Hive,
I know it’s been a while, but I’m hoping someone can point me in the right direction (cheesygrin)!
Bottom line: looking to get a fairly small metal part cut from bar stock, two drill holes, with one of them tapped.
How fast do you need them… hell going the casting route then doing finish Machining may be a good option. How close of tolerances are we talking… sorry had to skim the message while driving.
Kevin,
A week or two? A few days? Sorry, I’m not even sure what’s reasonable! Although I wish I had at least one right now for sure - my project’s kind of stuck without it; the plastic ones break within minutes. Tolerances are pretty lax. Honestly the part is simple enough that I think I could figure this out at home for just one but looking to lay the ground work with someone who knows what they’re doing to eventually get 40 with closer uniformity than I expect I can manage with a clamp and a hand drill.
Aluminum would be the fastest route by far, I can’t open the dimension on my phone however if it can be made out of round or bar stock already in the rough outter dimenisons it can be made pretty quickly at the hive.
So you can do a lost pla casting with aluminum, but this is only good if you need a few. (3d print them then cast them) https://youtu.be/iKgA6xGDu_c
We can certainly look into making a few.
If you can get some Aluminum stock with your dimensions that would greatly simplify things.
Could you create a drawing with the appropriate dimensions? Even a hand sketch is better than nothing.
Let’s see. . . One million dollars a part.
Thanks,
Brad
Sounds like hope, guys, thanks 
I’ll see what kind of 1/2" stock I can find as I’m really having trouble imaging an easier way than cutting off a little from a bar and then drilling/tapping it. Google says there’s a supply warehouse not far from the day job, I’ll check it out tomorrow.
The loss PLA casting looks neat, will def keep that in the mental rollodex
Thanks again!
American Metal in Blue Ash will sell you remnants (http://www.amsupplyco.com/)
They do have a $40 minimum which sucks, but you may be able to just by a 1/2" Aluminum bar stock straight up.
If the bottom hole needs to be centered, I’d look for aluminum square bar and drill it and tap it in a 4 jaw chuck on the lathe. The rest is pretty easy to mill after that…
So, American Metal in Blue Ash was next-level stuff I think. They did have a $40 minimum, but no aluminum remnants around that fit the bill. Ended up finding an aluminum “plywood trim channel” at Menards that turned out to work with a little re-imagining of the part. Not perfect, but gets me back in motion, and I now have enough stock on hand to make several more as needed.
THANK YOU to everyone that commented on this thread, you all really inspired me to get out from behind my computer and back to MAKING things. Not everything can come off a 3D printer (yet! haha) New progress - new problems, but this hurdle jumped!
Congrats!! Good to hear.
An easy way to get something like this is to start with a coupling nut, and drill a cross-hole in a drill press. The problem is the M3 thread—it’s a special order item.
I’ve bought #10 coupling nuts (with a through-threaded hole about 3/16" for a #10-24 thread) from Fastenal. It took a day to get them.
I’ve found #8 coupling nuts at Midwest Electronics in Fairborn, near Dayton. But they’re pretty rare, at least as a stocked item.
Coupling nuts with 1/4-20 threads are commonplace. Lowes probably has them in the store.
Matthew
Hi Trayler Phi:
Old friend JimD here. It is good to hear from you and see you are still active. Sorry I missed adding to this thread earlier.
Building on Matthew's suggestion, the following link goes to McMaster Carr (the Mecca for mechanical parts) for threaded standoffs. Use the easy configurator features starting with the metric M3 thread and see multiple purchasable choices in brass, aluminum, and stainless steel in different lengths.
https://www.mcmaster.com/#threaded-standoffs/yrjld
Yes, for qty = 1 or a few, make it from available stock, but for consistency, variety, and availability, purchasing from McMC is a good alternative compared to Lowes or Home Depot.
JimD
Totally agree.
The cross drill can be done very easily with a jig and a drill press.
Take advantage of mass production whenever you can.
I’d still be happy to make one as a test of our capabilities. 