Plasma cutting cut quaility

[Doug]

We had a supplier for 8 years or more we had waterjet glass parts, we would throw away 2-5% for chips, scratches etc. One day we got a batch of 500 pcs and there were only a few acceptable parts in the bunch, we bounced them and the next 2 replacement batches, Finally Wonder Woman went to their shop and they would let her look at them as they made them, she stayed several hours then after she left they went back to making junk. We now have a small waterjet, we cut about a dozen at a time, clean and check them then run another dozen, sure saves a lot of headaches

Did she use her truth telling Lasso on them ?

 

[Kustomizer]

Did she use her truth telling Lasso on them ?

Nope, just the evil glaring eyes of a natural redhead, talk about feeling like you got spanked without her even lifting a hand

 

[Kustomizer]

The drive to bring work in-house sells a lot of machines...

I didn't want to, the fact that the new guy lacked the work ethic to make good parts without the customer standing there checking them as the lazy operator made them. We tried a couple other shops but didn't get what we wanted, the first shop made them for years, the old grey haired guy retired and that was the end of the good work.

 

[Vancbiker]

The shop I retired from, installed their own anodizing and nickel plating lines just because of the headaches and scrapped parts from suppliers.

 

[Garwood]

I think in housing is the way stuff is heading. The future of making parts for others in the USA seems bleak to me. Products make sense. When you make products doing stuff in house gives you the control. You're not at the mercy of another shop that doesn't care about your parts.

 

[Oldwrench]

I think in housing is the way stuff is heading. The future of making parts for others in the USA seems bleak to me. Products make sense. When you make products doing stuff in house gives you the control. You're not at the mercy of another shop that doesn't care about your parts.

Worth repeating in front of a congressional committee the next time the politicians are posturing for the cameras. "Want to know why there's a looming problem from AI taking over? A WORK ETHIC would have delayed it indefinitely. As long as robots offer the only way to free yourself from the lazy and incompetent, their use is only going to increase." A CNC turning center isn't free, but it doesn't need breaks, doesn't play on its phone, doesn't call out drunk, and doesn't need maternity leave...and it does what you tell it, exactly how you tell it.

 

[Mud]

I've had that conversation over and over about every facet of US life. "Nobody is trying".

 

[Mud]

The shop I retired from, installed their own anodizing and nickel plating lines just because of the headaches and scrapped parts from suppliers.

I can only imagine the pain of having your own plating line as a support process rather than as a main product. Solid indication of how hard it is to get done satisfactorily, and how necessary.

 

[Vancbiker]

I can only imagine the pain of having your own plating line as a support process rather than as a main product. Solid indication of how hard it is to get done satisfactorily, and how necessary.

Pain yes, both work and money. Getting it going was very expensive. It did evolve into a profit center as we took in work from other machine shops. When we moved the main plant about 7 miles away we ended up leaving the finishing operation at the original site due to cost estimates of environmental permitting (air, chemicals, wastewater) for a new location.

 

[Freedommachine]

Well, I guess I'm not the only one who can't get plasma, laser, waterjet work done worth a crap.

I see waterjet parts 1"+ thick that were cut with beautiful definition. I bring them 1/4" 4140 and they blow it all to hell... Every time, it's not cheap either.

I had to switch to wire edm on one part because the corners were too small to mill and nothing else would do it. I told the edm vendor to stack the plates and rip through it in one pass, no spark-out. He thought I was crazy lol.

 

[Barbter]

I've had that conversation over and over about every facet of US life. "Nobody is trying".

Apathy, reigns supreme!

 

[Doug]

Apathy, reigns supreme!

"Meh".....

 

[lobust]

I can only imagine the pain of having your own plating line as a support process rather than as a main product. Solid indication of how hard it is to get done satisfactorily, and how necessary.

I am frequently made irate by my anodisers, but I have to stop and remind myself that about 8 or 9 times out of 10 they don't mangle my parts, and apparently that's pretty good going...

 

[Doug]

I am frequently made irate by my anodisers, but I have to stop and remind myself that about 8 or 9 times out of 10 they don't mangle my parts, and apparently that's pretty good going...

Yabutt ^^^ you certainly don't screw up 10% of the parts, and still send them to your customer
for payment as "Good" doo you ?

 

[lobust]

Yabutt ^^^ you certainly don't screw up 10% of the parts, and still send them to your customer
for payment as "Good" doo you ?

Well, not always, no...

 

[Doug]

Well, not always, no...

And then you make it right by the customer ?

 

[Mud]

And then you make it right by the customer ?

"Pay me for these, then bring me more material and I'll do the next batch for free"

 

[AJ H]

Last place was predominantly a water jet/ laser house. In my experience the people that run these shops aren’t machinists by trade or even true fabricators for that matter so they think hack work is perfectly acceptable and that attitude trickles down to the low end operators. There’s not enough competent people to run real machine tools how do you expect to find one to run a water hacksaw?