Has anyone ever tried this place? Looks interesting.
http://www.emachineshop.com/

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

I've heard good things and it's a nice site, but I've never used it.

Lou

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Home of Slant6-powered fun machines since 1988

looks nifty, I'll have to try it tonight.

I run a CNC for a living, it might be fun to play with.

looks like it is based on autocad. I have found mastercam to be much more user-friendly myself, and easier to import drawings. As it is now, it looks like you have to draw everything from scratch, and most people just aren't sure how to begin to find the actual size. trying to guess at an arc radius and center location isn't something you can do without proper tools. its possible, it just takes forever and you can't be sure you got it right until the part is in your hands to compare it to.

it would be a real bummer if you put in the wrong/guessed at information, paid for the parts, and then your parts didn't fit.

Now, if they let you import a drawing, that would be a really nice feature, but I can't find if it says you can or not.

if you are handy with a protractor and a mic it could be an invaluable tool for getting an out of production part.

Sounds like a great idea if it works!

I just checked a price:

$150 for set up!

Arrggghhh!!

you would have to really want that part!

What do you think a job shop charges for setup? Bet it is not much, if any cheaper.

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

For one off parts its not cheap but if your doing a run, especially for parts that you resell at higher dollar then its negligible.

I have been doing CNC set up for 13 years now, and am in charge of prototyping at my company.

$50 is what our shop charges for set up.

R&D is what nails you. I think that is what they are doing, cutting the development price and nailing you for set up. that way the customer can be blamed for the wrong part and they aren't out any exspensive time.

like I said before, if you are proficient with measuring tools and most cad, its a great idea.

I still haven't had time to play with it at home yet. when I get a chance away from the family I'll try it out and compare prices.

does anyone have a particular part they would like me to try for the board that we can all relate to?

Since we have been on the subject in another thread, how about roller rockers? Or maybe something simpler, like the bolt on rocker stands?

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Charrlie_S
65 Valiant 100 2dr post 170 turbo
66 Valiant Signet 170 nitrous
64 Valiant Signet
64 Valiant 4dr 170
64 Valiant 4dr 225

I have downloaded the software. its definitely a take off of the old autocad stuff (which was a take off of versa-cad).

the software agreement is pretty extensive, but not out of the ordinary. looks like they are just trying to cover their butts in case of stupidity of the end user.

once I get deeper into it I'll post what I thought of it.

any other thoughts for a design? I just don't think I am familiar enough with rocker arm geometry to get that quite right, unless someone gets me a print to work from.

How about an engine lift bracket, as mentioned in this thread in a post by 1969ronnie
http://www.slantsix.org/forum/viewtopic.php?t=25265
Should be fairly simple, and I'd bet folks would be interested in one.

John

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66 Barracuda 225 auto

thats a good idea too john, but I need specific specs to make it happen. if I had the part in my hand I could do it. likewise with the custom rocker.

I can't type in "about yea big" and expect the machine to know what that means.

I am thinking of just trying out my new headgasket since I have that lying around.

[quote="sick6"]thats a good idea too john, but I need specific specs to make it happen. if I had the part in my hand I could do it. likewise with the custom rocker.

I can't type in "about yea big" and expect the machine to know what that means.
quote]

Actually, I was thinking since he offered to send it to Doc, he might be inclined to send it to you.

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66 Barracuda 225 auto

I'll try to PM him.

no replies yet to my PM, but I have an idea for a couple files to try.

I will post a mini-review of it in the next couple days.

okay, I got tired of waiting around for an answer to the PM's I sent out and tried one of my own files.

I know this is going to cause a few people to groan, but I used one of my custom gauge cluster programs for importing the file. I will try not to make this sound like a commercial for what I am doing, but you have to understand that to accurately program anything takes a considerable amount of time, especially with new software........and I have a ton of family stuff that is eating up my time right now, so I took a shortcut and imported a file, but not before I tried drawing some basics.

as I said before, this freeware appears to be a stripped down copy of some of the earliest autocad programs (or versa-cad for you MAC folks).

First I will start with what I liked:

nudge feature is a VERY nice thing to have when you are trying to get a line tangent or working on a slope, but you wouldn't need this feature if there was a tangent/tangent/tangent line function (those who have worked with autocad and cimex know what I am talking about. Basically, if you want a line contacting a set of arcs or radius' your out of luck skippy. your going to have to guess with this software)

"spline" feature is a very neat item. very handy if your unsure of a contour.....but it is just guessing....but it is a great tool if you can establish (certain known for sure) points ahead of the slope.

being able to select a micron finish is very, very cool. I deal mostly with plastics now so I don't really need that.

switching from what machine to machine you want it run on is great also, IF you know what these machines are. thankfully for those that aren't quite sure, there is a brief (very brief) description to help you out.

being able to import DXF files from other sources is a huge plus, as this saved me allot of frustration (see my complaints below).

you retain all legal rights to your drawings. I was worried about that, but it spells out in the user agreement you keep your stuff and they don't hand it out to anyone.

instant pricing feature, I have to admit, is probably the best feature. I played with this allot trying to get a better deal. unfortuntely, there is NO cost break down anywhere to be found. you don't know what is being spent where (set up, packaging, run time, writing NC code). but overall, its a very handy thing for anyone who has had to call around to get someone to make a specialty item, very nice. you can switch materials and re-quote too, each material has a great description too, giving related uses and heat ranges (!).

another nifty thing related to getting a price quote is the automatic analyzer that searches your drawing for anything the company either can't make (inside square corners), or is just geometricly (sp?) impossible. I wish the salesmen I work with had this so they would quit sending me ridiculous sketches. I tried to stump the program a few times on purpose, and it caught most, but not all of the problems. overall a good feature.

okay, now complaints. some of these are just not going to be understood by people who have not programmed a CNC before. Its just something you have to be familiar with beforehand, but I will do my best to give a brief explanation.

overall drawing from scratch is incredibly clunky. the "snap to" function only works on corners. this means your on your own for where a line starts and stops. this is where the nudge function tries to help out. (using arrow keys to bump the line over manually).

this program eats a ton of memory. do not try to run anything else while drawing, and I am using a dual processor with over a gig of RAM!

No "polar line" function is a total deal killer. with polar line in mastercam, you can start at any given point and type in any angle and length. in this thing everything is free hand, then you have to chop the line to length. this makes drawing insanely long and time consuming. I am used to total perfection in my drawings, if I want a .316 line length tangent to an inner arc at 15 degrees I get it. with this thing everything is a total guess. very, very irritating and frustrating.

no analyze chain function. this lets you know if you have any overlapping lines, and broken chains (lines not connected).

no parallel line function. (drawing a parallel line same length a given distance from the first).

no "trim two entities" function. this means since you can't type in your length (if you don't know it) and you just want to connect to a specific point, you can't just trim it to the other point. more nudging has to be used, and keep trying different lengths until it hits the right spot, and even then its just an "eyeballed" guess. that probably doesn't make sense to everyone, but trust me, you NEED that function if you have any plans of getting a drawing done before your kids graduate college.

these problems make even drawing the simplest of items (like a head gasket) a painful chore. thank god you can import files, so thats what I did, and imported one of my custom gauge cluster backing plates.

the problem with importing files, in any system, is sometimes certain items just don't make it through. sometimes an arc will turn into thousands of tiny little straight lines instead of being one nice arc line. its just a problem every software seems to have, so I suppose I can't fault this for making my plate slightly out of scale. but it is something you will have to check if you choose this route to save yourself some frustration with drawing. you'll need to check every detail to make sure everything made it through, because the machine shop can only go by what they receive.

pricing is steep. one gauge cluster I sell for $55 to $65 they want $279.86 for, plus another $7.36 shipping. you have to order 25 of them to get it down to what I sell them for......I would have tried making a headgasket program, but I don't want to pull anymore of my hair out with this thing. If a few people want me to, I can draw one at my work then import the file, and check prices that way for ya. it might be worth it for a group buy, but for a one off your better off somewhere else.

over all review, it is a great idea. the instant quotes are great (if not a bit steep), but it has to be one of the most user-unfriendly CAD systems I have ever used in my 13 years of doing this. Someone familiar with autocad may like it slightly more, but everything in mastercam, surfcam, and cimex is soooooooo much easier and quicker. overall drawing is horrendously inaccurate.

I will say however, that if they can improve the drawing software with the functions I listed above, they could very well make a killing doing this. Seriously. it would be the ultimate tool for businesses and folks in their garage alike. Its a great idea, just attached to terrible software.

if anyone has any specific questions, post them here or PM me, and I'll answer whatever I can, but I will be very hung up with family things for the immediate future.