Nifty CNC Machining

Nifty CNC Machining custom parts design and manufacture using a Hitachi Seiki CNC HiCell CA20 turn/mill Lathe with full conversational control of all 4 axis XYZC

custom parts design and manufacture using a Hitachi Seiki CNC HiCell CA20 Lathe with 4 axis XYZC

I hate losing parts, but it has happened. Somehow, somewhere on my travels, one of my Harley seat retaining bolts has pa...
16/02/2026

I hate losing parts, but it has happened. Somehow, somewhere on my travels, one of my Harley seat retaining bolts has parted company with the rest of the bike. It's been a very long time since this bike spat parts off. When I first got it, as a basket case, it was renown for throwing parts at anyone riding behind. Nuts, bolts, mirrors, number plate, exhaust, etc. Fencing wire held the exhaust on from Jennacabine to home on one ride. Most of this bike's parts I machined over 10 years ago. Most are #316 stainless steel. It polishes up like chrome, but never rusts. These flanged acorn bolts I conceived myself because off the shelf items just do not exist. They screw into a rubber block that has a brass insert moulded into it. Thread is 3/8" x 16UNC. A whole lot easier milling hexagon on CNC lathe than having to do it on a manual milling machine with a dividing head. I do not miss those days.

11/02/2026

This short video is purely to show the capability of the Hicell automatic tool changer. This procedure is rarely used. I found it by accident, it's not in the manuals because it is not a standard procedure or operation. Any machinist will know, tool clearance is always the biggest issue. Especially on a multi axis machine with live tooling. Often the chuck jaws or workpiece restrict tool access. Using a single line of code, yes, I know there a 3 in this program. The 1st line removes front turret tool 6 and swaps it with tool 8. The 2nd line of code reverses that function. The 3rd line purely indexes the front turret to tool 8 ready to cut. This is all done without use of the random pocket selection on the rear tool carousel. You can of course, simply place any front turret tool into the rear carousel and leave it there whilst using any adjacent tooling that required clearance. Very cool little feature.

This acetal plastic job is now completed and delivered. It's always a challenge on a lathe to ensure the live tooling o...
09/02/2026

This acetal plastic job is now completed and delivered. It's always a challenge on a lathe to ensure the live tooling on both X & Z axis have clearance. Often that is extremely close. Sometimes the challenge is how to hold the job, not only to machine it all over, possibly in several setups, but to machine it with the best possible outcome. Ask 5 machinists how to go about any job, you'll get 18 answers. There's always another way. There are far too many variables to answer correctly. So, once the choice is made, you run with it or start over. I decided to cut the bar stock into pairs for this job. 20 off hexagon lubrication nuts were required. 10 off 80mm long, 10 off 55mm long, so I cut the billets 142mm long. Allowing for a facing cut and parting off after both ends were complete. Doing them in pairs ensures secure workholding with adequate tooling clearance. The pics are terrible, it's hard to get a good pic of white acetal. I need to try a better lighting environment. There's a face groove for a seal. 2 opposing Grease ports for 1/8" x 28BSPT grease ni***es, counter bored for socket access. The thread is 2 1/4" x 4 1/2TPI. It has a lubrication scallop milled through the thread. I even chose to chamfer the hex with a spare live tool, rather than scrape it or hand file. Program and setup took me a couple hours longer than I expected, but I'm happy with the finished product. Videos of some portions I posted previously.

07/02/2026

1st part done

07/02/2026

Helical milling was an option the Hitachi Seiki Hicell did not come with, so after deciphering the Japanese definition.of the binary parameters, I took a guess and turned it on. The auto conversational control software is incapable of helical milling, so hand typing the simple code or even writing a macro is a workaround. I needed a 19.70mm counter bore, so using a 16mm milling cutter, I simply helical interpolate a 1.85mm radius tool path to the desired diameter depth, then a cleanup pass, rapid back to the return point, index the chuck 180 degrees and repeat.

Just a part video showing milling of a counter bore on white acetal plastic, the milling cutter is 16mm 4 flutes high speed steel. Rpm is 1500, rough feedrate is 355mm / minute, then 282mm / minute finish pass.

07/02/2026

Just a part video showing milling of a hexagon on white acetal plastic, the milling cutter is 16mm 4 flutes high speed steel. Rpm is 1500, feedrate is 1194mm / minute. I can go faster, but I wrote the code to do both the larger job and the next op is a smaller job holding on alot less, so I don't need it moving in the 3 jaw chuck. So far, it's working well.

This one is an interesting job, white acetal lubrication nuts. I'll try to remember to video some of the machining proce...
07/02/2026

This one is an interesting job, white acetal lubrication nuts. I'll try to remember to video some of the machining processes during operations. The Hicell was built with conversational programming which helps alot. No need for a stand alone PC when you have the system all in one. I do still type some of the code by hand as what I want to do was not invented, as built in, 33 years ago. Helical milling actual makes the conversational side of the machine throw a hissy fit and power itself off. I found a work around by accessing its internal options parameters, that end users were never supposed to know or access. The reason = Hitachi Seiki charged massive $$$ just to turn on a single binary bit that made the machine perform "options". I Edit the life out of the generated program code and send it. The best of plastics to machine.

These 6060-T5 aluminium deflection rods were drilled and tapped M6 x 1.0p × 40mm deep then the angle milled across the f...
06/02/2026

These 6060-T5 aluminium deflection rods were drilled and tapped M6 x 1.0p × 40mm deep then the angle milled across the face @ 20.1 degrees to the Z axis.

These are actually a new job to me. I've avoided them for a while, not because of the material or that I couldn't do the...
04/02/2026

These are actually a new job to me. I've avoided them for a while, not because of the material or that I couldn't do them. I can, but not for the price the customer wanted to pay. So, they did a batch or 2 themselves. Guess what, it taught them a valuable lesson. I am now doing them for cost plus, as it should be. The real cost to manufacture parts is often more than you first realise or quote on. Many people think manufacturing makes massive profits. I've never seen it myself. If you do, let me know if you need a worker. Some jobs cost more than they are worth to produce, fortunately for myself, that's not too often. These are stainless steel, they look simple enough, but they do consume alot of hours to produce. The 2mm OD profiled groove is where some of that time goes, you can't push a small thin grooving tool too hard or fast. This batch used a couple of inserts because I only had a basic grade with no chip breaker, meant for soft materials only. Inserts can take weeks to source for specific cutting conditions. I've always modified my tooling, setup, cnc code program to suit what I have on hand at the time. The reason, almost every job I do is turned around back to the customer within a day or so. I do not have time to wait for specific grades or types of inserts to be delivered weeks later. Postage in this country is woeful, do not let me get started on it. But, I will say, 30 years ago, I could order any insert I liked from east coast Australia by 2pm WA time and it would be in my hand 7am next day. Fast forward 30 years and I now wait 2 weeks, if I'm lucky.

So, these are a mounting plate for welding to pipe and survey equipment is mounted onto the 5/8" x 11UNC brass threaded insert. I'm yet to see the completed assembly by my customer.

Again!....K1040 bright mild steel bosses, OD = 40mm, ID = M20 x 2.0p, Length = 25mm. Repeat work is great, it means you ...
01/02/2026

Again!....K1040 bright mild steel bosses, OD = 40mm, ID = M20 x 2.0p, Length = 25mm. Repeat work is great, it means you got it correct last batch.

Black bar mild steel....quite possibly the cheapest nastiest material ever devised. Why do some customers still insist o...
31/01/2026

Black bar mild steel....quite possibly the cheapest nastiest material ever devised. Why do some customers still insist on using it? The answers vary, non of which are justified any longer. The most common reason is it needs to be welded. Yeah, and? Surprisingly, technology in welding has moved past the dark ages, and we can now weld almost anything. Be honest, it's cost and cost alone. But here's the real kicker. You bought cheap material to reduce manufacturing costs, but it actually costs more to machine, it takes longer and uses more tooling. So where exactly is your "cost" saving? Gone, that's where. End of argument. Use an alternative, there are plenty. I've tried to persuade some customers over decades, yet failed on most. So, here we are, still using black bar.

Once upon a time, long ago, in a far far away galaxy, I was an apprentice that cut my teeth on this crappiest of materials. Guess what? I still loathe machining it.

This was another constant repeat job. They are tapped M16 x 2.0p +0.1mm oversize for plating after welding.

Edit....I should have added, many of my customers actually supply their own material, I simply pick it up from them and deliver the completed components.

Last component of a large order completed and delivered. Machined from K1045 mild steel.
31/01/2026

Last component of a large order completed and delivered. Machined from K1045 mild steel.

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Bullsbrook
Perth, WA
6084

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