Metal workers, how do I do this?

[Trimoor]

I am considering buying a metal leith, and I was wondering how hard it would be to make some metaly joystick handles.

It looks easy enough, but how would I handle the curves?
How would I make it easy to repeat?

Can spinner knobs be made easily?
How would I make vertical grooves like arkanoid or tron?

Thanks!

[Snarbald]

Unless you're planning on getting a cnc lathe, you can make the top of the handle rounded by using a toolbit with the profile of the radius milled out of it or you could just eye it with a file (actually now that I think about, the file is proabably the better of these two ways).

[Mameotron]

In keeping with thw whole BYO spirit, you might try building your own foundry and casting the metal parts you want.  This site has LOTS of books on the subject.

http://www.lindsaybks.com/bks/foundry/index.html

Or, BYO plastic injection molding machine and make plastic joystick parts.

http://www.lindsaybks.com/dgjp/djgbk/inject/index.html

[danny_galaga]

making a curved shape will be hard unless its cnc. but spinners will be quite possible. youll be using a knurling tool for that. vertical grooves will probably need to be done on some sort of mill set-up. but if you have lined up a metal lathe and its pretty cheap, id say still get it because you will find all sorts of things you can make on it. good luck!

[pcates]

I am considering buying a metal leith, and I was wondering how hard it would be to make some metaly joystick handles.

It looks easy enough, but how would I handle the curves?
How would I make it easy to repeat?

Can spinner knobs be made easily?
How would I make vertical grooves like arkanoid or tron?

Thanks!

Has anyone actually been making their own joystick handles/shafts? I had never considered that this would be possible with a home setup.

[Trimoor]

Am I right in assuming that "cnc" means the lathe would be computer controlled?
How much would one of those cost?
Could I build the computer interface myself?

[Snarbald]

Am I right in assuming that "cnc" means the lathe would be computer controlled?
How much would one of those cost?
Could I build the computer interface myself?

I'll be blunt for your own good. The cost for anything cnc is "a lot." When I was in highschool... just the box that controlled the cnc mill cost over $25000 and that was only for xy feeds and that did not include the cost of the mill itself or any of the other motors/tools/parts that it took to get it working.

[danny_galaga]

Am I right in assuming that "cnc" means the lathe would be computer controlled?
How much would one of those cost?
Could I build the computer interface myself?

you can buy them complete for a lot less nowadays, but unless you are very wealthy it's not the sort of thing you'd buy for the odd job around the house. again, if you've spotted a bargain old-fashioned lathe (say $500 or less) then i'd say go for it. watch for worn bearings, some of the really old ones had bronze bearings and ironically  you will need someone with a lathe to make new ones!! (unless the parts are still available of course).

if you have a design that is unique and you want it machined them you can shop around at engineering shops to do it for you. can be expensive because they like to do minimum quantities, but you will find places that are happy to do one or two...

[exibar]

CNC machine lathes can run anywhere from $3000 for a small, mini-lathe upwards to tens of thousands of dollars.

  Check out www.grizzley.com www.harborfreight.com www.msc.com

  Do a google on cnc lathe or cnc mill and you'll find lots of wonderful sites.  I have a mini-mill that I use for R/C parts, gun parts and some brackets and stuff.  I also have many years of experience under my belt using machinery like that, it's not hard to learn, but it takes years to master and I'm far far away from mastery....

  But, what you want to do is doable on a "regular" mini-lathe that Grizzley sells.  If you take your time, you can even re-produce your joystick handles time and time again.  Without having a CNC setup.  I highly recommend digital Read Out's though... with that you'll be able to record exact measurements and follow them to the letter by hand, taking it slowly...

  Mike B