u/wontonhor

I've been thinking about something I saw while working with a machine shop.

The quotations, drawings and setup sheets were all documented, but a surprising amount of practical knowledge wasn't.

Things like:

• Don't use that fixture for this revision.
• This tool tends to chatter on the second operation.
• Watch the vice height or you'll hit it.
• Customer accepted this deviation last time, but only after approval.

One thing I still remember was an operator bringing me an out of tolerance part and asking if I could persuade the customer to accept it. It wasn't even a particularly tight tolerance. It made me wonder whether the same issue had happened before and whether anyone had recorded what happened.

I'm curious how other machine shops deal with this.

Where does this kind of practical knowledge actually live in your shop? ERP? Setup sheets? Whiteboards? Excel? OneNote? Someone's notebook? Or simply experienced people?

What's one lesson your shop learned the hard way that you now make sure nobody forgets?

I'm not selling anything. I'm genuinely trying to understand how different machine shops capture and pass on practical knowledge.

If anyone is happy to chat in more detail afterwards, I'd really appreciate it.

Hi, this is going to be my first 3D printer. My 7 year old saw those fancy 3d printed gadgets, toys, and feel amazed and asking me multiple time to get one for her.

After some research, I am going to get the A1 for her (thinking about also a good chance to introduce some engineering knowledge to her as well).

As I need to get her a new computer (her first one), I am thinking about the Macbook Neo (yes, the cheap 8GB one), but one things that hold me off. How likely we will need a Windows laptop to run software related to use the A1, make some custom designed parts, view other ppl's design file?

Do you think 8GB is good enough, of course we are not going to print some aerospace turbine, so nothing fancy.

TIA!