Today I resumed my fitting and machining course at Ultimo.  I have only finished the first module and there has been a two year break. I must say I am delighted with how much I remembered. Tool sharpening, aligning the workpiece, positioning the tool, all these procedures came flooding back. it is a pleasant surprise to find my memory is not totally ruined.

 

I had forgotten the correct order for the tool angles that need grinding. That was no problem. The technique I did not remember was to aim for the top quartile of the tolerancing window. Will I need to redo the piece? Probably.

 

The other mistake was not memory dependant. As I was parting off, the tool post was rubbing against that workpiece. My surface finish of 1.6 was destroyed. The annoying aspect of that mistake was I had considered it before I started parting. Dickhead. Just part of the learning process. I won't be in such a hurry to finish a job next time.

 

Overall, the thrill of shaping metal is a tremedous source of enthusiasm. Feels like real engineering, nearly.