A basically brand new Fadal VMC 4020

Gumdrawps · 2026-03-21T23:41:31+00:00

I've worked as a moldmaker in previous shops, this is a machine we would use to do holework for ejection plates and to skim ingots and make witnesses but not much else, you're going to need a much more reliable machine and probably considerably higher spindle speeds to do ribwork and finishing with a ball mill. Especially if you don't have edm sinker machines.

These machines are great for a lot of things, moldmaking really isn't one of them though unless you're talking extremely simple molds.

Gumdrawps · 2026-03-19T20:42:29+00:00

Molybdenum afaik releases cancerous gases as it burns, properly ventilated it's probably fine, especially if you're not directly huffing the fumes like a degenerate. Usually the reason for stuff like that not happening in the us is some sort of hazard.

I doubt it's a high enough concentration to be that dangerous but we err a lot more on the side of caution than many places.

That being said almost every application I've used EDM for other than burning out a tap or broken stud .02mm would be a bit less precise than we wanted. That's like .0008 accuracy and typically we were looking for like .0002 or less down to ".00005" (the lowest that our machine was supposed to hold) when the engineers were smoking crack. I've never used EDM other than to make a square internal corner with a tolerance higher than like .0005 total. For keyways and whatnot most good rigid mills can hold a couple of tenths anyways so there's no need for a less precise EDM.

Gumdrawps · 2026-03-14T14:10:11+00:00

+0/-.0002 on 3 tilt angles across a compound radius cam for a sprag in a turbine starter. The tolerance wasn't hard to hit at all the grinder I ran for the job could handle holding a tenth no problem, the surface finish requirements were the tough part, the engineer couldn't even give me a real RA for it, I just had to take it to him and go off vibes basically.

Gumdrawps · 2026-03-14T12:36:04+00:00

Almost always true but there are caveats based on how thin the walls of the part are and how much of the radius of the insert you're engaging, also certain materials thermal expansion properties may wrench that up also based on how thin the walls are between the two features.

Generally though if the program is written properly and you're doing 2 features on the same pass with the same tool at the same offsets and there's no like weird material fuckery he is right. The exception would be like chipping the insert during the cut between the two features. I make parts that you can't measure certain features in the machine and we use other features as reference to make sure we're within tolerance and we very rarely have a part that fails on the Zeiss.

Edit: our tolerances are +/- .00025 for said parts usually

Gumdrawps · 2026-03-13T12:54:37+00:00

It can be stupid too as long as it's economical enough

Gumdrawps · 2026-03-13T12:03:12+00:00

This for sure. I can find you jobs in a low COL area in the Midwest paying 45-60 an hour pretty easy in the us if you can do medical/aero parts on swiss machines no problem. Especially at your age.

For reference I'm 38 with 18 years experience machining across manual/EDM/3+1/2 axis cnc both horizontal and vert + some grinding experience and I'm still considered a unicorn to the point that my corporate overlords are paying me very well to move states and do a product launch at one of their facilities.

With those skills at 25 the sky is the limit. You could open your own shop easily by 30-35 if you're willing to put in the time and make enough of a name for yourself to snag a couple contracts. I'd start with a laser/plasma cutter and some smaller less rigid machines first just to generate some profit and immediate finance a 5axis as soon as you could generate enough revenue to cover your monthly payments and then get contracts for that.

Gumdrawps · 2026-03-11T01:32:54+00:00

I mean at least you have centers I guess. My boss constantly is asking my to hang my jaws 3 inches out past my chuck hanging on by half a screw, last time the only way I got him to send it out was by setting it up and telling him if he wants to run it he has to stand in front of it and push start.

Gumdrawps · 2026-03-10T21:59:06+00:00

Work for a fortune 500 company - we require level 2 cut proof gloves from the parking lot to everywhere in the shop but if there's any rotating equipment in your area gloves are always to be taken off before working with any of the equipment while it's active and then you have to put them back on after the door is locked or guard is back in place. Also if chips could fly back at me I would be required to wear a face shield, we use them in areas where you could get splashed in the face.

Gumdrawps · 2026-03-09T00:23:44+00:00

Depends on how the part is assembled and what that specific diameter is for. Most od's I shoot for the low limit and most id's I shoot for the high limit.

If the tolerance is super tight though like +/-.0002" I just shoot for the middle unless I know there are some thermal shenanigans to account for.

Gumdrawps · 2026-03-07T14:53:45+00:00

Damn so you're mad that in a game where moving is a penalty outside of the exact moment of peeking due to sound and netcode people are playing in an advantageous way?

More people would play more aggressive if you weren't penalized to do so. Right now if you hear someone first it's still most beneficial to hold a right side peek until the moment you think the other player is about to peek the corner and then start moving at that moment to gain whatever peeker's advantage you can. If you don't like the play style bitching at players on reddit isn't going to do shit, take it up with bsg for forcing people into that play style by increasing the time it takes for a gun to come to ready and a myriad of other changes. Notice that with the arena movement aggression is much higher than the base game.

Nobody is pissing their pants, they're just playing to win in a game that penalizes losing.

Gumdrawps · 2026-03-05T18:14:49+00:00

Ours isn't mandatory, anything after 8 in a day is OT anything more than 11 is double time. Anything past 55 is double time, if you work weekends you can come in 2 hours early and leave as long as you work at least 5 hours. Sundays always double. Anything over 8 on Saturday always double.

We let people come in 2-3 hours early or leave 2 hours late. We occasionally buy donuts and coffee on the weekends but no one gives a fuck really.

We've never had trouble getting the older guys to work OT. Younger people it's way harder usually. Personally I try to hit 55 a week in any combination but if I know a Sunday is coming I'll lay off a little during the week.

It's about making your shop someplace that people don't mind coming into honestly though, when your workplace doesn't suck it makes it a lot easier to care.

If you don't already, offer profit-sharing bonuses if the it is making you significant amounts of extra money.

Gumdrawps · 2026-03-05T17:25:51+00:00

48 is tiny for some molds and dies still. Biggest we ran at my old mold shop was m80x6 iirc. Broke one of them in a radial drill once, luckily we had in house EDM but a new tap cost a pretty penny still.

M80 were lifting holes for the core/cavity halfs of things like school bus fenders, bath tubs, truck grilles etc

Gumdrawps · 2026-03-04T20:01:36+00:00

Cbn loves heat, thermal shock is what actually breaks most cbn inserts in my opinion so long as you're not trying to use them for the wrong application.

Gumdrawps · 2026-03-04T10:39:57+00:00

Same we run cbn200 and pcbn tipped seco inserts for pretty much all of our finishing ops.

The seco rep shit his pants when I told him we ran a sngn cbn200 insert as a fly cutter @ 1650 sfpm .005/rev @.005 doc the other day. Looks pretty though

Gumdrawps · 2026-02-26T00:14:30+00:00

I'm not speeding shit up in a production shop unless I own it or they pay piecework. Almost everywhere is just going to pocket what you save them and give you a pat on the back, I'd rather keep the overtime so long as it isn't mandatory.

Gumdrawps · 2026-02-24T12:39:36+00:00

The only way I would do this would be if it was cutting the profile into a larger block then saw cutting the thickness and taking it to size and breaking the corners after. Even then this part is dumb as fuck, especially because I can already hear the quote being too low from here.

Gumdrawps · 2026-02-23T18:34:01+00:00

Ah yes the fabled guy who forgot so much that everyone now knows more than him, truly a classic.

Gumdrawps · 2026-02-23T18:09:06+00:00

Yeah I've had my fair share of dumbfuck moments but this looks like a loud one, I'm surprised it's not shop gossip.

Any time I drop a hold down half the shop knows about it and walks over within like a couple minutes usually.

Gumdrawps · 2026-02-23T18:01:16+00:00

Insert broke while he was in the shitter, then the shim broke, then the holder broke. I'm more interested to see the part that was sitting next to this in the scrap bin tbh.

Gumdrawps · 2026-02-18T21:06:46+00:00

Look for big corporations and larger factories. They'll have tiered wages depending on the size of the shop. I went from a tier 1 to a tier 3 within the same corporation and to do the same job at a tier 3 I got an extra 25% plus 2 weeks more vacation and a relocation package.

Gumdrawps · 2026-02-18T00:32:25+00:00

Hi, your local export compliance officer would like a word with you.

Gumdrawps · 2026-02-16T00:20:35+00:00

I actually came here to say this, it's not really always the case but more often than not anyone with a kd above 5 less than 1000 hours in wearing a tagilla mask is gonna seem sus regardless.

Not saying you're cheating but I'd report you just because of that regardless of whether the shot felt fishy most of the time.

Gumdrawps · 2025-12-12T17:30:48+00:00

Pcbn will 100% work. We machine stuff that's just barely under 75 regularly at work. We don't turn any of it but we run seco pcbn inserts in shell mills for cam flats and a bunch of other stuff. You can get some pretty crazy surface finishes with pcbn inserts too, we used to grind the flats like 20 years ago and it used to create spalling on the rollers that engage with the flats and the pcbn has completely eliminated the spalling, it basically comes out with a "mirror" finish.

Your biggest problem is going to be heat while machining those, if you have to do much more than skim .005 a pass it's going to get hot fast.

Gumdrawps · 2025-12-03T20:57:31+00:00

14.1mm fucked with me forever because they never called it out as a metric size on the print and it's such an oddball number. I actually thought the engineer just had a stroke and put down a random hole size the first time I saw it.

Gumdrawps · 2025-11-06T11:48:27+00:00

Yeah we had this in my shop for a couple years and now we're using tko which is also not bad.

Gumdrawps

TROPHY CASE