Talking to a retired machinist made me question my whole setup

I was grabbing inserts at the supply house on Thursday and this old timer started chatting me up about my tool offsets. He said I was babysitting the machine too much and should trust my presets more. Then he showed me a photo of a part he ran back in 1987 with tolerances we'd sweat over today, done on a manual Bridgeport. It hit me different because I've been chasing speeds and feeds on every job but never thought about my process stability. He asked me what my scrap rate was and I told him 4%, he laughed and said his was lower without a computer. Made me wonder if I got complacent with all the digital aids. Anyone else take advice from the old timers seriously or just nod and walk away?

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1 Comment

wadejenkins16d ago

The old guy's got a point about setup, digital aids just make bad habits faster.