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Visited a small job shop in Lancaster and I'm questioning all these fancy CNC setups

I went over to a place called Miller's Machining near Lancaster last week to pick up some parts. The owner, an older guy named Dave, was running a Bridgeport and an old Haas mill from like 1998 that looked beat to hell but he was holding +/- 0.0002 like it was nothing. Meanwhile I see all these posts online about needing a brand new Mazak or DMG with probing and tool setters to get tight tolerances. His whole shop was dusty, no fancy coolant filtration, just experience and careful setups. I honestly feel like we rely too much on the machines doing the thinking for us instead of learning the basics. I watched him indicate a vise by tapping it with a brass hammer and it took him maybe 2 minutes. Has anyone else seen a shop like that make you rethink your whole approach?

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olivia57311d ago

Did Dave happen to show you his old surface plate and how he checked parts with an indicator and a tenths mike? I worked in a shop like that years ago where the oldest guy there could hold tenths on a worn out South Bend lathe just by listening to the cut and feeling the tool. We get so caught up in buying expensive gear that we forget the real skill is knowing how to set things up right and trust your hands.