Fundamental Skills for Machine Shop Success

Author: Johannes A. Nilsson

Stop Fucking Around and Learn the Basics

You can't build a house on sand, and you can't make good parts without mastering the fundamentals. These aren't the sexy skills that impress people at parties, but they're the difference between being a hack and becoming a skilled machinist. Master these and everything else downstream gets easier.

Dial Indicator Mastery

The tool that tells no lies. Learn to read runout, tram a mill head, and center work in a 4-jaw chuck. If you can't indicate it, you can't make it accurate.

Edge Finding Techniques

Because eyeballing it is for amateurs. Every dimension starts from an edge, and if you don't know where that edge is, you're just making scrap.

Work Holding Secrets

The most important safety lesson you'll ever learn. Good work holding is the difference between making parts and making widows.