How a 19-Year-Old Built a Tight-Tolerance Machine Shop, Ep #532

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Most machine shop owners spend twenty years learning the lesson Stone figured out before he turned 21: get great at one thing, and say no to almost everything else. He bought his first CNC at 15 to make knife handles, started taking billable work at 19, and now runs a precision shop in North Phoenix that goes after the tight-tolerance medical work a lot of shops won’t touch.

This one is part of our GenCNC series, and our co-host Nush, who’s part of this generation herself, jumps in with the questions the rest of us wish we’d asked at that age.

We get into how he actually built it: growing on cash flow and machine loans instead of outside investors, learning to program after hours with a tool and die mentor, and figuring out how to price work when you’re brand new and have no idea what the market will bear. Stone’s edge isn’t a secret process. It’s consistency, a refusal to send anything out of spec, and a willingness to take on parts he doesn’t yet know how to make.

He’s also refreshingly honest about the parts nobody posts. The crashes, the jobs that go sideways, the days the whole thing feels like it’s crumbling. His answer is mentors, a tight network of shop owners who actually pick up the phone, and the discipline to keep the lows from getting too low.

Whether you’re thinking about starting a shop or you’ve run one for thirty years, there’s something here. Know where to spend money and where not to. Build a small team of people you can pay well. And find the niche where being excellent actually pays. That’s making chips.

What’s Covered in this Episode

• (0:52) Kicking off another GenCNC episode with co-host Nush
• (1:29) Meet Stone: from reselling balisong knives and 3D printing to buying a Tormach 440 at 15
• (4:21) Quitting two jobs to go all in at 19 (and quickly building a team)
• (6:41) Solve your biggest headache with CLA
• (7:50) Funding growth through profit and machine loans, not investors
• (11:04) Moving out of the garage and into a commercial space
• (12:11) Learning to program after hours with mentor John Schaefer
• (13:34) The art and science of quoting and pricing work
• (16:25) Focus on what you’re good at instead of chasing every job
• (18:16) Why consistency and never shipping out-of-spec parts wins customers
• (21:45) Why young entrepreneurs need to be on LinkedIn
• (23:17) The opportunity gap and getting young people into manufacturing
• (25:27) How Stone started building his team (and who does what)
• (27:15) Find people who actually fit with Hire MFG Leaders
• (27:44) The process of hiring employees (and the paperwork that comes with it)
• (30:01) How saying yes to jobs you don’t know how to do can pay off
• (32:25) It’s never too late for a mentor—at any stage of your career
• (36:45) Success is perseverance and the mental game, not just great parts
• (39:44) Advice for young shop owners: know where to spend money
• (42:15) Expanding to a bigger building and going after big work with a VF-9
• (43:20) Take your shop to the next level with DN Solutions
• (44:33) The five-year vision: five employees, twelve machines, automation
• (53:00) Why 100% inspection and a CMM are worth it

Resources Mentioned

• ST1 Precision
• ProShop ERP
• Xometry
• Tormach
• Haas Automation
• Saunders Machine Works
• CLA (CliftonLarsonAllen)
• Hire MFG Leaders
• DN Solutions

Connect with Stone

• ST1 Precision

Connect with MakingChips

• Website: www.MakingChips.com
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• On YouTube