After a bad experience while working on a project last night, I looked through the Noteworthy Threads "sticky" and had an idea for a new thread that I think may be useful to those of us still wet behind the ears regarding machine work. What I did not see was a list of common mistakes that us "newbies" are likely to make in our amateur / hobbyist ways.
But I'm not talking about a "how to" list of things to do. I'm talking about a list of things you have learned NOT to do by your mistakes. In other words I would like people to open up and be honest about any mistakes they have made and share them so the rest of us can hopefully not make the very same mistakes ourselves. If the subject line starts will Lathe / Bandsaw / Mill etc., we could have a sort of database to look through before starting a project, and perhaps find a few "GOTCHA'S" to look out for before proceeding.
We are all (well most of us... ;D ) human and we make mistakes. Most likely we make the same mistakes as others do, so why not turn that into a benefit for learning? Just a thought and wanted to ask you folks what you think about it.
For example, in my case --
Milling deep pockets, slots, counter boring etc.:
Always double check the depth of the feature you want to machine against the length of the cutting flutes on your end mill before making your first cut! If you don't have enough length on the flutes to cut at full depth, make sure you are using a cutter that has the same shank diameter (or less) than the cutter itself.
:-[
But I'm not talking about a "how to" list of things to do. I'm talking about a list of things you have learned NOT to do by your mistakes. In other words I would like people to open up and be honest about any mistakes they have made and share them so the rest of us can hopefully not make the very same mistakes ourselves. If the subject line starts will Lathe / Bandsaw / Mill etc., we could have a sort of database to look through before starting a project, and perhaps find a few "GOTCHA'S" to look out for before proceeding.
We are all (well most of us... ;D ) human and we make mistakes. Most likely we make the same mistakes as others do, so why not turn that into a benefit for learning? Just a thought and wanted to ask you folks what you think about it.
For example, in my case --
Milling deep pockets, slots, counter boring etc.:
Always double check the depth of the feature you want to machine against the length of the cutting flutes on your end mill before making your first cut! If you don't have enough length on the flutes to cut at full depth, make sure you are using a cutter that has the same shank diameter (or less) than the cutter itself.
:-[
