Got yelled at by a union rep for my fixturing setup in Detroit

Last year I was running a job at a shop near Detroit, doing some aluminum parts on a Haas VF-2. I had this janky setup with a couple of vise stops and some shims, nothing fancy but it worked. This old union guy walks by, sees my fixturing, and just starts hollering about how I'm gonna wreck the spindle or send a part flying. He literally said 'you're gonna put someone's eye out, kid.' I was embarrassed at first, but he walked me through building a proper subplate with locator pins. Took me like an extra hour but the repeatability was way better and I haven't gone back to my old way since. Has anyone else had a grizzled old-timer call them out on something basic?

2 comments

2 Comments

the_dylan4d ago

Wreck the spindle" haha I love that. I had a machinist in Fort Wayne ream me out for not indicating my soft jaws and he was totally right, my parts got way more consistent after he showed me the proper way.

uma_reed264d agoMost Upvoted

Dude, yes! That exact thing happened to me with an old-timer in a shop near Chicago. He tore into me about not using a torque wrench on a tombstone, and I was so annoyed but after he showed me his method, it was a total game changer. Never looked back since.