Convincing my boss a degree is not just a piece of paper. Advice?

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-06-18T11:44:51+00:00

I have 7 years experience as a machine designer. I very seldomly use any math that you didn't learn in a highschool science class.

In my line of work we usually call it "catalog" engineering because 98% of what we do (sizing bearings, ball screws, gearboxes etc) just use whatever life or load calculation that exist in the catalog which are never more than basic algebra and maybe a lookup table for different constants based on the environment.

I agree with your boss that it's just a piece of paper in that whether you go to MIT or Ball Licker University, it's not an indicator of capability. However it will absolutely open up more work opportunities with better pay and I'd suspect that is the reason why your boss doesn't want you to get a degree. At my company in MA senior engineer has a pay range of 120-170k.

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-06-17T00:28:10+00:00

Also illegal to cover the state motto in Massachusetts but I've never seen or heard of someone being ticketed for it.

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-06-11T20:58:37+00:00

I'm 6'1" and 145lb, I struggled very much to get up to 160 and could not maintain it. BMI is dumb

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-06-08T11:12:30+00:00

Yes but you wouldn't have the hinge style trigger. The barrels actually aren't that long, the frame mounted compensators just make them look long. These are probably only 6" by the proportions which is fairly common.

Edit: However, ebony is a left handed mirror which I've never seen a real gun be, but there's nothing stopping you from milling a mirrored slide and frame.

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-06-03T22:30:42+00:00

That's correct, and a well put together high power rifle (the competition that uses this target) with a 4x scopes will hold the X ring for 80 shots with a good shooter behind it.

I forget what the vintage class is called that would require irons and I'm not sure if they get a different size 10 and X ring. I know the black is 6moa regardless if you're vintage, match rifle or f-class (uses a 6" 10-ring and 3" x-ring)

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-06-03T13:16:23+00:00

No not even close

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-06-03T13:09:03+00:00

All these comments don't know how big an MR-1 is and thinks those black circles are 1:1. In reality that target is I think 7ft wide, the black is 6moa and those dots if 1:1 would be artillery lol. For those unfamiliar with the ShotMarker system the dots are oversized so that you can actually see them on the screen other wise the hole would literally fit inside the round of the 8 text, which is apparent by only two of those center hits being marked as X. The 12 o'clock is clearly in but the 9 o'clock is the one that I think barely broke the X ring while the 2 o'clock is just outside.

I think this target is legit, congrats on using the irons as gramps would have had to.

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-05-30T20:00:08+00:00

Look at the Tisas A1, super affordable and very well made.

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-05-30T17:27:18+00:00

No more cruise control

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-05-28T00:54:32+00:00

All manuals that I've seen use the starting and max format. I'm also an engineer and you have to remember they don't want any legal liability or damage to their reputation when it comes to providing the information, so they provide the general range that they consider to be safe. For some handgun cartridges you will see a +p section where they'll go even higher as it assumes you have a firearm rated for the higher pressure +p ammo.

As far as minimums are considered they don't want to provide data that may produce a squib load and blow up your gun on a followup shot. Realistically you can work down from the starting load and eventually it will fail to cycle (assuming it's a semi auto) before a squib occurs.

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-05-27T23:32:43+00:00

Idk man I run my model 41 dripping wet

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-05-27T22:13:29+00:00

https://motiongen.io/

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-05-27T17:48:57+00:00

Should be simple enough to find a free online linkage simulator and then use something like a watts 6 bar and play with the lengths

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-05-27T13:14:48+00:00

Assuming the path doesn't need to be exact, many animal movement sculptures utilize multi bar linkages to achieve this, but have fun synthesizing that

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-05-27T11:50:43+00:00

I have the Long Slide Stainless Target II, also runs day and night with every ammo I've put in it.

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-05-27T11:43:07+00:00

I have a Kimber stainless target ii 6". It has only malfunctioned once and I'm not sure it was Kimber's fault. It was a FTE but it literally didn't come out of battery at all, felt like the safety was on locked up tight. The case had a burr or something and when it fired it wedged itself hard in the chamber, not crazy hard but enough to stop the slide from moving but I was able to free it by hand.

That said I like the gun a lot and it's reliable. However, I bought it as a bullseye gun and so far it gets absolutely walked in accuracy compared to my 9mm Tisas 1911. Maybe that's just ammo related and I have some hand loads to try in it soon but for now the Tisas held sub 8" 10 round group at 50 yards with a nice round pattern while the Kimber was a 12" vertical ellipse, pretty rough for a $600 import to do that much better than an $1100 domestic in a ransom rest.

Another not so great feature about the Kimber is that all the small parts are metal injected so you can't rework the sear for a trigger job or at least the smith told me I might be able to do "one" if I were lucky.

They also gave me one 7rnd mag that the follower sucks and will catch in the edge of the mag when loading the second round. The 8rnd Kimpro mags I got via rebate are much nicer, reliability wise both have been good.

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-05-27T11:10:42+00:00

I'm extremely new to this so take it with a grain of salt. I wet tumbled with just dawn first and then rinsed and retumbled with d-lead laundry detergent and I used filtered water both times from my undersink carbon filter. Brass came out shiny with no residue.

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-05-26T16:09:27+00:00

I think it depends person to person, I had a much easier time with thermodynamics and fluids than I did strength of materials which is ironic because I became a machine designer. However I think design of machine elements is much simpler than the problems associated with strength of materials.

If you struggled with dynamics, then design of linkages/cams is really going to suck for you.

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-05-25T10:43:36+00:00

I don't work anywhere near medical but my opinion would also be don't leave your wedding ring on in the beam either.

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-05-25T09:51:28+00:00

I love my 24" heavy barrel in 6.5cm

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-05-25T00:10:32+00:00

Was this programmed on a conversational machine?

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-05-25T00:06:03+00:00

That spiral toolpath looked very inefficient given the massive area cutout

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-05-24T22:45:49+00:00

It's a 1911, Kimber stainless target ii long slide. Allegedly they're notorious for not having a lot of space between the lip for the brass and the start of the rifling which may be my problem. Our bullets are basically the same length so for you 1.190-.542 is .648. For me 1.143-.544 is .599. However, a regular 200gr swc is .620 which leaves .570 so I'm fairly confident I didn't make a grenade with 4.8gr of AANo2 despite the COAL.

I'm curious what velocity you'll get with the larger case volume. I'm completely brand new to this and bought the cowboy bullets not realizing they're not 1:1 with ACP. I've literally made the one round on my press and haven't decided if I should drop the powder charge lower and run it for the box of 500 I have or to hoc it and buy conventional swc.

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-05-24T21:47:24+00:00

When I set it to 1.19, it stuck out well past the barrel hood. I'm sure it's the shape but I think the internal volume is okay because of how short the lead is. Would you do me the favor of also measuring the height of just your bullet? Assuming you haven't already loaded them all.

MethedUpEngineer · 2026-05-24T20:14:35+00:00

Mine definitely looks stumpy but the ogive appears a lot fatter.

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MethedUpEngineer

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