Ran a 3/8 endmill through a part because I had the wrong offset loaded

I kept getting these weird dimensions on a batch of 50 parts and it took me 3 hours to notice my tool length offset was off by 0.015 from a previous setup. Anyone else double-check offsets after every tool change or just me?

2 comments

2 Comments

angela_park1mo ago

...then my buddy Steve scrapped a $200 fixture plate because he forgot to reset his G43 after a tool change. He was like "man this endmill sounds angry" and just kept going. Took him four hours and seven broken inserts before he realized his Z offset was still set for a 2 inch longer tool. I swear we've all been there, that moment when you look at the part and just know something's off but your brain won't let you admit it.

jones.grace1mo ago

Man oh man, that story hits close to home. I once watched a guy spend an entire shift trying to drill through a hardened steel block because his feed rate was set for aluminum. He kept saying the bit was smoking and he swore the machine was haunted. He even tried adding coolant by hand and wearing oven mitts because he thought it was overheating from the ghost. After six hours and a dozen broken bits, he finally checked his program and saw he left the "ALUM" speed override on from the previous job. He stormed off and didn't come back for two days. Sometimes you just gotta laugh at the chaos we make for ourselves.