This cool CCCP Lathe we have at work

Programming some fixturing this morning and got to thinking; what do you title your 1 off throw away programs? I always use “405”

Online everything pretty much says “nah, don’t” but I doubt my place would be happy with me saying “I’m good” so does anyone have any tips? SFM? Anything? lol

Dumb Question here: I've seen all of these videos of people making "zero tolerance" or "perfect fit" parts on a wire EDM in a punch/die type configuration. I understand that. What doesn't make sense to me is the "punch" part of the process. I don't understand the workholding in the sense that the punch should fall through the shell when the cut is complete, right? Or at least start moving/sagging and create problems for the wire cut?

The only way I can figure this would be possible is to leave a tab of some sort that is ground off later. Conveniently, every one of the videos or descriptions I've watched leave that part out. I figured surely someone around here is experienced enough to know how this is done. It's been making me crazy!

Hey everyone,

A few open jobs to consider...

• Jackson, MI - Lathe Setup/Operator on the 1st shift. This shop is growing and there are opportunities for career advancement. Paying $25 - $30 per hour.
• Poughkeepsie, NY - CNC Supervisor/Programmer. Paying $90K - $100K. Programming + leadership role responsible for 5 machinists and 6 machines. Small company - reporting directly to the owner.
• Marquette, MI - Swiss Setup. Paying $25 - $35 per hour. 2nd shift. Relocation provided. Beautiful part of the country. Excellent cost of living. Great hunting, fishing, boating, skiing, snowmobiling etc...
• Evansville, IN - CNC Programmer. Paying $33 - $40 per hour. Team lead role. Requires Multi Axis and Cad/Cam experience.
• Mooresville, NC - CNC Setup. Paying $26 to $33 per hour. 2nd shift. 3 axis milling. Relocation provided.

We also have a TON of roles in Ohio. And a few highly skilled roles (programmers) on Long Island in NY.

Msg me if interested.

Catalogued under “Work Amenities”

I have a question but I wasn't sure where to ask it, I hope here is ok. Im doing a project on my car, and I need to match my hubs to my wheels. The hubs are about 3mm too large in diameter. Is it possible to have a machine shop machine down the outer bore of my hub center, or would it be too difficult? Again, I apologize if this isn't the right place for this post, if so please take it down.

Saw this over on r/oddlysatisfying ...
https://www.reddit.com/r/oddlysatisfying/comments/1copecq/pencil_sharpener/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=web3x&utm_name=web3xcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button

Can't x-post because video.....

Found a bunch of these in a drawer while we were cleaning, but I have no idea what they're for. If anyone could help me out that would be greatly appreciated

I’ve got an electrical switch with 34tpi in UNF on my thread gauge OD of thread is 0.26745inches Image attached

Cannot see a standard tap size for this in the handbook. Any suggestions ?

https://jobs.hollister.com/job/Libertyville-Sr-Process-Development-Technician-IL-60048-3781/1160589600/

I have this old german lathe that i am in the process of restoring, it is going well but there are a few obstacles in the way from making it brand new. When i bought the lathe, it came with a few chucks. it has a lot of runout but i turned with it because i was just starting on my machinist journey but now when i have somewhat of an experience with machining and i decide it wasn’t good enough. I took a piece of 16cm bar stock of steel and i put it in the chuck with 14cm of stick out and i took measurements. The bar closest to the lathe has 0.1mm runout and the bar furthest from the chuck has a whole 0.6mm runout. What do i do.

I run a dual spindle, dual turret Nakamura wt-300. I do all the programming and the majority of the setups myself. We've begun taking better care of it, but It's a formerly poorly maintained machine that has effectively been rebuilt from the ground up. Everything usually holds pretty well and I don't have to typically fight taper or repeatability anymore.

It has z, x, y, and c axis on upper turret, no y axis on the lower. Now, onto the issue I occasionally run into:

I do a fair amount of off center live tooling work. Face holes etc... it seems like, randomly and only some of the time, my c axis on the sub spindle just doesn't quite go to the same location. I'll drill 4 holes starting at c0. and come in with a spot to deburr, but I'll have to move the c location for the spot by like .2° to .6°. It seems like the c just doesn't quite go to the same spot sometimes. I always dial my live stations in, within .0005" so I don't think it's a y issue.

I guess I'm curious if anyone else has run into this and what the cause or solution may be?

I don't seem to have that issue on my main spindle/upper turret. It's not the end of the world, but it complicates setups having to tweak the program .25° each time it happens. There's a job we ended up having to stop doing complete because the off center hole locations are +/- .0005" and it just becomes too time consuming to troubleshoot. I'm sure my boss would be thrilled if I could provide a solution quicker and cheaper than trying to get concept to come look into it.

Apologies for being long winded and I appreciate any insight.

So I’m about to start school in the fall is there anything I need to know ahead of time ? These are the classes available if I choose to do the full two years. If I only do one year I just do the first 4 classes . Should I do both years and any advice ect appreciated.

So I’m relatively new to the trade, I graduated trade school just about a month ago after being there for a year solid. I started at the current smallish machine shop I work at last October part time while still in school, and have transitioned to full time since graduating. My main reasoning to make this post is to basically see if I’m where I should be, and just to gather thoughts and a lot of the older guys in the trade opinions since I’m only 22(and after typing a lot of this, it’s a slight rant as well, sorry). I’m currently at $17.50/hr after starting at $14 and I feel like at the least bit I could be at $20. I currently work in the manual department with 2 older guys, and then 3 other guys around my age. I’m by far the best out of the guys around my age, and this has been confirmed by the older guys (like 55 y/o) around me. The manual lathe guy (around 55) will also be out for the next 2-3 months due to surgery so someone will be needing to fill that role, as he’s a vital piece to the shop. The boss however, doesn’t really seem to value the younger guys that come in to the shop, and it shows in everybody in the shop being 40 y/o or more for the most part. There’s not a lot of people making the bigger decisions I see as well, as the only ‘management’ we have is the boss, so everything runs through him(a bit of a control freak it seems like). When I went full time, he said that he was going to give me prints to work on and for me to time myself on them and after I was done with them to give them to him. This finally happened last Friday, I won’t go into detail with them but I asked one of the older guys to check them before I turned them in and he said they were great, nothing got scrapped or anything so I felt like I did a good job overall as well. I turned them in Monday morning and the boss said he’d get with me Wednesday because Monday/tuesday he was gonna be busy. The day comes and he said the day got too busy but that he’ll check them by EOD Thursday. Thursday he left a little earlier than usual, none of my business obviously but he didn’t check the prints/parts I did. It’s hard not to feel disrespected/neglected when it happens, and I feel like this is going to snowball into a larger problem down the road when I and others ask for raises. I really wanna work long term here as well, because as I said the older guys in the shop are all 40+ easily and the boss will be selling the shop itself in 5-10 years, so there’s tons of knowledge available from the older guys to learn as well as an opportunity to potentially buy the shop down the road, or at the least bit be in a great position if it’s new ownership. I feel as if I’m super eager to learn about this trade as well because a lot of the stuff I’m genuinely interested in and like doing it, it’s just I don’t want to work for someone that neglects their employees, even if it’s one of the lower guys on the totem pole. I hate the fact that in most industries you have to job hop in order to get more pay, and plus like I said I see potential 5-10 years down the road definitely. Like I said tho, any advice/comments are appreciated, even if it’s harsh because I probably need it. Thank you & sorry for the essay. In rural TN also if it helps.

We have a reinshaw probe on a mazak 1600v that is reading out on large diameters, but bang on at smaller diameters.

We have calibrated probe and the machine and even put a brand new probe in. Probe stylus has been clocked in. Calibrated and all good. The probe read bang on on sizes around 70mm which is what the calibration ring is and then about 0.035mm out at ~400.mm dia and 0.12mm out at ~1200mm dia.

Anyone had any issues like this before?

Having an issue with my Mazak 5x mill where the B axis will rotate to a angle slightly off what the code is telling it. This was a photo where I was running in single block mode and as soon as it ran line N2339 the B axis rotates from B0. C0. to an angle of -89.993 when it should be -90.00. Any ideas what could be causing this?

https://preview.redd.it/33dp4qrqphzc1.jpg?width=3024&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=51fa671a3f60455d38d1372b4176a82a1024761e

Machining key stock and of course it's bowing.

I've gone down the Google rabbit hole searching straightener machines and the majority are for coil tube, wire and rebar.

Is there a small footprint machine that is power feed and can straighten square 1018 bar stock?

Bow https://imgur.com/gallery/8nogl1g

Hey guys! I have a machine that runs FANUC controls that has this FMX variable spindle drive. When I goto change the RPM in both the FANUC encoder system and program, my spindle RPM doesn’t increase. Would I need to change it here on this FMX drive ? Thank you!

I'm not just talking about KPI's (Key Performace Indicators) but that is, of course, a focus. Ill consider anything. My guys (small shop) are great. One came from a larger shop and if they hit targets they got $250 for the qtr.

I'm like really? $250? Wtf.....

What is your experience? Tia.

Having issues with chip evacuation which is resulting in chipping out corners and/or breaking the bars.

Groove is getting cut to .343 from .275 Using a solid carbide bar .1875 shank .0305 wide .05 projection. Running at 130sfm feeding at .003 down to .001 per rev for roughing. Starting at the back of the groove and working my way out. High pressure coolant as well as blasting air through the sub after roughing to try and blow the chips out, they're just stringy.

Haven't tried pecking it out yet. Any suggestions?

So I currently need custom screws, I have done as much research as I can and the screws don’t exist so custom is the only option at the moment.

My only predicament is that I only need 2 screws so paying more than a hundred dollars would be excessive in my case. Does anyone have any suggestions on a person/company that might make a small batch of custom screws?

Got a new job working on an integrex, never seen one in my life before my interview lol Any pointers on moving from a three axis lathe with static and live tooling to a integrex. Thankfully I know mazatrol controls and programs pretty well. I watched a good video on YouTube about set up, seems like I’ll have a pretty good learning curve!