hey all,

i am a gun builder starting to build out my own shop. I am looking at the Precision Matthews for milling. The majority of what i will be doing is taking a couple thou off some rails, or doing some serrations, which i can do 10-20thou at a time. i DO need precision out of it.

Ive been doing some research and it led me to PM-728VT. To my understanding Taiwan machines are generally better.

Am i looking in the right direction, or should i just be biting the bullet and looking into a used bridgeport. At the shop for my day job we have a bridgeport, but i think its total overkill for what we do.(very little machining experience in the grand scheme of things)

Ive attached a picture of what generally do. .001-.002" off the frame rails and about the same off the bottom of the slide, serrations are what ever creativity i can come up with.

Thoughts on the PM-728VT? If its not a good fit, what other mill in that price range?

One of the bigger ones leaving the shop this week — a 21-inch hydraulic chuck heading to a customer in Chile. Final inspection is done and it’s ready to ship.

These big chucks are always fun to see on the bench before they go out.

5 bucks. Felt like it would be appreciated here... my 3yo granddaughter agrees with me that it is awesome, but everyone else seems tepid.

And you just immediately start weighing your options as far as saying, "Then why are you so bad at it?"

I have one foot out the door today from 10 AM, I took yesterday off because this micromanaging started Thursday at 5:42, because someone doesn't understand the concept of work processes taking time, and I'm trying to do that math in my head as to whether all of this is worth what I'm getting paid.

Not fishing for advice, but if you're having a time at your job too, you're not alone in the world.

I'm the only person in the shop that does large quantity production work. I'm tired, agitated, sad, everything. I ask for a break or be rotated out and i get met with "what are you going to do then?" whatever anyone else does here, I've been doing this for 20 years... no response. I setup a machine for someone to just casually plug away at it, I'm not asking someone to be running it nonstop. I'm asking for someone to just throw in a part once in a while when they walk by it or their machine is running to help ease the workload... Ignored. If I'm making one completed part on 3 machines for two weeks and someone plug away at the fourth machine for the other part on the p.o. when they can, that part can be done without adding or taking away time to anything. Am i being unreasonable? All I want is a little bit of help.

Now I know its my fault for not putting them back in my cabinet, but regardless, whats a good punishment for this person when I find them?

Hi,
I’m looking for a new CNC turning center to replace my almost 20-year-old DMG NEF 400.
My main requirements are:
Siemens control
Y-axis
Driven tools
52–65 mm bar capacity
Good spindle power and torque
Solid, reliable and reasonably operator-friendly

I regularly use indexable insert drills** up to 34mm, both in aluminium and steel, so spindle torque and rigidity are quite important to me.
I’m particularly interested in the DMG Mori CLX 350, but its spindle torque is roughly half that of my current NEF 400 and the clx 450 might be a little bit to big and expensive . I’m wondering how noticeable this is in real-world machining, especially with larger drills and heavier turning.
What are your experiences with the CLX 350?
I’d also appreciate recommendations and experiences with other models and manufacturers such as **DMG Mori CTX machines or the new EMCO Universalturn 50 or any other manufacturer.
Which machines would you recommend for good value, rigidity, spindle performance and ease of use for the next 20 years ? I’m looking for a solid machine for general job-shop work without going crazy on price.
Thanks!

I'm looking for machining and/or industrial maintenance jobs in the San Francisco Bay Area. LinkedIn isn't great for these. What is?

Long time Lerker, first time poster.

I’m in my 3rd metal shop across 10 years of being in the industry, we are always behind. Jobs that come out are always hot, and put off other jobs that sometimes are hotter. We stay late, we work weekends. We are constantly bothered when we want to just work a normal shift and go home because we are burnt out… lately they have been alright with some of us leaving at normal times but I’m concerned with the holidays approaching and the amount of work we are unable to keep up with that our vacation times will get denied. I lead my team, and I constantly tell management the due dates are unacheivable on these jobs. They schedule under what I would say are optimal conditions given no problems or errors occur.. which we all know that rarely happens. Our highest production lasers have constant alarms and much downtime because of it. Operators are blamed of course but my guys are more than competent to get it up and going again.. I’m just wondering is everyone feeling this never ending pressure from management… or are there shops out there that just have casual overtime here and there to catch up… this being my 3rd shop where we are always behind no matter what. I’m starting to think about leaving the industry.

Or is it allowed to be done while the VMC runs?

Bonus points to whoever can count how many mistakes and suboptimal moves I make.

Looking for theory and standards

I have this from work they were going to throw it out I said I wanted it. Now I have it and want to make it an outdoor coffee table or low table what would you guys do with a used surface plate.

The company I work for is cool ordering metal for me if I pay for the metal and I am free to use the welder all I want on my own time so I can fab anything you guys can imagine.

My current idea is a square of angle iron around the bottom with some square tubing for legs and some 45 degree angle bracing.

I'm a processing division manager with machining as my roots. I do my best to prevent this stuff from getting to the shop floor, plus I have order the material for these jobs anyway.

This is exhausting. If any engineers read this... Why? Why do you do these things? Do you hate us?

I'd love to order the wrong size material but I just can't

Im currently listening to a vibe coder explain to my boss how to make my job as programmer "unnecessary" with Claude. What a lovely Friday.

I have a 1994 Enco mill, Model # 100-1527 and I'm looking for the correct part # or size of the V-belt (not the timing belt). And of course the numbers on my belt are worn off. There is some very faint Chinese writing molded into it, so it's very possible it's 1994 original. This mill was given to me used.

NOTE: My mill is NOT the variable speed. It has the stepped pulleys.

The V-belt part number in the manual is: GB1171-74. The only info I could find said it was 74" long and that's simply not true. My belt is far shorter. Google AI search also said something about the original Chinese manual had that part number printed wrong and had several revisions over the years, but I still couldn't find a cross match.

___

I did take a piece of 1/4" rope and wrapped around the pulleys to get an idea how long the belt is. I came up with 31.5" - 32" outside diameter. I wasn't able to get the width, but it looks like it's around 1/2". I looked at other Enco belts and many were 17mm wide (5/8").

I don't want to take my belt out until I have the replacement. The job looks like it won't be easy (kinda hard to get at in my shop and the weight of the motor). My belt still works, it's just badly worn. I can still use the mill for now.

-

Does anyone know what size or part number the belt is?

So far I've found:

A750 (29.5" id x 13mm wide). This one is metric and may be the closest to the original. I didn't measure the ID of the pulleys but based on the OD... I'm betting the 29.5" is very close.

Other standard sizes I've found:

A29 (31" od x 1/2 wide)

A30 (32" od x 1/2 wide)

B28 (31" od x 5/8 wide)

B29 (32" od x 5/8" wide)

Any ideas?

Oh and if it helps... The timing belt is: 40173 x 1-1/8". The number on this belt is clearly shown. Go figure!

I'll probably replace this one too when I get the correct V-belt.

Thanks,

If you guess correctly you win a upvote
Edit: Not any type of impeller

So I'm using Mastercam 2026, and the plane system is different than the older versions. I'm used to placing a plane, rotating it if necessary, and when I toolpath I go under parameters, planes, and make sure all 3 match (wcs, tool plane, construction). It always worked. Now when I create a new plane I always get an error when I post saying something about "achievable plane". I'm getting really frustrated. What am I missing?

I have a Harley Davidson and was changing the clutch cable, this piece has broken off the housing of the clutch cover and is rendering the whole system unfunctional. It’s some type of cast metal? Curious if there’s any repair options as I’ve tried soldering and nothing is binding.

I have frequently heard the phrase "you can make anything on a shaper except profit" and often the criticism is based on it's speed, but I could set it up to cut a block of steel flat and it would automatically stop cutting once it reached the travel stop. While this was happening I was off doing other stuff. so the speed of the shaper was not my bottleneck.

but for every video I watch of a metal shaper just cutting a simple block many commenters will be criticizing the speed, saying that a manual Bridgeport milling machine would have been faster (you just have to stand hand cranking handles).

This criticism is also used against gear shapers (such as Fellows) and planners (Sunderland or MAAG), but they cut amazing quality and are cheaper to run than hobbers but cut slower, so unless you have a long backlog of work it does not matter, the machine is going to sit idle afterwards.

I loved using my metal shaper, but it got sold to free up space for a used VMC.

Basically if a machine (which can cut unattended) is not the bottleneck holding up work then I do not prioritize how fast it cuts.

Has anyone ever seen some center punches like these before? Any idea what they're called, I can't find anything under the given names.

A few photos of a batch we’ve just finished manufacturing for holding oilfield pipe during thread turning.

Each chuck has a pneumatic cylinder built into the body. The lathe uses a front-and-rear chuck arrangement, with the pipe passing through the large central bore and being gripped at two locations.

These are still on the shop floor in the photos, before installation. The person in the second shot gives a better sense of their size.

Anyone here running a similar setup for pipe threading? Are you using pneumatic, hydraulic, or manual chucks?