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/