We’ve just come back from a local DMG / Mori event and reflected on the trajectory that we’ve been on…

And it all started from the then sub-$500 Sieg X2 mini-mill:

We began an acquisition streak that led to larger and subsequently heavier machines. As an example, our turning capabilities started from the 7x mini-lathe, onto the 8×12, then in a daring leap of faith for us at the time, bypassing the immensely popular 9×20 lathe and jumping right into the 12×36 G4003 from Grizzly. Well, it wasn’t long before we ended up with a few Hardinges (an HLV-H and DV-59) and then onto a Mori Seiki 1050 for a manual lathe and a SL-2 for a CNC.

As for mills, our path led us in a similar direction with an identical trajectory and we’re now looking at 5-axis and horizontal capabilities from machines made by DMG / Mori and Mazak to name a few names.

Our passion for tinkering with the benchtop machines hasn’t stopped, however. While we took a short hiatus from launching the X2 belt drive kit and other projects to focus on the launch of the Spindle-Lock and other hobby metalworking tools, we find ourselves being drawn back to the projects that we had a great time being involved with. Time, as it turns out, is the bottleneck.

Well, it seems this look back in time was brought about by the reposting of the original and older content dating all the way back to 2006!… And, as the season is upon us to be thankful and appreciate what we have, it only seems appropriate that we spend time looking back and being thankful for this journey that we started on and continue to be thankful for the great community of like-minded hobbyists and metalworking enthusiasts who keep this tradition alive.

Happy Holidays!