Most people distinguish a difference between “book smarts” and “street smarts”. Often these distinctions can be disparaging. My opinion is that it is not an either or proposition. Pairing the two together is the most productive way to live. Completing an engineering degree should give you a good level of book smarts. After that you need to develop the specific skills you need, i.e. “street smarts”. This post details my efforts to better learn a physical skill in order to increase my shop smarts.
SLCC class experience
I had picked up a bit of machining skills through the normal course of being a mechanical engineer. Since I started my career at small manufacturing companies, there had been need for prototyping and plenty of people to teach me. However, I knew that my skill set was basic and had some glaring holes. For example, I could use a mill with confidence but knew very little about a lathe.
I needed hands on machine time along with professional instruction. No amount of self learning would be as efficient as feedback from an expert. I found a manual machining class at Salt Lake Community College (SLCC). My work was willing to reimburse my tuition cost at the end of the semester when I passed the class. Perfect! I signed up for the lecture and the lab for manual machining. I enrolled without knowing exactly what to expect. I just thought this was my best chance to learn. It turned out even better than I expected.
The first week of class was interesting. It was odd to be back in a college atmosphere after so many years. I quickly realized that the lecture would likely be a waste of my time. You always start small, but I realized that it was a lot of basics most of the semester. I already knew intimately an end mill from a twist drill, and I already could convert mils to millimeters. Any book learning I needed to do, I could do much faster on my own. Luckily the instructor and entire staff at SLCC were amazing. They knew I was just here to learn, and not for any certifications. They allowed me to drop the lecture and just take the lab.
The lab was awesome! It was scheduled each Thursday from 7-10pm. Our hands on project for the entire semester was to build a 50:1 worm gear and gear box. We started with the lathe, which was where I needed the most help. Like every college lab, it hardly ever required the full three hours. I made a habit of peppering my teacher with in depth questions for the remainder of the time. Instead of just learning how to turn a part to size, I learned the optimum parameters for cutting UHMW, how to grind a HSS tool, the benefits of trochoidal milling, where to buy the best vises, and on and on. Basically I learned mountains more than just the curriculum.
“Be humble,” is the advice I would give to any engineer looking to learn some hands on skills at a trade school (or from any tradesmen/women anywhere). They have all met engineers before and instantly wonder what kind of engineer you are. Are you the kind who thinks they are smarter than everyone without a degree? Will you insist that they need to make parts your way, without asking them if the had a better idea? Curiosity, respect, and a couple self deprecating jokes is the fastest way to becoming best friends. Then they will freely and easily share their knowledge with you, confident that you will listen. This doesn’t just work in a school setting. The machinists I have worked with, both in house and external, would bend over backwards to help me. It is all because they know I respect them.
It didn’t take long for my newfound skills to come into use at work. I was able to turn 50 spacers on our mini lathe in a reasonable amount of time, saving a few hundred dollars and 4 weeks of delays. I also worked with my instructor to get the specific cutting parameters for the perfect aesthetic swirl on a custom knob face. They wanted to have visible machining marks, but we needed to specify them exactly, so it would be consistent from manufacturer to manufacturer. We were on our third round of prototypes from China before I was able to fix the problem.
After working on a couple of my own projects in class, my instructor just told me that I should quit pretending I was there for the gear box. We just worked on anything I wanted after he got everyone else started. I don’t want it to sound like the curriculum was garbage. I followed the lathe project in lockstep with everyone. I often just learned a little bit more, like how to cut threads manually in addition to CNC. When we got to the milling, I already knew most of what they were teaching. That was when my hands on machining diverged from the rest of the class.
I have no illusions that one class made me a master machinist. My brother is a real machinist and I know how big a gap there is between our skillsets. However, I made leaps and bounds of progress in a few short months. I spent no money out of pocket, but even if I had, it would have been very well spent. I now am extremely confident in my prototyping ability and have a solid foundation to continue growing.
Ways to get hands on practice
A course at a community college isn’t the only way to get some good machine time under a watchful eye. There are other options that could work as well.
- Makerspaces – this depends on the quality of the local maker space in your area. Look for what type of equipment they have and any classes that they offer. Some places will trade membership dues for classes, say teaching a solidworks class in exchange for attending a machinist class for free.
- Working after hours on company equipment – as long as you clean up and don’t break things, this should be easy to get approved.
- Friends/family – maybe you know someone who tinkers in their garage and owns a mill or a lathe.
- Buy your own machines – there are a host of hobbyist lathes and mills out there where you can learn some of the basics. Buying used equipment is a good way to get something larger.
Ways to deepen knowledge
I am still an engineer so I definitely read a lot about machining in addition to practicing. Below are the best resources I found to learn about machining. You can use the forums for specific problems, and the other resources for general learning. Whenever optimizing a specific machining process, I also highly recommend talking with your tool supplier and maybe even your machine supplier. There is an army of highly capable customer assistants who live and breath the technical problem you are just now facing. Humility and curiosity work great here too.
Websites
- https://www.practicalmachinist.com/search-entire-site/
- Forum site for professional machinists – tons of questions and answers
- https://www.cnczone.com/forums/
- Forum site for professional CNC machinists – covers CAM and running machines
- https://www.hobby-machinist.com/
- Forum site for hobbyists. Less info than practicalmachinist.com, but their focus is on lower end machines
- I prefer using google to search rather than their search engine
- https://www.cnccookbook.com/blog/
- Website is selling machining calculator software, so expect a sales pitch
- Lots of high quality articles focused on all things CNC in blog
- https://makeitfrommetal.com/category/machining/
- Good blog with a few high quality articles on random topics
Books
- Machinery’s Handbook
- We’ve all seen it – Info dense
- Machining Fundamentals
- Introductory textbook for machining courses
- Covers all the basics with tons of pictures – good if you are just starting out
Web based Courses
- https://academy.titansofcnc.com/
- Never done this course but have heard good things. Student buys the materials and follows along at home while watching video instruction
- https://learn.haascnc.com/
- Online course meant to train a CNC operator on a Haas machine. Good course aimed at the basic ideas, safety, and specific operation. No fee for the videos, but their is one for the in person test if choose to get the certificate.
- http://www.toolingu.com/lms/kennametal/
- Kennametal offers a Certified Metalcutting Professional program that goes super in depth into tooling and machining fundamentals. The course is $300+. I haven’t taken the course, but my instructor had and showed me some of their materials. Very useful.