Off Topic What are tolerances

I work in a machine shop too, can I join in on your discussions? Our machines are dinosaurs, but can still mill to within .005" tolerance, which is more tolerance than we need to produce what we do! Yous guys and all your high tech stuff! lol
 
We are primarily a dod contractor that specializes in armor. Stryker, merkava, Abrahams amongst other military equipment and vehicles. Raytheon, bae, volvo stuff too.

We also do prototypes and one offs as well.
danbot said:
We specialize in designing and building machines and automated machining fixtures. But we do lots of work for GM, military and some nuclear power stuff too lately.

What do you guys mostly do?
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91bravo said:
I work in a machine shop too, can I join in on your discussions? Our machines are dinosaurs, but can still mill to within .005" tolerance, which is more tolerance than we need to produce what we do! Yous guys and all your high tech stuff! lol
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Of course you can!! .005 is good enough for most things. Sometimes* things are over toleranced to the point of idiocy. Other times every .0001 counts.
 
91bravo said:
I work in a machine shop too, can I join in on your discussions? Our machines are dinosaurs, but can still mill to within .005" tolerance, which is more tolerance than we need to produce what we do! Yous guys and all your high tech stuff! lol
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Hey, I started out on the dinosaurs! Nothing wrong with that!
 
shinyedges said:
That one there is .0001 away from nominal, what's worse is when the part is long, has surface finish call outs, clocked features, has machined features on all sides, features that are toleranced off other features.. just to name a few.
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My son is a machinist and stuff like that keeps his blood pressure up.
 
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USMCPOP said:
My son is a machinist and stuff like that keeps his blood pressure up.

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I tell my wife it isn't physically hard but it can be stressful as hell. Requires constant attention, a lack in judgment can be a huge disaster. Mentally demanding sometimes.
 
shinyedges said:
I tell my wife it isn't physically hard but it can be stressful as hell. Requires constant attention, a lack in judgment can be a huge disaster. Mentally demanding sometimes.
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Yep! In this trade you really learn how to own up to the mistakes that you can't fix! And you really learn how to fix the mistakes you can so that no ones the wiser!;)
 
shinyedges said:
I tell my wife it isn't physically hard but it can be stressful as hell. Requires constant attention, a lack in judgment can be a huge disaster. Mentally demanding sometimes.
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My son doesn't crash often. But there was one morning before the coffee kicked in good that he demolished a Renishaw measuring probe. Those things can cost $3,500. or so.
 
USMCPOP said:
My son doesn't crash often. But there was one morning before the coffee kicked in good that he demolished a Renishaw measuring probe. Those things can cost $3,500. or so.
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Ouch!! That'll wake ya up!
 
USMCPOP said:
My son doesn't crash often. But there was one morning before the coffee kicked in good that he demolished a Renishaw measuring probe. Those things can cost $3,500. or so.
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About 5k for this one.. Early morning mishaps are a nightmare.
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shinyedges said:
About 5k for this one.. Early morning mishaps are a nightmare.
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It used to look about like that one, LOL. He told his fairly recent employer that he'd only crashed a few times in about 3 years on the job. The shop guys didn't believe him. Then he told them about it and that when he does, he does it right. :) He likes the new job and they love him.

Oh, and he's big on the geometric tolerance stuff, speeds/feeds/DOC and all that. He saved them quite a number of hours on a run of parts when he first got there just by optimizing the cutting. Speed freak. He does a tiny bit of consulting for a satellite company on the side on how to best make parts and fixtures, for $65./hr. They have plenty of engineers to do math, but the boy knows how to whittle metal.
 
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Basically for every zero you add the the right of the disamel point for the tolerance you can add one the left of the disamel point of the price
 
USMCPOP said:
It used to look about like that one, LOL. He told his fairly recent employer that he'd only crashed a few times in about 3 years on the job. The shop guys didn't believe him. Then he told them about it and that when he does, he does it right. :) He likes the new job and they love him.

Oh, and he's big on the geometric tolerance stuff, speeds/feeds/DOC and all that. He saved them quite a number of hours on a run of parts when he first got there just by optimizing the cutting. Speed freak. He does a tiny bit of consulting for a satellite company on the side on how to best make parts and fixtures, for $65./hr. They have plenty of engineers to do math, but the boy knows how to whittle metal.
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Sounds like your son is a talented machinist. I took to machining immediately, I was/am taken with how I can create a solid model of something I imagined and have a part in my hand minutes later.

I absolutely love bringing things to reality, machinist are a crucial part of our world and yet I almost never hear of any kids aspiring to become machinists. Manufacturing in general is in need of smart talented people, and as you mentioned a good living can be made.
 
shinyedges said:
Sounds like your son is a talented machinist. I took to machining immediately, I was/am taken with how I can create a solid model of something I imagined and have a part in my hand minutes later.

I absolutely love bringing things to reality, machinist are a crucial part of our world and yet I almost never hear of any kids aspiring to become machinists. Manufacturing in general is in need of smart talented people, and as you mentioned a good living can be made.
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He's good for a 28 year-old. Took awhile.

I saw a great post from a guy on Practical Machinist. He was at a cocktail party and some young fluff asked him what he did for a living. He told her he made "aircraft parts". She wondered why anyone would make aircraft parts. "Why don't you just buy them?"

My son made a tiny steam/air piston engine years ago on a really crummy Chinese mill-drill we got from some tool gypsy truck. It's cute. Works.

One of my uncles co-founded Boston Digital way back when. They made the high-speed Bostomatic milling machines that were used to make things like small turbine blades and EDM carbon electrodes.
 
USMCPOP said:
He's good for a 28 year-old. Took awhile.

I saw a great post from a guy on Practical Machinist. He was at a cocktail party and some young fluff asked him what he did for a living. He told her he made "aircraft parts". She wondered why anyone would make aircraft parts. "Why don't you just buy them?"

My son made a tiny steam/air piston engine years ago on a really crummy Chinese mill-drill we got from some tool gypsy truck. It's cute. Works.

One of my uncles co-founded Boston Digital way back when. They made the high-speed Bostomatic milling machines that were used to make things like small turbine blades and EDM carbon electrodes.
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EDM carbon electrodes! Now that brings back some memories for me! Some very, messy, black, messy, everywhere, messy memories!
 
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