Reverse Celebration

[GeneT45]

Anyone who hasn't made an analogous mistake hasn't been making anything for more than a few minutes... The reason I don't have a "box of shame" is because it would consume half the floor space in my 1600 sqft shop!

GsT

 

[coolidge]

Done that, and then there was swearing.

 

[dbb-the-bruce]

No big deal, just turn the shaft bigger.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

I was making a sleeve for a motor shaft today. I’ve done this for the same shaft once before, but that one ended up a little loose—workable, but not quite the satisfying fit I was aiming for. This time, I wanted to get within 0.0005 inches. I measured the shaft several times and confirmed it was 0.5505 inches. Great, I thought, so I planned to bore the ID to 0.56 inches.

I dialed it into the 4-jaw chuck and drilled to 0.5 inches. Then I painstakingly bored it to size. I’m pretty slow, and I checked the dimensions often, so it took a while. I’m doing this on my little Taig lathe, so it was a big job for the machine, especially starting with a 1.0-inch OD stock. But —I actually got it “dead bang” on the money.

As I stood up, I glanced at the sketch again and got that sick feeling in my stomach. Does this kind of dumb stuff happen to you guys? It sent me upstairs pouting. So frustrating sometimes.

Don't be too hard on yourself, I'm a toolmaker who does this for a living and I get it worng sometimes.



Just find a way to decompress for a bit and get the frustrations out.


I often hop on one of our PIVs and go out behind the maintenance building and swat at wasps with a 4' long piece of conduit. I just bang on the nest until their flying about looking to kill something, then try swatting them all out of the air before I get stung.

Makes the machining mistake pale by comparison.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

I estimate about 10% of my shop time is correcting errors...

Yes, and an additional 20% is correcting engineering's mistakes or whoever drew the ******* print and didn't have the courage to sign off on the print in the provided box.

Then again, the signoff thing is probably due to me bringing in and delivering the aforementioned wasps too many times.

 

[Eddyde]

Yes, and an additional 20% is correcting engineering's mistakes or whoever drew the ******* print and didn't have the courage to sign off on the print in the provided box.

Then again, the signoff thing is probably due to me bringing in and delivering the aforementioned wasps too many times.

Yeah that's me as well. However, I'm usually the engineer....

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Yeah that's me as well. However, I'm usually the engineer....

Address to deliver wasps to?

 

[WobblyHand]

It's kind of fun to blame the other person for their errors/blunders, but when it's your part you designed AND you effed it up, either in design, or machining, there's no one to blame but oneself. Self flagellation isn't nearly as much fun as flailing on others.

Just have to go back to the drawing board, and to design something that is going to work and you can make. That combination can be elusive at times, but is gratifying when it it all comes to fruition. There's enjoyment in the idea part of creativity as well as the making it a reality in the shop. Have to admit that sometimes one can't get there from here, which forces a reevaluation. Been stymied on a couple projects where I simply don't know how to get the end. With reluctance, those projects are either tabled, or I come up with a way that's totally different. It's part of the challenge, getting it done within a resource limited shop. Definitely stretches your abilities, which is a good thing.

 

[Nigel123]

I can beat that. Bored a coupling to a perfect 1.250, then realized the drawing said 1.1250.
Once you get the wrong number stuck in your head, the only way to dislodge it is machine the part to it.

I agree to that
Making a metric set of gears had 127 to 100 ratio in my head
Gears are 127 to 120.Made the blank 120 and set the dividing head to 100
Cut the blank down to 100 size and made the gear then made the 120
Tell myself I needed the practice