Where did you buy your Hardware? or did you assemble it yourself?
Depends, both of the case. As general rule of you can assemble you will pay less and at the end be better but takes time. We know right 
Anyhow it’s really to broad the things I have. Don’t have a specific shop
Ah for that I have found this guy. He is amazing. The only one thst can keep you watching 30 minutes video about chips, lathe tools ecc…
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Hours can be lost, 3D printing was like buying a giant hypnotizing device
Thanks for the share
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yeh 3D printing was my first love. CNC can also be quite hypnotic 
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What lathe are you using? I’m thinking about some of the Chinese mini lathes to get into machining, what are your thoughts
excatly that one man 
Not the basic model, which is good as well, but the slighlty bigger one. The same model has been rebranded and sold by famous brand like HBM for way more. https://www.hbm-machines.com/producten/metaalbewerking/metaaldraaibanken/metaaldraaibankensub/hbm-180-vario-metaaldraaibank?channable=e13762.TVBOMDAwOTg&gclid=CjwKCAiA_P3jBRAqEiwAZyWWaK7e5cYNDaR_3jNGgeSPasbll30YwLGnlDNMHZkesuc5G7JI8h37yhoCKZgQAvD_BwE
This lathe is bigger than the basic model for like 200 euro more. With digital RPM reading, metal gears ecc… I think it’s worth it. It’s still a little lathe, I have in Uni an industrial one and you can not simple work on this small lathe in the same way as the other. I has to fix at the beginning, tial stock not aligned, tool holder not properly made, but after few customisation here and there I am happy with it. I also mill steel with it. I bought it from Alibaba, they have a warehouse in Belgium and Germany so slightly more but no Taxes for around 550 Euro.
The basic model has been cover from the same guy I posted above. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=05vUCdzhoe4 It will give you an idea of the actual machine. This one you can find it for 350 on AMazon.
Here you can see mine https://www.electric-skateboard.builders/t/show-us-your-workshop/2407/241?u=rey8801
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I’m really torn between the base model and next model up, there doesn’t seem to be much difference except the digital display and stronger looking shield cover.
Also here in Aus the price for the base is about $550 and the next is $999 so it’s almost double the price
Ah ok I didn’t realized you are in AU. Double is a lot indeed. Believe me that it’s not for the digital reader what worth the money, since I use my hear and chips evacuation to understand if I am milling right, but you want the machine to be as heavy as possible. Rigidity is everything in this machine, CNC in general. PLus the work area is really limited in the small one. You have to consider the chuck you have, the bigger one go up to 100mm in diameter, the small one I think 70mm but can be wrong. Although if you think it is enough for your use, than perfect. Just be aware that the difference is a lot. One is like 20-25Kg, the other 60Kg.
For instance to make motor can often you won’t find the right piece of metal and you have to start bigger. A 63xx motor usually has a 70mm motor can. Like now just got the metal pieces I need and the big cylinder won’t probably fit in the small lathe. If you have access to a big lathe to just reduce the size of the pieces then it’s fine
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Man respect level just went up a notch, not sure why but I thought you had a much bigger mill and lathe. Just goes to show that you can get a good product off if you take the time to learn and tweak your machines.
@pat.speed I’m going to warn you now, metalworking is a very expensive rabbit hole you can fall down. Something like a minilathe is a minimum viable lathe. Like it’s better than no lathe at all but you will find its limitations real quick. As Rey said rigidity / weight is king, depending on budget & space you might be able to pick something up second hand. Treat a mini lathe like a kit, you get all the parts you need but will need to do some finishing before it’s really usable. Rule of thumb is also what you spend on the machine, you will spend that much again on tooling
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I posted pics of a bigger lather thst I used in part for the first DD I made. Thst is at the Uni. Such a nice machine, metal is butter. I had to go for a lathe max 50-60kg due to the fact that my workshop is in the basement with a very little entrance. Otherwise a guy I know was selling a super nice lathe for like 600 Euro, 150Kg with cutting oil tray ecc…really nice but No way I could get it in the basement.
did a search based of the image, you got a stepcraft d series. Nice one.
Yes is the small model Stepcraft 2 300. Limited in size better for metal since the mechanics is the same of the bigger onee but shorter in the axis. I chose that one since I wanted to use for projects and not spend time in building a own one. At the end as usual you pretty much understand too late that you need to spend a lot of time to fine tune the machine (almost a month) and I ordered spare DIY parts to make it way better. I should have waited a bit and read more. Well lesson learnt. It’s a good machine but you can build a better one for the same amount of money.
This evening not thst much time so finished the truck…
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my design looks almost exactly the same, then again there is not much you can do different in a DD. Looks sick, keep it up. Btw what did you use for the axle? Standard steel? or something different.
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Yeh if you do it simple can not be too much different. It’s hardened stain steel
Looks awesome! bookmarked.
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Was there a specific reason you chose to drill the through hole in the truck by drill press, instead of cnc machining it?
I machined the first 5 mm to create a precise guide and then use the drill press. Most of the end mill does not reach such deepness, moreover on small CNC. Plus a 40mm end mill will create so much vibrations that won’t be precise. 3rd the drill press is faster
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This evening was lathe time… One stator pipe side almost done. That was quite a lot of aluminium to remove from a single block.
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Beautiful, how are you securing the stator to the base?