The Impractical Machinists

Ask any machinist about chip control, coolant, or indexable vs. solid, and you’ll get five different answers. In this episode, we dig into all of it with Tom Raun from ISCAR.

On this episode of Impractical Machinists, Tom Raun from ISCAR hangs out with us to talk cutting tools—how they’re made, the ideas that actually changed the game, and where things are headed next. 

We get into everything from inserts that made parting faster, to 3D-printed drill bodies, to the kind of factory automation most of us never get to see. It’s full of takeaways you can bring right back to the shop.

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Connect with the hosts on Instagram:
Patrick Mcclintock: IG or PM@Job Shopper TN
Cameron Graves: IG or PM@Machiningiscool
Bradley Thomas: IG or PM@Marvel

Thanks for listening!!!

Aaron Morrill has been fixing CNC machines since he was a kid—literally. In this episode, we sit down with the Spokane-based repair tech to talk shop life, leveling myths, and what really matters when your machines go down.

From growing up doing service calls with his dad to running a multi-division repair business today, Aaron shares the hard truths about downtime, bad installs, questionable machines, and when not to call a tech.

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Connect with the hosts on Instagram:
Patrick Mcclintock: IG or PM@Job Shopper TN
Cameron Graves: IG or PM@Machiningiscool
Bradley Thomas: IG or PM@Marvel

Thanks for listening!!!

"How much time should you spend measuring vs. cutting?"

That’s the question we’re digging into in this episode. It’s something every shop deals with—do you stop to check everything or just trust the process and keep the spindle running? We talk through how we each handle inspection, what’s worked, what’s backfired, and how we try to strike a balance without slowing things down.

Along the way, we also get into:

• Shop temps and late-night work sessions
• Courier horror stories (and some surprisingly good ones)
• The weird turns that led us into machining
• How we quote jobs—especially when it’s a new customer and you’re debating whether to eat tooling costs
• Why good shop culture matters more than policies

👇 We want to hear from you
How do you handle inspection in your shop? Do you trust your process, or check everything by hand? Drop a comment and let us know what’s worked (or gone wrong) for you.

🎉 And stay tuned to find out who won our one-year giveaway!

🔔 Subscribe, Rate, and Review to never miss an episode. Your feedback helps us bring you the content you love!

Drop your comments or topic ideas in the forum.

Or listen to our podcast on YouTube

Connect with the hosts on Instagram:
Patrick Mcclintock: IG or PM@Job Shopper TN
Cameron Graves: IG or PM@Machiningiscool
Bradley Thomas: IG or PM@Marvel

Thanks for listening!!!

🎉 We made it — ONE YEAR of The Impractical Machinists Podcast! 🎉
From broken mics and awkward intros to actually figuring out what we’re doing — we’ve come a long way. We’re looking back on everything that’s changed this past year — in our shops and our lives.
And yes… there’s a special giveaway to celebrate. 🎁
But you’ll have to listen to the episode to find out how to enter. 👀

👇 Drop a comment, leave a rating, and let us know your favorite moment from the past year!

🔔 Subscribe, Rate, and Review to never miss an episode. Your feedback helps us bring you the content you love!

Drop your comments or topic ideas in the forum.

Or listen to our podcast on YouTube

Connect with the hosts on Instagram:
Patrick Mcclintock: IG or PM@Job Shopper TN
Cameron Graves: IG or PM@Machiningiscool
Bradley Thomas: IG or PM@Marvel

Thanks for listening!!!

Ever quote a job thinking "this is way too high" only to get the PO 3 minutes later? Or watch your shop go from "super busy and packed all the time to nothing" when your main customer disappears? They've all been there.
Join Patrick, Cameron, and Bradley on the Impractical Machinist Podcast as they dive into a lightning round of questions from Instagram fans. Get insights on how to diversify your machining business, where to invest in quality measurement tools, and the pros and cons of tool rentals. Learn how to handle the challenges of quoting jobs and keeping customer satisfaction high.

Chapters:

00:00 Intro 
07:43 Borrowing Tools from Other Shops?
14:20 Lightning Round: Ball Mill Finishing Question
20:11 How to Diversify Your Machining Business
33:42 When to Say No to a Job & How to Handle It
42:42 Old vs New CNC Machines (80s-90s vs Today)
59:08 Measuring Tools: Where to Spend & Where to Save
1:14:16 Tip of the day
1:18:47 Outro

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Drop your comments or topic ideas in the forum.

Or listen to our podcast on YouTube

Connect with the hosts on Instagram:
Patrick Mcclintock: IG or PM@Job Shopper TN
Cameron Graves: IG or PM@Machiningiscool
Bradley Thomas: IG or PM@Marvel

Thanks for listening!!!

In this episode of The Impractical Machinist, we sit down with Luke Niels, host of The Lathe Lab, fourth-generation machinist, shop owner, and all-around turning wizard. From learning manual screw machines at 18 to running a modern CNC job shop, Luke shares how he carved out his path (and his parts) by sticking with lathes when most shops went mill-heavy.

🔔 Subscribe, Rate, and Review to never miss an episode. Your feedback helps us bring you the content you love!

Drop your comments or topic ideas in the forum.

Or listen to our podcast on YouTube

Connect with the hosts on Instagram:
Patrick Mcclintock: IG or PM@Job Shopper TN
Cameron Graves: IG or PM@Machiningiscool
Bradley Thomas: IG or PM@Marvel

Thanks for listening!!!

Brad’s fresh off a trip to East Tech and fills Patrick and Cam in on the whole experience—his first live video, too much drinking (thanks, Ian), and a ton of cool tooling finds. Back at home, Cam’s juggling machine shop life and building a chicken coop for his ever-growing flock. And Patrick? He’s in the trenches with a nonstop, round-the-clock job that’s testing his sanity—and his air compressor.

The guys also get into shop layouts, probe setups, and the little things that make a big difference in a tight workspace. Plus, they answer some listener questions and share their hardest (or just most annoying) jobs to date. 

🔔 Subscribe, Rate, and Review to never miss an episode. Your feedback helps us bring you the content you love!

Drop your comments or topic ideas in the forum.

Or listen to our podcast on YouTube

Connect with the hosts on Instagram:
Patrick Mcclintock: IG or PM@Job Shopper TN
Cameron Graves: IG or PM@Machiningiscool
Bradley Thomas: IG or PM@Marvel

Thanks for listening!!!

In this episode of The Impractical Machinist, we sit down with Randall Uerkvitz — a U.S. Army veteran and instructor at Workshops for Warriors. Randall opens up about his journey from military service to machining, overcoming hardship, and how teaching this trade gave his life purpose. 

🔔 Subscribe, Rate, and Review to never miss an episode. Your feedback helps us bring you the content you love!

Drop your comments or topic ideas in the forum.

Or listen to our podcast on YouTube

Connect with the hosts on Instagram:
Patrick Mcclintock: IG or PM@Job Shopper TN
Cameron Graves: IG or PM@Machiningiscool
Bradley Thomas: IG or PM@Marvel

Thanks for listening!!!

After a lot of shoutouts, we finally got Jarrett Morgan from Possum Solutions on the podcast! Jarrett shares his story of how a hobby in machining went way off the rails - starting from working as a film camera operator to opening his own one-man CNC shop, making custom camera gear.

We talk about how he taught himself machining during the pandemic, what it's like learning everything the hard way, and how he’s adding automation (and a robot!) to help run his shop solo.

If you’ve ever wondered what happens when a hobby gets a little too serious, you’ll love this one.

Find Jarrett on Instagram here: @possumsolutions

🔔 Subscribe, Rate, and Review to never miss an episode. Your feedback helps us bring you the content you love!

Drop your comments or topic ideas in the forum.

Or listen to our podcast on YouTube

Connect with the hosts on Instagram:
Patrick Mcclintock: IG or PM@Job Shopper TN
Cameron Graves: IG or PM@Machiningiscool
Bradley Thomas: IG or PM@Marvel

Thanks for listening!!!

Patrick, Cameron, and Bradley are diving deep into shop life this week — the kind of stuff you don’t always hear talked about out loud.

Bradley just got back from PMTS and saw a robot setup that legit blew his mind — we’re talking about loading vises, inspecting parts with lasers, updating offsets… all automated. Could that kind of tech actually work in a one-man job shop?

Patrick walks through how he’s heat treating tool steel in-house, and why it’s not some mysterious black magic — just the right temp, some foil, and knowing your steel. Meanwhile, Cameron chimes in on the chaos of custom work, making things efficient, and why retirement plans in this trade aren’t as straightforward as they should be.

Oh — and they all swap stories on the messiest, worst, and weirdest jobs they’ve ever had to machine. Spoiler: there are some gems.

If you’re into real shop talk, no fluff — just machining, learning, laughing, and trying to keep the lights on — you’re in the right place.

👇 Jump in the comments:
 Do you heat treat your own parts? Ever tried shop automation? What’s the worst job you’ve had to run?

🔔 Subscribe, Rate, and Review to never miss an episode. Your feedback helps us bring you the content you love!

Drop your comments or topic ideas in the forum.

Or listen to our podcast on YouTube

Connect with the hosts on Instagram:
Patrick Mcclintock: IG or PM@Job Shopper TN
Cameron Graves: IG or PM@Machiningiscool
Bradley Thomas: IG or PM@Marvel

Thanks for listening!!!