Parts Department

By Justin Brouillette & Jem FreemanBusiness Entrepreneurship Technology Leisure Hobbies

Parts Department episodes

September 29192 - Daddy's in a meeting
Justin's fresh back from IMTS, a giant manufacturing trade show, and has stories about the machines, the crowds, and a bit of luck along the way. Jem shares how he's handling bully builders and their monster purchase orders. Plus: mountains of dead plywood stock and some serious shipping envy.
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DISCUSSED:
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IMTS - the people
Won a raffle from Haas
Henry - 1,100 shipped orders in one day with 3 people
Onsrud - music
Bully Builders
Cool Atlassian building
Strange times
Positive cashflow

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Please note: Show notes contains affiliate links.
HOSTS
Jem Freeman
Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia
Like Butter | Instagram | More Links
Justin Brouillette
Portland, Oregon, USA
PDX CNC | Instagram | More Links
37 min
September 08191 - Winamp skinned my Multicam
Jem's machinist has quietly thrown out the Multicam software and now runs the CNC from a web browser, complete with utilization tracking. Justin's stuck clicking thousands of tabs in Fusion and is (likely) ready to build his own fix. Plus a big plywood job that got dicey on cashflow, deposit math, and build fatigue. Plus IMTS plans!
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DISCUSSED:
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Tracking costs and errors
Change fatigue?
Inspiration of "kids room" furniture
IMTS - Justin 16-18th
Jonny's Multicam CNC tools
Nesting
Tabs
Errors, costs tracking

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Profit First Playlist
Classic Episodes Playlist
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Show Info
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Please note: Show notes contains affiliate links.
HOSTS
Jem Freeman
Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia
Like Butter | Instagram | More Links
Justin Brouillette
Portland, Oregon, USA
PDX CNC | Instagram | More Links
48 min
September 01190 - Zero point plywood
Jem closes $19K in sales via text message while Justin battles shipping errors and imperial tape measures (slam?!). Justin shares CNC de-tabbing tricks, discuss auto-chucks with torque sensing for the pencil sharpener, and debate customer service boundaries. Jem admits he's avoiding his robot cell safety project while Justin celebrates finally killing Text Expander with SnipSnip
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DISCUSSED:
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luv for iMessage sales process
accccoutnabilitbudddy
Systems daddy
Detabbing on machine tutorial
Measurements

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Profit First Playlist
Classic Episodes Playlist
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Please note: Show notes contains affiliate links.
HOSTS
Jem Freeman
Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia
Like Butter | Instagram | More Links
Justin Brouillette
Portland, Oregon, USA
PDX CNC | Instagram | More Links
52 min
August 25189 - Just the two budgies
Jem hits the dream product mix with 16 deliveries in one day while Justin codes at coffee shops and preps for baby number two. Justin built a free Mac app that previews CAD and G-code files in QuickLook. Assembly guide workflows, and Jem's massive new speakers that are taller than he is.
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DISCUSSED:
✍️ Comment or Suggest a Topic
Budgies
Mac CAD Preview mini-app
Rake - Tip of spear
Prompt fatigue
New Likebutter Assembly Guides
Blum hinge models? yessss
Fusion MCP

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Profit First Playlist
Classic Episodes Playlist
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SUPPORT THE SHOW
Become a Patreon - Get the Secret Show
Review on Apple Podcast
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Show Info
Show Website
Contact Jem & Justin
Instagram | Tiktok | Facebook | Youtube

Please note: Show notes contains affiliate links.
HOSTS
Jem Freeman
Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia
Like Butter | Instagram | More Links
Justin Brouillette
Portland, Oregon, USA
PDX CNC | Instagram | More Links
58 min
August 11188 - Steel dreams and spider screams
Justin cuts 4140 steel for the first time for PDX CNC products while Jem battles venomous spiders and pallet racking inspections. They discuss organizing shop kits with gridfinity bins, Airtable's uncertain future, local file storage versus cloud chaos, and surviving wildfire smoke. Plus: Christopher Nolan's massive IMAX camera and the eternal struggle of documentation.
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DISCUSSED:
✍️ Comment or Suggest a Topic
Steel!
Work Safe
Airtable bought for 8x less than top value
Super Smoky
Big Summer Movie this summmmmer
FU Assembly Bins - video?
Google Search Console - Instagram, Tiktok, Youtube now!
Tool-tags.com

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Profit First Playlist
Classic Episodes Playlist
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SUPPORT THE SHOW
Become a Patreon - Get the Secret Show
Review on Apple Podcast
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Show Info
Show Website
Contact Jem & Justin
Instagram | Tiktok | Facebook | Youtube

Please note: Show notes contains affiliate links.
HOSTS
Jem Freeman
Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia
Like Butter | Instagram | More Links
Justin Brouillette
Portland, Oregon, USA
PDX CNC | Instagram | More Links
50 min
August 04187 - Is this your vasectomy app?
Jem and Justin compare sales swings and shop chaos: a robot-cooked sander, a $15k sanding head quote, and high schoolers quality-checking parts before they ship. Plus network tinkering regrets, blowing nine million tokens in one sitting, Fusion file manager grievances, and the debut of a very questionably named app.
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DISCUSSED:
✍️ Comment or Suggest a Topic
No quoting, still hitting target ꘎
Custom Robots
"Focused" product dev
UniFi thoughts ꘎
Blew all my tokens, again ⠄
Help Scout MCP on Claude
Infra-tinkering time suck ꘎
Crawling back to Lightroom ꘎
Robots on the cheap cheap ꘎
Shipments getting stuck
Fusion operation note
SnipSnip

---
Profit First Playlist
Classic Episodes Playlist
---
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Become a Patreon - Get the Secret Show
Review on Apple Podcast
Share with a Friend

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Show Info
Show Website
Contact Jem & Justin
Instagram | Tiktok | Facebook | Youtube

Please note: Show notes contains affiliate links.
HOSTS
Jem Freeman
Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia
Like Butter | Instagram | More Links
Justin Brouillette
Portland, Oregon, USA
PDX CNC | Instagram | More Links
58 min
July 21186 - Slashed Shopify by 99%
Jem’s wiped out after installing seven sculptures in a single day, while Justin’s machining a 65-inch timber spear gun and fighting the ShopSabre’s Y-axis overheating. They talk Shopify bill wins, Justin’s new private dashboard app, GitHub issues, packing-station kiosks, voice notes, and the surprisingly good iOS 27 beta. Plus AR headphone daydreams and why documenting warehouse workflow is still the hardest game.
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DISCUSSED:
✍️ Comment or Suggest a Topic
Jem's bender
Two-year comparison Shopify Bill ꘎ $15 vs $1500
Fangs + Stops experience with Speargun
Shopify recovery
Unifi upgrades
FU PF at LB?
Arbitrary AR Desire
ShopSabre issue
Fulfillment organization question
Flag to edit, make a note
Rake - backups
New Siri

---
Profit First Playlist
Classic Episodes Playlist
---
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Become a Patreon - Get the Secret Show
Review on Apple Podcast
Share with a Friend

Discuss on Show Subreddit
Show Info
Show Website
Contact Jem & Justin
Instagram | Tiktok | Facebook | Youtube

Please note: Show notes contains affiliate links.
HOSTS
Jem Freeman
Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia
Like Butter | Instagram | More Links
Justin Brouillette
Portland, Oregon, USA
PDX CNC | Instagram | More Links
49 min
July 07185 - Rearranging racks at midnight
Jem and Justin trade toddler war stories before Jem confesses he'd rather tear down 4.5m pallet racking alone at midnight than hire anyone. Justin reveals his June sales cliff after a domain migration tanked Google traffic, hitting Profit First distributions hard. They also riff on the Obsidian exodus from Notion, breaking up with Cursor for Claude Code, and why rearranging the shop is happening before finishing new products.
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DISCUSSED:
✍️ Comment or Suggest a Topic
Migrating away from Cursor ꘎
We have become a tech company ꘎
Obsidian rollout ꘎
Recovering migration hangover
Finishing reorganization on woodshop
The deep thinkings and feelings of lean
The internet never forgets - outro song

---
Profit First Playlist
Classic Episodes Playlist
---
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Become a Patreon - Get the Secret Show
Review on Apple Podcast
Share with a Friend

Discuss on Show Subreddit
Show Info
Show Website
Contact Jem & Justin
Instagram | Tiktok | Facebook | Youtube

Please note: Show notes contains affiliate links.
HOSTS
Jem Freeman
Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia
Like Butter | Instagram | More Links
Justin Brouillette
Portland, Oregon, USA
PDX CNC | Instagram | More Links
55 min
June 30184 - Everything's an (AI) Hammer
Jem and Justin chat about the World Cup's surprisingly warm reception in the US, Jem's Kitta Parts Builder getting a 3D preview upgrade (doors that actually open), and a FedEx API build that finally came together. Justin shares how Shopify's AI flagged a 430-pound weight bug before support did. They close on a real Profit First curveball: what do you do when a big deposit lands early?
Watch on Youtube
DISCUSSED:
✍️ Comment or Suggest a Topic
World Cup
Double shifts at Butter
Like Butter Kitta Parts Builder Update - 3D
Henry Holsters - overhead camera?
Is it 430 lbs?
Recommended: Unsolved mystery of Lorem Ipsum
PF oversize conundrum ꘎
Dispatch improvements ꘎

---
Profit First Playlist
Classic Episodes Playlist
---
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Become a Patreon - Get the Secret Show
Review on Apple Podcast
Share with a Friend

Discuss on Show Subreddit
Show Info
Show Website
Contact Jem & Justin
Instagram | Tiktok | Facebook | Youtube

Please note: Show notes contains affiliate links.
HOSTS
Jem Freeman
Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia
Like Butter | Instagram | More Links
Justin Brouillette
Portland, Oregon, USA
PDX CNC | Instagram | More Links
49 min
June 16183 - Hoarding unfinished projects
Justin makes himself a 5-axis trophy and a quick YouTube shop tour and tests his Gimbel CoolantClear. Jem survives a short production week down a person, rants about builder POs and spirals into late-night Rhino scripting with Cursor. Plus bot orders, prototype hoarding, and the emotional weight of unfinished projects. Also, sea shanties.
Watch on Youtube
DISCUSSED:
✍️ Comment or Suggest a Topic
Dispatch is a mess, need a LEAN makeover, how much do I own other people's jobs, fuck it I'll just do it myself, max capacity yet still no money left, brain overwhelm and other stories. ꘎
Rhino script intervention needed... ꘎
Fast Shop Tour - PDX CNC
ALL 5 AXIS video
FU: CAD models available
We are not agreeing to your PO terms
Roderick on the Line Ep 628

All hoarding is emotional... But the real weight on me is the hoarding of my own unfinished projects
---
Profit First Playlist
Classic Episodes Playlist
---
SUPPORT THE SHOW
Become a Patreon - Get the Secret Show
Review on Apple Podcast
Share with a Friend

Discuss on Show Subreddit
Show Info
Show Website
Contact Jem & Justin
Instagram | Tiktok | Facebook | Youtube

Please note: Show notes contains affiliate links.
HOSTS
Jem Freeman
Castlemaine, Victoria, Australia
Like Butter | Instagram | More Links
Justin Brouillette
Portland, Oregon, USA
PDX CNC | Instagram | More Links
47 min

About Parts Department

From the publisher's feed

Justin Brouillette (Portland CNC) & Jem Freeman (Like Butter) discuss CNC machines, their product design and manufacturing businesses, and every kind of tool that they fancy.