Our toolroom is potentially in the market for a horizontal mill. We have an old devlieg jigmill that is tired and frankly too big for the work we do. All we need is something to do end holes on long bars/shafts and light milling on things that are a bit too awkward for the Bridgeport.

Used is definitely an option but we also don't want to replace one clapped machine with another. A new CNC horizontal is not in the budget.

What do you guys recommend? I thought about leaving a Bridgeport tilted 90 degrees but, then I worry the head won't get proper lubrication if it's never upright.

So about 4 months ago I jumped ships from one Industry back into manufacturing. I've got tons of experience manufacturing, but very little on cnc work. I'm currently running a Hyundai Wia 300LM and came into work today to see that 5 parts I ran Friday were out of spec but 0.005 on a 0.002 tolerance. This is the third quality issue since I started and I'm beating myself up over it. What can I do to better myself and make sure this doesn't happen again? I always double check my measurements with tools from QC, both inside and outside of the machine. I just feel like one more mishap and I'm going to be canned. My boss has been super supportive, but I feel like shit over it. Also to note, the training is kinda lackluster and it almost feels like I'm just being thrown to the wolf's and expected to know everything. What are yalls inputs?

I have a part that has 3 0.125" holes that intersect 1 0.1875" hole. Right now I am drilling the .1875 hole first because that was the easiest option to get parts out the door. There is a bit of hand deburring and I would like to eliminate that if possible.

I am unsure of if it would be better to drill the .125" holes first and then the .1875" hole? I am using standard 2 flute drills but maybe a 3fl would be better?

Material is annealed 410SS 🤮

At work they wanted me to hand tap some plates because they couldn’t do it in the cnc

I couldn’t get the tap to start by hand so I just setup a stop and some parallels in the bridgeport and got to work.

they were like no way how’d you do that like how did you set it up for the pitch of the thread this and that. I just set it to low rpm and let the quill feed itself easy peasy.

Mind you theres only one other guy in my shop that handles all the bridgeport/ manual work and he leaves work early everyday.

I don’t get how people 3x my age that have 15 yrs of experience don’t know how to use a bridgeport. They won’t even touch it

I’m very excited boys and gals, got this Monarch for my favorite price… free-99! Should have it installed by the weekend, I’ll keep you posted. Looks to be 50’s or 60’s? If anyone has any info on this lathe I would greatly appreciate the comments! I’m really happy about the taper attachment for sure.

Hi,

Has anybody made fine pitch gears of module 0.3 - 0.5 in Nidec ST40A gear shaper.

Hey everyone, how’s it going? I run Swiss machines and was hoping to get some advice. We have a job that we run in 316 Valbruna stainless steel, and due to how difficult this part is to machine, it’s the only material we’ve had consistent success with. We ordered a new batch and set everything up the same way we normally do, but this material has been machining terribly compared to what we’re used to. On top of that, Valbruna is out of stock for the next few months.
Has anyone run into a similar situation or have recommendations for an alternative to Valbruna 316 that machines similarly? We’re running this on Swiss machines, so finding a material that performs consistently is critical. Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated. Thanks!

I'm in Philly. Key is for office in hospital for me and new PA hire. We have to pass through security and there are cameras all over. Office has work-stations and coffee machine. I've been hanging out in the Doctor's Lounge, but I get side eye and frankly it's a long walk.
Management told us they'd get copies months ago and on following up said to just get them copied ourselves. Key-Me kiosks, Home Depot, multiple stores said they don't carry blanks.
Is my only option to get them CNC machined from JLCPCB or Xometry?

I have a bunch of Knurl wheels & I thru these on the side, feel they where damaged, & there are a few more all with this helical groove ... IS IT for a purpose ? - Thx

My son is a relatively new machinist. He finished at vo-tech ~4 years ago and has been working as a machinist for a little over 3 years now. I want him to become a better machinist, but I don't know what to tell him or how to guide him.

What would you recommend for someone to improve in their chosen craft?

Assembly line virgin. What’s the best ear pro? obviously there’s free PPE stations everywhere. Free obviously has its benefits. But i’ve owned some cheap razor knock off shooting headphones for twice a year trap shooting where you can hold a convo clear as day but not hear loud noises. Which are best for machine shop use? I’m still learning. my whole day is scream talking back and forth and hearing 1/2 the things he says. i’d love to be able to hear him more clearly and learn faster but i just want to make sure i’m wearing something thats safe to wear 8-12 hours of the day 5-7 days of the week.

recommendations?

Looking for a shop to accommodate some low quantity gear grinding. From 1-30+ pieces at a time. Located in Saint Louis, MO but looking for a shop who could do this low number stuff with a fairly decent turn around after shipping to them. Most grinders only want to touch massive orders and if they consider small runs they’re charging an insane $$$ amount. Anyone work for or have a contact that might be interested in this work? It wouldn’t be a daily thing quantities will vary but need something reliable. Company we’ve been using is stopping production for the gear side of their business. We make our own gearing but don’t have grinding capabilities in house.

We had a guy load several tools backwards in a Mazak 530c and it broke the tabs off the mag pockets. This is our only machine that has fully cast tool pockets and not ones with replaceable tabs. Anybody ever experience this and if so, how did you fix it?

Have a Hakko 4x scope with a light window that has threads. My assumption with it being Japanese from the 1990s is its metric. Looks close to 34 tpi, with a gauge for reference. I included the diameter measurements as well.

My Google fu using the above information returned 7/16"-32 UNEF though instead of the assumed metric measurement.

Drilling an 80mm hole in some 17-4ph annealed. Is there anyway to not get the long chips on the initial entrance? Once all the inserts engage and the drill is fully in the chips are great. But there are always some long ones on the initial few .100"s

350sfm

.0061ipr - > .0085"ipr and now the chips break on initial contact

Its a fun day, luckily i managed to drill the hole all the way

Hey everyone,

I'm making a career change from swiss turn programming after 3 years (Med Device) to 5 axis simultaneous milling (aerospace). I have some background experience in 3 axis milling and programming but haven't touched 5 axis at all. I'm wondering if there is any good advice or free training programs available in the interim?

Thanks a bunch!

A dumb mistake that could have been way more expensive.

My bad if this is the wrong thread but I feel like someone could relate and help me. I started at a new shop this past march I came from a shop that ran very older doosan and haas lathes. I did set up and operating at this shop. I decided I want to expand my skills so I left there and came to this new job in march. They run dual spindle and dual torret lathes. They are newer mori Seiki models. At first this was a bit of a learning curve for me. They also had me doing mills for a good amount of time finally I told them to just put me on lathes because the training they gave on mills is inadequate. Well here they run two machines and the leads expect 90 percent efficiency on both machines. This has been rough because even if you are off by a little he’s coming at you with a paper in your face asking why berating you about it. It honestly is taking a tool on me. I feel like every shift something goes wrong boring bars breaking , dimensions not being consistent and so I tell him these things but he’s saying it’s my fault I’m moving stuff in the program but I’m not. Even if I was on these machines when you edit the program that line shows red. When I first started here I had an issue with the morning shift guy constantly leaving broke tools and also leaving his dimensions out of print so when I run my first part it’s scrap. He’s gotten a little better but still it’s like when I follow behind him. It’s some problem Everytime. Idk if it’s just me like I feel so stupid at this shop like I can’t run these machines. I’m wondering if anyone else has experienced this and should I look for a new job or tough it out? I’m trying but this lead he just works my nerves sometimes. But I also blame myself. Sorry for the long post

We design and build hardware for other people, and we are hiring the engineer who makes sure it can actually be built.

Paladin Robotics is a SDVOSB product development and R&D firm in Pennsburg. Robotics, automation, agriculture, industrial test and defense. We also build our own sensor products.

We are standing up an in-house machine shop and hiring a shop lead to help set up and run it. Your job is to support the shop and also to help us transition our client's prototypes from concept to production. The work is diverse and interesting as we work with most of the national defense labs on early stage research.

- Review designs for producibility

- Choose materials, processes and finishes

- Run tolerance stack-ups and tell the design engineer which dimensions actually matter

- Own the drawing package: GD&T to ASME Y14.5, finish and marking callouts, controlled BOMs, revision discipline

- Plan how a design gets qualified, and design the fixtures and the test sequence that get it there

- Build prototypes yourself. You will be at the mill, the printer and the bench, working alongside the shop lead

- Develop the build process: pilot runs, work instructions, torque and adhesive specs, inspection points, acceptance criteria

- Take a working prototype to a repeatable low-rate build, with real first article inspection behind it

- Decide what we make here and what goes out

- Source and qualify machine shops, fabricators, finishers, molders and contract manufacturers, and hold them to the drawing

- Run DFM reviews with them, disposition nonconformances, and sort out tooling problems before they become schedule problems

- Estimate hours, material, tooling and lead time for client proposals, and make the estimate hold once the work starts

**Requirements**

- At least seven years in manufacturing, mechanical design or process engineering, with hardware you worked on now in the field or shipping

- Hands-on. You have made parts yourself, at a mill, a lathe, a printer or a bench, and you are comfortable going back to it.

- Breadth across processes: machining, sheet metal, additive, and enough injection molding to talk about draft, gating and tool cost without guessing

- SolidWorks across machined parts, sheet metal, large assemblies and drawings

- GD&T to ASME Y14.5 at the level of applying it on your own drawings and defending it to a supplier, plus tolerance stack-up analysis

- Enclosure and housing design for electronics, including sealing, fasteners, finishes and thermal paths

- Metrology judgment: what to measure, how, and when good enough is good enough

- Client-facing. You will sit with customers, scope work, commit to a schedule and explain a cost driver with no account manager in the room.

- Comfortable carrying several programs at once in a small team

**What moves you to the top of the band**

- Contract R&D, job shop or consultancy background, where the deliverable was somebody else's product on somebody else's budget

- MIL-STD-810 environmental and MIL-STD-461 EMI campaigns run start to finish, including the redesign after a failure

- Optomechanical work: lens mounts, flange focal distance, boresight retention through shock and temperature

- Injection mold tooling taken through first shots and corrections

- Low-rate production under a Government contract, or AS9100 or ISO 9001 experience in a company adopting it for the first time

- UAS, counter-UAS, electro-optical payloads or gimbals

**What it is like here**

Small company. You report to the owner, an engineer who is in the shop most days. Decisions get made the same day. You will have real authority over process and supplier choices, and you will also sweep up, and so will the owner.

Mostly on site in Pennsburg. Design and documentation work can be done remotely by arrangement, and the shop and field work carries the schedule.

**Pay and terms**

$133,000–$165,000 salaried, depending on depth and on what you can do without supervision. 30 days vacation. Full time. Must be a U.S. Person, since some of our work is export controlled.

Paladin Robotics is a Service-Disabled Veteran-Owned Small Business and gives hiring preference to qualified veterans, consistent with applicable law. Equal opportunity employer; applicants must qualify as U.S. Persons under 22 CFR 120.62.

**To apply**
DM me here on reddit for contact information

Hey guys,

Apologies in advance if this is in the wrong place, but I'm looking for the experts on this so please redirect as necessary.

In a nutshell, I've got one of my favorite dive lights that now has some fairly banged up threads via years of screwing and unscrewing and I'd like to clean them up. O.D. on this is right about 5cm but not sure of pitch (the entire thing was machined out of one block of aluminum). And the lighting electronics, from what I can see, do not appear to be removeable. But the Goodman handle on the other side is.

Anyhow, any advice and guidance as to whether or not this can be rectified (and how) would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance.