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Machining and Lathe work in Brisbane
I was recently on the site of Precise Parts in Miami pricing a piece I needed. It was a relatively simple piece to join my North Group ED127 and my 2015 Feathertouch focuser. The NG was not one of the scopes in the Precise Parts database although the ExploreScientific ED127 was. But surprisingly, my assumption that they were one and the same was not right - according to the PP people. So I was looking at a price of about US$350 to have a non-standard piece made. Not a good choice - particularly with the dollar conversion rate, freight and GST added in, I was looking at a big bill.
I happened to be trawling EBay and Gumtree at about the same time for something else altogether and came across an advert in Gumtree for a bloke offering to do general lathe work at very good hourly rates. One thing led to another and I ended up getting him to produce the piece I needed for A$80 plus the $20 cost of the aluminium blank which I actually supplied. I bought it from the Aluminium Warehouse in Yamanto (in west Ipswich) - they were willing to cut short pieces off a 90mm diameter log of round stock for me.
I was able to supply him with a good drawing with exact measurements for this piece and I gather that he would ask any other customers to do the same. I'm sure he could identify any threads etc if you can give him samples so that isn't much of a drawback.
Long story short - I just got the piece home and fitted it to my scope and voila - perfect fit. Excellent finish and all up, barely $100 out of pocket.
I didn't bother getting this piece anodised. I'll see how I go with matte black paint for now.
If anyone in IIS - particularly in and around Brisbane has need of some general lathe and machining work, including internal and external thread turning in metric and imperial, I would be happy to to pass on the contact details for this chap. He works from his home (he's a retired machinist) in Stafford, Brisbane. I don't want to offend against IIS's rules against promotion and advertising so I'll refrain from posting any greater detail here.
Peter
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