How busy is your shop right now?

A total mixed bag with American manufacturing right now. Comments below.

Top comments include:

• “Every spindle is making chips. Got 2 new machines on order. We’re running 24/7 and can’t keep up.”

• “Slow, work died Q3 last year”

• “Busy in mayfield Ky. Need 2 manual machinist bad. I think all the manual guys are dead.”

• “Customers I deal with are busy but not slammed . Headwinds are material , cash flow and lack of skilled labor .Bag log is healthy looking forward.”

• “Die industry is cooked. All going to China for 1/3 the price we build em off”

• “I’m quoting 6-8 weeks out for lead times. And everyone wants their stuff expedited. If everything is expedited, nothing is expedited.”

• “Swamped in fiber optic market, defense stuff is pretty steady as well.”

• “We are Aerospace and medical booming can't work enough hours”

• “Dude were going bone dry and were aerospace and medical. Management bought new machines and promising more work soon. Guess I’ll find out”

• “No one working 40 at my shop for 2 months now. It’s brutal. People are quitting left and right”

• “Smashed. We just deleted our automotive and tool making contracts with long standing history because we can't keep up with the demand for our AS/Defense side.”

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• Louisville KY + Field Jobs | Atlas Machine & Supply | CNC Machinist, Field Machinist, Field Metrology Technician

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Cool Part 😍

Top comments include:

• “If you were a real man you could double lead that scene right there on the bore mill”

• “It’s not every day you hear 1” pitch double lead acme thread!!”

• “Manual lathe … index the start”

  • “you can CNC it but the second start point needs to be .500 from original thread start point.. plus it needs to be a really rigid machine”

    • “feed rate would be 2" per rev”

• “it’s been awhile since I cut multi lead threads:. I just remember how many leads divided by the pitch and that gives you the starting z point of each thread entrance”

• “I make some parts that have a double lead acme with 1.25 pitch. It maxes the feed rate of the machine at 300 rpm. Turned in CNC lathe thread is single pointed with a custom ground tool. .003 depth of cut .265 thread height.”

Question of the Day⁉️

How would you accurately measure to the thousandth, the amount of material taken out in this corner, ever inch around the radius with a die grinder?

Top responses include:

• “Die grinders and thousandths don't mix lol”

• “maybe make a mold after the grinding and measure the area of the removed cross sections”

  • “I agree with this. use modelling clay or similar and take a mold every inch or whatever the engineer wants, then measure the mold.”

• “Die grinder is art not precision. Some people are excellent artists. It appears to be clearance and not detail so I'd just blue up the mating part or piece and hit the high spots till it fits properly.”

• “Cast a wax negative and measure how much water it displaces?”

• “Lay plasticine in the groove, scape to the profile you want. Peal it out roll it into a rod and drop it into a graduated in milliliters smaller diameter tube the better for accuracy Then see the displacement of a water that will give you the volume of the material. Then multiply it by what ever the specific gravity the material, steel is 7850kg per cubic meter. Make sure you have no air inclusions”

• “Make a v block that fits on the walls. Use a precise drop indicator in the gauge at a 45° angle. If need be, could use a fixed rod that is bushed which goes through the block, with a last word on the other end.

  To zero the depth, make a sister 90° v block that the gauge rests in. Press the gauge block into the zero block to set your zero on your desired indicator.

  Then simply run the indicator down the channel, noting material depths. I can illustrate this idea further if need be

  You got this.”

• “Scan with accurate 3d scanner. Will take forever but will be accurate”

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Funny Post of the Day 🤣🤣🤣

Machinists with questions or advice 🤔

⁉️ Is it a big deal to get into making dies?

⁉️What is considered good pay in the (machining) industry?

⁉️ New to knurling. Can anyone recommend tooling?