so I'm in my sixties and decided to get a lathe and mill. If I had my days again I would have started there. It's guys like you that allowed me to learn these skills and I'm very grateful. Your skill level is amazing and such a good teacher.
Joe, you've done it again! Thanks from another Aussie. I don't have any formal training as a machinist, but who needs it when people like you share their insights and experience!
I knew where you were going when you gripped it on tall parallels. You got me unawares when you put the single short parallel in. But it's simplicity is the key to the elegance. I'm telling you, man. You have the ability to make the complex understandable, and simple. WELL DONE!
That dead blow mallet you used to tap the part looks like a Snap-On with the interchangeable heads. I have one and I love it!!!!! I almost tapped myself in the forehead with it after watching this!!! I can’t believe I didn’t think of this system!!! Wait a minute, yes I can. This is why I subscribed years ago, you are by FAR the best teacher I have ever had!!!!! Thanks Joe!!! You never fail to “unloosen” my mind from the box!!!! Love it. Cheers 🍻 from Ontario Canada 🇨🇦 eh? 😆
Having never touched a milling machine or a lathe for that matter, till I bought them, I have learned on my own for several years... ... Then.. Joe P comes along... I think I learn more here then anywhere else... At 66, I enjoy these videos very much... Thanks....
O yes, same here. And just because online teachers like Joe, old Tony, Adam, we dare to do things we never would. Tis is a longtime dream comes true. Professionally I was a printer, my hobby is woodworking, now I'm retired. In the woodworking I did miss machining metal so I purchased a used lathe and milling machine. O boy, what is the learning curve steep. Thanks to RU-vid it now feels ok, I'm confident I'm doing fine. Keep it coming 👏👏👏👏👏 🇧🇪 Belgium🇧🇪
I've been machining for over 20 years and I find your videos very interesting. And all of them are right on and some great tricks that I wouldn't have known unless I would have watched your video. I tell new machinists all the time to watch your videos very informative. Great job!!
Superb. The ‘universal’ use of a climb cut is terrific - so simple and so effective. I am not a machinist, and my wife thinks I’m crazy to watch these videos. She may be right, but I really enjoy understanding how things are made. Thank you!
you mean i sat through a "that lazy machinist" video only last night pulling my hair out at how long it took him to explain squaring a block and then you drop this today ! that is awesome, i can now forget all that other long winded stuff and store this ! cheers Joe..
There's a reason I enjoy your sharing of Knowledge From Experience; leave it as that. I keep looking milling efficiencies and error reductions while I learn (thinking keeps it fun) andthis was a level up from what I've come up with on my own. Good call back to the climb-milling/burr reduction, and thanks for keeping in the air blast in while reducing the volume. Nice video Joe; I enjoy the channel.
My copper wire just called the Russian mafia. They do not appreciate such productivity improvements, Soviet style was slower, and better for the labor force. Seriously, Joe you are some treasure chest of tricks!
You're right, "why didn't I think of that." I think you're selling yourself short being happy if this is the only thing we take from your videos as a palm-to-the-forehead foundational technique, but this is definitely one of them. I got more than one pttf ideas: 1) grabbing the material shallow distorts accuracy less, 2) creating the flats & squares right up front, 3) using the one Parallel off the one cut parallel & working from there, 4) reducing burrs by cutting inwards. Last, but not least, "real shops use air." I've been cautioned several times to not use air. I do so, but I've always felt guilty, that using air would force debris into the nooks of my machinery. I've only assuaged my guilt by keeping your videos in the back of my head, knowing you do it. "Time is money," & can't tell you how much money I've wasted on the dumbest of cuts. Watching your videos is like putting money in the bank.
Good on you Joe. I think of all the machinist channels on RU-vid i have had more revelations about the smart way to do things from you than from anyone else. In fact i know that is the case... Great teacher, and great machinist which helps. Thanks for the videos
Joe used this technique to machine thousands of plastic parts to square as the axis of the machine defines the squareness and you can not tap down so easy with plastic, simple answer define XYZ without re clamping and totally agree without the climb cut your in the world of burrs! Various machine shops have shown me to dubious mill and vice combinations with cutters I would have junked but you still end up with definitively square finished components and your own square can stay out of harms way locked in your own box. Superb filming and comments passing on gold dust technique.
I don't want this thing off camera for a second. Nobody's gonna be able to complain about nothing! Someone still will find something to complain about. Great information as always. Thanks Joe.
Joe I've had my lathe now for about 6 years , and I'm the one that is always telling you that I wish I had teachers like you years ago. You make learning very easy to understand and follow. I have just purchased my first milling machine to go along with my lathe and now I'm going back and watching all your milling machines videos on milling. Thanks again for all the information you put out for others to learn by.
Lol I don't know why I've never done this when I saw you set the part in the vise I knew exactly what you were gonna do yet I've never thought to do it that way great tip I will try this this evening 👍👍👍
The very same way my uncle showed me when i was a youngster. Im glad someone else besides me does it this way i havent met another machinist that does it this way . geat video Joe
Joe, you're an inspiration. You and a number of others had inspired me to get a little lathe (In my apartment mind you!) And since the start of the pandemic, i've been honing my skills in machining! I've now been saving up for a benchtop milling machine, and I CAN NOT WAIT to get cutting! Cheers.
Hi Joe, I saw this video some time ago and went back to watch it again today as I needed to square up a block of steel for a part. It worked perfectly. I always try to give credit where it is due. I will reference this video in the next video I publish, which will show the squaring up process. Thanks again for this info and all of the other tips you have spent the time making videos for.
Joe, I've.been watching your channel on and off since when you only had a few subs :) I have yet to watch one of your videos and NOT come away learning something that makes what I do as a hobby better or easier!!! Thank you so much for the time you spend making the vids - I know how hard it can be so keep up the great work mate :)
That is truly great. The best way to square a piece of stock I have ever seen. I am going to make a montage of screen shots with notes and hang it next to my mill until I practice it a few times so I will remember it. Bravo!
Hi Joe, did it today old fashioned way and spent heaps of time on it, but tomorrow I will do way you show it! Thanks for tip it helps when all this is bush bashing experience for me. Cheers and thank you!
This so so smart! I'm a beginner at CNC operating (milling), and the senior collegue thaught me wrong all the time (the way you showed ar the start of the video)! I always knew something was wrong the we used to square parts at the start of machining, they usually never were perfectly square and parallel. THANK YOU!
I finally got out in the shop to try this it worked like a champ one thing I will note is with a lil longer skinnier piece added a second parallel just be sure I didn't have any tilt works awesome though way faster than the old way I will do this from now on thanks Joe much appreciated 👍👍👍
Not only is this a much faster method, I'm certain the part you squared will be more accurately done than the other methods using wire, balls, squares, etc. It would be interesting if you put this piece on your surface plate so we can see just how parallel the sides are. I've seen other presenters struggle to get a 3 inch square block of aluminum true to within .002". Thanks for sharing your expertise, acquired via years of experience.
You my friend...are just as if not MORE inspirational to watch than even the professional " motivational speakers" and thats not even the goal of what you teach...! I can say with rock solid absolute certainty that you are as "real" as it gets. The bar stops dead in its tracks with you. Bingo Game Over You Win. Thank You for all that you are. Nuff said.
I had a boss that wanted me to square up 3k parts doing the 1 side at a time method,totally stupid.I wrote a simple cnc program running it the way you described.I did this a few years ago and he thought I was a genius lol.It's really the best way to do it.
Absolutely brilliant Joe! Thank you for sharing these pearls and keeping the haters accountable! 'A Smart person learns from their own mistakes, a Wise person learns from others mistakes."
Hi Joe, I am an old guy that learned to use a lathe and a mill in 1965 in high school. I have worked as a machinist in a variety of jobs over the years. I was a set up man in a large industrial machine shop. I think your tips are awesome and you are incredibly smart for such a young guy. You are probably very close friends with some old guys. I don't understand these people that need to snipe at you for the dumbest reasons. The process you just demonstrated could easily be adapted to any situation whether it would be tool steel or lead. Don't let those disgruntled turds get to you and keep up the good work. Art
I was lucky to always have older experienced machinists who rewarded my curiosity with patience. I learned so much from them. I also saw them let the cocky new engineers who knew everything crash and burn. ( machinist: “Here’s your part “ Punk: “But that’s a bag of chips!?” Machinist: “Hey, you know what you’re doing, I just gave you what you asked for.”) Treat people with respect, value what they have to offer and they will return the favor.
Joe, just tried this to square up some stock, why on earth didn't you show me this earlier! :-) Really enjoying the videos and your wisdom, keep up the great work. (Craig, Scotland)
That's another real valuable lesson! Makes perfect sense. I had noticed on my last mill project the climb mill looked and felt better on the edge cuts. Thx Joe
I've been doing it this way for my whole career. Except I try to finish the profile and only leave facing for the bottom. But it's really fun to watch someone do it the old school way, cut flip,cut flip ..... . And crap it's not square, start over!
I've been self taught and I just ended up doing this way because I didn't know "better". I didn't realize people actually mount the block multiple times. Sounds like a nightmare! The less I have to fiddle with the vise, the more I can trust the machine to keep everything straight.
I hate to bust your bubble but if you use a planer gauge, a roll pin and a tenth dial indicator, your going to find out that the finished block will indeed be all over the place out of square . I made parts for Kodak Cameras that had to be dead nuts square and to do that we ONLY use fly cutters, not end mills . First off you got to tram in the head of the mill dead nuts all the way around then you go at it the way you first described with a roll pin, and you fly cut each side and check with the planner gauge, indicator & roll pin on each side and from that you know witch side is out . Maybe only .0001out on only 1 side but the indicator will find it and show it and you re cut just that side with the fly cutter just enough to clean it up on just that 1 side.
Incredibly useful. I have 3 mills 2 medium WM18 from Warco. And a Denford micro mill. I do lots of milling. Thank you from Reading England. David and Lily.
The problem that arises if it's less than a stellar machine is that you're mirroring the squareness of your mill's ways and the tram of the bit. This will absolutely guarantee opposite faces are dead on parallel. But worn ways will hurt squareness and there's no error correction. The traditional method eliminates errors of orthogonality in the axis of the ways of and being slightly off tram. You are using the ways and the tram of the bit as a master reference. With a good machine, that's perfectly fine because the accuracy will approach that of a master square. Be cautious and check important features on a surface plate.
Dude, yes. I tried this method and my machine is just too worn out for it to work for me. When I went to check square and flatness it was not the same as doing it the traditional way.
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As soon as you started in, I knew what you were going to do but had never though to do it that way before. "Palm to the forehead", as you put it. Thank you!
I just started manual milling at my first engineering job and I messed up my dimensions on my part by not squaring the part first, what a dummy haha. I have absolutely no experience in a machine shop so RU-vid is my bestfriend, super excited to try this technique tomorrow on some 6061!! Thanks :D
Well that was a basic 7th grade metal shop tip. I was shown that over 40 years ago. Maybe I got lucky. Way faster and better way... Make dovetail jaws for the vice, cut dovetails in the block on two parallel sides. Clamp the block in the dovetails and make the part. Flip part, and shave off the back side. Part is 100% finished. You can cut a block out, all out of square but as soon as you have two dovetails cut...nothing else matters.
I would be appalled if we hired the commenters praising this “breakthrough’” for more than entry level operator $. I assumed every shop in the world did this every day and posting a how to would get ridicule. Get a 5 axis and and this seems like 1940’s tips and tricks. We are not unique, just keeping up. Next lesson: the miracle of using 45 deg drill mills to deburr parts in machine…..doesn’t everyone do it?
Joe fantastic.. I was so sure after you did the first 5 sides you were going to flip and do the same again. Did I miss something ?.. is it not an accurate way to do it. Yes you would have to be accurate in the vertical amounts you removed . New to this. Such great content. Hope you got out on the bike this year a little 🙏👍👍
I think the problem there would have been getting the dimensions exactly aligned with the first op. Because you're cutting on all sides you can't use a vice stop, and because you're now removing material from the top section of the sides of the part, you can't easily get an edge finder in there.
Joe, Awesome Video, and Education! I am totally new to Machining. Getting ready to pull the trigger and get my first Mill and Lathe, and can't wait to get started slinging chips. You Channel has been invaluable to me. I have learned a tremendous amount watching your Videos, so much that I won't be so Gunshy, when I get my Machines into my Shop and setup. Just learning all of the Machinist Lingo/Language has been a major help by itself. Thanks again, and keep up the Great Work.
Great video Joe, this square up procedure had to have grown out of your CNC experience, and is a drastic concept to old school apprenticed manual machinists [me] that had it drilled into their head to always work from a machined side, then pickup from, locate or the $64 term used by the guru's of today "register" from that side, using indicators, squares, transits, balls wires ext. Many ways to square up on the mill, and this is a great time saving concept.✅
This video should be displayed in universities regarding near-net-shape design. The back jaw of the vise and a hard stop can make this as repeatable as you would ever need for a repeatable cast part.
I always believed this was the way to square up a block but was always told NO, have to do it This way...with the squares,wires etc....Sometimes some people cannot accept change or a different way just because....SHowing this to my students!!! College Mechanical Engineering Technology..Mfg Process class! Thanks!
Teach and show those students the 'old' ways because most of the time those ways are the best even in this 'modern' era. Joe cuts to the chase with his approach - good lesson for them. Joe loves this shit!
Just what the Dr ordered. I'm about to make some tool holders for larger tools on my lathe and was thinking of milling surface by surface using a rod or ball to keep the part true on the fixed jaw, but this makes much more sense to do. I guess if it is a slightly longer part, you could hang it a bit over one end and face that completely off and then when you flip and turn it to do the opposite side, you can mill to length in the one process.
