Machining is the biggest time sink. You would think a few cuts and holes would take moments to complete — and they probably do, for the experienced machinist — but for the amateur, 90% of the time is spent wrestling with calipers and rulers.

This week for ME13, we learned to use a mill. First, we used a band saw to get a part down to roughly the right size. Then we used an end mill to clean off some faces of the part.

Mill (top), band saw (bottom)

Being a small girl, I had to walk from one end of the machine to the other to move the bed in different axis. I am so jealous of the 6 ft 4 dude beside me who is standing one place and using his long arms to reach all the buttons and knobs. Also, I struggle in dealing with heavy machinery since I have to suspend 90% of my body weight on a wrench to tighten some screws, and throw my weight on hammers to get parts flat. Machining can soon replace my morning workouts.

I also realized that machining makes me doubt my math abilities. Suddenly, decimal points become intimidating and 2 + 2 requires a calculator. What if I mess up? Then I have to do the part all over again 🙁
This simple aluminum part that I milled took 2 hours. I have yet to put holes through it, but my patience has already expired for today.