CNC Groups and Organizations

Be sure to check out G-Wizard!

These are online resources for machinists.

Forums

BladeForums: Popular knife making forums.

British Blades: Knife making forum from across the pond.

Candlepower: Who knew making flashlights could be a real hobby?

CarveWright Forum: That Sears CNC carving machine. Some real nice projects in the gallery.

Caswell Metal Finishing Forums: Good info for powder coating, anodizing, polishing, and plating.

CNCZone: My favorite forums for CNC topics! (
Forum Search | New Posts )

Linear Motion

General Metalworking Machines also includes the work logs of folks who built CNC machines.

Benchtop Mills

    Industrial Hobbies Sub-Forum

Mini-Lathes

General Machining

Mach Software

General Electronics

 One CNC

Rhino 3D

    DIY-CNC Router Tables

CNC Plasma, EDM, and Waterjet Machines

Mechanical Engineering

Bridgeport

Gecko Drives

Finishing.Com: Message boards relating to metal finishing–polishing, anodizing, plating, and so on. Industrial grade info here.

Garage Journal: Ideas for a better garage shop.

Home Machinist: Nice little board. Lots of live steam postings as well as some good general machinist stuff.

Home Model Engine Machinist: My newest favorite. Unread posts.

Home Shop Machinist and Machinist’s Workshop Forums: Forums from the two great magazines. Can be contentious and very off-topic!

Internet Craftsmanship Museum: Run by Sherline, there are some amazing
projects and talents detailed here!

MadModder: Sort of an HMEM spinoff, but more general subject matter than
model engines.

MetalIllness: 3PhaseLightbulb’s board.

OffRoadFabNet: Metal fabrication for off-roaders.

OneCNC Users Club: You must be a registered OneCNC owner, but awesome cool stuff!

Practical Machinist: High-end/Professional machinist BBS. Lots of good info, but not always for the economy-minded or beginner!

Rhino 3D Web Support

Welding Web: For welders what Practical Machinist is for machinists–great
expert and professional content!

Yahoo 4×6 Bandsaw Group

Yahoo 6×26 Mill Group

Yahoo 7×12 Minilathe Group: **

Yahoo 7×24 CNC Minilathe Group: Stretched beds and CNC for 7×12
lathes.

Yahoo 8×18 Lathe Group: The 8×18 is a close relative of my Lathemaster 9×30 lathe.

Yahoo 9×20 Lathe Group: Cletus Berkeley’s group. **

Yahoo 9×20 Lathe Group 2: Lots of mods here. **

Yahoo 12×36 Import Lathes Group: For the next size up from the typical
hobby lathe.

Yahoo Anodizing 101: Good group with lots of info on aluminum anodizing.

Yahoo CAD CAM EDM DRO Group: Recommended by HomeCNC.

Yahoo CNC Hobbyist: Not a very active group, but some interesting
posts.

Yahoo CNC Toolkit: 5-axis software and building 5-axis machines.
Deep!

Yahoo DIY CNC

Yahoo EDM Home Builders: Crazy people building EDM machines at home.

Yahoo E-Leadscrew

Yahoo Elmer’s Engines: Group of folks who enjoy building Elmer Verburg’s
excellent model engine designs. There is a
second group too.

Yahoo Frog CNC

Yahoo GeckoDrive Group

Yahoo Mach Support Group

Yahoo Metalworking Hints & Tips Group: Educational material
for the home shop machinist. This is the novice section. **

Yahoo Metalworking Hints & Tips 2 Group: Educational material
for the home shop machinist. This is the expert section. **

Yahoo Mill-Drill Group

Yahoo Mini Lathe Mods: Modifications to the mini-lathes. Attachments,
collet chucks, slides, tailstocks, quick change gearboxes, &
toolposts. **

Yahoo Mini Lathe Mods 2: Modifications to the mini-lathes. Dials,
fine feeds, shaper attachments, & reconditioning. **

Yahoo Mini Lathe Mods 3: Modifications to the mini-lathes. Keyways,
spheres, taper turning, & worm gears. **

Yahoo Mini Lathe Mods 4: Modifications to the mini-lathes. Not much
in this one. **

Yahoo Mini Lathe Mods 5: Modifications to the mini-lathes. All motor
mods and electrical work. **

Yahoo Mini-Toolchanger: A CNC tool changer for mini-mills. Outrageous!

Yahoo ModIO: Folks using ModIO from Homann Designs to build control
panels and pendants for their CNC machines.

Yahoo Plasma Cutter Group: Mostly CNC, but a few good tips too.

Yahoo Quorn Cutter Group: Build your own tool cutter–the Quorn
Machine

Yahoo Quorn 2 Cutter Group: More info on Quorns and other Tool &
Cutter Grinders

Yahoo Shumatech DRO Group

Yahoo Tormach Group: For users of the Tormach CNC mill.

Yahoo Welding Projects Group

Yahoo X-Series Mills Group: John Stevenson’s Yahoo Group for Sieg X-series mills.

Groups
and Organizations

Bay Area Engine Modelers: Group of Model Engineers who meet in Oakland.

Houston Metal Shop Club: Fine group of amateurs with some interesting projects.

Machining and Metalworking at Home: A bunch of usenet archives organized into useful subjects.

Metalwebnews: Some great how-to articles and other resources.

MIT Quick Intro to Machine Tools: Very cool intro for students who will use the tools in their coursework.

New England Model Engineering Society: An especially good discussion of Shaper restoration here.

South Bay Metalworkers: Santa Clara-based Metalworking Club.

Southern California Home Shop Machinists: Nice project gallery.

VeniceMachine.com: A very cool collective in Sourthern California where folks can go to learn the art of the machinist.

Virtual Machine Shop: An encyclopedic introduction to machinework.

WaterJets.org: Lots of good information on CNC water jet machines.

** = Contents
not included in mods catalog.

= Lower volume group best received as e-mail.