Machining.Blog® is a weekly blog focused on manufacturing career development. It features blog articles on the fundamentals of manufacturing for aspiring machinists. Our goal is to create an interest in manufacturing in the USA. Our writer Matthew Schowalter has worked in manufacturing for 24 years, and he covers the topics that matter to someone starting their career in manufacturing.
“The soft skills the machinist uses are the unseen tools in their box and can directly impact the success or failure of a dreamed after machining career.”
I was provided with a few opportunities to talk about my STEM project and my career in several schools. It can be a very rewarding experience to a part of. I never saw myself as a speaker or presenter but with my deep knowledge in the subject, I developed a passion for sharing my experiences in manufacturing.
Cardinal Manufacturing is a student-run business in the Eleva-Strum High School. In a student-run business the students are responsible for all aspects of the business. It is a custom job shop that makes manufactures parts for community members and people throughout the country.
They are having an open house event on May 8th, 2024, from 4pm to 9pm. Come checkout what makes this program so great!
Knowing what features to inspect on machined parts, being aware of machining conditions, and what items and details to deburr can make all the difference in the success of the manufacturing project. By mastering these three items, it will set you apart as a great machinist. Let’s review in detail.
Each program has a program number, that should be different from other program numbers
Each line of code in a CNC program is called a “Block”. It contains G and M codes in it.
The block cannot have two M-codes in it
The ending of a Block has a End-of-Block symbol and it is a semi-colon. (Example: G1X.5; )
Over the past 10 years, productivity in the manufacturing industry has increased 1.2% compared to 2.6% in the previous 7 years. Emerging technology trends are disrupting the manufacturing industry, creating a need for increased innovation to remain competitive.
How we are taught how to pronounce a measurement in mathematics class is different from how we pronounce a measurement in machine shop class. In the following chart, I will break down the decimal place pronunciation of 0.123456.
This mechanical clock in the video was made with over two dozen 3d printed parts. It has brass bushings and steel shafts. It was inspired by a mechanical watch design, but the parts are laid out in-line and scaled up six times larger than a mechanical watch.
An endmill is a cutting tool that is typically used in a milling machine, or a mill/turn machine. They come in various diameters and lengths, to suit the needs of the user and the application. With that, they typically come in variations with 2-flutes, 3-flutes and 4 flutes. A 2-flute and 3-flute endmill is typically used in cutting aluminum. The 4-flute version is used in milling steel. The versions with 5 to 12 flutes are used in finish cutting steel.
If you work in the Manufacturing Industry chances are you have seen firsthand how the skilled manufacturing worker shortage affects your job. When there are more people retiring and less new people coming into the field, it can have negative effects on the industry. I have looked into the worker shortage crisis since 2015, and I came up with a phrase to help fix the shortage, “We Must Communicate, Collaborate, Connect, on a Consistent Basis”. I call it the 4-Cs of manufacturing.
We will cover the basics of Parameter programming. The concepts learned can be applied to many CNC projects and can be used in small shops and large shops alike. In G Code, macro programming variables are assigned values and when they are referenced and called they provide the last value that they were assigned. Some ways that variables can be used are for machining part families and for modifying work offsets and tooling offsets.
Your company tries SO hard to make everything perfect, but occasionally, something slips through the cracks, and you send some parts to a customer that get rejected. It’s not a fun situation, and it can be like a gut punch, depending on how expensive the mistake is. How you handle it from the customer’s perspective can make all the difference and even potentially turn a bad situation into a positive experience. Customers know that mistakes will happen, but how a vendor responds to them can put your relationship on the chopping block, or solidify your position in the partner category.
The egg drop challenge is a great STEM activity. There are many ways to build a device that may win in an egg drop challenge. We will cover a very basic way to possibly win. This solution was tested at a 15-foot drop without failure. There are three items needed for this experiment, a large plastic container with a lid, a roll of toilet paper, and a large egg.
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Tribal knowledge can be a killer. For a smaller, stable company not on a growth path, it probably isn’t the worst thing ever – unless you lose one of your long-term employees who is the only one that knows how to do a lot of things. Certainly for any company that is on a more dynamic path for growth, adding new customers, more employees, or is concerned about losing that knowledge of a key employee it can be a major problem. Having your companies’ processes and procedures be locked in the brains (and only the brains) of your employees can be very difficult when you lose someone.
While recently attending a workshop on starting or growing your school-based enterprise at the school district of Eleva-Strum in Wisconsin I discovered that they have great model for their student-run business. Their program, Cardinal Manufacturing teaches soft skills and employability skills along with learning the technology.
