Last week, an apprentice broke a micrometer and the boss fined him. That sparked an idea, so I machined some micrometer‑themed trinkets. I plan to give one to the boss and one to the apprentice as a gesture of comfort. I’m afraid this might come off as sarcasm, even though there’s a little bit of that intent behind it.

It's just adding electrical ports to a prefab box, our shop has done hundreds of these things

On the 3 axis, it took multiple setups, each side its own program, now it's just one 5 minute program.

My guy was countersinking some 304 and the M. A. Ford countersink just sheared right off. I have not seen this before. Bad tool?

I need to hold .002 TP to a pre existing thru bore. Currently we keep getting flyers around .006-.008 but we also get good parts about half the time what variables am I missing? what about this set up can be improved or checked? We centered the stead rest to the best of our ability. It cuts straight and to size with no taper on the entire profile of the part.

After 20 years of service I decided to get another mini-vise for my drill press. As you see the old one did good, but I've damaged the leadscrew in it, and it was hard to turn at the end of travel. So, ordered the exact same model number.

Wow. If you don't know what to look at: the guide rails are missing, the vise face has no side-to-side control against cocking, the turning knob got smaller, and the worst thing: they removed the 4 bosses used to screw the whole thing down to a table.

Credit to the seller, they refunded me immediately and even told me to keep the POS.

But the insert held up!

This is primarily directed to those few people who operate machines that have over 5 axes.

I can understand a 6 axis machine as one that lets you use the translational X Y Z axes & all the A B C rotational axes, but after that, what's next?

Is this a way of talking about multi-spindle machines? Is it like a robotic arm with a cutting tool on it?

I think the most axes I've heard of being used was like 19 or something outrageous.

I’ve had this setup working at my last rental, (with the exception of the occasional blown fuse from high inrush amps upon startup) have acquired slow blow fuses for my shutoff switch since. I upgraded to the next size DPS from this same company and had my electrician set it up the same way.

2 inch, 3500 rpm, 40 fpm.

Hi,

I have a Mikron WF-1 manual milling machine (similar to a deckel fp1) and the quill is not moving very smoothly.

It will stick in place even with the return spring wound tightly.

I removed the spindle from the vertical head and i can find no obvious problems. All keyways are smooth, the top portion of the spindle where the power gets tansmitted is also smooth (when i put the spinde in backwards, so only that top portion is inserted).

When i remove all the keys and put in the spindle normally, even with ample oil, it just becomes very tight and i have to tap it in with a mallet (lightly, but i can't push it in by hand)

There is one caveat, and that is that when the spindle is fully in, the first ~6mm moves freely. Then it becomes harder.

I cannot feel any burrs or anything like that so i would be curious to know of any other possibilities.

Thanks!

Hey everyone,
I just finished my first year of community college for machine tool and will start my second soon. I have little experience in a small job shop as a machinist. I got accepted for a machinist job that ends up paying 60k a year with good match and benefits. I will end up completing my 2 year degree but if I can still accept this job when I finish my degree I think it would be a good choice. Is this a good price for a starting machinist as I see a lot of people on here say we don’t get paid nearly enough which I agree with but was just wondering. I am also 19 and will be 20 when I finish my degree. Thanks!

I was desperate for a little bit more reach with this endmill and broke it because of some dumb reason. What remains is about 11mm of the original shaft. Would you still use this endmill? I could clean up the broken end and use the remaining part for clamping or I could cut it off and clamp on the neck. It's intended for light cuts in aluminium.

We make brass lanterns in a small shop in Japan. A customer asked for a black one, so I went looking for a way to do it.

The obvious answer here is chemical blackening. Temple fittings in Japan have been finished that way for centuries and the color has real depth to it. I almost went with it. Then I picked one up and thought about how our lantern actually gets used. You carry it by the handle, you turn a knob with your fingers, and in oil mode the whole body gets warm. Blackening has almost no thickness. It is the surface itself changing color. Temple fittings survive it because nobody picks them up and walks around with them.

So, plating. And that is where it got interesting for me.

Our body has an oil tank bore, a small gear that opens and closes the air vent, and threads. With electroplating I would get heavy buildup on the outside corners and almost nothing down inside those features. Uneven thickness on a moving fit means either it binds or it rattles. Electroless plating goes on at the same thickness everywhere the liquid reaches, so the internal mechanism stays at the dimension I actually designed.

I ended up picking the finish for the parts nobody is ever going to look at.

One thing I am still not settled on. Do you machine undersize to leave room for plating thickness, or do you hold your dimensions and put a tight tolerance on the plating spec instead? I have been doing the first one, but I would like to know how you handle it.

For a bit of context, I have 13yrs in manufacturing as an industrial mechanic/semi-millwright but with no journeyman's to show for it. Employer kept fighting back on it against our union despite them recognizing us as journeyman. I assume for fear of giving their workers a chance to hire out with that on our resume.

This last year I took a sabbatical from work to move home and take care of my mom pre/post-op for a major surgery and decided to take a 10 week pre-apprenticeship program for precision machining before getting back to work. During the program I was able to get 4 NIMS certs (Measurement Materials and Safety, Milling, Drilling, Turning Between Centers)

I'm, 36 so it feels a bit late to be starting over but my last job was so specialized in what we made and I'd gotten sick of it so I'm trying my hand at something with a bit more flexibility in the industry. Both offers are for an apprenticeship position with starting pay being the same at 24$ an hour thanks to my work experience and overall success in the program that got me here.

My question is what differences I can expect to see as far as earning potential and job growth/availability between Tool & Die maker VS CNC Machinist and how the job itself might be different in the day to day. I'm gonna google some stuff of course but was hoping for some firsthand knowledge from y'all.

I received a lot of help from the experienced people here when asking questions about the parts and problems I had in the 10 week program and I appreciate all the advice so far, any more you could give before I make the final decision would be great.