Author: carlimiller
September 2019
Craftsman’s Cribsheet #80
To shop personnel, “free machining” has several meanings:
• High rate of production is what the boss is looking for.
• Low cost of production is what the business owner and accounting seek.
• Smooth, workman-like finish is what the engineers and customers are expecting.
• To the operator, longer tool life (fewer tool changes and adjustments) and short controlled chips are desired.
August 2019 | Craftsman’s Cribsheet #79
Shop visits are an inevitable part of business today. We have more visitors coming through our shops now than ever before: an auditor to validate a process, a customer representative to ensure you really do have machines, a calibration of testing equipment or community members to learn about potential careers. Here is a checklist to make sure your visitors and your shop have covered everything regarding hazards, safety, security and rules for proper dress and behavior.
July 2019 | Craftsman’s Cribsheet #78
The straightness of cold finished steel bars, and all other barstock for our machines, is of critical importance. The controlling standard is ASTM A 108, Table A1.4. However, the standard errs in claiming the tolerances are measured by placing the bars on a level table and the depth of the arc then measured with a feeler gage and straight edge. While that will give a value for the maximum departure from straightness, it does not actually describe the true geometric relationship.
May 2019 | Craftsman’s Cribsheet #77
This is a list of the 10 most common violations in our shops this year, according to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration.
April 2019 | Craftsman’s Cribsheet #76
An accident is an unplanned occurrence in a production setting where a person is injured. An incident without injury is what many people call a “near-miss.” Your employer should have an emergency plan to deal with accidents and injuries in your shop. The following list is a refresher in the event that you can’t find your employer’s plan and you encounter an accident involving a coworker.
March 2019 | Craftsman’s Cribsheet #75
5-S is a standardized process for developing and maintaining an organized, safe, clean and highperformance work environment. The primary objective of 5-S is to instill order and standardization into the production system. This facilitates “visual management,” or management by sight.
January 2019 | Craftsman’s Cribsheet #73
These five regulations are applicable to our shops and make a great logical foundation for getting 2019’s safety training off to a good start.
October 2018 | Craftsman’s Cribsheet #71
This handy quick guide will give you the common chemical elements found in steel, how they affect steel properties and the machining process and a few tips on how to deal with them.
A Quick Guide to the Chemical Elements Found in Steel – Cribsheet #71
August 2018 | Craftsman’s Cribsheet #69
Many people worry about the differences between being a leader and being a manager. Here are my thoughts on the five keys necessary for being a positive and effective team lead