r/Machinists

I’ve been terminated 3x in 2 year, but I love what I do. Has anyone found themselves in this situation and figured it out and if so how?

Received a set of machinist squares the other day and I’m disappointed with the amount of oil on them.

But I’d be more disappointed if they rusted.

Wondering if I cleaned them up and use MD 40 Specialist Dry Lube or Bostic Glide Coat if those are effective against rust.

Another option would be aluminum machineist squares, but I haven’t been able to find any.

I designed a custom motorcycle mirror mount to be 3D printed in AlSi10Mg. I aked google to determine the pilot hole size for an M10 tap and it give me 8.5mm size, could someone please verify if this sizing is correct size before I print?

The goal is a 10mm thread. Does anyone have the correct drill/pilot hole size recommendation for an M10 tap in this material?

Thanks!

Context: Handle bar clamp with side mirror mount 10mm

Edit: I apologize forgetting to include the thread pitch. its 1.25

https://preview.redd.it/845e2n0ntcbh1.png?width=890&format=png&auto=webp&s=a409080c42f63999622fc5a87cb78876ffd9e482

I am looking for someone who either already has a small shop or wants to start a shop. I have CNC machines and a building that is sitting. I ran the machines during the day, but my husband set them up after he got off work. We have 3 CNC lathes, 2 CNC mills and 1 Starr with other support equipment. I can get work locally. Since I'm restarting, I'm looking for a business partner vs employee as I'm not sure how long it will take to get things going again.

shop owners. (or anyone that can pitch advice) i recently graduated my 4 year tech college at 18 and i feel like i was taught very very well. i know manual, CNC, and even a little bit of cad and cam. i’ve been working at my place for almost a year now and getting all the experience i can in. but i really don’t plan on working for someone else for the rest of my life. i have a real ambition to get on top of my shit and quite possibly even start my own place. when the time and ideas come for a niche. what are things i can do to build those steps to starting a shop? (machines, investing, saving, anything.)

It used to be there was a blacksmith in every town. I'm not that old, but we did live out in the great plains where things held on a little longer.

But I have a garden tool, edger.Wheel and metal edgers need replacement. I would like to get a batch made.

Is there a website or Reddit that people can submit Requests for these small type of projects?

EDIT: a few people have said to try 8/32 imperial. So that's what I'm going to try next. I only have metric tools, kits and gauges and it didn't occur to me to check imperial sizes on a 60 year old German car. So that's what I'm going to work on. Going to order an imperial thread checker kit....sorry if this was an obvious mistake, like I said, I don't have any experience with this other than wrenching on vehicles with metric fasteners.

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Just to get this out of the way...

No, I'm not a machinist, and I have no relevant experience other than light wrenching on the weekend.

Yes, I actually mean M4 x 0.8mm thread pitch, no, I didn't mean to write M5 😂

I checked the size and threads with 2 different brand kits I have and confirmed they absolutely are not 0.7mm threads, and an m5 screw doesn't fit.

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I have some screws that came off of a 1977 Mercedes. They're a bit rusty and corroded since they're used around coolant hoses and other bits that have been leaking.

They're steel, pan head slotted machine screws, M4 x 0.8mm and are 43mm long (measuring just the threads).

I thought about replacing them with new zinc coated screws....Then I thought I was going crazy when I couldn't find M4x0.8mm machine screws anywhere...then did a bit more googling and learned those don't really exist in modern standard specs.

Most of my searches took me to this subreddit, so I figured I would ask here to see if anyone happens to have a source for oddball sizes like this?

I plan to just gently clean them up and then maybe see if I can send them out to be zinc coated with a batch of other stuff. But I figured it wouldn't hurt to ask and see if anyone happened to have a useful source...other than trying to salvage replacements from eBay or junkyard.

Also, no, I do not want to tap with a different thread. The part these screws go into is a 60 year old, nearly irreplaceable plastic part that is notorious for cracking and leaking coolant that I REALLY don't want to go messing with. Lol.