A 30 year vet on the shop floor told me to stop checking my first part with calipers

Cole King · 2026-09-30T17:50:03.337944+00:00

Last Tuesday I was setting up a run of 500 aluminum brackets and doing my usual thing, checking the first part every which way with calipers and a mic. Dale, who has been running mills longer than I have been alive, walked by and asked why I was measuring the part instead of the process. He said to check the fixture and the tool offsets first, then let the first three parts tell me if the setup is solid. I tried it on the next job and caught a loose clamp before it scrapped anything, which honestly would have cost me about $200 in material. Curious if other folks here trust the setup or still measure the first part to death like I did.

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A 30 year vet on the shop floor told me to stop checking my first part with calipers | CNC Operators - Chatter Central