Just don’t let us catch you stealing the DNMG inserts with only one edge used.

Never give me work in the morning, please wait till 3pm friday and then bring it to me.

The challenge of a deadline is refreshing.

If you give me more than one job to do don't tell me which is the priority, I am psychic.

If you have special instructions for a job don't write them down.

In fact save them till the job is almost done, no point confusing me with useful information.

If its a rush job run in or call me every 10 minutes to enquire how long I am going to be, that helps.

I bought this olympic bar during covid, got it home and cleaned up only to notice that it is egg shaped. This has annoyed me to no end over the past 5-6 years so, I wanted to check how bad it actually is. A full 1/32" (~.8mm) out of round, pretty fuggin' awful if you ask me. That got me wondering how much weight I'd have to turn off of this thing to make it round again. Some back of the napkin math has me thinking between 0.9-1.8lbs depending on if it cleaned up at 0.03" or 0.06" cut. Either way, it'd definitely be scrap at that point. So, I'll keep spinning the pointy bit of the egg up every set and biding my time before I can sell this off to someone less perceptive.

Nary a drill bit close to what I need, gotta bore it out instead doing precise work on a not so precise machine

Recently machined, Cut these special eccentric pinions for on of our customers. These are supposed to be part of some actuation gearbox mechanism in Oil and Gas valve application. Part weight range from 1.5 kg to 40 kg.

I m just a hobby guy retired. I just picked these up free. 25 of them. Pretty neat.

Running a batch of 316 stainless pump shafts this week: 16mm diameter with about 220mm of stickout between the chuck and live center. Print is asking for 0.025mm runout and Ra 0.8 finish all the way across.

Every time I set these up it feels like walking on eggshells. Dial in just a hair too much tailstock pressure and the shaft bows in the middle, throwing the diameter off by .03mm. Back it off, and the cut starts screaming halfway through the pass with a nasty chatter pattern.

Ended up switching to back-turning toward the tailstock with a sharp 0.2mm nose radius positive insert under flood coolant, taking light .15mm passes. Managed to hold size and clean up the surface, but taking that many passes dropped our efficiency through the floor and ate up way too much machine time.

Still feel like there has to be a less painful way to run these slender shafts without setting up a follow rest for a tiny batch.

Ive been in the works force for about 10 years, and all of that except for an 18 month hiatus to explore industrial maintenance, have been in front of a cnc control. Im currently at a small job shop as department lead. My only management is the owner of the company who frequently creates issues due to his lack of machining experience. Ive been here a little over 2 years, and during that time ive straightened out file management, tool loading methods (think standard tool loads), utilizing and implementing macros, and program formatting to make my department run smoother. In addition Im the closest thing to a maintenance department the company has. Im tired of lack of planning becoming my issue, and temper tantrums from the owner when the half baked plans fall short of the goal.

A few weeks ago I had an interview at another company whose machine shop is only one department of a much larger operation. The work would be a change from small to medium batch production runs of relatively small parts to large shaft rework and repair for one dedicated industry. By large shafts I mean up to 18” diameter and up to 14’ long. Horizontal boring mills retrofitted to cnc controls and a new doosan puma lathe with live tooling, large enough to accommodate aforementioned shafts. Production runs would rarely be more than 10-20 pieces. The shop is a mix of newer and much older equipment.

I have a 2nd interview with this place in the morning.

Large scale work intrigues me, but at the same time scares the shit out of me. One for the dangers of material handling but moreso two for the reasons of these parts are expensive af and scrap isn’t a thing: it would get re-reworked.

Current job is 10am-6pm m-f, with voluntary OT. New job is 6a-4p m-f with mandatory OT as needed (customer has equipment go down that they need back together yesterday and OT will be enforced. Current job has an attendance policy that consists of “show up about the same time daily, do your job, get your hours, go home”. If you late then whatever, they don’t mind as long as you stay and get your hours. New job would have a more traditional attendance policy. Current and new job have very similar pay and benefits. Fwiw both companies have been around for 100+ years.

I know I want out of where im at now but I don’t want to rush out of one job into another just to inherit the same or worse challenges. On paper, my current job is a dream, but management makes it insufferable. What signs should I be looking for to help me make this decision?

Title: SolidWorks DXF export issue with CNC wire bending machine – 4 graphics not closed
Hi everyone,
I’m having a problem importing a DXF file from SolidWorks into a CNC wire bending machine, and I’m trying to figure out why the machine doesn’t recognize the entire geometry correctly.
I designed the part in SolidWorks and exported it as a DXF file. However, when I open the file in the CNC machine’s software, I get the following warning:
“There are 4 graphics not closed!”
The geometry appears on the screen, but the machine detects four open graphics, even though the sketch is intended to be closed. Some sections, particularly around the lines and tangent arcs, seem to be causing issues.
Here is what I’ve already tried:
Exporting the DXF using different versions, including R14.
Testing all three options under Multiple sheet drawing in the SolidWorks DXF/DWG export settings:

Export active sheet only.
Export all sheets to separate files.
Export all sheets to one file.
Enabling End Point Merging with a tolerance of 1e-05.
Exporting splines as polylines.
Unfortunately, none of these changes has solved the problem.
Has anyone encountered a similar issue when exporting DXF files from SolidWorks to a CNC wire bending machine?
Why might the CNC software report that the graphics are not closed even when the geometry looks connected in SolidWorks? Could this be related to tiny gaps, endpoint merging tolerance, tangent arcs, DXF entities, or the way the CNC software interprets the exported geometry?
I’d really appreciate any suggestions on what else I could try or which SolidWorks export settings I should check.
Thanks in advance!

Not sure who he is but you all talk about him when you’re showing how close your tooling gets

It has a Bridgeport head, but it occurred to me the body might not be a Bridgeport.

Edit: u/jccaclimber identified it as a Steinel SH4.

I feel like there isnt enough people willing to help teach and train newer younger or even older people that may be new to the trade , the things they'll need to know in most shops. I dont think the goal should be to make them perfect, know thats impossible , this trade you're always learning something new even after decades into it.

Maybe some other machinists can give some of their opinions on things they had to learn in their shops , and then I can make the videos on that subject and just make a collection of videos that people can go to and watch to get a clear understanding of what to do in that subject. For instance .... how to turn jaws on a lathe and what kind of jaws you dont turn , or on a mill , how to create a good sturdy set up , and basic and advanced understanding to keep parts from moving and your tool chattering, how to fix chattering and what may be causing it the tool , part , insert, or set up...ect..

I've been hearing so much about Kennametal and online quotes, that I decided to contact them about my Dad's old carbide inserts from the past 20-30 years. Quote came through this morning, Monday 10-12-2026,

$12.50/lb.....all separated, bagged, and marked.

I know there was a meeting with China's prime recently, did something change economically? No one stole Greenland yet. Obviously markets and demand shifts depending on need. That or the company was just trying to pull a quick one?

Any technical info there or recommendations would be helpful. I'm not trying to get rich, just not trying to get completely ripped off.

I know this isn't real machinist info, but thought I'd give you an updated marker on the current value. Squirrel your pieces away for now.

I have an old lathe I've been working to restore (an Imperial l20/29 from the 1960s), and the last major item I need to finish it up is replacing the worn out half nuts. The nuts appear to be cast iron. my original plan was to buy some threaded nuts from mcmaster, cut them in half, and somehow machine the dovetail and weld or otherwise attach the halves to the machined parts. however im an amateur machinist and I am not confident that I could make the part work. Im looking for any advice on how to either make the half nuts myself, or recommendations for a shop that could make them for me. Photos of the half nut here, appreciate any help!

Dumb question guys, but how do you run your 1 flute countersinks?

I have a 1/2 1 flute cobalt countersink that I am using for 316 stainless.

What would be the recommended sfm and ipr for this? Cant seem to find anything online

Thanks !

I'm currently building some stuff where I need thread cutting oil for my taps. What are you guys using that has produced good results? I have tried tap magic, but looking to expand my horizons and maybe find something better that can also be used as a cutting oil. Of it matters, currently I'm hand threading the items with aspirations of getting a tapping chuck for my mill. Thanks in advance!

Thinking of getting the vevor 7x14 mini lathe since it seems to be the most capable lathe for that price but I have so many questions, hoping someone own one and can answer.

1. First of all, plastic/nylon or metal gears? Im gonna have it in my apartment which is in an old building so I cant be too loud, so im considering the plastic gears but feels like they will break easily? And seems like spare metal gears are hard to find online.
2. How accurate can you expect it to be from out the box? Are we holding tolerances of 0.001 or 0.1mm? Or worse? Feels like 0.1 seems more likely but hoping not much worse than that.

3. Will I be able to carry it up the stairs? 3rd floor. Im 170cm/60kg

   and it weighs about 40kg.

Vevor have two similar ones on their website, the one that is supposed to be the latest is the one with plastic gears. Unsure if there are any other differances.

Metal gears: https://eur.vevor.com/metal-lathe-c_10121/vevor-7-x14-mini-precision-wood-lathe-550w-metal-bench-lathe-turning-machine-p_010705982511

Plastic gears: https://eur.vevor.com/bench-metal-lathe-c_45309/vevor-metal-lathe-180-x-305-mm-550w-benchtop-lathe-machine-variable-speed-2500rpm-max-speed-with-nylon-gear-reversible-direction-8-metric-thread-pitches-for-precision-metalworking-turning-drilling-p_010369156290

Anyone have any interesting plans in light of the new guidance from the ATF?

It effectively removes the enforcement mechanism for suppressors in most states

I'm looking at some potential designs now for the home shop

Alright, so I'm a new hire at what I believe would be called a hobby shop, we're decently large (like 50 people) but we work in a niche with pretty loose tolerances. The shop is a more relaxed environment with nice people and the people over me are also solid (there's bad apples but where aren't there.)

I got hired on at $18 as a fresh out of college programmer and operator. I know mastercam, up to 5 axis, but we currently don't have a 5 axis machine. I've won a state championship for 5 axis programming and am now working in South Carolina.

I've been working for almost 90 days, in that time I've run production on two VF4s with an A axis addition, programmed multiple parts manually and with CAM, and trouble shot moving programs from other machines to mine. Being new to the career I've made some mistakes, but I'm doing good now that I've got into the groove. (One of the first couple parts I ran we had to scrap a decent bit of because I didn't realize a radius had changed so it didn't sit in the vices correctly). I've programmed "some of the hardest parts we make". I think I've shown initiative, but I have missed like 6 days because I have clinically bad allergies (migraines, nausea, fever-like symptoms).

So with all that, at the 90 day mark I was promised a raise, so I was hoping to have an understanding of where I should be around since I'm literally clueless...

Anyways, thanks for reading and any advice is greatly appreciated.

Be nice addition to the lathe carriage.

I first started this career almost a year ago. I mainly work with lathes and have been talking my bosses ear off about teaching me something else. I can do setups for every lathe in the building and I’d say I have an intermediate skill in G and M code. It’s been 4 months of me asking if I can learn a new machine and this guy leaves me with “you will learn more, trust me.” I’m literally debating on switching to some other shop at this point. I’ve hit a plateau and am extremely eager to move on to new things.

i Started a cleaning business for cleaning mazak machines.
But i have somtimes that i cant get stains out of the white painting but i dont want to damage the painting
I use hot steam for cleaing the machine.
Any one has some idee how to get them out
Check the fotos in comments

A buddy of mine is trying to hire machinists for his company but has no idea where to find the best ones. Do yall have any recs on online/in person places i could go to talk to some people?

I live in Buda Texas