worth it, especially if you have a new business to concentrate on!

[Cyberprog]

I concur, if you've never done this before you'll be far better off passing the work to a company who can fulfil your needs on an ad-hoc basis. No massive cap-ex for the machine, no training, you can do a soft-start of your business as you're not needed to run the machine etc.

Plus if you ensure you own the design and pay for the setup etc. you could in theory have a second company involved making stock and balance it between the two - allows for you to be less reliant on a supplier and can manage quality and cost better.

Also if the machine breaks, you'll be handling paying for repair - if you're not holding stock yourself then you could be down for days, even weeks depending on the machine and part. If you're outsourcing, you let them solve the problem - or in the above suggestion, ask company #2 to pick up the slack.

[S6PNJ]

2:40 to 2:50 I'd say is more like a capstan lathe. It would allow a number of tools (7/8 in the case of the link below) to shape/form the component. Whilst you are probably looking at a CNC, an 'old fashioned manual' machine would look like this. It would normally come with a bar feeder in from the left hand side, which feeds the blank material.

Edited by S6PNJ on Saturday 11th February 20:31

[rog007]

spikeyhead said:

If you don't know how to run a machine like that, then outsource the work.

This.

In business, do only that what you can do best. Get others to do everything else necessary.

[spikeyhead]

S6PNJ said:

2:40 to 2:50 I'd say is more like a capstan lathe. It would allow a number of tools (7/8 in the case of the link below) to shape/form the component. Whilst you are probably looking at a CNC, an 'old fashioned manual' machine would look like this. It would normally come with a bar feeder in from the left hand side, which feeds the blank material.

Edited by S6PNJ on Saturday 11th February 20:31

Using that would be similar to doing a regular commute in Rover 2000TC. Possibly fine 40 years ago, but dumb to try it now.

[S6PNJ]

spikeyhead said:

S6PNJ said:

2:40 to 2:50 I'd say is more like a capstan lathe. It would allow a number of tools (7/8 in the case of the link below) to shape/form the component. Whilst you are probably looking at a CNC, an 'old fashioned manual' machine would look like this. It would normally come with a bar feeder in from the left hand side, which feeds the blank material.

Edited by S6PNJ on Saturday 11th February 20:31

Using that would be similar to doing a regular commute in Rover 2000TC. Possibly fine 40 years ago, but dumb to try it now.

Agreed, hence in my post why I wrote "Whilst you are probably looking at a CNC" and then went on to qualify what an old manual one looked like. My father still uses the one in the link (not that exact item but a Herbert Capstan none the less) and still produces sufficiently high enough quality items for their intended use. In fact, in its day (back in the late 1980's to early 1990's) it was producing all of the bushes for Van Diemen racing cars amongst others! (Some Formula Ford and Formula Vauxhall)

[GTO-3R]

Thanks again for your responses guys.

Out scourcing is something which I have considered and ideally something which I should do.

There is another process, previous to the shaping which requires my product to be compressed under high pressure in to a 10mm deep block. Is this something that can be out sourced too as I've been looking in to various machines for this also and the costs are going to be huge!

[dfen5]

GTO-3R said:

Thanks again for your responses guys.

Out scourcing is something which I have considered and ideally something which I should do.

There is another process, previous to the shaping which requires my product to be compressed under high pressure in to a 10mm deep block. Is this something that can be out sourced too as I've been looking in to various machines for this also and the costs are going to be huge!

To be honest unless you can give the material, guide design and current process you'll struggle to get proper advice. Machines are normally available at a reasonable price but it's the tooling that's a massive part of getting the machine to work for you, especially if you're talking about forming.