Some days you just need to stop and go have a beer.

DeanB

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So I am making a collar to go around the depth indicator for the quill on my bridgeport to attach the read head for a quill DRO. Had the collar almost done, hole bored to exactly 1.502" to match the depth indicator, through hole for the screw, measured to trim it down so it will clear everything and go to make the final cut. At this point I should have stopped and went to have said beer. But I didn't. Proceeded to set up to make the cut but neglected to lock the quill. Guess what happened? The end mill fed down and got deeper and deeper. One ruined part. Still didn't learn my lesson and call it a night. Got a piece of aluminum bar to cut off a piece and start over. Just into the cut and the bandsaw blade broke. Finally learned my lesson and gave up for the night.
 
Making one offs, I try to stop early- mistakes are much more likely the later it gets
 
When I screw something up (often) I get upset with myself and walk away. A lot of times for the day and that gives me time to think about what I did wrong, or admit to myself I knew the right way to do it but cut corners and it bit me in the butt and cost me more time and money that if I'd had done it right in the first place.

Today I had plans to run some parts on my vmc but mother nature had other plans and threw us a spring snowstorm and we lost power for 16 hours. We just got our power back and hopefully after freezing our butts off today I can get a good (warm) nights sleep and not break anything tomorrow.

Did I mention my shop is flooded? No sump pump. Funny thing it needs power to run. Imagine that. Got an inch of water everywhere. :rolleyes:
 
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Not that a beer would be involved, but last Saturday afternoon, after 1hour + 15 minutes of intense concentration activity, my buddy behind suggested I might be getting a bit tired, and he did not want I should start making mistakes.

The "activity" happened to be moving across the county at up to 100kts between riding thermals in circles at near 50° bank in a glider (sailplane), while underneath controlled airspace for airliners. I was not even aware I was showing signs of allowing the speeds to drift a bit. Eagle-eyed picky maybe he was, but I still had yet to handle the navigation back, the full airbrakes spiral descent, the circuit, and the precision dead stick landing.

You might not notice your concentration slipping. Your machine can chew off your fingers, wind up on your clothing, and mess you up with the chuck, or fling stuff at you. Take regular breaks, and stay hydrated, and maybe just take your time as easy as you like. Stopping for a beer and a chat, or maybe even a nap, is very good for you - and for the parts you don't get to wreck!
 
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