This week on The Lone Machinists, Jamie and Curt spiral (responsibly) through ultra-paranoid RAID backups, fiber lines getting excavated into oblivion in South Africa, and the launch of the brand-new Noughtical Workholding Shopify store. We dive into mirrored drives, M-Discs, offsite backups, and why losing your childhood photos is a trauma you only need once. Then things escalate: Haas machines booting up with ads, ChatGPT hallucinating wiring diagrams, gimbals doing unnecessary 360° flips, and the very real possibility that we’re speed-running the darkest timeline. It’s machining, media, marketing, mild conspiracy, and a healthy dose of “just hold it properly” — all in one episode.

Links Discussed:

• Noughtical Work Holding: https://www.noughticalwh.com/
• Easily Replaceable USB-C Port Spawned By EU Laws: https://hackaday.com/2026/02/26/easily-replaceable-usb-c-port-spawned-by-eu-laws/

The Lone Machinist:

• Website: https://thelonemachinists.com/
• Bonus Content: https://thelonemachinists.com/#bonus-content
• Merch: https://www.jspeceng.com/online-store
• Patreon: https://patreon.com/TheLoneMachinists

Need Work Done? Check out Subtract Manufacturing at: https://subtractmanufacturing.com/

Want to try out Toolpath? Give it a go and get 10% off by using the code TLM10 at checkout: https://toolpath.com/

Jamie:

• http://instagram.com/jspec_engineering
• https://www.jspeceng.com/
• https://www.noughticalwh.com/

• Curt:
• https://www.instagram.com/confoundedmachine/
• https://www.confoundedmachine.com/