Machinists Expect Tighter Tolerenences

[brino]

....and how about the framing helpers that when measuring call out "16 inches, two big ones and three little ones".
(presumably for 1/2's and 1/4's, but maybe for 1/4's and 1/8's, or perhaps for 1/8's and 1/16's...or maybe....)

Why bother even having a tape measure if you won't use it?!?!?!
Might as well just say "as long as my fore-arm" then hammer it in and nail it tight.
Frustrating!

-brino

 

[C-Bag]

Wow- "The crux of the biscuit"! I have been quoting that phrase for years. My brother was the Zappa fan, but I surely did appreciate the humor, and the intellect. That said- I worked in the construction trades for years, and it taught me many things. The lesson that probably sticks most tenaciously is this- "You GOTTA work within the tolerances required by the person cutting the check." If you work to YOUR tolerances, you either make little dough/hr, or you don't work there long at all.
The same applies across all trades, really. The beauty of all this comes when YOU are the one "cutting the check", so to speak. I really enjoy the work I do, building things FOR ME. Myself and I frequently discuss quality control, and the debate can get lively. But the "check" always clears

Time and again in different jobs I was told to work to the closest tolerances and then criticized for being slow. My response was always do want it right or do you want it fast? The good thing about being the one who writes the check is you don't HAVE to find something to criticize. They put me on the crew because there was no tolerances and then I'd have to get in somebody's face, boss or fellow crew when it took more time. But it's like a golf shot. Just a little off at the beginning gets you WAY into the rough by the end.

We were laying out a fruit sizer that was 10' wide and 120' long. It had 3 huge chains that is the heart of the machine and their chain guides needed be laid out accurately in the bed of the frame of the machine. I didn't know it at time but they put me charge because the rails always looked like drunks had installed them. The crew would look at the prints and carefully cut a piece of 2"x2" tube jig to exactly what the print said and then lay tube on the header, slide the rails up against it. Then whack it up against the jig tube and tighten down the rail. The problem now was getting the jig out. So they just whacked out and went on. Never having the time to see extracting the jig just pushed the rail out of alignment.

So when I got the job to lay out the rails they handed me the jig and on the first rail I realized I could not make this work. I tried cutting the ends so just one edge on each end touched and it was better. But you still had to whack it free and that sometimes took a bit. I ended up taking the tube and cutting it and putting a hinge in the middle so it would freely lift out afterwards. I got about 10 headers down and all the sudden I was swarmed by bosses alarmed I wasn't beating furiously on the setup. They looked, they measured, they looked down my done rails and told the crew leadman to keep that jig. It dissapeared after we got done with the machine. That same leadman laid out the next machine with a solid tube jig. Call it historical engineering.

 

[jwmay]

..and how about the framing helpers that when measuring call out "16 inches, two big ones and three little ones".

I was a carpenter in the Army. On my third deployment we were sent ahead of our tools, but had work on day one ofc. My family was anxious to send us care packages, and wanted to know what I needed. I sent back, “I need ten dummy tapes, and pack of pencils, and a hammer.”

For those that don’t know: A dummy tape is a tape measure that’s numbered to sixteenths.

 

[westerner]

That same leadman laid out the next machine with a solid tube jig.

Yup. There you go. "you can lead a man to knowledge, but you can't make him think".