Perfection-precision

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mf294-4

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What do you think? Is a person born with the natural talent of perfection-precision or is it learned with hours of experience. Starting out machining at 62, I don't have to many years of experience left or that many end mills either. I'm not located where there are a lot of experienced teachers either. Seems like my projects end up close enough but not what I would like or strive for. I'm not going to give up but it is discouraging at times.
 
I would have to say that it is a combination of both talent and acquired skill. There some people that will never get it and many who do. I think mostly it requires a desire to achieve the end result that you want, and then the practice to make it happen. Those last couple of thou is really where the feel of the machine come in to play.

You have to account for tool spring and slop in the machine. All machines have some slop, some just more than others. Once you learn to compensate you will start producing the desired result, this is where the practice comes in. Sharp tools helps also, you'll never get super accurate with dull tools.

I'm 65 and have been machining for about 50 years, and sometimes I still don't get it right.
 
You see/hear of these things everywhere in life. Some people just have the knack for learning/acquiring a skill quickly and easily. Others take longer, some just never get it. My son is a naturally gifted sportsman and is studying quantum physics, but because he has no real desire to work in the shed so he cant/wont learn manual skills. Me on the other hand, I hated school, and all I wanted to do was manual labour. I think the answer to your question lies in the desire of the individual to want to learn and excel at something.

Cheers Phil
 
+1 Phil on the desire to learn and excel.

Don't be discouraged at all, just ask a lot of questions, share your experiences here and get feedback.
I find my abilities will grow in bursts, after those "ah hah" moments .... Often after bouncing things off of others who know more!

Bernie
 
I agree with the above. Some simply dont have the ability. Most just dont want the ability. I started working on metal and fabbing up things as a real hack. It was all about function and no regard at all on form. It dont need to be pretty.

Now i I'm gunning for .0001 and hitting it. Not every time but I'm learning and trying. I have the ability and desire to learn it and thus I will.

Your going to make things as good as you want. If you scrap a part your either learning from it, or just not paying attention. I do not believe they are the same. Mistakes are either blessings or just more time wasted depending on who you are
 
Philosophers hope this question will never get a definitive reply or they will become unemployed, since they are working on this since the last 2500 years!
One of the things pissing me more is when someone totally unskilled in something brag about how much is easy to make that something, and this mainly happens in the computer world. Probably they look too much TV, where fictional computers make everything with a single click.
Years ago I made some web design courses, and at the first lesson my first question was: «Do you all know how to write?»
Someone was even upset by this silly question, so I added: «Good, then take a pencil, a piece of paper and write the whole "Divina Commedia". Now.»
This was just to show them that often basic skills are simply too "basic", and things are not always as easy as they look from outside: of course I never pretend to get a handwritten copy of the Divina Commedia!
But actually, when I was was at the high school, the drawing teacher obliged a boy with a "lead hand" to write some parts of Dante's Inferno on toilet paper with a 6H sharp pencil (just a bit softer than HSS!), until his hand became lighter.
I suggest who want to deepen the perfection-precision-quality argument to read "Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance" by Robert Pirsig. He didn't reach a definitive solution, but it is anyway a good reading.
 
I've learned more from my mistakes than any other source and I have been fortunate to have worked with some very talented "old timers" who helped me a great deal.
Long,long time ago I stopped cussing the machines because they weren't doing what I wanted and started to analyze each aspect of the operation, including myself.
At first, I found most problems were of my own making but as time went on I made fewer mistakes and better decisions because I took the time to understand all aspects
including myself and those failures were easyer to take when I could say I truly learned from them.
It takes time to learn but it's rewarding.
 
Big progress is usually made one small step at a time. It's the culmination of all the little things you learn that lead to accuracy and ultimately, precision. Everyone always learns in their own unique way and I think the most important thing is to learn how to teach yourself. Anyhow, in machine work, I find it helpful to observe everything that's going on. If something doesn't work the way you wanted it to, perform experiments on similar pieces and carefully observe every step of the process and try to identify where things are going wrong -and why.

-And there's nothing wrong with describing individual setbacks or problems here so folks can help with different ideas or suggestions... It makes no difference how or where you learn the little tricks -as long as you learn them somewhere, somehow.


Ray
 
I understand - and share - the problem. The parts I make are never as good as I want them to be, but a very high percentage function perfectly. I've learned to not gage my skill and ability on the part in the chuck today, but rather . . . is the work in general better than it was 6 months ago? Of course it is, because experience, the good help here, and machine tweeks have all improved what I can do. Don't be so hard on yourself, but always push to improve.

I can also tell you that there are NO perfect machined parts. None. In 20 years of QC Inspection, I never saw a perfectly round hole, nor a perfectly flat plane. This is why there are tolerances, and certifications which own up to imperfection. You can try to make machined pieces to NIST standards, but you'll drive yourself crazy. Accept what is if it works, and in time you'll make that part better.

Tom
 
Regardless of whether one is or isn't "born with a talent", the important thing is that you see where you want to improve. That will make you better, because you see the fault and desire to make it perfect. The day I fail to see something in my work that I could do better is the day I should hang up my tools.

-frank
 
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