The Lone Machinists

This week on the Lone Machinist Podcast, Curt discovers that despite operating machines, running a business, and apparently being a functioning adult, he still cannot reliably add numbers together. A simple order count leaves him 100 pens short of reality, and it takes Claude to point out that the problem isn't the AI. It's Curt.

Meanwhile, Jamie discovers that one of his production parts is effectively being made at a fraction of the required hourly rate. The part itself isn't necessarily a disaster because it sits within a profitable family of parts, but it sparks a much bigger discussion about costing, batch quantities, material, consumables, and knowing where your money is actually going.

There's also a serious effort to stop stockouts from screwing up production, with reorder systems, QR codes, minimum quantities, better workflows, and finally getting the workshop organized.

Then we get into 3D printers, and both Jamie and Curt are discovering just how much easier life becomes when a printer actually works. Production fixtures, racks, tooling, functional parts, and 18-hour print jobs are suddenly just things you send to the machine and forget about.

Plus, gantry automation, uptime monitoring, gauge pins, drag tumbling, and a kindergarten field trip involving a very large corn maze.

Math is hard. Good printers are magic.

Links Discussed:

• Tumbling: https://www.instagram.com/p/C4QXPIOOl0z/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&stkn=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==

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/

Jamie:

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

Curt:

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

This week on the Lone Machinist Podcast, we're back from IMTS and apparently nobody came home with fewer projects.

Curt has managed to create a rather serious problem for himself after launching a one-minute presale for his pens. The idea was simple, keep the sales window short so he wouldn't end up with more orders than he could handle. Unfortunately, everyone who got the pens into their carts during that minute could take their sweet time checking out. The result? Curt sold more pens than he's ever sold before and now has hundreds of pens to make. Rookie move.

Jamie has his own growing list of projects, including new products, customer work, a lathe project, more Anchor Point pallets, and plans for a bigger 3D printer because apparently the existing printer has started taking up valuable desk space.

We also spend plenty of time talking about the recent IMTS trip, including Paper Kurt's adventures, meeting patrons and machinists, Chicago, New York, and the truly ridiculous amount of walking involved. Jamie averaged around 16,000 steps a day, and somehow still came home wanting to do it all again.

There's also plenty of CNC automation, pneumatic systems, tooling, printers, production planning, and the usual discussion about buying more equipment because clearly that's the solution.

Hundreds of pens, thousands of steps, and absolutely no spare time.

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/

Jamie:

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

Curt:

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

Jamie is officially running on fumes as the IMTS marathon continues, but there’s still plenty of time for machines, workholding, questionable engineering ideas, and collecting an absolutely unreasonable amount of free stuff.

Today’s recap covers small five-axis machines, the X-Horse, ToolDawns, a Wazer demo, and why a Wazer might make sense for some applications but definitely isn’t the answer to everything. Jamie also discovers some seriously clever engineering at the Lang booth, including a robot-loading system door that apparently gave an engineer a solid boner.

There’s also discussion about mineral-cast router frames, IGUS samples, pneumatic workholding, EMO, tumbling systems, and the possibility of building a servo-driven tumbler because apparently buying one isn’t enough.

Meanwhile, Jamie has accumulated enough pens, stickers, flash drives, tombstones, Tech Decks, and other booth loot to justify its own inventory system.

The show is winding down, the FOMO is getting worse, and Jamie is already planning what needs to happen at the next one.

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

The Lone Machinist:

• Website: https://thelonemachinists.com/
• Merch: https://www.jspeceng.com/online-store
• Patreon: https://patreon.com/TheLoneMachinists

Jamie:

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

Curt:

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

Day two of IMTS, and Jamie is somehow fitting even more machines, people, questionable decisions, and engineering ideas into an already packed schedule.

The day ends with Oktoberfest, late nights, escalator shenanigans, and a trip back to the Airbnb to talk shit until midnight.

And starts straight back into IMTS, with Jamie working his way through tooling, workholding, abrasives, automation, and an increasingly ridiculous collection of machines.

There’s discussion about Index’s wild multi-spindle Swiss setup, Siemens PLCs and integrating a probe, a tiny CNC project for grinding serrations into inserts, and why apparently a pneumatic vise is now something Jamie needs to build. They also discover that the steel shelf was actually aluminium, leading to Tall Jacob being sent in because nobody knows who he is.

Meanwhile, Curt continues experiencing IMTS through messages and social media, while Jamie keeps getting recognized by his voice and discovering that seemingly everyone is at the show.

Add in giant machines, questionable prototypes, FOMO, meetups, karaoke, and a water bottle that is becoming increasingly thick, chunky, and girthy, and Tuesday at IMTS is shaping up nicely.

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

The Lone Machinist:

• Website: https://thelonemachinists.com/
• Merch: https://www.jspeceng.com/online-store
• Patreon: https://patreon.com/TheLoneMachinists

Jamie:

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

Curt:

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

IMTS is officially underway, and Jamie has already discovered that three hours in the machine tool hall gets you through roughly one third of it.

In this Monday recap, Jamie and Curt catch up on the first day of the show, the meetup, the endless FOMO, and the sheer number of people, conversations, machines, stickers, and merch flying around. Jamie talks about getting recognized by his voice, finally meeting Grimsmo, collecting enough stickers to make his water bottle significantly girthier, and spending the day wandering through the halls with various machinists and manufacturers.

There’s also plenty of machine-shop nerdiness, including Index’s ridiculous multi-spindle Swiss setup, the LK machine Jamie is eyeing, tiny C250s, high-precision five-axis machines, temperature compensation, giant gantry routers, and a massive hamburger being milled from a ton and a half of material.

Meanwhile, Curt gets to experience IMTS entirely through everyone else’s Instagram stories.

And apparently Jamie is now being peer-pressured into making a pneumatic vise.

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

The Lone Machinist:

• Website: https://thelonemachinists.com/
• Merch: https://www.jspeceng.com/online-store
• Patreon: https://patreon.com/TheLoneMachinists

Jamie:

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

Curt:

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

This week on the Lone Machinist Podcast, the machines are starting to outproduce the humans, which sounds great right up until you realize somebody still has to finish all those damn parts.

Curt is running huge production batches ahead of a pre-sale, discovering just how much his machines can actually produce, and realizing that hand finishing is rapidly becoming the bottleneck. We get into pocket clips, blasting, tumbling, sanding, scotch-briting, abrasive brushes, custom tooling, and increasingly questionable ideas for automating the finishing process.

Jamie is getting ready to head to IMTS, trying to prove out programs before leaving, considering whether a Swiss machine might actually make sense, and dealing with a workshop back door that has apparently decided it wants to become a water feature.

There’s also plenty of discussion about Instagram posts versus reels, ultrasonics, production mistakes, traveling to the US, and the increasingly chaotic schedule surrounding IMTS and the following weeks.

The machines are doing their jobs. Now apparently the humans need to catch up.

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/

Jamie:

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

Curt:

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

This week's episode of the Lone Machinist is basically what happens when the machines start producing faster than the humans can keep up.

Curt is drowning in production, running huge batches of parts ahead of a pre-sale and discovering that the real bottleneck isn't machining anymore — it's finishing. We get into hand-finishing pocket clips, blasting, tumbling, abrasive brushes, custom tooling, and the increasingly ridiculous idea of automating all the bits that happen after the machine stops.

Jamie, meanwhile, is preparing for IMTS, trying to quote a massive recurring machining job, figuring out how to make some questionable drawings less stupid to manufacture, and discovering that his new workshop has a back door that apparently doubles as a water feature.

There's also international shipping, tariffs on stickers, transporting a ridiculous amount of merch to the US, Instagram deciding that photos aren't interesting anymore, and Curt continuing down the ultrasonic-cleaner rabbit hole.

And somewhere in all of this, a bigger printer and possibly a Swiss machine start looking like perfectly reasonable purchases.

Basically: the machines are doing their jobs. Unfortunately, we aren't keeping up.

Links Discussed:

• Comparing Ultrasonic Units Video: https://youtu.be/rdouvT3zZzg?si=86_zWZ3fT2RyzE_l
• IMTS Meet Up RSVP Form: https://forms.gle/CQXMmFsTZEytb8gD7

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/

Jamie:

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

Curt:

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

This week on the Lone Machinist, Curt finally fixes his titanium anodizing problems—and discovers that the secret was apparently replacing the Multi-Etch he’d been using for years. Suddenly the anodizing behaves, the fades work, and he can leave batches running without turning everything into expensive scrap.

Meanwhile, Jamie has gone completely off the rails with production. A 4,800-piece aluminium order has the machines running practically around the clock, with spindle gripping cranking through parts while Jamie swaps trays, programs jobs and generally becomes the pallet-changing robot himself. There’s also bar pulling, proper spindle liners, 15,000 upcoming parts, a fourth axis hacked into the PLC, and four completely inappropriate pressure switches.

The conversation eventually turns to the real problem with scaling: machining more parts is easy. Finishing, cleaning, anodizing, packing and shipping the damn things is where everything starts falling apart.

Also: Millbilly manoeuvres, questionable purchasing decisions, and the ongoing discovery that Jamie is, apparently, illiterate.

Links Discussed:

• IMTS Meet Up RSVP Form: https://forms.gle/CQXMmFsTZEytb8gD7

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/

Jamie:

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

Curt:

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

This week on the Lone Machinist Podcast, Jamie has one hell of a week in the shop. A mold job turns into roughly 40 hours of machining in just three days, including a late-night finish, while the machine burns through an impressive amount of coolant along the way. It also sparks a much-needed conversation about pricing, especially when a retrofit or machine job takes significantly longer than expected.

Meanwhile, Curt continues experimenting with anodizing and gets increasingly consistent results before dropping some big news: a 100W MOPA fiber laser and fourth axis are on the way.

Back at the shop, Jamie is working on ways to automate more of the production process, including improvements to the spindle gripper, automated part handling, and a new coolant-level monitoring system designed to survive the reality of life inside a CNC machine.

There's also plenty of discussion about production planning, R&D, getting machines to run unattended, and the eternal struggle of trying to take a few days off when you're the person everyone relies on to keep the machines running.

40 hours of machining. 60 litres of coolant. One very tired machinist.

Links Discussed:

• IMTS Meet Up RSVP Form: https://forms.gle/CQXMmFsTZEytb8gD7
• CyberPunk FPV Mod: https://www.nexusmods.com/cyberpunk2077/mods/31642

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/

Jamie:

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

Curt:

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

This week on the Lone Machinist Podcast, Jamie and Curt discover that zero-point workholding really is fucking magical.

Jamie has reached the point where swapping between jobs is becoming almost stupidly easy. A tray comes out, another goes in, the machine already knows where everything is, and production can carry on without spending half an hour re-indicating a setup. The Anchor Point system has officially gone from "cool workholding system" to religion.

And there is plenty more happening around the shop.

Jamie is preparing for the upcoming IMTS trip, including a meetup at Justin's shop in Cleveland. The current plan involves landing in New York in the morning and then driving roughly eight hours straight to Cleveland for the meetup. Because apparently flying halfway around the world isn't enough punishment.

Then comes another retrofit.

Jamie discovers that the drives on the machine use a proprietary encoder communication system, meaning the easy solution he was hoping for isn't actually a solution at all. The motors can stay, but new encoder wiring needs to be pulled through the energy chain — approximately 60 metres of encoder cable worth of fun.

Meanwhile, the shop is getting busier, the new workshop continues to evolve, and Jamie is preparing to change coolant on the LK because the existing coolant is getting increasingly thick with tramp oil. The replacement is an aluminium-specific coolant that is about to get thrown directly into a production job — because apparently the best way to test coolant is to put expensive parts in it.

And, as always, the episode eventually reaches the Google Box, where Curt has drones, transmitters and AliExpress purchases waiting for a sale, while Jamie has tiny screws, pneumatic check valves and yet another reason to spend money online.

Links Discussed:

• IMTS Meet Up RSVP Form: https://forms.gle/CQXMmFsTZEytb8gD7
• Kens Keyboards: https://notsuspicious.com/
• Lego: https://www.reddit.com/r/DontPutThatInYourAss/comments/1nd8ant/legobutt_plug/

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/

Jamie:

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

Curt:

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