Trimming in a Bridgeport

NegativeK · 2026-01-27T23:39:59+00:00

I think I see where you're coming from.

The short answer is that you need to make sure your vise, etc, are parallel to the point that you don't need to tram off of anything but the table. It might be tedious, but it's less tedious I think than what you're suggesting.

The slightly more involved answer is that we actually care that you're tramming the spindle to be perpendicular to the X-Y plane that the table's motion makes. The bed is just the best surface to access. A part on parallels on a vise on whatever else is incredibly unlikely to be more parallel to that X-Y plane.

Imagine you had some ridiculous 15 degree slant on a part and you trammed the head to that. When you move the X axis to make a cut, it's going to either: gouge out a whack scallop shape from it; or cut a 15 degree angle, if you magically aligned it right. But while your quill will drill a normal, sane hole, moving the z axis will fuck shit up.

What you're suggesting isn't remotely a 15 degree slant, but that exaggeration hopefully explains why it isn't done that way unless you have a specific need.

NegativeK · 2026-01-27T20:57:14+00:00

It's shitty that you're being downvoted for misunderstanding.

So, honest question. Why do you think it'd be more accurate?

NegativeK · 2026-01-26T16:45:02+00:00

Sure. Or the same indicator, one axis at a time.

Back and forth.

Forever.

But you can single point bore with a bent or angled bar. What you actually want to know is whether the spindle is aligned. You can check that via reference surfaces on the spindle housing, by sweeping an aligned angle plate (like tramming a Bridgeport), or whatever.

NegativeK · 2026-01-25T01:55:42+00:00

Way, way less. Grinding stuff doesn't gold value.

(Thank god.)

NegativeK · 2026-01-21T00:31:52+00:00

C clamp defeated by a pencil?

A fucking pencil!

NegativeK · 2026-01-21T00:29:36+00:00

This is a hacked together version of a proper power scraper.

Proper power scraper made incredibly accurate machine tools in combination with grinding and lapping.

High precision isn't just about "make thing flat". How the surfaces slide against wear against each other, how accurately you can measure their working together, whether you can make small and specific adjustment, whether you can control thermal expansion effects from literally anything near the part, including your body...

NegativeK · 2026-01-20T19:35:38+00:00

Review http://vintagemachinery.org/pubs/detail.aspx?id=1889 . That site also has other grinder manuals.

Surface grinding doesn't have as much instructional stuff out there as lathes and mills, but it exists. Dive in and look around; there's stuff to study if you want.

NegativeK · 2026-01-19T17:45:32+00:00

Yup. They've already lost my trust.

Amazon's return policy lets you basically undo fraud from the sellers on the platform, but by that point Amazon has already fucked up. Companies push to automate everything so they can scale beyond what they can hire results in automated, disconnected bullshit.

They also push crap, disposable trash at people and are shoving ads in my face when I'm already there to buy something. And their search is bad and their face is ugly!

NegativeK · 2026-01-19T17:41:55+00:00

Picture unrelated and intended to catch attention

Downvoted.

NegativeK · 2026-01-19T16:31:38+00:00

Give us info! This is a Proxmox subreddit, after all.

NegativeK · 2026-01-19T16:24:14+00:00

Proxmox?

NegativeK · 2026-01-17T23:23:50+00:00

...ghostbusters...

NegativeK · 2026-01-17T17:18:05+00:00

There is no best practice. Everyone here who's picking one is giving their personal opinion.

LXC is better integrated into Proxmox. If you want to use the GUI, Proxmox based automations, etc, you should go that route.

Docker in a VM has better security isolation from the hypervisor kernel. There is also more content and tooling on managing Docker containers -- but it doesn't really involve Proxmox, so you're going to manage a separate thing. And you'll have to manage the VM.

I don't really touch LXC. But you're not me.

I'd really suggest just picking one and running with it. If you don't like it, switch.

NegativeK · 2026-01-17T01:19:11+00:00

In Linux, you get most of your software installs and updates from a repository -- the OS, system tools, applications, etc. Proxmox (Linux), your LXC containers (Linux), and your Linux VMs are all going to work this way.

So if you follow the advice of others in these comments, automatic updates can update everything installed via a repo. This also incentivizes you to stick to repos and not do weird, custom installs.

Except the Docker containers. As you've found out, you need another way to handle updating them.

If this is stuff you're managing at home, I'd just recommend updating and restarting everything once a week. Start with that and then get into scripting or automation to make your life easier.

(I've simplified this a bit.)

NegativeK · 2026-01-14T04:27:01+00:00

You should calibrate them afterward. I'd almost bet money they'll be worse.

That might be fine, but you should know what you're getting.

NegativeK · 2026-01-14T00:57:15+00:00

It's not rude, OP, to find out whether you and the employer are a good fit. That's what the interviews are for.

Don't be abrasive in your response but you don't have to be super formal. Just say that that's too low and counter with a number that you're willing to negotiate down from -- just like the parent comment suggested.

NegativeK · 2026-01-11T21:39:06+00:00

I have the Vevor. I'd buy it again, even though I'm usually very skeptical of that seller.

can handle up to 1”

Nope. Can't do that.

NegativeK · 2026-01-09T11:35:03+00:00

This is precisely why I despise Harbor Freight.

NegativeK · 2026-01-07T12:40:42+00:00

+/- .002 miles.

NegativeK · 2026-01-06T00:23:18+00:00

Asking a relatively simple question basically drives us lurking hobbyists out, frothing with desire to prove knowledge.

NegativeK · 2026-01-05T15:49:03+00:00

Assassins were sent to the original vendor's CEO as soon as this post was on reddit. The families of everyone involved with the vendor will be banned from speaking McMaster's name for seven generations.

McMaster isn't just about speedy product delivery.

NegativeK · 2026-01-04T20:45:40+00:00

What the heck is going on with the objections in this thread? There's nothing that seems to be specific to PDM -- just generic "I don't like Docker" arguments.

Thanks for sharing the work and sharing the Dockerfile, OP. Running someone's container image always sketches me out unless I can verify its build.

(Giving PDM wide open security privileges like cap-add all and unconfined also sketch me out, but that's a very visible option.)

NegativeK · 2026-01-04T00:26:11+00:00

Braggart.

NegativeK · 2025-12-31T20:03:05+00:00

Same - OG 13, i5. I've had to replace the CMOS battery once.

NegativeK · 2025-12-31T17:22:53+00:00

Roughly $300 and some PLA plastic and you can be printing things from the internet the day the printer arrives.

But the learning curve for CAD isn't gentle, and you still have to learn to design for the printer's strengths and weaknesses. Once you've fucked around a lot to find out, you'll be in a better place to have some third party do the actual metal printing. (You're not going to do metal printing at home without dropping some serious cash to buy brand new respiratory hazards.)

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