[GrizHFMinimill] Re: digital read out from Rockler ?

The master tool and die maker I trained under in 1979 to 1983 said you can't learn this stuff in books. All our machines were second-hand and mostly worn out. We did not have engineers or prints. We fixed existing tooling and did what we had to do to find the required measurements, whether fixing old, or making new. We had no NC or CNC or DRO and still could mill slots to JoBlock gage block fits. We had oxy/acetylene, a Hobart AC / DC stick welder and a couple heat treat furnaces and a small cast iron surface plate. That shop, we made lighting fixture stampings.

A DRO does not make a crappy machine a Moore jig borer.

I started out in production machine shop. The difference in toolmaking is the use of the dial indicator and fit, more than tolerancing and also the use of the surface grinder.

A really skilled craftsman can make metal parts much like a wood turner uses the same type of wood lathe tooling and no incremented dial anything, like the guys do making and repairing clocks.

My one regret working in die shop is my tinnitus. But if I keep myself always deep in thought I don't notice it so much. Actually, I don't notice it at all.

The best way to learn is doing the variety of jobs in a jobbing shop.

Kurt
=====================
re:

--- In GrizHFMinimill@yahoogroups.com, Bill Williams <BWMSBLDR@...> wrote:
>
> dave_mucha wrote:
> > I used to say that any crappy machinist can make good parts on a
> > great machine. That a good machinist can made good parts on a good
> > machine and that a great machinist can make great parts on a crappy
> > machine.
>
> In my experience as a custom machinist the real trick is meeting the
> customers needs on the first try!
>
> > knowing how to do the thing is easy, you can read that in minutes.
> > having experience in doing it is a journey.
>
> There is that gap between "Book Learning" and "Muscle Learning" like
> which way to turn the crossfeed at the end of a threading cut! ;<(
>
> > these mini-mills can put out some great stuff. even with their
> > horrible shortcomings. (just who approved a single bolt for the
> > column lock anyway?)
>
> There is a single bolt because it was obvious that no bolt was not
> acceptable! Bill in Boulder
>
> > Dave
>

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