- Morning Machinist
- Posts
- Most Expensive Part You’ve Scrapped?
Most Expensive Part You’ve Scrapped?
by Morning Machinist
Jon House
October 19, 2025
Every machinist has that story. The one that makes your stomach drop and your supervisor go silent.
This week’s MACHINIST group post — “Most expensive part you’ve scrapped?” — hit a nerve. Hundreds chimed in with stories of pain, panic, and lessons learned the hard way.
Here are a few of the best (or worst) confessions from the shop floor:
🧠 “Scrapped $70,000 worth of solenoid bodies one time.”
✈️ “Destroyed an entire batch of center hubs for aircraft turbines back in the plating days.”
💥 “The lathe — when I crashed it.”
🪓 “$25,000 titanium end cap, last op, last tool. Previous shift didn’t change it out. Still took the blame.”
🚜 “Tipped over a $250,000 sinker EDM with a forklift when I was 18. We were moving them to make room for new ones.”
🧾 “Boss found out a full pallet of parts was wrong — $80,000 in scrap. Then walked outside and found the second pallet. Fired the guy on the spot.”
🚀 “A $100,000 missile.”
🔥 “$2 million worth of Inconel adapters, 6 months of work — wrong material grade. Not our fault… kind of.”
😢 “$85,000 jet engine casing.”
🧩 “$20,000 custom multi-spindle head accidentally tossed in the scrap pile.”
⚙️ “$95,000 aluminum fan hub — the machine crushed its own way covers.”
⏱️ “Most expensive thing I ever scrapped? Time with family. 60-hour weeks for an ungrateful company.”
🚁 “$85,000 helicopter gear case housing.”
💣 “Watched a $560,000 part get scrapped. Single piece.”
🔢 “$1.2 million headlight die insert. Wrong decimal.”
What insoles should I wear?
Like a lot of you, I spend all day on my feet. I’ve been dealing with a decent amount of back pain and I think it’s related to my boots and being on my feet all day. Having said that, what are some insoles that you would recommend?
Top comments include:
“Best advice, I went to a foot doctor. He took xrays. Then recommended New Balance inserts for pain. He then did a modification to what I needed. I felt relief the first day I wore them. I now have them in all my shoes. Doc said that there are a lot of people who should wear them, they just don’t know they need them”
“Carolina 809 I have 4 pair and always have 2 on the boot dryer it sure helped me”
“Start doing planks and get zero drop footwear”
“It's all in your boots, ive tried numerous brands but been wearing Georgia boots the past 2 years with the soles that come with them and haven't had any issues. I prefer to stand on bare concrete over mats”
“I recommend investing in custom boots from whites boots. Best investment you will make. Also dont over do the ibuprofen. It destroyed my colon and esophagus to the point of not being able to work for over a year now.”
“Powerstep best ones I’ve found helped with planters foot”
“Skeechers steel toed sneakers style work shoes”
I wear Danner boots with the anti fatigue insoles.
They work great for me personally”
“Hands down Timberland Pro 26078.most comfortable shoe I ever wore by far”
My reebok steel toe tennis shoes are really comfortable”
I just switched as 30+ year faithful red wing guy to Timberland Pro. My feet have never been happier. Also gotta put in a little extra after work. Hit the gym a little. Stretch and use a foam roller. Hips glutes hamstring. They contribute to the back pain too.”
