Old timer at the shop set me straight on tool offsets

I had been running this part for like 6 months, always getting a .001 variance on the bore diameter. Kept tweaking my program thinking it was wear. One retired guy from the 80s comes by, watches me for 2 minutes, and says 'your offset is chasing the wrong axis.' He showed me my roughing pass was pulling the part slightly because I had the wrong tool nose radius in the controller. Changed that one number from .016 to .031 and the bore came out perfect every time since. Anyone else have someone with old school instincts save you from grinding your gears?

2 comments

2 Comments

finleym4314h ago

Did you ever find out why the old timers seem to have that almost sixth sense about chip loads and tool paths? It's wild how one little number like that nose radius can mess with everything else in the cut, especially on bores where every tenth matters. Made me start double-checking every single value in my offsets, even the ones I thought were routine, just to be safe.

johnson.faith10h ago

Yeah the nose radius will mess with your head till you just learn to account for it every time.