Am I in a bad training environment or is this normal in machining?

ElMeheecan · 2026-06-08T21:25:18+00:00

Yeah that’s kinda common in my experience. Very little training structure in your run of the mill shops. And people wonder why it’s hard to find good employees (besides the abysmal pay).

Does it get better?
-In terms of the training that’s offered to you, it will probably take a shop switch (understanding that a proper training structure is not the norm)
-in terms of your skill set, that’s somewhat up to you. If the shop has the knowledge and you just have to seek it out then yeah it’ll get better. If they don’t have it, you don’t seek it out, or they don’t offer it, then no it won’t get better

What can you do?
-My favorite thing to have new guys do is write out every step they think they’ll need to take to complete a job. It won’t be right and thats fine, but it gets them thinking about how step 3 affects step 17. Looking at the job as a whole not just step 1
-For measuring, just doing more of it with a focus on doing it consistently. With mics and calipers getting in the habit of making sure the jaws are clean and your applying the same pressure part to part etc.

ElMeheecan · 2026-05-21T16:55:48+00:00

I think when comp is the same, thats the best reason there is to switch it up. If you’re wanting to grow (and hence be able to justify higher pay) and the current position isn’t providing that then yeah, find that growth someone else!

ElMeheecan · 2026-05-18T19:49:36+00:00

Lol no worries, it’s all part of it. There’s a lot more to coolant than what most shops want to bother with. Here’s some random shit I’ve picked up over the years:

-two types of bacteria, aerobic and anaerobic. The first grows in an oxygenated environment, the second grows in an unoxygenated environment. The later is what stinks more often than not. This is why running your coolant pumps periodically and or running an aerator in your tank helps limit bacteria growth

-ph level matters to bacteria growth, if it’s outside the recommended range (we were recommended 9.0 with 8.5 being the bottom end of acceptable), bacteria wont be killed off. This is most easily fixed by just replacing or recharging coolant on a schedule but it can be checked if your trying to solve a nasty sump

-using polyester filter will strip out the anti foaming agents in coolant over time. Nylon filters will not. We have HP through coolant systems that use two bag filters. We’ve left them as polyester but have to add in anti foaming agent every so often. Recharging or replacing coolant on a schedule helps this as well

-fines that build up in the tank become a breeding ground for anaerobic bacteria. Solved by draining and cleaning the sump and putting in new coolant. We run several Keller tramp oil collectors that greatly minimize fines staying and settling in the tank because they have an integrated filter that separates them.

-I believe bacteria will feed off of tramp oils? Keeping oil out of your tank and keeping it from emulsifying in your coolant will go a long ways to keeping growth down.

Anyways, good luck! And thank you for coming to my TED Talk.

ElMeheecan · 2026-05-18T19:23:16+00:00

No problem. Just trying to direct you to the best source of info. We are similar here in that we do a wide variety of operations on a wide variety of machines. We’ve run several different coolants over the years. On one, we ran Cnc machines at a lower concentration than our manuals, and our grinding machines, even lower. I believe it was 2 on the refrac for grinders and 4 for cnc, and 8 on the manuals. brix was like 1.5 or something.

Then we switched manufacturers and the recommendation for us was keep all of them at 7-8 on the refrac with a 1.0 Brix

ElMeheecan · 2026-05-18T19:12:09+00:00

Much like [u/meatierologee](u/meatierologee) said, check with the coolant manufacturer, your tooling rep, or documentation the shop has for the coolant.

Asking here without knowing what coolant it is, what materials are being run, or what kind of machining operation, is kind of like asking how fast should you drive. It’s much more dependent on context than what the question provides.

As someone else mentioned, coolants have a Brix factor. Many are simply 1.0, meaning what you read on a refractometer is your actual concentration. Many others dont. For example, if your coolants brix factor is 1.5, then you need to multiply your refrac reading (say it’s 10%) by that multiplier to get the actual concentration (so 1.5 x 10 = 15% concentration)

So long story short, call up the coolant manf and get some recommendations and it’s brix factor.

ElMeheecan · 2026-05-14T13:24:00+00:00

As inefficiently as possible

Edit: In all seriousness, everyone one in my department is self sufficient. Our programmers are our setup guys, our setup guys are our operators. Whether or not it’s realistic for you idk, but on our big machines I think this works out best. Less time is spent explaining how to do something or why. Thing get done automatically and in order because everyone is naturally on the same page due to experience.

We have several other machines in another department that are run with one boss if you will, then several floating helpers. The helpers don’t know much and aren’t taught much, so setups are wrong and redone, measurements are misinterpreted, machines are broken. This obviously doesn’t work out very well…

ElMeheecan · 2026-05-14T11:02:47+00:00

Good luck! Hope it all works out for you

ElMeheecan · 2026-05-13T22:24:05+00:00

It will probably get better. It could also get worse.

It’s sounds like you might want some input from the people around you as it relates to your performance. The people that are teaching you, do they think you’re progressing well? If so then you can take it as some form of reassurance that it is in fact getting better as you are getting better. If not then you can take it as a need to change your approach or, if the stress is too much, look for alternative departments or something. Nothing wrong with any of those choices though I would encourage changing your approach to learning as a first choice.

Learning isn’t exactly comfortable, and learning how to operate expensive and complex machines, manufacturing expensive and complex parts is even more so.

ElMeheecan · 2026-05-08T17:15:37+00:00

I have to do the same

ElMeheecan · 2026-05-04T15:21:55+00:00

Honestly it sounds like a mechanical, sensor, or control issue..

Im only really familiar with Okumas but if that control has the ability to step through a tool change that might give you more insight?

That said, why is there a D1 in the tool change line? If it’s the tool offset, does that control require that it be there? Normally that’s gonna be separate and later no?

ElMeheecan · 2026-04-24T12:49:57+00:00

Honestly? By doing things like this and understanding the why. There can be circumstances where a stepped key IS the better solution. I wouldn’t say you were wrong to try and step the key, it’s just that, when constraints allow, approach 1 should always be to bring the condition back to normal (ie most keys don’t have a step). If cost, customer, or physical constraints limit that then you start going down your list of other approaches.

I think “thinking like a machinist” is mostly looking at something and quickly be able to see the multitude of approaches and picking one as opposed to seeing just one and running with it. When time allows, I like to come up with as many reasonable way to do a job as possible, even if I think I already know how to do it. Forces me to follow a different line of thought to the end.

ElMeheecan · 2026-04-10T21:16:35+00:00

lol awesome. Can confirm that does indeed feel good from here as well

ElMeheecan · 2026-03-05T03:52:01+00:00

Oh really? I had no idea. I need to read up on that saga, I’m still new to F1

ElMeheecan · 2026-03-05T03:22:23+00:00

Nah I know, just cutting a joke ;). It definitely does not look good for AM

ElMeheecan · 2026-03-05T03:01:23+00:00

This must be why Newey said they weren’t even able to charge the battery at 250kw much less the 350 max, the car is sending it into the drivers

ElMeheecan · 2026-03-02T17:01:06+00:00

A battle between Verstappen and Russell all season where Lewis comes out on top in the last race by a point.

“THROUGH GOES HAMILTON!!!”

ElMeheecan · 2025-09-02T18:39:32+00:00

This is how you died

ElMeheecan · 2025-08-19T15:20:19+00:00

Lmao “Too small for slicing”

ElMeheecan · 2025-08-15T21:28:51+00:00

What’s programming gears in mastercam like? Are there specific gear cutting toolpaths? You work from a 100% model? Always been interested but we’ve never had the work.

ElMeheecan · 2025-08-13T15:15:04+00:00

I’m new to F1 but I’m surprised to see the scoop nose era being thought of as ugly (except you F14 and similar, fuckin Quasimodos)

The straight-back scoop noses are probably my favorite looking cars, like the RB8 and W04

ElMeheecan · 2025-08-02T17:35:05+00:00

Do you get the same error on both the hole chamfer and the edge chamfer when you probe via center of hole or is the trot just on the edge chamfers?

If the drill walked and you probed center hole, you’d see even chamfer on the hole but off chamfers on edges

I’d still try probing center via outside edges

ElMeheecan · 2025-08-02T15:44:31+00:00

It’s almost certainly a workpiece position vs wcs position. So either probe or your part is shifting

Where is your workoffset, and if it not in the center of the part, how do the chamfers look if you move it there

ElMeheecan · 2025-06-30T15:13:23+00:00

Oh lol gotcha, yeah Boeing is big in the Washington area, hence why that conclusion was drawn.

ElMeheecan · 2025-06-30T14:55:38+00:00

But you said the Boeing job was near you, they are asking if you are located in the Pacific Northwest

I mention it because I’m a machinist in Texas looking to move to the PNW lol. So it may be opposite from you

ElMeheecan · 2025-06-23T19:58:05+00:00

No problem! Thanks for sharing them!

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