Gorton 2-28 milling machine

heh...one of my first memories when I got my job at _American Machinist_ and started visiting job shops was the "fixtures" rack in one particular shop. I thought it was a staging area for cutoffs and scrap.

There must have been fifty of the things on that rack. I wonder how those guys remembered which one was for which job.

I tend to go a 1/2 inch or so past the edge of the part so that following error is constant across the entire subject area..

Run a finish pass 010 or so deep at max feedrate with feedrate lockout active.

A ledger, indexed by part number; if the job uses several tools then each one has a sub-entry every space on the rack has a definite name such as rack 16 shelf 5 pos k......

Each tool is engraved with the part and fixture number in case it ever gets misplaced; the planning traveler spells out which tools are needed to make any particular part.

jon_banquer fired this volley in news:03f63e12- snipped-for-privacy@ka6g2000pbb.googlegroups.com:

If the purpose is to preserve them for replacing parts later, or making more for duplicating a machine, then yes.

I have "waste plate" fixtures that have been used for dozens of different jobs. When I run out of "holes" (or places for them), then they go in the scrap, but I save them as unlabeled working fixturing for future jobs until they're useless.

I have the other, truly dedicated ones, as well. Everyone does. That's what my marking stamps are for.

Lloyd

Yeah, I realize how it's normally done. I'm sure those guys could connect the jobs with the fixtures.

I was referring to what really was a bunch of junk stuck together to do onesies and twosies. If there was any organization to it, it wasn't apparent. These guys just couldn't throw anything away. I was being slightly facetious.

I was co-owner of a job shop in the mid-'70s. We had junk "fixtures" like that, too. Somehow we remembered what went with what. But it usually didn't matter, because perhaps 90% of our work was scientific and engineering models and test equipment for Princeton and Forrestal Research Center, and no two jobs were ever alike.

We were packrats, too.

I probably have a couple tons needing to go to the scrap yard..

--no hurry though..

As long as you have the space to store it and aren't being taxed on it, it just gets more valuable with time.

It's expensed upon purchase, when it is sold, the income must be reported as earnings and is thus subject to taxation sane as anty other earnings.

Actually, aluminum prices tend to swing quite a bit..

--stocking up at the wrong time probably ended up becoming a very poor investment choice for many folks.

Currently, it's back to about the '2006 level, ( ~$ 2.00/ LB ) a level that's been revisited several times after having reached an all-time high of about $3.00 in 2008.

But yes, looking again at the chart, today is probably a better time to buy than to sell.

"PrecisionmachinisT" fired this volley in news:cJidnUSAl5yIT-_MnZ2dnUVZ snipped-for-privacy@scnresearch.com:

In my case, their value has to do with the fact that I'm a full business day-and-a-half away from _any_ suppliers; so having a bunch of stock on the shelves is worth a lot.

Lloyd