This shop started with less than $40,000!｜Mil Spec Manufacturing Machine Shop Tour

In this episode of Machine Shop Tour, we took a trip to North Carolina to visit Mil-Spec Manufacturing @MilSpecManufacturing
Kurtis and Rebecca Wolfinger are the driving force behind Mil-Spec Manufacturing LLC. Their combined expertise, unwavering determination and commitment to excellence have propelled their company to success. Kurtis, a service-disabled veteran, brings a wealth of experience and discipline to the table, having served our country with honor. Rebecca, a seasoned entrepreneur, complements his skills with her business acumen and a shared dedication to quality.
Learn more about Mil-Spec Manufacturing here: www.mil-spec-manufacturing.com/
And follow them here:
KZbin: @MilSpecManufacturing
LinkedIn: / kurtis-w-b3bb901ba
Instagram: / milspecmanufacturing
Do you want to take Practical Machinist for a tour around your shop? Drop a comment below or contact us via email at [e-mail], and we will arrange it! Stay tuned for more machining videos!
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Practical Machinist is the largest and most engaged #metalworking community across the web. With more than 200,000 registered members and 400,000+ social media followers, Practical Machinist is the easiest way to learn new techniques, get answers quickly, and discuss common challenges with your peers. Visit Practical Machinist today to join the community and start connecting with your peers.
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Connect with Ian Sandusky on LinkedIn ( / ian-sandusky-3a223227 ) or learn more about Lakewood Machine and Tool at
lakewoodmachine.com/
[e-mail]
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Instagram: / lakewoodmachine
Lakewood Machine (lakewoodmachine.com/)
#machineshop #metalworking #machining

[@iansandusky417]

Thank you very much for having us! It’s absolutely incredible to see people putting in the work to make their dreams come true, and you guys are most definitely on the right track!

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

It was a pleasure having y’all out! We’re looking forward to sharing our journey so others can be inspired follow their dreams of owning a machine shop too!

[@rangetoolcompany7135]

This is awesome. Pretty inspiring. If you want to do a video of my 13 years from garage to shop... let me know. Been a rough year... but watching this... it's inspiring...

[@minerillusion]

This is the type of content I love. A guy getting things done in a professional way without spending multiple fortunes! Great job.

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

Thanks, Minerillusion. Keep an eye out for our upcoming series, Becoming a Practical Machinist. It focuses on starting and running a small shop!

[@loukola5353]

Great couple. I wish you luck in your endeavor. And Ian, you are a great interviewer. You never interrupt the people that you are interviewing, ask great questions and are very humble. Your shop tours are very informative and enjoyable.

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

Thank you, Loukola5353!

[@nategoodwin3329]

I cannot overstate the value brought by this. I'm a service disabled vet myself and these resources are priceless! Thank you!

[@ScottClevelandmi]

I love the end of this. Information does not care where it’s learned.

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

Thanks, Scott!

[@peternau96]

Please make more content like this. Very cool seeing how guys get started in the business.👍

[@lucasenerson8986]

I also went through Nascar Tech's CNC program and I got a job as a CNC programmer at Mitsubishi Materials. It's an awesome course

[@mariusj8542]

Love stories like this, and it seemed like a creative and forward leaning guy. Cool!

[@EasyFold007]

Yep, Hats off to them and all the other small shop owners around the world :)

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

Thank you!

[@AnthonyGriz]

As much as I love seeing the big shop tours, this just showed what is truly the heart and soul of the industry. Awesome to see!

[@iansandusky417]

Ah thank you man, I couldn’t agree more - it’s awesome getting to see crazy setups, but it’s equally as important to show where a lot of these insane operations start from - and I have all the faith in the world that we’re seeing the beginnings of something truly special here!

[@AnthonyGriz]

@@iansandusky417 it's seeing these types of videos that help inspire folks to get in, have a go, and sometimes make an incredible difference to the world. Thanks for sharing!

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

Thanks, TheMrGrizzly! Keep an eye out for our upcoming series, Becoming a Practical Machinist. It focuses on starting and running a small shop. Hopefully we can inspire more people to take the leap of faith and open shop.

[@AnthonyGriz]

Looking forward to it @@MilSpecManufacturing

[@laurentianvmx1692]

Nice video and cute couple. Your passion for the trade is contagious !

[@tdg911]

Love our veterans, thank you for your service!

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

Thank you for your support!

[@tdg911]

@@MilSpecManufacturing anytime my brother! Military family here and big supporters.

[@jayl8547]

By Army brother is doing very great thing. Thank you for serving and continuing to be awesome.

[@AmericanMakerCNC]

@iansandusky417 and @MilSpecManufacturing thanks for this timely, helpful and encouraging video. I am just now starting a CNC shop out of my garage. I've cashed out just shy of $38k in start up costs. The biggest expenses being my 2011 Sharp SV-2412SX VMC, a 30 HP phase converter, a 80 Gallon air compressor and tooling. I'm a full-time software engineer so the past 18 months I've been working after hours learning Fusion 360, setting up the shop including all the electrical (which I did myself) and learning how to use the VMC and Fanuc control. I took a Saunders Machine Works on-site course. I'm currently going through the Titans of CNC academy. The Practical Machinist forums have been instrumental in getting me started and helping me progress to where I am now. And now I'm starting to really to dig into the business side of the craft. My hope to start earning some income with Xometry by the end of the year as a starting point. We'll see what happens from there.

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

Thanks, American Maker CNC ! Keep an eye out for our upcoming series, Becoming a Practical Machinist. It focuses on starting and running a small shop! It might be just as beneficial for you as the forums.

[@AmericanMakerCNC]

@@MilSpecManufacturing WIll do! Thanks.

[@JCCustomsCNC]

This is fantastic! The more I'm in the small shop space , the more I realize how many are out there. Its amazing. Great content

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

Thank you, we’re so glad you enjoyed our shop tour!

[@dangibby7782]

I'm a veteran and I started a shop just over 2 years ago in Texas with a 2007 okuma captain 470L, a bridgeport knee mill, a summit manual lathe I purchased off Facebook for less than 30K. I just added a 97 haas VF3. I contracted as CNC maintenance while building my shop. Which help me learn to purchse older machines with value and work on then.

[@tyeburch4273]

Its awesome seeing another small shop! We started out by buying a used TM1 and put a 450sq ft room in our horse barn. 6 years later we have purchased a reconditioned Bridgeport, a cnc cold saw and a lathe! Next spring we are breaking ground on a new building which will help immensely!

[@nikolaiownz]

I think i started with about 30k euros - bought a lb15, mazak mill and a hitachi seiki lathe. 5 years later we still are rocking

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

That’s awesome!

[@OneMinuteWorkbench]

This was a VERY insightful video, packed with useful information. Thanks for putting this together. And to Mil Spec, great job on building that small but mighty shop. The organization and fundamentals are on point.

[@dmbworks8094]

i started my shop with 30 years cad experience and a $1200 benchtop lathe, then a year later added benchtop mill.. got my 1st swiss style lathe after being in business for 2 years to qualify for a loan with a 10k deposit. 10 years in business and i have 2 42x24x24 mill and an 8" chuck lathe, i have picked up and traded back 4 other machines that offered more of what i needed at the time.. all used machines, 1 demo. ive done cad and some programming before but never really lasted long on the shop floor, always got pulled into engineering. i didnt have any connections when i finally started my business at 38. top it off im here in southern california but looking to move out of state and would love to be paying on a mortgage and not shop rent... my shop probably cost more than his house payment.

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

That’s a great story! Do you have any ideas of what state you might move to?

[@joejones4296]

Excellent tour. Thank you for showing how the little guy can do it!

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

Thanks, Joe! Keep an eye out for our upcoming series, Becoming a Practical Machinist. It focuses on starting and running a small shop!

[@kevndo]

Nice start up. Wish him the best.

[@iansandusky417]

They have a great thing going, that’s for sure! They’ll be huge before you know it!

[@kevndo]

@@iansandusky417 As long as he keeps on that path of being organized and looking at betters ways he will grow fast. Love the channel.

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

Thanks, Kevndo! Keep an eye out for our upcoming series, Becoming a Practical Machinist. It focuses on starting and running a small shop.

[@johnmcnab]

Fantastic , well done and good luck for the future from all Alchemy CNC Engineering Ltd , Dundee , Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

[@ashtray3608]

This what I need

[@calebneubert230]

The part about buying a used older machine with more capabilities holds too much truth. Our shop has a job that's ran in high quantities (6-10,000 pcs. a week). We were initially doing the job on two VF2SS machines but it was super inefficient. We happened to come across a 2009 VF3 with a pallet changer that was in absurdly immaculate condition for only $40k! We made some subplates and two large fixtures to utilize every inch of table space, optimized a program, and almost doubled efficiency and virtually eliminated machine downtime.

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

It’s incredible how efficient they can be, isn’t it?!

[@calebneubert230]

@@MilSpecManufacturing yes! Totally a game changer. Good luck with your future endeavors and make lots of parts!

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

@@calebneubert230Thanks, you too!! Keep an eye out for our upcoming Series, “Becoming a Practical Machinist.”

[@Whitehorze]

Temp control is important. I ran a lathe that would thermal exactly .0015" over the course of 3 parts as it warmed up. It was so consistant I could comp the tools for every part.

[@atomgonuclear]

I ran an Integrex 200 that would move by 0.0022" every Monday! We were holding .0005" all day after warmup though. Sometimes less

[@websitelaunchcourse4061]

Living the Dream. Nice Shop

[@georgedreisch2662]

Something I haven’t seen mentioned with regard to starting a business of this nature, is, the availability of electrical service, in locations and structures. Good to see it included here…

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

Thanks, George! Keep an eye out for our upcoming series, Becoming a Practical Machinist. It focuses on starting and running a small shop. We’ll look into diving deeper on the electrical requirements for an episode.

[@tannerbean3801]

Being scrappy is underrated in starting small machine shops... Many people encouraging machining (especially titan) ignore the fact that the average person cannot even buy one new Haas, let alone obtain the shop/work space (the first article), electrical infrastructure, pneumatic infrastructure, tooling, software... most people don't have the access to capital from savings or credit. I've had no choice but to go about it in the most scrappy, cheap (and SLOW) manner possible. My investment into equipment abruptly slowed after getting a house with a mortgage, although it afforded me the garage space. I'm only about $10-$15k into my shop (not counting my house with attached 3 car garage), by buying inexpensive used equipment and by installing infrastructure and repairing my cnc equipment myself. In the past 10 years I tried to get a machining job a few times but wasn't able to swing it (financially or with school or otherwise) so now I'm gaining experience as I'm slowly building my shop. I'm on the slow track, but I have a 20x20x20 4 axis Cincinnati VMC, Mori SL1A turning center (still needs repair), 20hp 3 phase power, 60 gal 3 hp air compressor (soon to be replaced by a $500 5hp Kaeser rotary screw compressor), a Kurt 3600v vise, schunk ksp 160 for my 5th axis trunnion, and some tooling. It took years to find deals on cheap but good stuff, to get everything working... I originally tried to go the John Grimsmo route (he initially inspired me to try it in the first place) and retrofit a Sieg/Grizzly X2 then X3 to CNC in my parents garage (before I got married), then I realized I still couldn't do much with either mini mill. I think in general, for those who have ANY shop/garage space, a tormach probably is the best way to go... but if you have more room and a bit more budget i.e. for 3 phase power, adequate air compressor, and a bigger machine, etc... getting a used Fadal, Haas or Cincinnati or maybe Mori (with Fanuc control) might be the next best option to aim for on a 'budget.' At least Cincinnati's have quite a bit of community support, some support from Fives in 2023, and they can be had for cheap. Compared to tormach, they all have an automatic tool changer and a very user friendly interface, along with other convenient features in the control...

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

Thanks for sharing your story! I think in today’s economy, it really pay off to start smart and small. Keep an eye out for our upcoming series, Becoming a Practical Machinist. It focuses on starting and running a small shop!

[@elpuma92]

I’ve been setting up/hand programming Swiss for about 6 years now, I want to take the leap of faith and get a Swiss of my own but the biggest thing stopping me is the lack of understanding how and where to find work

[@robertmiller8918]

Love to see the smaller shops, keep it up!

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

Thanks, Robert! Keep an eye out for our upcoming series, Becoming a Practical Machinist. It focuses on starting and running a small shop!

[@dfpolitowski2]

Nice, the millennial and gen z'ers carrying the torch of machine shop manufacturing into twenty first century.

[@MatiasHeinrich1]

Great to see you on this journey. You've got the right attitude and can't wait to see where you take this.

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

Thanks, Matias! Keep an eye out for our upcoming series, Becoming a Practical Machinist. It focuses on starting and running a small shop!

[@speedhuntersrb]

that's a lot, I started with $4,500 and bought a lathe, now I have $30.... But I'm happy :D heh

[@netgeek3010]

This an amazing setup for sure very professional and I bet fast to produce parts. One downside old HAAS machines the high power servo motors are hard to get your hands on specifically older models. Side not my friends HAAS has a 30 HP servo VS 20 in the video. His servo stopped working but turned out it was not the servo just a connection though he had to go through HAAS approved service supplier. It cost him over 600 bucks for a 10 min visit but he was happy it was only that was an issue not the servo itself. But this is one thing to think about when deciding to see the service history and hours of operation.

[@jasonruch3529]

Content I'm VERY interested in. Thanks P.M 😊

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

Glad you enjoyed it!

[@CorvusCorps]

Love these people!

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

Thanks, @crunchbite51! Keep an eye out for our upcoming series, Becoming a Practical Machinist. It focuses on starting and running a small shop!

[@richhuntsd12]

Wow, that was a great video. It looks like this young Man has really got his head screwed on straight. He is realistic and He is doing what he is passionate about. I really appreciate that and the added appreciation for the fact that He has served our country in the military. Great job !!

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

Thanks, Rich! Keep an eye out for our upcoming series, Becoming a Practical Machinist. It focuses on starting and running a small shop!

[@g_rr_tt]

I'm a mechanical engineer and I can't wait to save up enough money to start my own machine shop

[@phillipchambers8487]

Awesome Video! Thanks for your Service to our Country I plan on going down this same Path, so Thanks for the inspiration and to know that it really can be done on your own and without having a Kings Ransom for a starting budget.

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

Thanks, Phillip! We’re glad you enjoyed it. Keep an eye out for our upcoming series, “Becoming a Practical Machinist”. It will focus on starting, growing and running a small shop. I think a people will find great value in it!

[@johndavis1312]

Great video and great story. Trying to emulate this for my family

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

Wishing you the best, John! Keep an eye out for our upcoming series, Becoming a Practical Machinist. It focuses on starting and running a small shop.

[@TBJK07Jeep]

Great video. With their determination I have no doubts they will be successful.I love seeing small shops & different ideas. I’m going to get the bakery rack now. Thanks for the great idea @milspecmanufacturing

[@warrior69fox]

Use that mill for some smaller lathe work. Put the parts in the spindle and build a tool holder rack that mounts to the table using a different work coordinate for each tool. You can load that tool carousel up with parts and get some decent production. Really works well if you set it up right. Just a suggestion

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

Great advice!

[@georgef1176]

Kitchen cooking stainless tables are the best for shops and cheap. Good for welding on too!

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

Agreed! A lot of equipment from the culinary industry can be utilized in the manufacturing sector- for a fraction of the price!

[@Zebra66]

I think it's smart to start a business with older used machines. It's no wonder so many startups fail when they suffocate themselves in debt for new machines before they have any revenue. I'm curious if all that power in the spindle motor is actually used or if it's pissing extra electricity money into the wind. It sometimes seems like they oversize the motors to avoid needing gear changes for low speed milling.

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

No, it doesn’t use all the rated kilowatts the entire time. Only under load does it amp up. Our electric bills are nice and low.

[@roketarider]

Love your small shop. How do you keep the air compromiser, air dry?

[@laurentianvmx1692]

They can always get a little Quincy QR/QT or Ingersol Rand T-30 with an after cooler and drier as they come up used nearby. Piston is best for small shops low cost and no surprises.

[@sargentthiccboi9333]

I’ve always thought about doing this

[@grantguy8933]

❤❤

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

Thanks Grant! Keep an eye out for our upcoming series, Becoming a Practical Machinist. It focuses on starting and running a small shop!

[@hellboundgrinnin]

How much to make a full set of 8mm collets for a G.Boley watchmakes lathe? is that something your shop could produce?

[@jesseskellington9427]

7:34 Is there a list of these events he is talking about? :-)

[@snoopsnet8150]

"Are you sure that thing isn't going explode?!!" Me on any given day: "Meh... there's at least a 50% chance it won't." 😂

[@MilSpecManufacturing]

😂😂😂 Yeah, it took me ( Becca ) some time to get use to the sound of a CNC Machine. Ha!

[@Bolie420]

Nice pants

[@gtcollection6933]

tawtews, peekup trucks and flipped casquette... geez I could have watched that video. Next channel please ------>>

[@mehere6874]

"Wa'dup guys...", always moving, leaning back with one foot off the ground to counterbalance, dressed like frat brat onspring break. Instant 3 second impression: cowboy. Conclusion: Quit the vid; There' no way I'd employ the services of an engineer who presents himself to capture hits/likes/subscribes from 15y/o tiktokers rather than contracts from adults.

[@mehere6874]

@@iansandusky417And I told you not to embarass your family any more. You didn't listen; why should I.

[@mehere6874]

@@iansandusky417 Aww. How nice to see a good ol' boy who still respects his dad. Do you always wear clean underwear in case you get knocked down and a nurse has to remove them?