I heard a guy say speeds and feeds don't matter that much

Overheard a newer operator at lunch saying feeds and speeds are just suggestions, but I've been running this Okuma for 8 years and changing the feed by 0.002 made the difference between scrapping a batch or not. Anyone else think new guys brush off the basics too much?

3 comments

3 Comments

rubyk261mo ago

Reminds me of this guy I used to work with who insisted on setting his tool offsets by tapping the tool holder with a wrench... he'd just smack it until it looked right. Worked fine for him until he taught that to a new kid and they spent a whole shift trying to figure out why everything was off by 0.015.

robin6281mo ago

You ever watch a guy try to level a machine with just his eyeballs and call it good? Buddy of mine runs an old Mazak, been doing it fifteen years. He let a kid dial in a new part once, kid figured .002 here and there was close enough. Ended up with chatter so bad it snapped a $400 carbide end mill, and that was just the start of the problems.

margareto261mo ago

Respectfully, I gotta disagree a little. Eyeballing works fine for a lot of setups if you know what you're looking for. I've seen old timers level a machine by eye and it runs smooth for years. The real problem is that kid thinking .002 is close enough when he's never even checked the machine's actual tolerance or backlash. That $400 end mill didn't snap because of his eyeball, it snapped because he didn't know how to listen to the cut or feel the vibration before it went bad. A good machinist can get away with a rough level if they adjust their feeds and speeds on the fly.