Machining a custom top plate

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mikyor1

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For some reason, i've been obsessed about the thought of machining my own top and bottom plates.

As far as autocad, I can design my own stuff, but what would a shop charge?
Depending on the tolerances a shop offers, im sure it would come out perfectly,

On a legal note would it be illegal to machine my own top plate but not for sale?

My dream is to make titanium top and bottom plates heat treated to a light blue.

What do you guys think
 
I can't imagine that it would be illegal to make a replacement part for anything, or even sell it. Just check out any auto parts store sometime!

You will need to do more than machining however - engraving will be necessary and be prepared for the plating and painting operations which you already seem to be aware of. There is not doubt it can be done, however my impression of many mass produced camera parts is that they are often a complex combination of a variety of metal operations such as machining, stamping, forming, casting with post machining, perhaps even forging, etc. Manufacturing a mechanical camera en-masse seems to be almost as much about tooling a production line to do all of these operations as much as anything (machining - even CNC machining -is an expensive operation that has its greatest benefit economic when producing smaller quantities so as to avoid tooling costs).
 
BTW aluminum is much cheaper material, easier to machine, and I would imagine (I'm not an expert), easier to plate (anodize or iridite). It is also light and strong, but not as much as titanium.

Job shops will quote you, but my guess is will be costly in small numbers. I think it's worth an investigation however!
 
Machining a titanium top and bottom plate would be very, very expensive. Titanium billet is not cheap, and very time consuming and difficult to machine.

Aluminum or brass would be a lot cheaper and easier to mill...
 
Don't forget tooling, I'm sure some holding fixtures will be needed. Cutting tools. I've cut a lot of titanium but you have to watch it constantly. In less than a minute your end mill can go from happily slurping out big fluffy chips to worn out and on fire; we used oil coolant. Yes titanium billet is expensive. Now if you know a machinist with a CNC mill and time on his hands it might could happen but it won't be inexpensive. Joe
 
I would think brass would be the most practical. Indeed using brass, I would think any above average and experienced guy with access to a fairly well set up engineering shop could have a decent go at this. Never thought of it before but it could be fun to try.
 
haha i think leica doesnt need to spend more money to make a limited edition camera expensive.

As far as other metals are concerned, I really am interested in Titanium exclusivley because not only its properties but also the fact the color changes as its heated.

I've been doing some research and calling bunch of shops in California and around the west and one shop told me that water jet machining would be the best bet because one of the main issues of machining titanium the regular way is the heat dissipation, it goes to the tool if its not cut thick to thin (thicker the tool in the beginning the less chance the cutting piece will break?)

I mean, in the end, i wouldnt pay more than 2 grand on a really nice custom top and bottom plate.

Im not sure if I want to engrave it or not, i just want that beautiful heated titanium light blue color with all its glorious uneven tone. then clear laquer it so it lasts.

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Maybe if I learn enough I can make like a small <100 piece run to lower costs and offer to people who want it for their leicas. For an M4 btw.

If anyone who has experience with titanium please respond.
 
fergus said:
You could try: http://www.emachineshop.com

If you do the CAD work they can give you a quote. I haven't used them, but have seen them mentioned (favourably) a few times by custom bike builders on a motorbike forum.
Click to expand...

My friend used them for custom cogs but i dont think he used titanium.
emachineshop has godly SEOs it was the first search result from my query
 
The products I make are machined aluminum, I have looked into doing some special edition Ti stuff but the shops that can handle it are few and far between.

Is there some sort of functional improvement you want to add, or just copy the Leica parts?
 
purely for aesthetics to be completely honest.

I mean i baby all my cameras, so having a titanium camera would never benefit me. But its so strange to me that no one ever made their own top/bottom plates, surely there has to be hobbyists who enjoy just machining custom parts with no logos and at a higher quality

not that leica doesnt have high quality, but I just enjoy customizing and appreciating my own craftsmanship
 
If I understand correctly, M top plates were originally made of brass sheet with the help of complex forming dies. Late in M production CNC machining became an option. When cutting brass the perishable tooling would last a long time, set up once and run several hundred or more parts on the same tools. With titanium cutting tools will wear. I doubt you could make a single top plate out of titanium for less than $10,000. If several of you group together and arrange a run of top plates then the cost could be brought down. Allow for scrapping out the first few parts as program and tooling are optimized. Good Luck and keep us posted. Joe
 
I would recommend you research southern California machine shops that cater to the aerospace industry, and I'm not talking about the airplane side of the industry.
They are most familiar with machining Ti and low quantity runs.
 
I have some experience in these processes. The housings for the Rapidwinders are CNC's out of solid aero space alloy billets.
The biggest expenses is the set up. You need a CAD-Cam system for the programming and you also need the means to measure the parts down to 0.001 mm or there a bouts. Once you got that rights (on a M-camera there are multiple radiuses that are matched closely. You can have it scanned and programmed from that (again not a cheap process) Once that is done you need access to either a 4 axis or better a 5 axis CNC machine (usually will run you $800/hour) and with at least 2-3 hours set up time you are already up to $3-4000. Then you need the tools and the jigs for holding it in the machine. It can be done- but is it worth it?
As for titanium - a miserable material! I have machined small parts from it -never a full top/base or Rapidwinder housing. The machining time is long and requires a very knowledgeable operator. Unless you are doing multiple parts, I suspect you won't see much change from $6-7000 for the top and bottom plate.
 
I'm in charge of a couple machinists at work and I need to say that I second Tom's and other chap's points of view: forget Titanium !
Doing this even in Brass for just 1 item is going to be very expensive since most of the time goes in the preparation and set up. Most probably after the first unit you will realize that it's wrong by a hair and must be completly redone.
 
mikyor1 said:
But its so strange to me that no one ever made their own top/bottom plates, surely there has to be hobbyists who enjoy just machining custom parts with no logos and at a higher quality
Click to expand...

There is on a french forum a whole thread where a guy builds his own slr from scratch. So it can be done. Only thing is most are interested in photography or collecting, few in mechanical design and machining.
 
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