EMachineShop

[paul skinner]

Ok, this is very cool. You download the free CAD software, draw your part, and they (eMachinShop website) makes it and sends it to you.
If you don't have access to the proper tools, or had the required skill set, it would be an excellent way of getting custom parts for any project.

http://www.emachineshop.com/

[Viv]

Yep I was impressed by these dudes, its gave me the idea to produce decent plans so people could order parts from them (or local machine shop).

I want to put in the complete package files of the turned parts that can just be opened in there software and ordered online.

Viv

[Mike Kirney]

This is awesome! Look at the prices:

http://www.emachineshop.com/faq/prices.htm

Sounds like you could get 10 Dynajet valveheads done up for 50-60 bucks each, and the petal valves would be like $1.20 each on a lot of 1000. If you wanted to make 1/2 or 1/3 scale Argus-type valveholders, you could break the design down into many identical parts that could be screwed together, and I bet one entire unit would cost you less than $200, valves and all, even on just a dozen complete holders. I would make up some useless but very-difficult-to-machine, close tolerance designs first, just to test these guys. You don't want to get a great deal on a bunch of parts that don't fit together! I wonder how closely they examine the designs that are sent and how the various pieces they are asked to make will fit together. It could be very easy to get these guys to unwittingly make you a nice big batch of automatic handguns over the course of a few months. You and your buds simply e-mail plans for all the various parts (trigger/sear, reciever, bolt, etc.) one at a time, then when it all comes back in the mail you just get together and assemble them! Woo hoo!

[Mike Kirney]

If you guys want to have some fully-automatic .22 cal WWII Sten guns or Shmeissers made up, I would be VERY interested in participating ;-}. The forum has enough members that we could probably each get a full batch of one single part made up, and then we just each do bulk mail-outs to all the other forum members when our particular package arrives from Emachine Shop. After you have recieved your many little packages from around the world, you simply assemble your submachinegun in your spare time. Of course it would be much cheaper and easier to simply have the parts all shipped to Kenneth's house where he could collate and re-package them into boxes that are mailed to the rest of us, but then he would be in the position of assembling, possessing, and shipping internationally over 200 automatic firearms, a postition which might make him uncomfortable. With my plan, nobody actually possesses anything even remotely resembling a gun until the very end fo the process, when all the parts are laying out on their workshop table at home.

[Anthony]

If you guys want to have some fully-automatic .22 cal WWII Sten guns or Shmeissers made up, I would be VERY interested in participating ;-}. The forum has enough members that we could probably each get a full batch of one single part made up, and then we just each do bulk mail-outs to all the other forum members when our particular package arrives from Emachine Shop. After you have recieved your many little packages from around the world, you simply assemble your submachinegun in your spare time. Of course it would be much cheaper and easier to simply have the parts all shipped to Kenneth's house where he could collate and re-package them into boxes that are mailed to the rest of us, but then he would be in the position of assembling, possessing, and shipping internationally over 200 automatic firearms, a postition which might make him uncomfortable. With my plan, nobody actually possesses anything even remotely resembling a gun until the very end fo the process, when all the parts are laying out on their workshop table at home.

Sounds damn good. Add me to the list, if we do the transaction by PayPal I'm all in (well, depends how much $ though).

[Mike Everman]

You guys are scaring me now. Not that it isn't a good idea, but certainly THEY are looking for less than nice folks doing this. I suggest you take it off-line. Just posting "sten gun" or "fully automatic" will likely show up on THEIR SEARCHES. I'm not paranoid, it's just that THEY now have unrestricted ability with the advent of the WOT, and Homeland Security.

[Mike Kirney]

If you feel very strongly about it, by all means, delete my comments. I won't be offended. That being said, I will also say - Don't worry about it, Mike. Tom Ridge hasn't noticed my 'home-made smooth-bore artillery' thread, my 'using moonshine in place of paper money' posting, my 'marijuana bombs across the St. Lawrence' idea, or my 'I spent 65 mins travelling down I-81 at 90 mph' thread or any of the other crazy stuff I post here, so I don't think my 'international mail order co-op machine pistols' comments will raise his eyebrows either. Of course, we aren't on 'orange alert' up here in the Bonnechere either, so what do I know? I'm just a criminal mastermind a ha ha ha ha ha!

[Mike Kirney]

I was pretty much kidding anyway. It really wouldn't work. Some guys would have rather expensive parts to have machined and others would just have cheap little stamped bits and simple 2-cent springs to buy. Depending on where you live and how much your little bit weighs, you could get really burned on the shipping too. I think even GWB would, after some reflection, recognize it as rather a cockamamie scheme.

[paul skinner]

Perhaps we should start a guild.

WE each own a share of the company, and in turn, each benefit from the production and sale of PJ's and PJ related products. Return is based on shares owned.

What'cha think?

[Mike Everman]

Great idea, but we'll probably end up mostly selling to ourselves! If guys want to collaborate on something like that, kenneth could enable the workgroups for it.

[Mark]

What time do I have to show up for work?
Mark

[Bruno Ogorelec]

The pulsejet parts idea is far from crazy and, yes, we would be selling to ourselves, but so what? sometimes it works well.

Look at the British classic car scene. There's 50 owners of 1948 Riley RMs and their door rubber seals have perished. They agree to order a batch from a specialist and get a set for $ 50 each. If one of them ordered alone, the price would probably be $ 500.

Some items that would cost tens of thousands and are thus out of reach are machined at perhaps a thousand, suddenly making the idea viable.

Do a survey of four or five years of the forum and see how many people have built a Lockwood. Most of them would probably purchase a long cone or a U-tube, or a nicely flared intake tube at a reasonable price, rather than struggle making one on their own.

[Mike Kirney]

This is why I suggested the 1/3 scale Argus-style valveholders. Perhaps Ron Patrick (the Solar-jet owner), might be able to measure his valveholders and create the CADs for all the necessary parts. A lot of guys (like me) would love to have them but they are next to impossible for the hobby machinist to make, and there are several of them in each complete valve array which means that even if just a dozen or two people get involved, you are looking at an order of say 100 or 200 pieces, which brings your costs down dramatically. All the rest of the Argus 'valvehead' can be scratch-built or substituted, but those fancy castings are really key.

Getting several sizes of petal valves done would be an excellent idea as well. They would probably cost under 25 cents each if you got a batch of a thousand. Thirty people by forty valves each and presto, you can run your jet as often as you like without having to slave over the Dremel ever again.

The biggest problem with these co-op schemes is distribution. This worked with the Austin Healy guys because they probably all lived within 20 or 30 miles of one another, so they got the big box shipped to Eddy's place and everybody came over one Sunday and picked them up, but we are all thousands of miles apart in most cases. In the case of the petal valves, shipping would not be so bad because a two-tier network could be devised where somebody in North America receives the entire lot from New Jersey, then sends out individual orders to American/Canadian participants, then ships two bulk parcels - one to Europe and one to Australia/NZ where respective recipients there could then re-package and mail out the parts individually to guys in their continent. The price difference between shipping 1 kg and 2 kg between say Ottawa and Paris is not that great, but the difference between shipping 1 kg from Ottawa to LA and 1 kg from Otttawa to Paris is astronomical.

And who whoever handles the international shipping, please do not be a Bruce 'Boy Scout' Simpson and put 'jet engine stuff' on the packing slip, just put 'sheet steel goods' or 'flappers and holders' or 'hobby materials'.

[Bruno Ogorelec]

And who whoever handles the international shipping, please do not be a Bruce 'Boy Scout' Simpson and put 'jet engine stuff' on the packing slip, just put 'sheet steel goods' or 'flappers and holders' or 'hobby materials'.

Maybe we should borrow contemporary World War II terminology and label the shipment "robot bomb parts".

[paul skinner]

Personally, if all the parts are available to build a proper Argus, you can count me in. I would definitely love to build this engine.