The way I handle tool offsets now is completely different

For years, I'd just touch off tools by hand and hope for the best, which led to a lot of scrap parts. About eight months ago, a job in Cincinnati for some tight-tolerance aerospace brackets forced a change. I started using a proper presetter and documenting every offset in a logbook before the job even runs. The difference in first-part success is night and day. Anyone else made a switch like this that saved their butt?

4 comments

4 Comments

morganmartinez1mo ago

Heard about a buddy who kept blowing up expensive titanium parts. Switched to a digital tool setter and a spreadsheet last year. Said it cut his scrap rate by like 80 percent.

the_robin1mo ago

No kidding. I saw a whole thread on a machinist forum about this. Guys were talking about how even a tiny bit of tool wear on titanium just wrecks the finish and ruins parts. One guy said his digital setter caught a drill that was off by like two thousandths before it even touched the metal. That spreadsheet thing is key too, just logging every single tool change. Sounds boring but it obviously works.

quinncoleman1mo ago

Man, I always thought that stuff was overkill, but those numbers are impossible to argue with.

ruby_wright1mo ago

Sounds like a lot of extra work for maybe a tiny gain.