A long overdue "thank you" to the group for answering my sometimes
stupid questions as I learn about metalwork. I started knowing NOTHING
and the learning curve has been near vertical...

Been at trade school now for 3 years, one day a week when I can make
it. Learnt lots of things about working with metal, notably the need
for accurate, repeatable measurement and how to tell if its your
ignorance or the machine out of true or badly set up thats resulting
in crap job results. I can now, at school, usually work to a tolerance
of 0.05mm.

The first 3 months at school, thought it was crap - how to use a file,
square, calipers, protractors, verniers, micrometers, marking out -
realise now its the basic knowledge needed before you do anything
else. Thought I knew it, but I didnt.

Last two weeks of term, made up a test bar to align my 9 by 20 - did
it on the cylindrical grinder, got it to 2 micro-metres of // accuracy
as measured by the optical comparator. (Don't for a second imagine
that there wasn't a lot of luck in that one!) Discovered the tailstock
was high compared to the headstock. Havent had time to do anything
about it, but it explains a few things that have been happening.

Also made up a test bar for the mini-mill - need to check alignment
across its table travel range as well as the usual dialing in the
vise. Have made the student things as well - an accurate V block, cast
iron, roughed out on horizontal mill and finished with the surface
grinder. Also a clamp for same, done on the Bridport vertical mill.
Learnt how to hand grind lathe bits, and to make form tools. Learnt
how to hand sharpen twist drills on the 9inch bench grinder, measure
the angle with the drill gauge I made, learnt how to interpret a test
drill hole to see if its cutting true..... Learnt a bit about welding,
MIG and ARC - just an intro, need lots more practice to be competent.
Short intro to AutoCad - wow, seems like 30 commands to do a straight
line...

Learnt how to cut threads on the lathe - still a struggle, need the
textbook open in front of me to work out major and minor diameters and
all the rest. My lathe at home - lowest speed is 100rpm, bit radical
for thread cutting. Got a DC motor, need to do the control electronics
and mount it to the lathe.

Had my share of stuffups as well - got the X/Y/Z power feed controls
on the big horizontal mill mixed up, broke a BIG expensive cutter.
Broke a few end mills by being too enthusiastic about feed rates. Or
crashing into the job- getting impatient at how long it was taking to
get the tool to the surface...Havent broken any taps in jobs - about
the only student who has escaped being abused by the storeman. Dropped
a VERY Heavy 4 jaw chuck on my foot, the safety boots prevented real
damage but the new nail is still growing. Squashed a finger as well.
Wrecked a small steel ruler when it got sucked into a running lathe -
heard it whistle across the room, thankfully didn't hit anyone. Learnt
that you need to make allowance for the tool diameter when marking out
- it isnt just scribing marks at each end of the cut. And that its
very difficult when using a broaching tool to line up 2 keyways
accurately...and forgetting how many turns of the handle when using an
indexing head on the mill is a problem - that and the maths needed to
get it set up.

Hammers (or precision adjusting tools as the instructors call them)
come in a wide variety of sizes, shapes, weights and materials. Slowly
getting a collection. And a file collection as well.

Learnt that a felt tip marker is good for bluing a job, to be able to
see when the tool just touches the job to be able to set the zero
marks on the handwheels, or when taking a cut to see if its out of
round or diameter. And good for marking out - shows up scriber lines
beautifully, easy to remove with WD40 (see, it DOES have a use after
all)

Don't like flood coolant, goes everywhere, makes cleaning up a real
bugger of a job. And if you don't get it off the ways, or from under
the carriage, makes a rusty mess of everything the next time you use
the lathe. And the taps on the feedlines for the coolant - theres a
magic "sweet spot" where its ok,everywhere else its either OFF or
FLOOD ROOM.

Had lots of really stupid political arguments with people here , I
regret if I hurt anyone, it wasnt completely intentional. (mouth went
off before brain was in gear- sorry) And got lots of good advice too
- when I could get my head around what turned out to be a simple
problem when you were told. Had some good conversations with people
here, and offline - learnt a bit about you guys, nice to know most of
you are "normal" and indeed some interesting philosophical thinkers as
well.

Take Care, Good Luck to you All.

Andrew VK3BFA.

Andrew VK3BFA wrote:
A long overdue "thank you" to the group for answering my sometimes
stupid questions as I learn about metalwork. I started knowing NOTHING
and the learning curve has been near vertical...

Folks underestimate the value of classes when attempting to learn something
new. A friend and I attended a Junior College machining course several years
ago and thoroughly enjoyed it. We and the instructor had the only gray hair
in the class, but it was fun and edifying.

Good on ya.

--Winston


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