Machinist

I have watched Chinese tool steel and heat treat ability improve massively over my career. The steel went from chineseium to the cheap usable option in a shop.

Tool and alloy steels are a basic measure of a country's industrial ability. That genie isn't going back in the bottle.

The gutting of US manufacturing and unions has been a crime against blue collar folks that most don't understand. Few new machinists stuck through the recession of the aughts. There are few machinists in my age bracket. There is no magic switch to rebuild manufacturing in the USA. It takes years to create competent machinists and we don't have enough competent machinists to do the training. The apprenticeship programs have mostly been eliminated, the guys that taught me had journeyman's papers but those programs were gone by the time I came up.

I've been lucky enough to grow three machinists, green to competent, in my career. Had to fight with management/corporate to do that much. I know of one that has already left the trade.

Relavant portion, translated, from the article:

The case of Hector Luis Valdes Cocho: From activist to ICE detainee

Hector Luis Valdés Cocho, known for his political activism and criticism of the Cuban regime , faces a complicated legal situation in the United States. He is currently in the custody of Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) at the Broward Transition Center in Florida.

Valdés Cocho gained notoriety as an independent journalist, exposing abuses in Cuba. However, in recent months, he has been the target of accusations of alleged financial fraud, which has generated discontent among his followers and affected his credibility. Several people have publicly accused him of questionable practices, including financial deception.

Specific details about the charges he faces have not been released, but his presence at the Broward Transitional Center in ICE custody suggests he could be deported to the island.

Just found someone on Lemmy who's building a tracker. Haven't looked at it closely, yet.

https://2025realitycheck.com/

Edit. Also, there is a Lemmy comm:

https://lemmy.world/c/keeptrack

I started with Surfcam then MasterCAM, done some TEBIS, Fusion 360, AutoCAD, Eagle, Solidworks, and probably some others. I've even used inkscape and GIMP to cleanup and convert images into models for measurements and reverse engineering.

I have never had the trouble I have with FreeCAD. Have seen others complain about it as well.

Metal printing and such would be in the context of building a CNC shop and him being proficient at modeling and such after playing with an FDM printer for a few years. We're talking a pro grade printer and sintering oven. If he has the interest, my son could handle printing and I would handle CNC. That's the dream. Requires tens of thousands of dollars. Baby steps first to see if he has the drive. Bambu is almost certainly not on the list unless I trip up on an incredible deal.

I guess my ultimate goal is that he learn to model and begin building proficiency with CAD to prepare him for CAM. I also want him to start getting a feel for CNC movement and thinking in Cartesian. I think the best way to get there is by getting him engaged in printing. I'm not sure if tinkering will help or hinder this process. I know it helped for me, but I'm not sure if it will for him. I think it might. Still pondering the appropriate level of tinkering, but am leaning towards Voron, not sure if that's my personal bias.

Yah, these days I refer to anyone under 30 as a kid. Especially in a manufacturing or trade context.

I check on FreeCAD every so often. The UI team should be forced to wear underwear made from pinecones until they fix that horror. Been doing CAD/CAM for more than two decades and FreeCAD is so unintuitive that it is unusable. Making a sketch or taking a measurement shouldn't require research. Recently tried it again and was unable to sketch angles for a brace I was making and needed dims on. Tried libreCAD (unfortunately 2d only) and was able to get my angles and lengths in 15min or so without any tutorials.

I hear and agree with what you're saying about open CAD software. However, I don't want my son trying to learn something that will just frustrate him. I wish OSS would catch up on CAD/CAM, I could ditch windows for good.

I watched the RepRap development back in the day, but eventually stopped following 3D printing closely. (Ended up with an Atlas Craftsman lathe with milling attachment that did all the home manufacturing I needed). Prussa and Voron are our top contenders for printers now. He's got a spreadsheet where he's comparing specs and I'm getting him to read the quick starts and manuals.

I'm going to dig into the Voron world and see if it's a reasonable project for me to support my son on. Not sure if it will be beyond his attention span. Otherwise it will be either a Prussa or maybe an Ender.

Dangerous to billions? I don't think one ocean empties into the other like pulling a plug in the bathtub.

Jebus. I still haven't figured out if .ml is government funded or true believers. Very strange to me.

Fucken hell, that's the correct fucking way to define a gap in armor. Bullshit. I really want to try a bunch of slurs out and see what sets it off.

FDM for now. Not planning on doing casting or proto mockups at this time.

Envelope is not a large concern, I assume it is similar to machining. You buy 1.5x the size you think you need and find out it should have been twice as big. The plan is to cut teeth on this printer before moving to something better/larger.

Mostly want to use the printer as a tool, not bothered if some tinkering is required. A Harbor Freight machine like a drill press or band saw is a 'kit'. Use it for a little bit, take it apart and fix the manufacturing shortcomings. I'm okay with a printer of similar build quality as long as the bones are good.

Voron sounds interesting, have seen the Enders as well, seem to be okay.