How Do You Make A Billet SMX Block? 

I wish my wife would squirt as hard as those coolant nozzles

Hahahahaha

Careful what you wish for xD

@@goldark3 Especially if the wife wants to cut lumps out of you! Remember Wayne Bobbit?

"Sure has potential, but useless until more than half of the weight has been cut"

Steel mills or anywhere they produce metal stock are incredible places. I spent a bit of time in a steel mill and watching 300 tons of molten steel go by in a ladle and eventually come out the other side of a caster and through a rolling mill is just amazing. I got to see a couple cobbles out of the rolling mill (from the safety of the control room) and just watching red hot steel fly through the air was something else.

@@SomeGuysGaragemy dad worked at Rockwell International in Chatt where they had a huge furnace and would melt steel in what to me seemed like huge buckets that would tip and pour the molten metal into molds. One time they had a rookie on the shift try to cool down a hot spot on the furnace and sprayed water on it with a fire hose. needless to say it exploded ,killed that guy and a couple of others, hurt several and left the plant with about a foot of steel covering the floor. inside machines, caused all sorts of fire damage. it was terrible. this was early 70's. They shut down the plant for months.

@@Hobodeluxe007 they are no jokes...the place I was at had a couple blast furnaces for making steel from raw coke/ore. Absolutely terrifying things, pressurized vessels with thousands of tons of molten steel in them roaring. Luckily no major accidents while I was there, but the old timers had quite a few stories...

Is that the machine that you got from Tom Bailey and had to do some modifications on before you could start making blocks

Guessing they would 3d scan a normal ls block then make modifications to the file from there.

You're right, so much programming. But now with A.I., writing code and programming will become a thing of the past.

@@FOH3663not for a while yet

Most likely, most of the program was written by cam software. Usually you model it in a cad software, then transfer that to cam to create the toolpath. That gets you about 80% of the way but you have to check and watch the cam toolpath closely because atleast in my experience, cam software likes to crash parts and tools if you dont catch it in the toolpath before you run the part

At the end of the day the formula for power is all still the same. More fuel. More air. More compression more timing. There's a LOT of tricks these days to wring out every hidden HP and ft of torque, and material science has come a LONG ways since then. I have a NA 4.2 V8 that makes a good 150whp/100tq more than a 70's 396 did while getting 22+ mpg around town, also have 4 cylinder making more than THAT and getting even better mpg while still having incredible boost response and being so light I can pick up and move a complete shortblock around pretty easily by myself.. It's a good thing the tech has come so far because we wouldn't be able to afford the gas for a high performance motor these days if it guzzled fuel like those small and big blocks did back then haha. Even at that most anything newer than about 2000's or so is just cheap weak plastic trash aside from a very few purpose designed motors (all forced induction which I prefer)

People retire when they don't want to work anymore, I don't see Steve being one of those people.😎

Steve aint even that old man.... 😂... I dont know if this is a compliment or an insult😅

I think he means retirement fund, the price of that machine is the price of a house.

Lol...hopefully it will add way more to retirement fund

He's my age, no retirement here pal!!

It's the same concept that large marine vessels use for Captains to see in rough weather on their windows.

Is that the one that AvE uses? His works really good.

​@@Ole_CornPop I always wondered what the round things were in ships windows.

I've always referred to them as the port hole, I'm a CNC repair tech. Even after 30 years in the business I can still sit and watch these things chew up metal all day long, it's just fascinating.

@@Hoaxer51 that's the one

Titans of CNC makes parts for SpaceX, and other rocket companies... they do awesome videos explaining the coding, etc... Not trying to take away from Steve as this is a completely different industry from him. However those videos are very interesting, and they explain a lot. plus make cool parts!!!

@@djwilliams4714 yea I like that channel but I like the guys channel from Australia, the machinist I can’t remember his name but his companies Is CCE believe he does parts for big bulldozers and all big machines!

A computer program writes the code.

With how little people are interested in this trade today, you could apply to a shop with 0 experience and they would probably hire you. And nobody writes G and M code manually anymore. Everything is 3D models and cam software where all you do is toolpath and define tools. Eventually, no matter what you run, you get bored watching it run

@@stimothy9396 I write code daily, mostly for our CNC Lathes here, but also a little mill work. My neighbor is a Swiss machinist and 99% of his programs are done long hand as well. We are out there.....

Question: Does your shop do chip recycling? That's a lotta material, and I wonder how much could get re-used

They really need to get 3D printing of exotic metals sorted out for stuff like that.

@@billdoodson4232 there is inconel and titanium the issue is it's brittle since it's additive. Forged will always be forged. MIM will always be MIM and have its cons. But there are a lot of forged parts that could easily be done with 3D DMLS. There will always be a place for machinists and operators

@SuperiorDefense I totally agree with everything you say. But machining off 98% of the material is totally a waste of time, money, people, material, energy, well everything really. Hence my comment about getting additive SORTED.

I definitely would. I already do on 3d printer live streams lol.

I'd say the most important part is understanding your G codes and your tooling. Nowadays even just a "good" machine can be run just by following instructions. Doesn't need to be no Heller to hold tolerances etc. But knowing what kind of a load a particular tool likes is something you just have to learn through trial and error.

Uhm... you seem to have forgotten KNOWING YOUR MATERIAL!!!! AL6061 T6 machines different than 4140 steel, 360 brass, 316L, Ti6Al4V, or, say, Inconel 718. To name just a couple of different alloys And, perhaps not in all CAPS, know your tools. Meaning you need to know your end mills, face mills, ball mills, drills, reamers, tappers, when to use carbides, when to use high speed steel, when to use ceramic inserts, and so on.

​@@Hydrazine1000 you would make a good teacher.😊

Buy some merch 😁😁

Thank you for your service 😊

​@@stevemorrisracing Wow... just wow.

Have you subscribed to Titans of CNC yet? If you love machining like this you'll dig those guys too. Those guys really believe in Show-and-tell too.

@@mattmanyamI said the same thing. But I think what steve means is dont waste your money joining the youtube membership thing. If he wants to support the channel, just buy some merch instead. Steve still gets some cash and this guy can get a shirt or something.

Definitely

Original block cost $3200

Columbia, that must be fun!

I am glad that through spindle coolant got turned on for the roughing programs towards the end! Especially in pockets like that. Aluminum is "sticky" material. It will grab onto tools that are even a little textured. We buy polished end mills, 1/2" diameter, for our machines and Bridgeports.

I thought the same thing. That machine just turned over 500lbs of billet into tiny chips.

Damn! I read that comment and heard that, in my mind, in the series narrator voice!

I’m not a machinist, but is this some of the techniques that Titans of CNC does to speed operations?

@@stephenlea5765 I don't know what that is. I use GibbsCam for milling and turning, Cenit/Catia for 5 axis laser.

Right! We all bolt on pieces from various manufacturers and tell everyone we "Built" an engine. Mr. Morris here "BUILDS" engines.

You and me both!