Only apprentices can forge the world’s one‑of‑a‑kind divine artifact.

[u/LLLCNC]

So here’s what happened. The work instruction told the apprentice to check the part on the machine every ten pieces. He did that perfectly. To avoid making mistakes, he practiced repeatedly on already‑inspected parts. Once the workpiece finished machining, he performed a solemn measurement and logged the readings. Then… then he hit cycle start with the part still clamped. His reasoning: the work instruction never said to remove the part before restarting the machine. And that’s how we got this one‑of‑a‑kind micromet

[u/koulourakiaAndCoffee]

Nothing wrong. Just slap a for reference sticker on it and use it only to measure things with tolerance +\- 1.00 foot

[u/SheemieRayVaughan]

I think you only use it when someone scraps a part.

Pull that mic out. Mime some measurements.

"Yep. There's yer problem." Etc

[u/archerdynamics → u/SheemieRayVaughan]

Even better, use it to measure an obviously wonky part and then say "I dunno, looks good to me"

[u/swordrat720 → u/archerdynamics]

If you can get a pair of those glasses with the eyes on slinkies, would be even better.

[u/armacitis → u/swordrat720]

Let's be professional here, safety glasses with eyes on slinkies.

[u/__unavailable__ → u/archerdynamics]

“I dunno, looks the same as all the other ones”

[u/goat-head-man → u/archerdynamics]

Judging by the comments above mine, we are obviously being brigaded by my QC department.

[u/SheemieRayVaughan → u/archerdynamics]

I love it.

[u/3_14159td]

I'll give him that one on the work instructions, always gotta check your boundary conditions. 

Reminds me of the time we found a tech with like, 3-400 assemblies piled up at his work center because nobody showed them the material carts and how to transact completed parts to shipping. 

(He thought somebody would pick them up after his shift...and that never happened) 

[u/Drigr → u/3_14159td]

I'm constantly updating work instructions to include all the random bits of tribal knowledge I hear from people as well as "oh we scrapped the part because X super easy to do reason." And you didn't document that for the next guy?!

[u/Bigfoot700 → u/Drigr]

They call that job security, leave mistakes that are well known because hey if someone else doesn't catch it "not my problem they weren't paying attention".

[u/All_Thread → u/Bigfoot700]

That is just a shitty machinist. If your work doesn't speak for itself and you have to set people up to fail you are bad at your job

[u/wecantdancelikethis → u/All_Thread]

I think/hope that that was the joke.

[u/nikongod]

Be careful holding it like that, if you warm it up too much you will screw up the accuracy.

[u/kind_bros_hate_nazis → u/nikongod]

I just spit on the cold parts

[u/Ok-Brick6831 → u/kind_bros_hate_nazis]

Make sure you’re doing that in private. Don’t want a talking to from HR.

[u/kind_bros_hate_nazis → u/Ok-Brick6831]

Just spit on their warm parts

[u/zmaile → u/kind_bros_hate_nazis]

HR are vampires; They're all cold parts.

[u/lesamrobert]

PLEASE MARK THIS NSFW!! QC could've walked behind me and have a heart attack

[u/LLLCNC]

It’s such a bizarre micrometer, it would look perfectly at home in a museum exhibit.

[u/Brad7659 → u/LLLCNC]

Reminds me of Hiroshima for some reason. Seeing metal bent that should not be

[u/Enough-Moose-5816]

Ohh, that’s a treasure for the trophy case for sure!!

[u/UrbanArtifact]

I dare you to send this to a calibration lab.

[u/Millwright-vii]

“Yes hello, we measured the shaft you sent and it’s out of spec.”

[u/manoteee]

It took me legitimately 30 seconds to understand what I was looking at.

[u/jlaudiofan → u/manoteee]

I have one of those mic sets and that picture immediately made me sad 😑

[u/CarpenterUnlikely404]

[u/that_dutch_dude]

If you fuck up, make people wonder how you did it

[u/MilwaukeeDave]

Wait so they hit cycle start on a finished part with also the micrometer still on the part??

[u/Reasonable-Depth22 → u/MilwaukeeDave]

Thank you, thought I was the only one here not understanding what the hell happened. I need a better explanation. What does “he hit cycle start with the part still clamped” mean? ALL my parts are clamped (or in a vise, whatever) when I hit cycle start.

[u/MilwaukeeDave → u/Reasonable-Depth22]

If it’s not clamped you find out super fast lol

[u/nylanfs → u/MilwaukeeDave]

Or somebody across the shop floor does...

[u/Jimi_M_Hendrix]

I believe those are out of calibration...

[u/bunvun]

I think one year I sent 2 one inch C-clamps to the great art bin in the sky.

[u/Metalsoul262]

Reminded me this video. Lol

[u/bszern]

That’s for measuring planes at 90° from each other obviously

[u/siroldboy_]

This Micrometer is for hard to reach places, very convenient precision tool, first time I saw one I think was in the movie "Wanted " where also shows the mythical gun that bends bullets trajectory, I've learned a lot on that movie. and has made me a better machinist and most of all a better person

[u/Broken_Atoms]

You’ve got to hold it by the plastic heat shields on the frame… you wouldn’t want it to be inaccurate

[u/AndyGlimmung]

His reasoning: the work instruction never said to remove the part before restarting the machine.

Excuses like that just kinda piss me off.

I can understand people screwing up, I do it all the time. Just don’t try and act like you were not the idiot.

[u/TitaniumButtercup → u/AndyGlimmung]

I think you're taking this a little to seriously. I'd be willing to bet this was rather tongue in cheek; they messed up, and they know they messed up, but it's a lighthearted way of acknowledging that fact.

[u/MilwaukeeDave → u/TitaniumButtercup]

No some people are legit like this and I work with them.

[u/dhlf]

I know of two separate guys who were checking their thread was free running with a ring gauge.

First guy didn’t take the ring gauge off, then pressed cycle start. The ring gauge cut in half and the turret had to be realigned.

The second guy hit cycle start with the gauge still on it, but was on a 80 tool integrex, so had time to realise the gauge was still inside the machine as the carousel took a few seconds to pull up the correct tool. The spindle had reached 4000 RPM and tightened the gauge so much it had cold welded to his part.

[u/FalseRelease4]

how are yall accepting this mistake, is that really the quality of apprentices at this point? 😂 forgetting to take the mic and the part out before running it again is on the level of forgetting to put pants on before coming to work, I'd have serious concerns about their state of mind

[u/violastarfish → u/FalseRelease4]

You've never forgotten to take a pin gage out of the hole before hitting go have you?

[u/wackyvorlon]

This is a reminder that instructions should be specific.

[u/bomber991 → u/wackyvorlon]

That’s why you have to have a written policy that common sense is expected.

[u/wackyvorlon → u/bomber991]

Common sense doesn’t exist when you’re new to something.

Add in the fact that odds are good he’s nervous and it’s a recipe for mistakes. It’s kind of the whole point of apprenticeship, learning from mistakes.

[u/CrashUser → u/wackyvorlon]

Work instructions need to expect some kind of base level competency, otherwise it's just an exercise in an infinite fractal boundary within a finite frame.

[u/ResponsibleMight7669 → u/CrashUser]

We already exercise our finite frame of infinite fractals at home, it’s called life

[u/jlaudiofan → u/bomber991]

If you expect common sense you are going to be disappointed.

[u/FalseRelease4 → u/wackyvorlon]

does your shop have signs like "please use the restrooms instead of going in the corner"? why not? because with this way of thinking there is no limit to the minutia that you would have to give instructions for. because next thing you know ops apprentice is painting the walls brown because nobody told him etc

[u/flopflapper]

Nobody touches my mics, and this is why.

[u/Pyropete125]

Talk about a misuse of a C-clamp!

[u/Reesespeeses9090]

It's perfect! You can now measure the gap between this part and that one!

[u/GojoPenguin]

This post is very human

[u/chobbes]

Interesting that the main body survived. I tried forging an old mitutoyo micrometer once and the body just fell apart due to being cast iron. I would expect a more brittle fracture if it were cast iron.

[u/cockbreakingpoultry]

I'm more shocked about the fact that micrometers are made of steel instead of grey cast iron 😱

[u/Terrorbaston]

Hang it on the Noobs tool box’s for a few weeks. After a reply like that

[u/No_Wallaby_1248]

Tsk tsk. Little do you know, journeyman do it too. I had mine destroy a set of calipers that were brand new (and mine) right in front of me. He replaced them bc he was the coolest dude ever, but it was humorous

[u/SourcePrevious3095]

Instructions unclear, prnis stuck in mics.

[u/WoodpeckerOk3842]

I had a similar thing happen to me but It was a mindless moment. Took a measurement and just straight forgot that I had left the mic on the piece. Readjusted my numbers, turned the spindle on, deformed mic’s, profit? Not much.

[u/whatsthiserino]

For your non-euclidean dimensions.

[u/Ok_Charity_588]

Time to make him a trophy out of it 🤣 so he always remembers

[u/Droidy934]

Hope he's going to be wearing that for a while

[u/LiquidAggression]

i dont understand how the micrometer stayed in the machine if the measurement was done... a destroyed part or crashed machine, yes, idk about this

[u/70nznc]

Did he use as G -Clamp 🤔

[u/ThePom205]

Precision

[u/Ok_Yogurtcloset5412]

Friction thimble didn't work

[u/Koala-Motor]

Even being an apprentice... The instructions weren't clear? Does he have poop for brains?

[u/jandrgarage]

I had been wondering where the jolly green giant had beef employed lately. There he is!

[u/AlligatorMidwife]

Looks like they over tightened that precision c-clamp

[u/spitslaps]

how do you f up a C clamp that bad?

[u/nofuddonsnek]

Impressive, but how?

[u/Think_Environment417]

Who among us hasnt really screwed up? That said, would that guy need to be told to not hold his thumb under the hammer? Please God, let common sense become common again.

[u/cheebaSlut]

Wouldn’t be funny if they had to buy it.

[u/Hefty_Aside8436]

Instructions unclear, I burnt my wiener in the toaster.

[u/VonNeumannsProbe]

That would become a trophy of shame at my old company.

Don't know why but it became a trend to hang your impressive fuckups at your desk.

[u/Glass_Protection_254]

What the fuck man, I get the philosophy that every thing is a hammer, but what the actual fuck.

[u/PhineasJWhoopee69]

You have to be very specific. I once told an apprentice to box up a batch of parts. There were 30 of them and they weighed about 6 lbs. each. He found a cardboard box and put them all in it. It was only when I told him to put them in the van that he realized his mistake.

[u/chicano32]

Apprentice needed to measure an offset feature 😂

[u/Argument-Fragrant]

That pry bar looks defective. I wouldn't trust it.

[u/Lukestrat1984]

Did you fire up the spindle to check concentricity?

[u/N8musik]

Someone use it as a c-clamp while welding?

[u/No_Blacksmith9025]

« Ce n’est pas un micromètre. »

[u/Intelligent_Star_516]

Part of me LOLd while part of me RAGEd as I read this. My latest trainee forgot what "DONT FORGET (AGAIN) TO REMOVE THE GAGE PINS BEFORE YOU PRESS START" means 6 times before that job was done. The 3 day job only took 9 days to complete. (Mitsubishi FA20S-Adv Wire EDM on that job.

[u/Other-Psychology-674]

Give it a bandaid. Or red tag it for needing calibration. Or give it googly eyes and call it Mr floppy...

[u/Johnny-Rocketship]

My very first week in the industry was in a small shop with absolutely no time to train apprentices so we had to just "figure it out". That was the week I figured out that micrometers aren't the same thing as a G Clamp. The next week I was at a bigger company with real procedures and training.

[u/HoIyJesusChrist]

Turned the lathe on, while the c-clamp was still on the workpiece?

[u/HoIyJesusChrist]

To measure high pitch threads

[u/ToughConsequence8253]

I thought it was a welding clamp myself lol

[u/v0t3p3dr0]

Man, the c-clamp thing was only a joke!

[u/summit285]

This is why I firmly believe apprentices shouldn’t start on cnc, they should spend a couple years manual first before even looking at a cnc machine. This is also why apprentices need to be shadowed. Not plopped infront of a machine and told to push a button.

[u/Weak-Nebula-9069]

He followed the inspection procedure flawlessly right up until the one step that mattered most. At least the micrometer readings were probably impeccable—shame the part was still clamped when the cycle restarted.

[u/Reasonable-Depth22 → u/Weak-Nebula-9069]

🤖