Originally Posted by
Tailor
This is pretty much my plan. I'm hoping to go with a heavy tube, but I'm not so picky about bar stock vs tube. The thing around here (btw, glad to see someone else in ID), is that apparently lots of people have machine lathes, and I've not managed to know any of them.
The bigger shops around here mostly know me from doing some tig work on the side for them when they're busy, and when I bring up doing a simple turn down for me its all red tape and "minimum shop hourly charge". Kind of why I found myself here exploring other options.
This place is good for rod and tube. Many different grades and wall thicknesses.
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I'm very surprised that shops you've worked with won't just treat it like a simple little side job, since that's what it is!!! The "Big" shop that I've used makes all the GIGANTIC things for the machines in the silver mines here. And stuff for the US NAVY. The boss man just hooks me up with one of the guys and says, "See if Joe wants to do it on his lunch break or after hours. Work out the money with him." The most time consuming part of the project is cooling the rod down in order to get an accurate measurement.
Good luck.
BTW, 6061-T6 rod is what the original Klunker crew used to solve the exact same problem during the birthing days of mountain biking. That's where I borrowed the idea from.