Dave Lyon wrote
Hari Seldon wrote

The other problem is that getting the boss to buy any tooling
is like pulling teeth, so I figured I'd buy my own larger dia.
face mill (with the boss springing for the inserts) but I don't
want to spend an arm and a leg on one ($50 would be cool).

Do you suppose the boss won't buy the proper tooling because
he knows that you will?

To put this in perspective, the company I work for is a fairly
young company and only has around 30 employees in total,
with the machine shop dept. having all of 4 guys.

I suspect two things are responsible for the penny-pinching
when it comes to tooling and such; the boss (plant manager)
is a white collar management type of guy and while he's cool
to work for, he's not a former machinist and thus kinda freaks
out when he sees the prices of needed stuff;

"You mean $2.50 only buys us _one_ of these tiny little
face mill inserts?"

The other thing is that the "old timer" in the machine shop
brought a lot of gear with him when they formed the dept.
around 10 years ago (instead of sending the work outside)
and so the company didn't have to buy much of the stuff it
normally would have.

If you finish a job twice as fast with the proper tooling, who
gets to keep the extra money earned?

There's no I in team....

I don't have a problem buying my own tooling if the price
is reasonable and it's something I'll have for many years
(like a face mill) and can take with me if I move on to a
different employer. But I ain't buying "consumables" like
inserts, end mills, drills and such.

And it's been my experience that since smaller family owned
type companies have more interaction between management
and the employees, they actually appreciate an employee that
does a good job and this is factored in when one needs some
time off or something and when it comes time to share the
wealth or kick someone to the curb.

With big companies on the other hand, you're just a number
and whether you do a good job or not (unless you're a total
screw-up) nobody notices and even if they do notice, it won't
get you anything.

Do the best job you can with the tooling you're given. If the
boss won't spring for the proper equipment, that's his problem.

Yes, but I'm still the one who has to get the job done and I'm
the one who is _directly_ affected by the lack of proper tooling
(or at least tooling that makes the job go smoother).