What Did You Buy Today?

The simple solution is to have both, you know. That's how I do it... ;). But lately the manual mill is getting more use. Some months the CNC is the busiest.

CNC and manual machining are different mindsets. It's good to be versed in both. It's not just being able to make different parts that makes them different. The whole mindset of feeds and speeds is different too. (Running 1/8" carbide 10k rpm vs 3/4 carbide at 2k rpm manually.)

When I get around to the Bridgeport upgrade that will have both. DRO and CNC. The servos can be fully disabled to manually move the mill. This hybrid approach is pretty common on 'conversational CNC'. For a home shop it's pretty close to a one size fits all approach...
Rather than disable them you could add switches and pots to make them power feeds too , right?
 
Rather than disable them you could add switches and pots to make them power feeds too , right?
It wouldn't be the same. You can feel the machine when you're turning screws. It wouldn't be there using pots.

This CNC controller disables the drives with one click of the mouse. Less work to use what's there.

To stay on topic, I had lengths of 1/4" x 4" HR strip, 3/8" x 3" HR strip, 2" x 2" x 1/4" angle, 2" x 3" x 1/4" wall tube, and sch 80 2" pipe delivered today.

I also ordered 12 foot lengths of 3/4" 1045 cold rolled, 1" 1045 cold rolled, and 1-1/16" 4140. Those will be delivered next week.

I'm going to be long on the 4140 and 1045, so if anyone needs any I'd be willing to peddle some of it. Was going to make some machinist jacks, and some home made insert tooling for the mill. But the 12' lengths are standard, so...
 
ultiple monitors are nice. I don't have three yet (on the same PC. I think I have 8-ish in the house, with one more coming for the garage.)
But, I keep looking harder and harder at these:
https://www.amazon.com/SAMSUNG-Odyssey-Ultrawide-Adjustable-LC49RG90SSNXZA/dp/B07L9HCJ2V Or something similar.
I use dual 4k televisions. That gets me twice 3840x2160. For the house I use 50" ones, which means I can sit far enough back that I don't need the reading glasses 8)
 
Online metals!
I went to do a project and realized I was low on inventory.
These round stock 6061 pieces will fill the void for a while.
Pretty sad really.
I’m to the point now I will only buy what I need. Oh boy, did I say that out loud?

boy, I sure would like Mr. pete’s assortment of stock
 

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Those are nice. I have similar ones (a bit smaller) in the office at work...

Had to change the images in the monitors to avoid showing anything from work...

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I like those monitors, I have 2 standard 27" and also my 17" laptop screen. My laptop is an Ailienware X17 R2 13th gen I9, 64GB ram and a 3080 Nvidia with 16GB dedicatied Video RAM (Home Laptop is the same with an upgrade Video panel and Keyboard.... What do you do at work?
 
Large screens far away are OK for words & numbers, but I find I need to be closer for CAD.
I'm only sitting about 5 ft back from the screen, probably about twice the distance most people use a computer monitor, so the angle subtended by the television is about the same. My vision is such that if I can touch it, I need reading glasses, just beyond arm's length and I don't.

If your vision is such that you see better up close, a smaller monitor up close makes sense. Of course, personal preference is valid.

IIRC the human eye resolves about 1 arc minute (1/60 of a degree). You can use that to compute the ideal viewing distance for any monitor/television resolution and size. Just calculate at what distance you get 1 pixel per arc minute. Closer than that distance and the image will get grainy. Further than that distance and the pixels blur together. Of course, vision is a bit more complex so this is a simplification, but a useful one.
 
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I'm only sitting about 5 ft back from the screen, probably about twice the distance most people use a computer monitor, so the angle subtended by the television is about the same. My vision is such that if I can touch it, I need reading glasses, just beyond arm's length and I don't.

If your vision is such that you see better up close, a smaller monitor up close makes sense. Of course, personal preference is valid.

IIRC the human eye resolves about 1 arc minute (1/60 of a degree). You can use that to compute the ideal viewing distance for any monitor/television resolution and size. Just calculate at what distance you get 1 pixel per arc minute. Of course, vision is a bit more complex so this is a simplification, but a useful one.
I prefer a larger screen to cut down on zooming in and out, running 1900X1200 Res...
 
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