CNC Shop (or hobbyist) in the South Shore Area?

I'm looking for a shop or hobbyist to help me build my TEC cooler. I need 4 - 4" x 6" x 3/4" aluminum blocks milled on a 8" radius, and I can't find a shop either able or willing to do the job. Any recommendations or leads will be appreciated.

Thanks...

Show up at Masstoberfest. You'll be in touch with plenty of area brewers and will get a ton of advice/ideas.


And like mining gold, you need to slog through many tons of mud to get an ounce of gold. But believe me, you'll have fun in the mud ..

What do you mean 8" radius?

sar_dog_1 said:

What do you mean 8" radius?

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My fermenter has a 16" diameter, or an 8" radius. That radius needs to be milled into the face of the aluminum plates in order to fit tightly against the fermenter.

What are you trying to make? Can you post a diagram?

sar_dog - I attached a drawing of what I'm trying to have milled.

I'm working on a TEC / Peltier cooling system for my stainless conical MoreBeer 14.5 gal fermenter. I have the Peltier modules, heat sinks, cooling fans, power supply, etc. I thought it would be relatively easy to find a shop that would mill four small aluminum plates. Base on what I've read in posts by other members, I was expecting to pay about an hour of shop time. So far, I've only found one shop in Braintree that indicated any interest, and they quoted $250 - and maybe more once they really considered it.

So, now I'm reaching out to the community to see if anyone here knows of a shop or hobbyist that can do a simple (at least I think it should be fairly simple) milling job at a reasonable price.

Are going to seperate this into 4 pieces? I could get the blocks cut with a water jet but that radius cut will deff take some time to both program and cut. Possiblt a long time.

I have four blocks - all 4"X6"X3/4"
Here's another view -

View attachment Aluminum Block Milling Description - 2-2013.pdf

You may be having a hard time finding someone to do that piece because it requires 3D milling. It might be worth contacting this company I think they did 3D milling at one point. http://www.kentfabrications.com/services.html

crowconor said:

You may be having a hard time finding someone to do that piece because it requires 3D milling. It might be worth contacting this company I think they did 3D milling at one point. http://www.kentfabrications.com/services.html

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Thanks, I'll contact them and see what happens.

prandlesc said:

Thanks, I'll contact them and see what happens.

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Let me know, I may know of a few more places that might be able to help you out.

It would take about 30 mins to program the part the about another 3 hrs roughly to machine it. Not including the setup time.

Actually, the runtime could be less depending on how nice of a finish the radius surface would need to be.

Phlyborn said:

It would take about 30 mins to program the part the about another 3 hrs roughly to machine it. Not including the setup time.

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The shop in Braintree that said they could do it said about half an hour programming/set up, and an hour to run all 4 parts. They said because it was aluminum, the actual milling time would not be too long - but they said at least $250 to do it. They also thought it wouldn't need a CNC machine, but someone with a smaller milling machine (with some type of bar?) would be able to do it and the machine-time cost would be lower. After I couldn't find someone that could/would do it for what I thought to be a reasonable charge, I put it on the back burner. Now I'm ready to tackle it again.

CNC is the way to go and aluminum is softer.

The price sounds good@$55.5hr. Some shops charge $65-80hr.

Could you use wood?

That price ($250) is probably about right. Depends on the finish you're looking for. I'd do it for $50 each with you supplying material and shipping.

Phlyborn said:

Could you use wood?

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No, I need the thermal (heat transfer) properties of aluminum. I'm building a chiller, and the convex side of the aluminum plates will be against my conical, with the Peltiers on the flat face, then a heat sink and a fan.

CNC really isn't needed. Might even be faster and easier to do it on a bridgeport with a big fly cutter or something set to cut the radius. Being aluminum it would cut it like butter.

16" diameter fly cutter and an interrupted cut? Good luck with that!

To be honest, the $250 quoted is a reasonable price. Could I do it in a manual mill? Heck yah. Would I? F!!! no. I've got it around 36 min per to mill to a reasonable surface finish plus set up plus programing plus over head. Professionally I wouldn't touch it for $250. AnOldUR probably has the best price your going to find. Your other option is to find a Trade school with a CNC department and see if they would do it.