Machinist

so fun fact inhaling yummy iron dust is not very BASED. and i mean i could wear a respirator, but the whole thing is even with wearing some safety's and a respirator i still got iron dust in my eyes, and have had about 4 eye infections. so last weekend i decided to fix that, i took a Hepa filter and laser cut a mount for a delta server fan and made 2 rings which hold the filter via caughter pins, i also had a mic arm that i lost the end. It sucks up all the iron dust from polishing. And if your wondering i really have only been at this die shop for a few months (basically 1 month after i started this form.) and Ive had a lot of challenges with working at this establishment, at least job wise. the people that i work with are really nice and have never had any problems. but the jobs are shitty to say the least and pay is not that good. im technically a maintenance worker, but i end up doing all the "shitty jobs" and i really dont get paid that much, im part time and get paid $14.60 hourly which a walmart worker gets paid $14 from where i live. and i really have a passion for machining, my senior year i took a machining class, and i was hooked. all i really do is cut, size and polish dies and other junk like running the cnc (which i am a legit a button pusher) i know a little gcode like g73 is a peck drill can cycle. but i dont get to program or anything, i just take parts of of the vice and put new ones in and press cycle start the shitty part is that for a lot of local shop you needed to know how to run a CNC. and sadly the class i took was a 2 year course and the second year was learning CNC, so i never got to. and that left me to finding a job that i could be hired and hopefully work my way up. at this point i don't think im ever going to get a promotion, and am currently searching for a new job. i know this is rather personal, but what do you guys think?
ive been on the fence about leaving, and some of you may be wondering why i made the filter, and its because its kinda the whole fuck around and find out thats at my work place. if a worker asks for something like new ppe, the boss dislikes you and you basically get punished in a way, shittier jobs, less hours, denied days off.

So, last week before Christmas (also late merry Christmas) I was running this super neat and terrifying Hydraulic press. I asked are resident machinist about it, and he told me "it was a military surplus Hydraulic press, it was originally made for WW2 and crimped bullet casings". I can't show a photo of it because it's in are store room with lots of "trade secret" stuff. But ill explain it with a very poorly drawn version

It was really neat to learn about the history of this neat machine. And the challenges we're currently dealing with. Such as it runs for 20 mins then shuts off the one smart other maintenance guy said it was the pump going bad and we're probably going to have to replace it. The press is kinda scary though, the punches blow apart if you load something wrong (which is my fault) and hearing it start to move down the punch is quite scary as I have seen punches explode, and metal shards fly everywhere. But it was kinda fun in the scary kinda way!

There's so much untapped potential with a probing system and macros that aren't being utilized at all.

This video demonstrates how powerful a quality machine and probing can be towards a future of automation and simplifying incredibly difficult setups.

What gets me unsettled but also inspired is... This isn't entirely limited to the machine tool or probing system demonstrated on the video. We can do this NOW. Existing machines are entirely capable of exploiting their probing systems beyond their usual simplistic usage (part pickup, measurement). And the only thing really lacking is the brains to figure out all the heavy duty math.

people of Facebook give me a brain aneurysm.

https://strawpoll.com/kogjkMNj1Z6

I am rather interested in what brands of tools everybody uses in there shop. ive seen lots of shops use mitutoyo but my shop uses just as much Fowler as mitutoyo and how does that compare to other shops. if i didn't include your brand please leave a comment.

I thought this was an extremely insightful documentary about why "Made in Japan" speaks volumes about quality versus the "Made in USA" counterpart. We as machinists are an intimate and integral component to the quality chain. Look around you, Japanese machines and tools dominate the precision market. Okuma, Yasda, Makino, Mazak, Mitsui-Seiki, dmg Mori (the Mori Part at least). While All American brands with the exception of Hardinge are left as a 'value' brand.

I never really liked the phrase "it's good enough". It always gives the impression to me that they've never really had to put something together and have it perform. I hear this all too much in job shops that make parts rather than assemblies. Never in Tool & Die. Sure, the component has a .010" tolerance but if the machinist was to hold everything within .001 or less, it makes assembly work a lot more consistent and predictable.

The linked video is part 2 of a 3 part video series.

Here is part 1 youtube

part 3 youtube

So what's your thoughts on quality? Does the shop you work at feel like they value your effort towards quality?

Roders are some impressive machines. Wonder what kind of accuracy the machine is capable at that velocity.

Image originates from this video by OSG..

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u286ZNupi8M

The material being cut is PEEK Glass-Fiber 30%. It looks like it's fixtured to a Delrin block some how.. Any ideas on this black magic?

Glue? Threaded from the bottom up?

Running into a dilemma...

I have no trouble ending up with an accurate finished part with really tricky features.

BUT...BUT I can't figure how to quickly develop a roughing strategy. I'm always doing short run items so I don't have many opportunities to be hogging out material repeatedly. So, when I get a 1pc job that needs a lot of material removed, I'm very slow.

To a point, where I'm getting micromanaged.... on roughing.

I'm inclined to be safe and prioritize process stability over Material removal rate. For example in HEM, Instead of doing 10% stepovers, i'll do 6%. In turning, I'll keep DOC down on the bottom left end of recommended specs instead of burying past the insert radius. I don't get off on huge MRR like others, my moment of glory is hitting incredible tolerances on a difficult design/material.

What really scares me is... that a mistake in roughing parameters comes with bigger risk than just "tighten the bolt until it loosens up and quarter turn back". It's the part becoming a projectile/scrap, machine damage, and at worst an injury. Lathe work where I have only a fraction to hold onto and inches of material to remove....

How have you developed a 'sense' for how aggressively you can rough?

So this week at my workplace, Mr. Boss man wanted me to recycle spools. of unused/unwanted wire. Also, I kid,--{edit fromthe future} he was a piece of shit, worse boss i ever had. dont let shitty people be in your life, i know work at a place that actually cares about my well-being. , I really do like my boss and my workplace anyway the slight problem is that the spools are made of steel and the wire is aluminum. so I had to figure out a way to get the wire off. The original plan was to use a hacksaw and cut through the end of the spool. However, as I know from last week of doing precisely that with smaller spools. IT SUCKS DONKEY BALLS, my wrists were roached by the weekend. So I figured that the spool had a metal rod that was crushed inside to hold it together, as well as the heads of the spool had bent over tabs. Which my co-worker had the idea of using a chisel, to break off the tabs then I used ye-old South Bend to drill a hole into the taper and bust off the side of the spool. Video of turning down inside, https://files.catbox.moe/n6t3el.mp4

6.875" x 5"

I used to lug the shipping crate of a case around but I needed all the space I can get in my toolbox. Also tried to make this a one-handed design. Press down into the cavity with my pinky and pick up what I need with the index and thumb.

https://www.printables.com/model/657221-compact-organizer-for-6-machinist-parallels

2 parts, body and nut, 3 lathe ops and a mill op, with buttress threads.

I'll be keeping this one in my toolbox of "out of the box" solutions.

Only 4 geometries to grind on a broken carbide endmill shank and you can drill out hardened steel.

Inspired by Sandvik hardcut and OSG tap extracting drills

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0055860LA

https://www.osgtool.com/exocarb-xh-drl-drills-5172

this is satire, dont replace g1 with g0. You will break so many tools and Mr boss man will make you a Muppet, because you make a fucky-wuky

i was scrolling through Facebook marketplace, and saw this frakenmill and it thought it was pretty funny. but would it work as a mill? And if it did im guessing you probably couldn't take very deep cuts with it.

This is my workplaces full time deburring machine, however I have no idea why it has 2 heads. The second one was obviously and was an afterthought and it is slapped together. it was originally a craftsman drill press. does anybody know the reasons when it has a second head, and if so does your shop have similar drill presses.

This is the lathe I get to run at work. It is the most kick-ass lathe I have ever used, it's a Laguna American turn-master. It is full kited out it has a DRO an RPM gauge a load gage on a spindle. Power feed and threading gearbox and V ways. i swear this isn't sponsored, i love this lathe. If i had infinite money i would buy this. it is a dream to run daily, anyway enough of my fanboying, what lathes do you guys run on the daily? South bend, Hardinge Laguns etc....

I originally wasn't a collet lathe guy, but DAMN the minimal run out is soo good

So we got a super nice Hurco that runs most of our parts. But we have "stupid parts" like facing operations that doesn't really need to be used in the Hurco. So we have this gem, it's a collet lathe that was converted into a CNC in the mid 90s. The guy who usually runs and programs it says it's odd because in software if you put .1000 it does .0500, so it halves the output dimension. (i also might add the guy who runs it is pretty cool and pretty smart) It also is rocking a Siemens Fryer controller, I have no idea what the original lathe was the shop also added safety features, like a hood to stop coolant from spraying. but anyway I thought it was super cool and decided to share.