Stopped by the old trade school shop and the machines were all gone

I was back in my hometown in Ohio and swung by the community college where I took my first CNC class 15 years ago. The whole shop floor is just rows of shiny new computer stations now, no Bridgeports or manual lathes in sight. The instructor said they cut the hands-on machining hours in half to make room for more CAD and simulation software. It makes sense for the industry, but man, I learned so much from feeling the tool pressure and listening to the cut. Anyone else come up on manual machines before moving to CNC, and do you think that background still matters?

3 comments

3 Comments

robert_lopez641mo ago

Read an article about a shop foreman who only hires guys who can run a manual lathe first. He said it builds a gut feel for material and feeds that you just don't get from a screen. That background definitely matters for troubleshooting when a CNC program goes wrong. Do you think schools are doing a disservice by cutting those hours?

the_sage1mo ago

robert_lopez64 has a point about that gut feel... it's real. But the disservice might be deeper than just cutting hours. Schools often teach manual and CNC as two separate things, like different subjects. They don't connect the dots enough. If you learn on a manual machine, you should be writing the G-code for every move you make by hand right after. That links the physical feeling to the language. Otherwise, it's just two skills that never talk to each other, and the real understanding gets lost.

reese_nelson1mo agoMost Upvoted

It's not just about the hours.