My dad asked if my home shop was busy, I said not at the moment knowing he needed a part made, so I asked what he needed and he needed a new hydraulic cap for his skid steer, couldn’t find a over the counter replacement, so I whipped one up in 45ish minutes. Then I had to send him an invoice for funsies 😂 after he got the invoice he called me and told me to keep the part lmfaoo

Turned a shaft collar into a hex index and it didn’t quite clear the hardware as anticipated. Still works though!

We had a 5/8” gang jig that was very crappy (probably older than me) so I decided to take some time to make a new one.

Stock was squared up on grinder. Checked with indicator on each face and they were all square/parallel to each other within reason

Took it to the mill, made sure vise was trammed in perfectly. Set it on two known good parallels. Indicated basically every point on the face to make sure it was perfectly flat in the vise. Spot drill, drill, ream. Flip to do the tapped holes.

A few were too tight, so I took them to the hone. All pins fit perfectly with zero play, even “pop” when i take them out

Appears now that 1. The holes angle downward (see marks on the pins 2. they aren’t at the same height

The height isn’t a big issue, but I don’t like how the flat i’m grinding has a slight taper to it

Any tips? I’m pretty much self taught and the only machinist at my company lol

I use these everytime I setup a machine and I made some foam cutouts to fit in the slim low profile packout box. Super nice I just carry it to whatever machine i’m running / setting up no need to grab a handful of tools. Bonus it snaps to the 15” milwuakee packout tote I have!

I’m starting a training program from scratch and want to set new employees up for success and part of that will involve note taking. What notebooks have you seen last the longest on the shop floor?

I’ll also have handouts— are page protectors the best option, or is worth it to laminate everything?

Our system is having a folder that is called "updated" which the supervisor is supposed to review the programs that come from the machines and then override them but there is also another folder called "pending update" which could be where a program is stored. Or it could still be on the machine because it's a frequent job.

Our customer wasn't happy and is requiring us to develop a better system so I'm hoping for some ideas.

Thanks

I teach first semester machining at a community college in MN and every year I have students tell me they want to machine a twenty-sided dice. Every time I have to re-ground them back to reality and explain how difficult that would be.

I finally found some time this summer to commit to figuring out a way to accomplish machining a twenty sided dice using manual machines only. I am very happy with the results, the pictured part is my best attempt so far, some of the vertices are a little mismatched, but I know what I did wrong.

Anyway, it was a really fun challenge. Now when a student says they want to make a twenty-sided dice I can pull this out and they can try to figure out how I did it.

Edit: I used a tiliting rotary table and custom soft jaws. I had to make the soft jaws on the rotary table as well. Lots of geometry.

*SOLVED

Running on Mazak Quick Turn Nexus 400-11M. Part is ~29”. Machine program is hitting the Z-soft limit at the start of the program. Options are to somehow change the home position of the program or the soft limit parameter and I don’t know how to do either, nor can I find anything online. Any help would be great.

Probably not to impressive with all the stuff on here but I just finished my 45° vise for my apprenticeship. Almost entirely done on a surface grinder. While closed the top surface all within. 0001. When open the vise has +-.0002 across the top.

Has anyone ever seen a setup for manual tracing with a Bridgeport mill? Here's the situation. At the museum we are trying to remove the old rubber from the track links of an M3 (Stuart) light tank. The rubber is probably 80 years old and rock hard. We've tried drilling, shaving, sawing, etc but what we've hit on is to chuck the track pads in the Bridgeport Mill and mill most of it out. We're in the process of making a jig to hold the links to avoid the time-consuming job of measuring each link before cutting but that's a different issue. What I've considered was if there was away to run a tracing probe, just a tad bigger than the mill tool on a processed (cleaned) track link held in a similar jig as the work piece, we could just trace the cleaned example and get most of the rubber off. This does not require 0.001" accuracy 0.1" would be good enough for what we are trying to do.

So, I know of Bridgeport tracing mill and True Trace attachments. I'm just wondering if anyone has seen a trick to do tracing on a standard vanilla Bridgeport? Thanks!

(Also considering a pantograph router.)

I’m looking for something to do some small milling projects with as a hobby. I’ve been looking at Mill/drill machines lately. I came across a good deal on a jig borer that appears to do the same functions as a mill/drill. Which one do you think is better? And yes I’d love a full size Bridgeport but don’t have the room for one.

I’m looking for a small local machine shop, independent machinist, or someone with a decent lathe in the Inland Empire who can make a prototype steering-rack bushing set from Delrin/acetal.

This is not a large production order. I’m looking to have two prototype sets made first so I can install and test one set on my own truck.

The parts are mostly simple turned bushings:

• Two flanged cylindrical bushings
• One larger double-flanged round bushing
• Center bores through each part
• Possibly simple steel crush sleeves and bolt-through hardware later

I already have the original polyurethane bushings, caliper measurements, and basic 3D models/STL files. The final dimensions and tolerances can be discussed with whoever machines them.

I would prefer a smaller no-frills shop or an experienced home machinist rather than a high-end production shop with large setup charges. I’m not looking for free work—I’m ready to pay a fair price for the material and machine time.

Ideally somewhere around Ontario, Rancho Cucamonga, Fontana, Montclair, Riverside, San Bernardino, or nearby.

Does anyone have a local recommendation or know somebody who takes on small prototype jobs?

I might buy this Atlas Lathe, the owner wants 1500€ Should i get it or not?

I feel like I don't know enough to call myself a machinist but the people my shop hires as operators are not who I would pick. I guess it's hard to find good people but Jesus… I was wondering if I know enough to call myself a machinist and ask for more money. I make 30/hour in the upper Midwest. 

I can look at a print and set up my tools. I understand the differences in material and can figure out appropriate speeds and feeds for the different tools. I usually look at similar tools and how they were set up or find them in a program and see what someone else did. I use those to help me guess. I can convert between rpm/cutting speed/ipm/SFM. I understand deep drilling cycles, I understand why the tools run the way they do. If I see something different I ask around about it to know why. I understand manual programs.

We use both conversational and g code where I work. If I need to make a program for something I can look at other programs to see how someone did something, or unit copy and edit if I have something I can use that’s already loaded, to patch together a program in a pinch. I can follow every movement in g code on the screen as my machine runs and know what it's doing, and why. I can read through a conversational program and since I know what should be happening I can tell you how the program will run without looking at priority numbers. I can number my print from my program without running graphics. I can hear a drill running and know something is wrong.

I can inspect a part and tell you exactly what drill is chipped in your magazine, or catch a programming error, or tell you to flip your inserts. I can troubleshoot when a problem comes up and figure out what is wrong with the program or tool. 

I can write simple mill programs from scratch. I couldn't write a complicated one from scratch but I could tell you how that program should run. I understand what my program is doing and why. Could I write code to interpolate a tool? No. I also rely heavily on charts and plugs for serious changes to programs. And charts for tool data. But I think that's okay and normal...

Am I an operator or a machinist? Do I deserve more money?

how do i bypass the tailstock interlock. I'm unable to program to face/center drill, then engage the tailstock and continue machining. in order to do so, I need to manually go into the operator panel each time, to turn on and off the tailstock. very annoying

I took everyone’s advice from my last post. I called both my boss and the production supervisor over to the machine tool, broke down every single reason for our delayed project output one by one, and ran a live demonstration to prove the machine’s rigidity. I left them to negotiate and work out solutions between themselves.

For context: The beat-up no-name 3-axis linear guide CNC the production supervisor keeps complaining about is only used for roughing aluminum parts. All finishing work gets sent to our DMG 5-axis machine. Our 5-axis mill sits idle constantly, stuck waiting for this old 3-axis machine to finish stock removal first. That means maximizing material removal rate is our top priority here.

But the supervisor always runs cutting parameters far below what the cutting tool manufacturer recommends, claiming the machine is too worn out to handle aggressive feeds and speeds. Truth be told, this old girl has lost all its precision for fine work, but it’s just like an antique steam train — it’s got endless brute torque. I fully accounted for the machine’s mechanical limits when I laid out the entire machining process plan from the start.

Still, I do understand where he’s coming from. Who wouldn’t want to take it slow at work, sneak in World Cup viewings or grab extra coffee breaks while the machines run? That’s exactly why I chose to demonstrate the machine’s actual cutting capacity, pushing him and my boss to hash out the productivity issue head-on.

If I hadn’t done this, my boss would have blamed all the slow output on flawed process planning from my side. Unfortunately, I couldn’t afford to prioritize the shop crew’s easygoing rhythm. I feel terrible about putting him in this spot, but upholding production efficiency is my job responsibility. I have no idea if he’ll resent me for this, yet my boss has completely run out of patience with our glacial workflow.

Should I ask him out for a drink to explain everything and clear the air between us?

I’m not a native English speaker, so I use translators, sorry for any weird phrasing. This is all my own writing, no AI made this.

Need some advice on how I knock down my electric motor shaft from 7/8 to 22mm. I don’t have access to a lathe but I do have a mill drill. I’m not wanting to alter the pulley because it’s not being made anymore. I’d rather mess up on a 80 dollar used motor than the original pulley. Any advice would help. Also the shaft does have a keyway.

I'm looking to start classes towards a B.S in mechanical engineering and I'm curious what y'all are getting paid having hands on experience, especially compared to other engineers that only have schooling.

Also looking for any input on things to look for or avoid while going through school and work. Thanks yall.