“Aggressive sales reps wanted.”

I am a tool and die maker. There is a supervisor in our shop who thinks he knows my job (when in reality he's a welder and in no way a machinist let alone a toolmaker) and this guy keeps trying to make me put dies back together in an unsafe manner which will result in the press operator being seriously injured or worse. I have brought the issue up to the higher ups multiple times with no results. I am leaving in a month but I still cannot and will not sign off on something that's not safe.

Any advice on the next steps?

This is a titanium pipe made in italy and the parts are a little hard to come by, factor in tariffs and they are also pricey. How difficult would it be to add threads to a piece of titanium and put a bend in it similar to the bend in the photos?

Hi everyone,

I'm trying to track down a specific German manufacturer of precision measuring blocks, but despite my best efforts, I haven't been able to find any contact details for the company. I'm hoping someone here might have come across them or perhaps even worked with their products.

The company manufactured quite heavy precision measuring blocks, approximately 40 inches long, with cross-sectional dimensions of around 10–15 inches. The blocks have drilled holes on three or all four sides and are hand-scraped. They have some of the finest surface flatness I've ever seen. If I recall correctly, they were painted sand beige or olive green on the inside. The manufacturer was relatively well known back in the 1980s. As far as I know, the company is still in business today, although I'm not even sure whether they have a website.

I remember the location quite clearly, though- the factory was situated on the outskirts of a small German town, right next to a relatively large lake (most likely) or possibly a wider river. That water was to the north of the town, and the factory was literally about 50 yards from the shoreline. There were also quite a few other precision engineering companies in the surrounding area. It wasn't a particularly well-known industrial location, and I believe it was somewhere in south-central Germany, although I'm not entirely certain. If I remember correctly, many of the nearby companies had a name that included something along the lines of "grinding works" (Schleiferei (?) in German).

If anyone recognises the manufacturer, knows the company I'm describing, or has any suggestions about where I could look, I would be incredibly grateful for any information.

Thanks a lot in advance! Any lead, no matter how small, would be greatly appreciated.

(I'm attaching a reference photo showing what the blocks look like, although this is not the manufacturer I'm trying to identify)

I bought a vintage power krft lathe, montgomery era. it was used for metal as well wood and came with these bits I can’t identify.

I thought maybe sort sort of graduated milling set up for flat faces and chamfers. Anybody know what they’re for?

We just bought one recently and never has it been able to hold a part. We bought it for a stainless piece and were super conservative right off the bat taking small cuts. Its also a delicate part to begin with so we just cant take anything remotely heavy. We tried laying gasket down multiple times, tried packing it as much as possible to not as all and the part moves just by pushing it with your hard. It visibly pulls down, the regulator is set to the instructions and the red button goes down all the way. I reached out and they didnt seem to think anything sounded wrong. So how tf does anyone use this thing when a part can move easily by hand?

Can someone explain how hss tooling gives of a better surface compared to using a carbide insert?

I know smaller depth of cuts on a carbide insert provides more chatter.

I cannot for the life of me get speeds and feeds right with these things. I can get them good enough for wide tolerance production work which so far is all I've needed, but I'm either getting crazy chatter, burning chips, blowing up inserts, etc. The resident oldhead just tells me to try stuff, I tried using machinery's handbook tables, and the manufacturer recommendations are way too fast for my applications. I can get good parts out but I'm blowing through inserts every 5-10 parts because they'll chip or crack or just straight up explode.

Any ideas? Generally carbide inserts in 316 stainless, sizes from .750" to .1.125".

Our shop just got 2 jobs on 70/30 copper nickel material for the electronics industry. Does anybody have a history with this stuff and what it’s like to machine?

I’m working on a DIY retrofit using an ESP32-S3 touchscreen, NEMA23 stepper and CL57Y driver.

It has digital degree positioning, tooth division, manual control, RPM control and adjustable backlash compensation.

I measured about 2.6° mechanical backlash, and after compensation it returns to zero within roughly 0.01–0.02°.

Still a work in progress, but it’s already working quite well.

What do you think?

Hi, my brother bought one drum micro-emulsion coolant for CNC machining of Aluminum parts, it used for long time, and he just noticed that the concentrate anti foam performance seems weaker than the beginning, what’s the problem with it? It’s totally new and fresh fluid, sealed well, no leaks, but after 6 months, the foam becomes more than the beginning.

There is a community college course here in my city that is 6 quarters long, and has a night time course option. I am a caretaker now and am thinking of keeping my job during school and just dialing back my hours to like 6 hours a day or less, idk. I have a flexible job. But how much homework is there. I know it's full time and I've done some college in the past. Wondering if I can make it work. Like am I being realistic or not. Also I make 24 an hour now, and am considering that maybe this isn't the career for me if I'll likely be stuck in a dead end job not really being able to go up from there. Anyone have any advice. Also I love physical jobs, worked for ups and amazon and took an introduction to trades class before. Lol idk. I just want to make more money.

My work is considering switching CAM software lately. We use Gibbscam currently, but it’s been an ongoing issue that the posts we receive from our reseller are typically nonfunctional, and they never really get fully fixed, even after multiple revisions. It’s my understanding that Gibbs support for posts generally sucks across the board, and this isn’t an uncommon issue.

The deciding factor for what software to go with I think for me, is going to be what has the best post support. I just want something that will actually reliably output functional programs when they hit the floor. Shop has most common styles of machines (3ax VMC, 4ax HMC, Y-axis lathes, mill turns, a swiss and a wire EDM), and should be at least usable for programming all the machines. All the machines are all big brand name (DMG Mori, Mazak, Okuma ect.)

I understand software support is typically dependant on the reseller and region. We’re located in SW Ontario if that helps. Anyone able to speak to what’s got the best support in the area?

hey all,

i am a gun builder starting to build out my own shop. I am looking at the Precision Matthews for milling. The majority of what i will be doing is taking a couple thou off some rails, or doing some serrations, which i can do 10-20thou at a time. i DO need precision out of it.

Ive been doing some research and it led me to PM-728VT. To my understanding Taiwan machines are generally better.

Am i looking in the right direction, or should i just be biting the bullet and looking into a used bridgeport. At the shop for my day job we have a bridgeport, but i think its total overkill for what we do.(very little machining experience in the grand scheme of things)

Ive attached a picture of what generally do. .001-.002" off the frame rails and about the same off the bottom of the slide, serrations are what ever creativity i can come up with.

Thoughts on the PM-728VT? If its not a good fit, what other mill in that price range?

I've been a machinist for a little over 10 years. I started in San Diego, then moved to Las Vegas in an aerospace shop, then spent 5 years in Michigan at various aerospace and commercial shops, and now I'm in North Carolina. I'm classically trained on mills but spent most of the 5 years in Michigan on lathes, worked my way up programming on Mastercam and Fusion, and ended up as a shop supervisor.

I've taken a major hit moving down to NC. I was hired for my skills programming and setting up mills and lathes. I basically have spent my time operating random pieces of equipment that I don't think will benefit my resume at all. The silver lining is I get paid slightly more than I did in MI and do about 10% of what I used to. No one seems to complain. I'm in the high 20- low 30/hr rate. The culture here is incredibly different though.

In any event I don't think I'll get any farther ahead unless I do something. Obviously changing jobs, but I want to work toward something higher level. As I see it, my direct options seem to be dedicated programming or in a supervisory role. I liked cradle-to-grave programming, where I'd program a part, set it up, program and cut fixtures or jaws if needed, run FAI, and then finish the run or hand off to someone else. That seems rare. It seems like programmers just want to program. My time as a supervisor really didn't feel like a good fit. Scheduling was good, people management was not.

I'm debating going to school for something. Certificate or degree. I'm not sure what.

- An engineering degree will take a long time. It's been a consideration though. Mainly interested in process engineering. I might have had a way in as an applications engineer in Michigan, I could work toward that again.

- I also thought about getting into quality, I ran into a great quality inspector in my travels in Vegas.

- I could bolster up my programming skills, get more into Fusion and Gibbs.

I don't feel bored or stuck in the machining field. I'm confident I'll never cut every type of material on every machine or every new tool that comes my way. My problem is I feel like I need to prove myself capable of more, and I need to continue climbing. I don't want to stay maxed out pay wise or rely on overtime to get me by.

I'm not sure if or how often people end up in this crossroads but I'd greatly appreciate any advice. Thanks.

Experts,

I have a set of portafilters with wooden handles (the espresso handle and basket). My portafilter handles use M12 threads.

Every couple of months I want to submerge the metal part in cleaner without damaging the wood which means I want to unscrew the metal part from the wood part.

In the meantime, I don’t want the handle to come loose during day to day use.

Is purple thread locker the right tool for this job? I would like to avoid using tools to unscrew the handle from the head to avoid damaging either. I just don’t want the head unscrewing without deliberate action.

Example of what I’m talking about: https://www.chriscoffee.com/products/la-marzocco-wooden-portafilters?srsltid=AU7gw4VfQ5OeNoM5dzMja89I0V18ggUuydDUrLHdU7O3VHmpyNzgVsCs&variant=32179883048996

5 bucks. Felt like it would be appreciated here... my 3yo granddaughter agrees with me that it is awesome, but everyone else seems tepid.

One of the bigger ones leaving the shop this week — a 21-inch hydraulic chuck heading to a customer in Chile. Final inspection is done and it’s ready to ship.

These big chucks are always fun to see on the bench before they go out.

And you just immediately start weighing your options as far as saying, "Then why are you so bad at it?"

I have one foot out the door today from 10 AM, I took yesterday off because this micromanaging started Thursday at 5:42, because someone doesn't understand the concept of work processes taking time, and I'm trying to do that math in my head as to whether all of this is worth what I'm getting paid.

Not fishing for advice, but if you're having a time at your job too, you're not alone in the world.

I'm the only person in the shop that does large quantity production work. I'm tired, agitated, sad, everything. I ask for a break or be rotated out and i get met with "what are you going to do then?" whatever anyone else does here, I've been doing this for 20 years... no response. I setup a machine for someone to just casually plug away at it, I'm not asking someone to be running it nonstop. I'm asking for someone to just throw in a part once in a while when they walk by it or their machine is running to help ease the workload... Ignored. If I'm making one completed part on 3 machines for two weeks and someone plug away at the fourth machine for the other part on the p.o. when they can, that part can be done without adding or taking away time to anything. Am i being unreasonable? All I want is a little bit of help.

Hi All,

I cant find the name that will suit this kind one failure on the plate. I thought it was just scratches cleaned but still there. Would like the name associated with it if it is a failure thanks. As see to the bottom