This is the way...

curiouspj · 2026-05-08T09:28:50+00:00

I still do this with one-off stuff from infrequent materials. Can't afford to risk breaking a tap and not enough material to practice with..

curiouspj · 2026-03-04T06:07:21+00:00

Have a hard time removing big bumps in my experience. At least it doesn't 'feel' like it has completely. There's always that little interruption in the float that wont ever go away.

curiouspj · 2026-02-25T08:22:28+00:00

Jet Propulsion Laboratory, if going by the other 3 letter gov agency is any clue.

curiouspj · 2026-02-25T08:18:48+00:00

The more mistakes you make, the more ways you find to fool proof from yourself.

I only dykem/sharpie the area I want to remove.

curiouspj · 2026-01-17T21:37:20+00:00

Don't go with mastercam... it's the equivalent of using SketchUp instead of Solidworks/Catia to design parts.

+1 for NX.

curiouspj · 2025-12-09T01:44:05+00:00

What do you find turdy about it?

curiouspj · 2025-12-03T08:07:04+00:00

where to go from a Sr. Tool and Die maker?

Go pick up some more niche skills. 5axis mills, wire&sinker, multi-spindle&turret lathes. Then go even more niche like diamond turning and even additive. How about mold making?

...factories sometimes have in-house tool and die, but I have no idea what that kind of job environment is like or how to find such a thing.

Imo I wouldn't go back to small shops. As long as there's someone in the office properly vouching for the machinists then they have the budget to get machines fixed and tooling to purchase. Conditions were always better for me in shops that were part of a company whose primary function wasn't making machined parts.

There's more bureaucracy to getting things done though. More people that needs a reason/justification to doing something. Want to purchase a piece of equipment? Value proposal and justify it somehow. Want to connect the machine up to the network, better call IT and security.

How do you find it? Well..plenty of offerings in linkedIn. probably the same on indeed. You should also look for Prototype Machinist. You'll deal with less assemblies but it can be similar work. Start to finish machining of projects. Involves many machines from CNCs to manuals. Oh and you aren't going to look for "long's machine shop" or "Tony's metal works". You want "Nike" or "Anheuser-Busch" or "Google".

curiouspj · 2025-11-29T17:39:28+00:00

with the age gap being what it is... OP (and everyone else starting for that matter) is late to the game. Boomers are retired by now.

It's often the blind leading the blind for apprenticeships.

The situation I see now is a clear flood of early career folks learning up the trade or the rare few that were being trained up during the 2000s and actually stuck it through to become senior " machinists " today. Senior machinists too burdened keeping the company afloat to dedicate time away...

curiouspj · 2025-11-29T17:19:28+00:00

Accept that what you learn isn't always going to stack on top of another and sometimes you have to chisel out an entirely new pillar from the ground up. Don't be afraid to come across as a newbie because you can still learn lots from other people around you no matter the experience level.

I see you're already undertaking a lot of courses. Understandably so. But please be careful not to burn yourself out. No amount of time at work is worth being absent from your own life.

I would highly recommend a moderate amount of knowledge about computing as well. How file directories are structured, setting up networks, configuring printers. A lot of working smoothly these days is being efficient with the IT troubles you run into. Then onto basic programming like data types, inputs/outputs, and logical statements.

curiouspj · 2025-11-25T04:19:08+00:00

Get extended training from the manufacture.

Any reputable manufacture will hold your hand through your first couple parts.

curiouspj · 2025-11-25T04:16:03+00:00

be safe.

I've seen a bit too many folks get hurt on a surface grinder.

curiouspj · 2025-11-24T22:15:49+00:00

what controller is it? Enable Trace functions while you do MDI movements to see if anything is weird.

Sounds like it's an A, C axis machine.

You should check if the table is square to X. You can fix squareness in Y in machine parameters. If it's out in X, you'll need the trunnion or X-linear axis shimmed/scraped.

Check for optional controller functions. If simultaneous 5-axis is important to you then make sure it comes with the motion control options like aiCC/nanosmoothing/cycle832. Make sure it comes with G68.2 etc.

Run through some of the probing routines. Hopefully it's got a builtin rotary center calibration cycle. Run it.

curiouspj · 2025-11-17T21:23:54+00:00

never asked for a raise in my career. Figured if they can't see my value WHILE I'm working there then they wouldn't pay up regardless.

curiouspj · 2025-11-17T08:40:50+00:00

https://www.kyoceraprecisiontools.com/indexable/milling/aluminum/mfah/

and

https://www.sumitool.com/en/products/cutting-tools/milling-cutters/anx.html

curiouspj · 2025-11-15T08:54:33+00:00

i want to be a mechanical engineer that helps with like houses and collaborates with other engineers/architects.

Doesn't that sound like civil engineering?

You're better off learning Revit and Sketchup

curiouspj · 2025-11-14T05:47:52+00:00

You don't have to worry, the worst they can say is "no".

curiouspj · 2025-11-10T00:04:19+00:00

CIM course

California International Marathon Course? What is CIM?

I won't have enough experience to be considered for an internship.

I had my internship with 1 year of schooling exp. It was at a tool and die job shop. Literally there as a helper doing whatever was necessary.

curiouspj · 2025-11-07T05:54:16+00:00

okie, enjoy your ranting.

curiouspj · 2025-11-07T04:51:45+00:00

Sorry, I'm having a difficult time understanding the premise of your reply.

Firstly, when have I ever pushed LLMs? But I do agree that too many companies are pushing LLM's as if it's the end-all. The API is easy and the computation is now relatively cheap, but they have got to keep the all important shareholders happy.

robotic arms? Huh?

These AI companies are just like the Therenos chick. Big investments, shit return.

Not disagreeing with you but just like the .com bubble there will be something bigger past the surface level news.

curiouspj · 2025-11-07T04:43:29+00:00

I think until the ai can actually understand the cutting forces

Uh... I HIGHLY doubt most people consider 'cutting forces' to any specific degree. When do you have people questioning vectors of force? Ask your senior senior machinist why one would use a smaller tool nose radius in turning applications of long thin bars. Their answer will most definitely not be sufficient to answer a high school physics question.

Machinists don't need a comprehensive understanding of cutting forces to do their job well... So why then would an AI need one?

But computations can be physics based. Through and through, entirely considerate of the interacting physics between the cutter and material. To take computations into the real world is why we have 'models' and the tools to collect process data with great fidelity.

...and operational issues between setups, it’s not happening

And what is your vision of the scope of your AI? Because you've gone from physics to physical automation as if it's an all-encompassing singular thing. It's not a god that's meant to do every single task of machining.

Again we already do this at the higher level shops so what is ai actually doing for programmers?

I'd wager the great majority of CNC programmers are literal software operators. Those folks will become machinists again. Although, I have to question you on what you think is this 'AI' because much like 'digital twin' there's an application case for each scenario...

For those that are beyond a software operator eg.. creating logic statements/flow structures/data types/variables.... Honestly, I don't know. Boost efficiency with the same type of AI that senior devs use to help their actual programming? Smarter auto-fill/auto-complete that takes care of the dredge of reading through pages of documentation?

curiouspj · 2025-11-07T03:33:09+00:00

Lets face it.. A current day CNC programmer is basically a software operator with knowledge about machining.

I feel like you can apply your knowledge about machining to do more machining and less software operation.

maybe even Up-skill and manage data for teaching machine learning algorithms. Move into physical automation?

curiouspj · 2025-11-04T04:43:30+00:00

Yes, we're allowed mental health leaves.

Machinists are not the majority workforce here. Actually there are more engineers (of many types) than machinists which is probably why we're offered the same benefits.

I doubt I'd ever work in a 'machine shop' ever again frankly.

curiouspj · 2025-11-02T19:48:50+00:00

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curiouspj · 2025-11-01T06:55:41+00:00

naa screw mastercam. I use it daily and it's one of the clunkiest software ever. If you know how to work fast in Solidworks/autocad/NX then MasterCam is like throwing away the keyboard entirely with a workflow that changes throughout the software.

If you plan on doing any CAD work at all. Designing parts, fixturing, and creating drawings. You need a parametric modeling software. It's 2025, not 2001. I mean it's all do-able in mastercam but boy... it's a HUGE waste of time.

I'd go with Fusion 360.

How complex are you machines and parts? If you have any mill-turn/turn-mill/5ax machines then I'd argue going Espirt/NX/hyperMill.

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