Hawk’s Babble-Log

Okay, here’s the story how I got my Sherline 2010 Milling Machine:

My dad and I were chatting engineering talk over lunch. He was down here from Oregon because of three birthdays.

Okay, let me back up a bit. Me, my younger sister, and my youngest neice are all having our birthdays within about the same time. Actually, we’re all a few weeks off, but because my older sister is down in Vista, and because it takes at least an hour and a half just to get down there, we decided to celibrate them all at the same time. I was the lucky guy who got to drive my mom and my younger sister. The whole way. Both ways. Good thing I had my MP3 player with me.

So, what’s the point of my family’s pack of birthdays? My dad came down from Oregon for the partying! The next day he decided to drive on up to my area: Hollywierd. We had lunch at the Palms (Thai place just down the street from me). While I was muching down Chicken Fried Rice, we chatted about engineering. I can talk engineering with my dad, but not with my mom. Very different. Sometimes, I can even talk with Chicken Fried Rice in my mouth.

So… I asked him what tools I would need to build a flywheel. Between bites, he told me, “milling machine”. Actually, it sounded a bit different when spoken through a mouthful of Pad Thai, more like “mummumng makeung”, but I knew what he meant.

He also told me about lathes, but I figured I wouldn’t need one for my needs. When I got back home, I searched Google for “milling machines”. Bam, right there at the top of the list was Sherline. I didn’t know what Sherline was, so I clicked through:

http://www.sherline.com/

Holy moley! I had found the holy grail of home milling machines, on the first link! I didn’t even go back to the list of search results. I just stayed right there on the Sherline site for about a week. It’s HUGE. Not only that, but it’s big and it takes a really long time to read through it. I’m still haven’t even scratched the surface of this site. Plus, they’ve got all their manuals, parts list, catalogs, etc. online in HTML and PDF formats. I was in home/hobby milling machine heaven!

So… after much research and comparisons, I decided on the mill that I wanted: the 5410. It seemed to do just about everything I needed, and it was small enough to fit into an apartment. Here’s the picture:

Plus, it seemed to be a really good platform for upgrades. This means I could upgrade it to do all kinds of things, such as full CNC (Computer Numeric Control), greater height on the Z-axis, tilt on the Z-axis like the series 2000, electronic readouts on the controls, etc.

I figured I could start with the good ol’ 5400 and then upgrade as needed. Then I toured the factory.

Wait, I’m getting ahead of myself again; let me back up… After doing much research on the net (we’re talking about _a lot_ of reading) I decided that this was the company I wanted to go with (they’ve been around for over 30 years; they must be doing something right), and this was the machine I wanted. Coincidentally, my Mom calls me up and says, “I’m going down to Vista to visit your sister on Wednesday, have some lunch, spend some time, etc. Wanna come with and drive ‘n stuff?”

By this time I knew Sherline was in Vista, just about five miles south of where my older sister lives. This fact strolled into my mind as I was listening to my mom. A very short moment after she asked her question, a plan formed in my mind. While deciding upon my answer, I think I took all of about 0.0137 seconds (approximaly) to decide.

“Yes.” was my prompt answer. I’m not even sure that my mom got her question all the way out before I answered.

“Really?” she asked. I think she expected me to decline.

“Yeah,” I said, “and while you’re having lunch, I can take dad and visit a store down there that I’m interested in.”

“Oh, sure. Great! You can drive!”

I made a mental note to put fresh batteries in my MP3 player and said, “You bet!”

And then it was just a matter of waiting until Wednesday. Three agonizingly long days! During this time I continued researching Sherline’s website. Hey, there’s a lot there to read!

Anyway, Wednesday finally considered about thinking about getting around to arriving, and off we went! As it turns out, my older sister was sick in bed that day, so there wasn’t a whole lot to do. Undeterred, we fed her some drugs and got her to a resturant for lunch. But after that she crashed in bed again. So while Mom read a book and tried to ignore the big dogs, Dad and I took off for Sherline.

According to the website, all were welcome at the Sherline factory and they would even give us a tour. I had already taken the online tour (several times), so I kinda knew what to expect. I just wasn’t sure how old the online tour was. We only got lost once, then parked and went in. The building looked exactly like the picture in the online tour. Once inside, the lobby looked exactly like the picture in the online tour. Up the stairs and there were the admin offices… yup, exactly like the picture in the online tour.

Are you sensing a pattern here? Lemme cut to the chase: It’s exactly like the online tour. The way it looks in the online tour is exactly the way it is. My Dad and I saw it all. A guy named Craig took us around and showed us everything, from receiving of raw material, to the finished product. We even got to play with a 5400 machine. I cut a groove in a small block of aluminum. It was so cool.

Now remember, this was my first time actually using a milling machine (of any kind), so regardless of how inane and useless a cut it was, it was still very, very cool. Also, quite surprisingly, it was quiet. It made about as much noise as a sewing machine.

My Dad asked which one I wanted. I told him, “The 5400.” He pointed out that the 8-direction mill (the 2000 series) had more clearance. Sure it did, but I told him that I could upgrade the 5400 to be kinda like the 2000 series. He pointed out that by the time I did this, I would have spent what it would cost to get the 2000 in the first place. And the 2000 was an 8-direction mill, which kicked ass over the 5400. Sure, I said, but it costs more. He offered to help me out on the purchase.

I took about 0.0138 seconds (approximately) to consider this, then said, “Okay.” A half-an-hour later it was done and in the trunk. Here’s a picture of the 8-direction 2010-series milling machine:

I was quite calm all the way back to my sister’s place. I was quite calm as I hung around and visited with everyone. I was quite calm helping my dad with his computer. I was quite calm the whole time.

I was quite calm as I drove back home. Mom even mentioned how calm I was, with my new toy in the trunk. I calmly replied, “I am containing my excitement.” And I was. Inside I was jumping off the walls. Outside, I was quite calmly calm.

When we reached my apartment building, I hauled the thing out of the trunk and just kinda grunted at how heavy it was. Shipping this thing would have been expensive. I took a deep breath, tensed up my body, and hauled the thing all the way into my building, down the hall, down the other hall, and into my apartment. I had to go through four doors and I never put it down.

Once in my apartment, I kept it in the box for a few days. See how calm I was? I calmly left it in the corner next to my dresser while I continued research and continued my regular work. I still had bills to pay, after all. The subject of it’s assembly will be the focus of my next blog post.

But in all this little adventure, I find it interesting how things seem to get done once I decide that they’re done. Isn’t that an interesting thing? I decided that I had a milling machine which would fit in my apartment. I decided this weeks ago, and then I made it happen. I would not have done anything with it without the prior decision.

Interesting. Now I’ve decided that I have a girlfriend. MMMmmmmm… my LadyHawk… where are you?