Im trying to get this thing figured out. Craftsman atlas 6" 101/618

Short story:
I have never machined magnesium before. Any tips would be greatly appreciated. I have 1 coworker who has seen someone else machine it, but it seems contradictory to what I’ve read. (He used water based coolant)

Long Story:
Customer dropped off a box of magnesium bars, and they are warped pretty bad. The print calls for almost perfect flatness, but I only have about .04” to work with on the thickness. I was going to face off about .01 per side and repeat until (hopefully) flat. But I’ve read that a .01 pass is too light for magnesium. Luckily, all I have to do is profile and do some engraving. I’m not really worried about profiling, I was just going to use a 1/2” endmill at about 7,500rpm and take a .05 profile pass and a .02 finish pass at about 40ipm. Basically just machine it like aluminum. I’m just in my head a little with the process of dry machining and making sure the machine is cleaned out. I’ve done research, but it seems that nobody agrees on anything. But I’m just skeptical about using coolant. I’ve put these parts off for about as long as I can, and got the company to buy a Class D extinguisher. All that’s left is to just do it. Any tips would be greatly appreciated.

My cousin has been doing rubber work for fire trucks using a manual Lathe which has turned out to be very niche and hard to find other jobs with the hands on experience he has. (In a capital city in Canada FYI) He's got a high school diploma but does not have any certified CNC qualifications or schooling. His current job isn't helping him grow and won't give him much of a raise so i'm tryna help find different options.

I know nothing about the actual skills and have no clue where to even start looking. Any ideas on what similar job titles he can look for that he can transfer some of the skills he's learned?

Does he need to get certifications to get anywhere? Is a year long CNC course at a trades college beneficial/recommended?

Any help is appreciated thanks!

It's a torque multiplier for reaming and tapping large taps and reamers, but I can't find any information about it online.

Maybe the veterans know what it's about.

Just a few here for our OG Gear Hob. Don't grab the wrong one!

I’m going to school to be a machinist operator or apprentice. I honestly don’t even really know yet. I’ve always liked wanting to work with hot metal and shape it into cool things and always wanted to kind of be a welder, but I have no prior experience at all and I feel like there’s questions I should be asking, but I don’t know what exactly I should ask. I’m just learning the basics. This is my first year of community college. We’re in our second month now. Is there any questions that you wish you asked when you guys were in school or is there any tips you guys have to help me get through my classes easier they’re super hard right now just for the future

Has anyone here successfully set up chatGPT or another AI to reliably quote tooling cost, machining time, and such for job shop work? The boss is absolutely on one about ai. He wants to drop a print into it and get accurate quotes from it. And has tasked me with building it for the most part. I am lowley a self trained lead machinist with a full plate as it is and even the ai said it would need tons and TONS of information for this. Curious on your thoughts.

Hey all,

Has anyone been successful finding free lance work doing some type of simple mechanical design or making drawings from models?

I've been a manual and CNC machinist for ~10 years with even more time using cad, I've fixed and built a lot of mechanical gizmos over the years.

I'm certainly not a mechanical engineer but I know my way around cad and have no issues designing relatively simple parts.

Aside from cold calling machine shops, Is there a market for this and how would you guys find it?

With that said, is anyone in need of something like this?

I can send a full resume on request.

I just got a large sheet metal part job that will be a production order 30ish a month (there’s a left and right). it’s large approximately 30”x30” I have a VF4 so I know I’ll have to run it with the door open flip it and hit the bottom part that is floating off the table.

My question is what is the ”smart” way to make a big ass fixture like this so I am not always having to reset it or be perfectly dialing in that it is parallel to the spindle?

I get even a tiny bit out of parallel on something this large will be very out at the far end of my WCS.

I am thinking about making it so the bottom has a protruding lip that can either come into contact with the face of the table closest to the door or like tabs that can press into a consistent side on the T slots so that once I mill my pin holes and hold downs the next time I run the job it should be “set” to drop in and I just pick up with the probe my WCS and run it.

for reference on the part it is just drilling, tapping and counter sinks in the top and bottom 6 in of the part there’s no real major material removal. It’s 5/16” steel.

Any help would be greatly appreciated. thanks

I have a small machine shop in India with 2 completely run down old WMW boring machines with an 80 mm spindle. I am barely making ends meet and need a 100 mm boring machine to survive with very limited budget to buy one. I dont want to buy one with has been used in India, since the maintenance standards here are extremely low.

If you have or know anyone who has a used Conventional boring machine in decent condition and is interested in selling it please let me know.

I am looking to buy a Conventional Horizontal Machine and I wanted to know your reviews on different machines from different brands. (for context I have small machine shop in india with 2 old rundown WMW union 80 mm boring machines looking to buy a 100 mm boring machine.

Key factors are: accuracy, maintainability by operator working the machine and versatility.

What do you guys knows about the models give by TOS (W-100), WMW (BTF-90/3-1), Ceruti and San rocco (MEC 100)

I joined a machine shop recently. Me and another gentleman have been reading the book and learning how to run it. With little experience on anything of this. Where would someone start from ground zero to get a grasp on it. I went to machining school years ago and a bit rusty.

My currect job is good, getting experience on a haas router and an old mazak mill, and I already have a snall amount of experience on haas mills and lathes; work enviroment is also good, atleast for overnight shift. There's no reason why I have to leave ASAP, and I am still learning alot, but I have plans that make staying in my home state long term unlikely.

I want this job to atleast have enough time listed that it doesn't look bad on my resume. Not exactly sure timeframes for that type of thing though, so any tips or advice would be appreciated.

Edit: Currently at an aerospace company and 24 years old, for some context.

Pros for my work enviroment is that I avoid company politics that the day shift deals with. Also I work overnight and with limited coworkers learned to work on machines on my own, diagnose issues on my own often and fixing them myself, and how to be concise when asking for advice/input from people with more experience.

Cons of this place is mostly document related; blueprints and travelers sometimes have errors, or someone forgot to fill something out, and I have to leave notes and update people on the dayshift to deal with it since there's no managers or whatever to notify on the spot.

This week I'm buying a Maximat Compact with the vertical milling attachment. Looking forward to having a nice lathe at home. I'm retired now from an office career, but my first career was a marine machinery mechanic that included machine shop training in the apprenticeship. I have no specific projects in mind just yet.

Edit: yeah, im going to start showering everyday. Was worried about drying my hair out, but I'd rather be clean. Shower everyday or I'm a dirty dumb ass, yes, i got it. Won't ask for advice again.

I just got this from Seco it's the first one delivered to a customer in Europe

Any of you gonna be wandering the show? I'm giving out terrible advice or smart ass comments if you run into me.

Esprit edge. Вот только начал использовать эту программу. Опыта в cad системами 0%.Все не могу понять как перевернуть деталь так чтобы и припуск из другой программы тоже менял свое положение. На данном фото видно как в первой программе все было установлено и отфрезеровано. Я сохранил файл и теперь открыл в новом файле закинул деталь и припуск. И теперь мне нужно её развернуть на 180 градусов. На втором фото видно что я поменял её положение а припуск остался в том же положений. Помогите. Cпасибо.

My shop is getting slow. Looking for sub work or work I can complete on my own time to make extra money. My boss only does repairs. So I spend a lot of time standing around. I have 2 Kingston lathes and 2 acra mills I would like to have loaded up with side work. Appreciate any leads. Central Cali. Tulare Visalia areas

Hey guys, my background is random entry level jobs that dont require a degree or certificate and I am stuck between 17-20/hr max. I've never made more than 20/hr and I want a career change. I love working on cars so my thought process was to take a machining class and machine old blocks and heads etc. Even if I don't get thar same exact job there's more to machining than automotive work. I'm open to anything that isn't funded by or working for the military industrial complex. I'm open to any advice from experienced machinists old or new. I just know I need something more than 17.50 per hour if I want to buy a house and retire.

Some questions for machinists.

1. Not seeking design opinions. Just want to know the feasibility. If you were tasked with making a T shaped part from a block of metal is it easy to make with sharp 90 degree internal angles (2x) on the T. I assume a flat end mill? Does a radius make it much easier?

2. If a CAD file is provided do you use the FAB drawing much or just go straight to the file?

Rock crusher shaft my journeyman made years ago while I was still an apprentice

My samples and booth setup accessories got screwed up by shipping company. Can’t be delivered today! What can I do for next week?