That one guy who told me to just make it work with a dull endmill

Had a customer come into the shop last Tuesday, needed a bunch of aluminum parts done overnight. I told him flat out my endmill was getting dull and I'd need to order a new one, which would push it to Thursday. This guy just looked at me and said 'just run it, it's only 10 parts.' Like dude, do you know what happens when you push a dull tool through 6061? I ran the first part and the finish looked like garbage, plus I could hear the machine struggling. Spent an extra hour sanding down burrs just to make it look half decent. Next time I'm charging him double for rush jobs with crappy tooling.

2 comments

2 Comments

the_robert1mo ago

Used to think he was just being lazy but now I get why skipping a sharp tool is never worth it lol.

hugo_cooper1mo agoTop Commenter

Yo seriously THIS. It took me way too long to learn that lesson myself. I used to think grabbing any old tool would save time but it ALWAYS backfired with more frustration and wasted effort. Now I spend an extra minute making sure the blade is actually sharp or the tool is set up right before I even start. It's like the old saying about measuring twice cutting once but for tools instead. The difference in how smooth everything goes is night and day when you don't skip that step.