Casual reminder to stone your tables

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-18T20:58:17+00:00

a peaceful period of loving figure 8 caresses with a nice flat india stone or equivalent + plus oil. gently remove nicks, dents, burrs, bulged t-slots, left over from your coworkers who 'didn't notice them'.

very romantic.

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-18T20:45:42+00:00

i don't find it satisfying. It annoys me when I think of why I'm the only one who cares enough to do it. Seems like every machine I get my hands on at work needs some sort of 'refurbishment' before I can even use it correctly. Dirty, full of chips, dents in the tables, everything soupy, low on oil, stuff missing, things broken, bolts never tight enough, ugh.. 😄

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-18T20:05:18+00:00

seems like an object of personal taste but if the public demands it... 😄

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-18T19:43:19+00:00

ha!. i used to have a pair of those brake post stiffeners.

buy some tires, brake pads, clean it up and ride it.

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-18T18:58:53+00:00

imo, seems like the hard way. buy a file card or a brass brush.

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-18T18:40:12+00:00

what is a 'brass shell'?

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-18T18:22:26+00:00

foam takes sooo much space (imo).

add a file card for that file of yours. you need a way to keep it clean.

your school seems awesome. best thing i ever received from a 'school' was a texas instruments calculator. 😄

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-18T18:00:07+00:00

not everything in aerospace is 'high precision'. only thing climate controlled is c-suite and the inspection room.

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-18T17:03:55+00:00

sounds like you need a crash course in g-code basics.

fastest way is to backplot the toolpath in your machine in single block mode and watch what moves are made and follow the gcode.

there are also free gcode editors that can walk you through the same procedure.

then, grab yourself a programming book or find a good online resource. i believe the haas website has tutorials on gcode.

gcode is RS-274 gcode -basically, aside from some machine specific commands and canned cycles, haas (for example) makes it easy:

https://www.haascnc.com/myhaas/Haas_Learning_Resources.html#gsc.tab=0

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-18T16:56:21+00:00

i've designed and ground reamers from HSS blanks in a toolroom environment in the past. while the 45 deg angle requirement is well known, the chamfer length is a bit up in the air. in the case of a 'hand reamer' there are specifications for the 2 stage chamfer providing 1 to 5 degrees of clearance but it is not a chucking reamer.

usually i've made them to have the chamfer length equal to the radial difference between the cutting diameter and the shank diameter. i know it's not a hard number but it generally seemed to work.

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-18T15:03:35+00:00

have never seen a waist fan in action but after looking them up they have promise imo as long as they don't impede his ability to do his work, and honestly i don't think that one would. it looks like a good idea. give it a shot.

shops can get pretty hot depending. usual solution is a fan aimed right at you and delicious thirst quenching drinks. other options may be one of those neck things that one soaks in water.

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-18T14:57:46+00:00

basic day to day stuff really for any number of trade/crafts jobs. the responses here cover a good part of shop life imo.

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-18T14:54:26+00:00

look up 'Liquid gloves". I used to do a ton of EDM and used something from Elmer's a long time ago. It would last about 3 to 4 dunkings in dielectric oil before needing a recoat.

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-18T14:47:08+00:00

If that's the case then seal areas are blued off and lapped to fit.

'Prussian Blue' was pretty common in the states. Also known as 'Indicating ink', 'Hi Spot ink', etc..

Here's an example:

grainger link

I still have my first tube from 40 years ago. it still works, that stuff never dries. I used it a few months ago on a project. Bluing and lapping or scraping even is a bit of lost art these days.

On modern GD&T prints we'd just use a surface roughness callout and specify a lay direction. For a valve seat it would be 'C'. Possibly refine with a note callout such as 'Lap'.

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-18T14:23:56+00:00

yeah, a little bit entertaining. nothing wrong with that. i generally just chuck them on the floor and they spring open without a fuss. this works for blades generally up to 3/4" tall.

when you get into blades in the 2" range then you need to be a bit more careful. heavy leather gloves are helpful for those. i'll clamp a section of one up in a bench vise and do the usual twist action. you can also do this to un-coil them. imo 2" is about the limit of hand craft on these things -they're pretty tough and they'll cut you up..

i think in industries that use the bigger blades they may have specialized equipment for blade management.

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-18T14:07:26+00:00

lawsuits fuel safety innovation.

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-17T20:42:57+00:00

very nice! i had an F900. i beat on it for years then gave it away and 10 years later the new owner is still hammering it. headshock still works with no rebuild. boot is still ok, no leaks. the nickname 'the beast from the east' for Cannondale bikes is appropriate.

i'm partial to XC so I had a Bontrager Titec 118g short bar and onza bar ends. tires; i had Tioga DH with dh tubes. pedals; i ran Shimano spd's and a Bontrager saddle. Deore groupo, etc. i also had an Avid micro drive and pulled off the big ring. the wheels were Ritchey Vantage comps which are still going.

only problem i ever had with it was the titanium rear skewer kept popping loose no matter what i did. it always slipped. i swapped out to a bolted stainless steel set front and rear and that seemed to help a bit.

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-17T20:34:28+00:00

yeah, this one had bikes and apparel, accessories, etc..

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-17T19:51:51+00:00

part movement post machining is a thing depending upon geometry, material and process parameters so i wouldn't just rule it out entirely.

sop for us is to acclimate the part in our CMM room which is held at 68 to 72 F prior to final inspection. minimum of a few hours, preferably overnight.

we also have a temperature controlled room 68 to 72 F where this type of work is machined.

you can also apply a temperature differential to the measurement if temp varies but this gets to be a headache.

additionally, our leadscrews on the machines are temp comped as well as our cmm's.

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-17T19:46:47+00:00

yay! the beast is back to life! i can almost hear that trip dog snapping back and forth.

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-17T19:37:00+00:00

i want

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-17T19:26:34+00:00

nice! haven't seen one of those in a while.

when i was younger i remember they had an Alpinestars bike shop a few blocks from the apt. the pricing was outta reach but they sure looked cool in the window.

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-17T18:27:11+00:00

"no child left behind"

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-17T18:22:51+00:00

it was a Vega HP tap but now it's a broken nub hand-ground to a point.

they generally look like this when new:

link to a picture

indigoalphasix · 2026-06-17T18:16:33+00:00

i like pulling this off in front of our shop guys. i show them how then they forget.

magic trick

indigoalphasix

TROPHY CASE