Why Manual Machining Still Matters and How to Fuel the Next Generation of Machinists | Ep. 545

[0:00] Jason, welcome to making chips. Thanks Mike. It’s great to be here, man. Yeah. I’m thrilled to have you as a guest host for this. Your first making chips host. Uh, yeah, I think so. I think so. So, and, and it’s my first IMTS. Oh, I didn’t realize this is your first time I’ve ever been here. So yeah. So that’s surprising. The flight, the flight in last night, we arrived 40 minutes early. Yes. Which never happens, but I felt like that’s the great segue into getting the show kicked off and, you know, going in the right direction. So I’m excited. Yeah. That’s, this is such a fun week. This is my third as a shop owner, but I was here in 2000 when I was in the software business. Right. Yeah. And, and I remember then we just thought we were running into some show, like no big deal, and then you showed up and walked in and it’s like, Holy crap. Yeah. Like, what is this? So Jason, we’ve got a great guest with us here. Ethan, thanks for joining us. This is also your first IMTS. Yes. And it’s my first time in Chicago. And your first time in Chicago. So yeah. Double whammy. It’s, it’s kind of a culture shock. Not what I’m used to at all.

[1:15] Well, to put that in perspective, why don’t you tell the listeners a little bit about who you are, where you’re from, what you do and why you’re here. Okay. No, I’m Ethan Crane. I work as a manual machinist for a company called Barkley Truck Rebuilders, as well as a double L. Born and raised in Idaho. And I guess only just a few years ago, got into manufacturing. I started at a job shop at my hometown, moved on to BTR and mostly run manual machines, but in the process, I’m learning to operate as well as program CNC machine. Really neat. Now, what did you do before you got into machining? I was actually in the building supply industry, in the construction business. Okay. So it’s a bit of a change up, but I just fell in love with manufacturing, especially machining and I stuck with it. How did that transition happen? Like, you know, going from the building supply to the machining world, like what, what did that transition look like for you? Funny enough, I was working for the building supply company as a receiver. So I was bringing, we were bringing in trucks of lumber, I-Joyce trusses. And one day I was actually working on building a little project and I needed just old, big gear. So I went to the machine shop owned by a family friend of my family. And he said, we need someone who can do receiving for us.

[2:33] So he hired me on there and then I just got to walking around the shop and saw what they were doing. And I was like, I want to do that. I won’t do that. Yeah. Now you said it’s a, you’re a manual machinist at this shop and you’re learning CNC. So tell us a little bit about the shop. What’s, what’s kind of the mix up of machines and the type of stuff you’re doing? So it’s kind of a combination between fabrication and manufacturing. So they’re welding trailers together, welding farm equipment together, as well as having an in-house machine shop. We’ve got two Haas machines, three Doosans. We’ve got a Haas VF3 and an ST30. So those are the ones that I’ve been getting more familiar with and learning to program on my own. Yeah, good. So how did you learn the manual machining? There’s not a lot of places to learn that anymore. No, no. So when I was at the job shop and I was talking to one of the machinists who I actually went to high school with, I said, Hey man, I really want to learn some of this machining. And he actually had a little bench lathe from Harbor Freight that he just had. So he brought it in. And then when I was on lunch and on break, I’d go to that little thing and I’d just start making chips with just little tiny pieces. That’s cool. Making chips. Yeah, that’s, that’s really cool. You know, I think I’ve noticed that with a lot of people who really have a passion for the industry, they don’t just come to work and do it at work. Like as soon as they get home, they start, you know, either whether it’s YouTube or videos or textbooks or whatever, like they start doing that work because they’re wanting that knowledge, that thirst for that knowledge really picks up because they have that true interest in it. Maybe get a small mill or a small lathe.

[4:12] And a lot of people even start with like woodworking, you know, that type of thing. And so you’re getting those concepts and that’s, that’s so cool. I mean, that’s such a neat, a neat transition there for you. So you just, you just eat up with it and that’s all you want. That’s what you want to do, you know? Jason, you know, it’s funny. We, uh, we talked last week with, uh, Titan Gilroy and we talked about that. Those people that come into our shops and Excel do exactly what you’re talking about. Right. They don’t just show up and clock in, clock out, and they never think about machining again. Yeah. There’s a passion for it. That’s right. It’s kind of burning. Right. And so they’re watching Instagram reels. And, you know, when we were talking with Titan, I mean, one of the things we were talking about the fact that, you know, we just got done doing that, that founder under 30 series was making chips. And the reason we were talking to Titan was because almost every one of them by name mentioned they saw his videos and they were like, well, this is cool. Like, maybe I want to learn this. That’s right. Yeah. I did the same thing. Um, I just started watching YouTube. I actually ordered some of the same textbooks that my buddy used when he was going to school for a while. So he had them all there and I was like, I can find that on Amazon. Yeah. So after work, I’d go home and I’d just be taking notes, highlighting it, just like I was going to school for it. You can’t spell high-end without DN.

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[7:05] That is so fun. So when I bought Hill, I mean, I think everybody knows I had no machining background at all. And Hill, when I bought it and still today, I mean, we have a full functioning manual shop. I think we have 12 manual machines in, in the Hill building. But then in our other shops, we also have, like you said earlier, have a machine. But Hill at the time, especially a lot of our work was still running through a manual shop. Not as much now, it’s mostly internal work, you know, fixtures and whatnot. But I wanted to learn what we do. And so I actually started over in the manual shop with one of the manual machinists. I loved it. Yeah. I mean, like I had exactly what you just said. I mean, like seeing that cut and like, and I would take it even further. It’s like all your senses, right? You see it, you smell it, you taste it. I mean, it’s… Yep. Well, and you feel it. And you feel it. Yeah. Yeah. I think that’s the really unique part about it is, is obviously if you’re using CNC equipment, there’s that programming that has to be done. And, you know, the loading and the setup and running the first part. But like when you’re running a manual machine, like you are creating. You’re in it. You are in it. That’s right. Yeah. And, uh, that, that’s a unique. I still, I mean, I haven’t done it in a while. I probably should, but I mean, there, there are some days that I’m sitting in the office, I’ve done all my stuff and I’m like, I’m going to go do something in the manual shop. And I’ll go out there and I’ll ask Hank, like, what do we need done that you trust me with? That’s a big thing.

[8:33] He hands you a broom. Right. It’s like, I really need to clean this place up, Mike. But yeah, I’ll get on there. I mean, I love it. It’s, it’s so satisfying. Just what I’ve come to really love about manual machining is especially the feel of when you’re taking certain cuts, like you can just tell how it’s, how it’s reacting and how the metal is breaking off. Well, yeah. By sight, sound, feel everything, you know, I mean, smell, you can know what’s going on. And then, you know, when I, when I stopped over there and then went over to the machines, completely honest, it just kind of lost me and bored me a little bit now I don’t want to run all my parts manual. I mean, I, I understand the need. I mean, I that’s we’ve driven everything towards the CNCs, but there is just something great about the manual machines. They now, I hate to break it to you. This is your first time at IMTS. I will tell you, you’re not going to see very many manual machines. I, I wasn’t expecting to, I mean, you’ll see a few. I heard the first Bridgeport was here though. It is the first Bridgeport is here. Serial number one. No, I haven’t seen it yet, but it is here. All right. I’m going to find it. Yeah. I, I heard about that a few months ago, so yeah, we need, yeah, I want to, I definitely want to go find that there will be some manuals and they’re really cool.

[9:48] You know, of course they have digital readouts now and lots of stuff, but, but yeah, you’ll, you’ll enjoy the ones you do see, but you won’t see very many. Yeah. It just got to enjoy what’s here. Yeah. I don’t want to derail our conversation, but you know, when you mentioned that first, that serial number one Bridgeport was here, you know, I don’t know what year that would have been made. I don’t remember. I think maybe 40 something, I think. I think it would have been like the thirties, like late thirties. Late thirties. And that was something that even you and I were talking about earlier. Just, you know, not only thinking about manual machining, you got the sights, the sounds, smells, the feel, but the history that goes along with it and like what that looked like for our parents, our grandparents, and we, we were talking about World War II. Yeah. And just the industrialization and how, you know, that, that’s probably one of the kicking off points for, you know, obviously United States and what it’s done for the industrialization. Yeah. I mean, those machines in a lot of ways built the nation, right? I mean, we were a nation before that, but we became a superpower because in that age of those machines for sure. Yeah. Cause if it wasn’t for that, I mean, I mean, that’s really one of the key points of the war and winning those wars was having that industrialization. Yeah. And it was really the, it was actually World War II history that helped me fall even more in love with machining. Oh, okay. Oh, cool.

[11:07] That’s really neat. So when going through documentaries and talking about the amount of production we had to put out in order to just keep up, I was like, man, there’s, machining is so much importance, both back in the day and today, but to see the difference of what we were doing back in the forties versus what we’re doing now, it’s kind of. We could, we could learn a thing or two, Mike. Yeah, for sure. For sure. That we’re as efficient as we were back then. Probably not. Probably not. So I’m curious. So, I mean, I have a shop that again, I’ve got a full manual shop. I’ve got a full CNC shop. How do you guys decide what runs, which like, what goes to the manuals? What goes to the CNCs? So we’ve got, I mostly run two manual machines. They’re both Summits. One’s a little bit smaller. And then one, our big one is overall 27 feet long. Now the most I’ve ever used of it is about eight feet. But most of what we decide gets done on the manual machines are parts that can be done quickly, just simple parts like bushings, spacers, whatever. And then we have our big lathe with the four jaw chuck, where we machine down slugs of 1045 and 4140 that are four and a half inch in diameter and about 25 inches long.

[12:24] So it’s really just how soon do they need the part? Can we get it done quickly? And then it’s just too big to throw in the CNCs. The big lathe is by far my favorite one. Yeah. I showed you my LeBlanc, it’s 25 foot or I think it’s 25 foot bed. Uh, 25 or 22 foot bed. I mean, they’re just cool. They’re really awesome. And when it runs, you want to go watch it. That’s gotta be a little intimidating starting. I mean, like getting going there. Oh, when, yeah. So when I was at the job shop, all the lathes were rather small. But when I saw that summit, summit 36, it was just long and, you know, loading a giant slug of steel into the jaws. And each one of those slugs weigh as much as I do about 120 pounds. So, and of course it was my fault. I bragged about going to the gym. So they’re like, no, you don’t need a crane. You can do it. You deadlifted how much? Get back to work. Get over there. Yeah. That’s awesome. It can be intimidating to run bigger machines like that. Especially when you start throwing in like taper attachments that most of those lathes have. Yeah. It’s really just a lot to take in, but eventually after some time, you kind of get used to it. You’re still, sure. Yeah. Yeah. The learning process.

[13:43] Well, hey Mahul, how you doing? Doing well, Paul. How are you? I am great. And I am so excited to talk about the integration between ProShop and Ground Control. It has been a game changer for these customers that are using both. Yeah. It’s been a pretty exciting journey since we started talking about it almost a year ago now to seeing it live with, you know, many, many shops. Yeah. So it’s taken obviously, you know, work on the back end with our engineers, work on the front end with our teams to, you know, get everything synced up right. But let’s just tell people about how it works. So, well, let’s set the stage actually. Why is this important right now that we optimize and streamline how you do balloon tagging? Yeah, I think, I mean, for any good quality process, you want to identify your characteristics and have a, you know, good, rigorous ballooning process. But especially so in regulated industries like aerospace and defense. And I’m sure you’ve seen this, but there’s just an incredible resurgence in the A&D market in America with American manufacturing. I saw you guys just did it recently, a podcast or a webinar with the Lockheed Martin supplier. With Lockheed Martin themselves.

[14:58] Yes, we did. Yeah, it was, yeah, something like the primes need to buy about three to five times more parts in the next few years than they did in the previous year or two. So it is going to be a massive growth and yeah, you’re right. You know, the AS9100 requirement requires that companies balloon their drawings, have characteristics for everything, you know, submit AS9102 reports, and that’s a lot of work. And so there’s a lot of things to do and, and yeah, our combined solution streamlines a bunch of that work. So let’s start with talking about how when a shop wins a new project and they have a drawing they need to get a balloon tag on, how does that work? Yeah, so it’s really simple. With this integration, you simply go to that part and then the drop button, you click launch auto balloon. It’s a button right there. And that will actually automatically push that data into ground control and create a new FAI, create a new inspection plan. And from there, you’ll kind of use ground control and the software we’ve built to automatically balloon the drawing and create the inspection plan. And so the way that works is we have our own AI models that will automatically recognize every characteristic on the page. So that could be dimensions, that could be GD&T, that could be notes.

[16:22] It could be a hand-drawn drawing from the 60s from Pratt and Whitney. It could be a brand new hand-drawn drawing. It doesn’t matter. We’ll kind of parse it in seconds. Okay. So it applies the balloons to the order and the style that you want, right? You have control over how it does it clockwise or counterclockwise or starting at which position on the drawing, and then identify which operation it’s going to go into. So this probably means it’s a bit of a collaboration between the quality engineer or the person that’s doing this, knowing what the manufacturing plan is going to be. Now, of course, once it syncs it to ProShop, you can always rearrange it. If you decide you’re going to do this operation first and then flip it over and do the back side last or something like that, that’s always reconfigurable. Yeah. And in this workflow, you choose the operations and then when it syncs it right back into ProShop, builds out what we call our part check master plan. That’s exactly right. And I think that is the key right there, right? That we’ve had several ProShop customers who are using Ground Control, but the number one kind of, not complaint, but the number one request we always heard was, you know, we want this data to go directly into ProShop as opposed to having to export the data into some kind of CSV format and re-import it, which although it’s still automated, it still takes some extra time. Now there’s a single sync to ProShop button that you click, it automatically recognizes the part number that you launched from ProShop and in less than two seconds, it’ll push all the data into part check master. Amazing.

[17:56] I love it. And a really important point that we want to make sure we don’t forget is that your product and our product, both are now FedRAMP moderate equivalency. So you can store all that CUI data straight in the FedCloud, in your drive and ours, and it just works seamlessly together. So if it’s CUI that you’re tagging, which is very likely in defense, that the solution works perfectly together. Yeah, it certainly speaks a testament to the ProShop and Ground Control teams for continuous investment in cybersecurity compliance policies to be able to, you know, make this a solution that works for all your data, not just some of your data. ITAR, CUI alike. Right on. Now we’ve had some pretty amazing success stories already. Why don’t you just highlight a few of those? Yeah, I think one specifically I want to call out is Scott and the team at Advanced Machining and Plastics in Oklahoma. They were using another solution. They were pushing the data, like I said, via CSV into ProShop, and that was kind of where their problems lay. And within, I want to say, a week of them signing up with us and turning on this integration, they had ballooned over 100 part numbers, pushed all the data automatically into ProShop and significantly increased their throughput, which is a pretty quick time to value.

[19:19] That is absolutely amazing. Yeah, Scott and his team is an incredible shop. And I think this just underscores how much time can be saved and how important it is to allow shops to do more with less, faster, take advantage of all the opportunities out there in aerospace and defense right now. Absolutely. Another one I want to highlight is the GoMan machine shop. This might take the record for quickest time to value ever. He heard about us through a ProShop employee. Within 30 minutes, he had signed up and we had started onboarding him and within an hour he was ballooning parts and pushing them into ProShop from never having heard of us before. So that just speaks a testament of how fast ProShop can move, how fast ground control can move. And when you kind of have exceptional customer service like that, it can really make a difference. That is an incredible story. Thank you for sharing it. Okay, well, very excited about this partnership. If people want to learn more, they can obviously, if they’re interested, they can reach out to us. If they’re a ProShop customer already, their CSM can certainly help them get set up. If they’re not, you know, reach out to your team at Ground Control or our team at ProShop and we’ll get you all set up. Fantastic. All right. Thanks, Mahul. Great talking with you. All right. Thanks, Paul. So, you know, I’m curious. I mean, you’ve got a passion.

[20:41] We need more of yous in the industry, right? And because we talk about it all the time, like the labor shortage and everything. Curious, like what advice do you have for shop owners like Jason and I? Like, how do we find guys like you? How do we, you know, how do we, how do we help? How do we fuel that passion? How can we support it? You know, and just get more people to make that change and come in and want to do like you’re doing. Well, I think it really just kind of comes down to, I think you can get into machining from different perspectives and different backgrounds. Like I grew up doing art as a kid. I was in arts art class and it was just a creation. I’m going to pause you right there. I cannot tell you how many people have a background in art. Same. Are you artistic though? I’m no. Neither am I. Neither am I. I’m terrible. But, you know, I mean, one of my best guys grew up wanting to be like a fine artist. Nick, our co-host Nick. I mean, he grew up wanting to be an artist. Titan Gilroy grew up wanting to be an artist. Like, and I mean, I can’t even tell you how many people that we’ve interviewed. I mean, I wonder what that is saying. That’s pretty wild. But anyway, sorry to interrupt. No, you’re fine. But I think it was just the creation side of it. But it’s another thing is just the self-improvement and self-development that I’ve experienced.

[22:00] It’s understanding that things aren’t always going to work out. You’re going to have parts that you weren’t going to machine right the first time, but looking at it from a perspective where that’s an opportunity to say, what did I do? This didn’t work. So what am I going to do to change it and then go at it again? So I think just given the next generation, a little bit of time and perspective, just to help them understand, it’s like, this isn’t the end of the world. And as far as shop owners, I’d say keep any training or any teaching that you do, just keep it consistent. Cause it’s so easy for them to have that passion, have that fire. And then they’re on a machine for a little bit and then they get pulled off and then it’s just, if it’s constant back and forth or they’re just constantly being juggled around or not even paid attention to, that fire’s going to go out. Yeah, I agree with that. That’s one of the things in our shop that we’re working on is our training program, like really fully developing. I mean, we, one of our recent episodes on the manufacturing blueprint, we were talking about that. And, you know, a lot of shops will employ the buddy system and we do that. And it’s like, so you’re with this buddy. And then it kind of turned into a little bit of a joke. It’s because it was like, all right, you’ve been here two and a half hours. So, uh, let’s go ahead and get you moving, right? Cause you know, you normally are needing, needing that, right. For production or whatever.

[23:18] But you know, one of the things that I want to see us doing at D&D is, is building a robust system to where we can be patient and we can set levels and milestones for employees so they know what they’re, they know what the expectations are, we know what the expectations are and we’re creating a path to get there. Yeah. So I think that’s, that’s, that’s a big thing. That’s absolutely. I mean, we’re in, we are absolutely in the same boat and you know, the we hired them cause we need to make parts. Right. Right. So we, we do tend to like rush straight to like, we teach them how to clock in and log into the job on ProShop. And it’s like, okay, go push that green button for a while. We’ll get back to you. Right. You know, I mean that whole onboarding process for us, I do not like, I have not liked it honestly for seven years and shame on me for not fixing it. I’m the same way. I’m the same way. And it, you know, it often leads to failure too. Right. I mean, they’re not happy. And then all of a sudden we’re like, well, they’re doing it wrong. It’s like, well, did we show them how to do it? Right. Yeah. No. Yeah. Right. So both sides are now unhappy. Yeah. Yeah. We, we have to do better. And, and, you know, I like, I mean, I’ve, I’ve seen the buddy systems and you know, all the different things. The big thing I wish I could figure out is how to like invoke that passion. I feel like I can share the vision of my shop well, but I don’t know how to get, you know, an Ethan to go, oh, this is bad-ass like, and, and be staying up late at night, watching Instagram reels about cool machining techniques, you know? And I have those guys, but lots of times they came to me with it, right? Like, I don’t know how to build it.

[24:52] That’s what I’m looking for. Yeah. And I think for, for us, one of the discussions we’ve had is like, we’re going to start interviewing and looking to hire people almost all the time. Because, you know, not wait until we’re at that point that we need somebody, go ahead and start that process now, because it might take three weeks, it might take six months and when we find somebody, then go ahead and look to bring them on board and start that training process, knowing that, you know, if the overall goal of the company is growth over the next two, three, five years, then we’re going to start, we’re going to need them. We’re going to start building that now and dedicate and find the right people for that. Yeah. And I’m sure you’re like me too, where, I mean, I have enough employees on any given day, I have a few not there, right? For whatever reason, vacation, sick, whatever, but you know, we, because of the labor shortage, because we don’t do a good job of everything we’re talking about here, that means we’re shorthanded every day, one or two people, right? So like, to your point, like just always be hiring, always have one or two extra. So if everybody were there one day, then, Oh my God, we got two extra people, right? But that’s never going to happen probably. You know, I think one thing that would, that would help, I know in some shops, it’s a lot of production, a lot of parts that just kind of get made and then shipped out the door.

[26:12] But one thing that I’ve truly loved about where I’m at, making the parts that are then going to be put into something that gets built, so, you know, when I’m big, giant piece of steel, that’s a spindle for a side dump trailer, I then get to go see them weld that spindle into the suspension and then they go sandblast it all, they get it painted and then it comes back and you see the finished product. So I think even if maybe clients, if they could send pictures of parts that maybe your new guy made, that gives him a chance to say, Hey, I did that. No, that’s a great point. I mean, when, when we seldomly have the opportunity to see the finished product, like in use, everybody is always like super proud, super happy. We don’t often get that chance, but when we do, it’s always fun. Yeah. I highly encourage that. If you have the opportunity to show that to guys who are like new to the shop, give them a chance to take ownership of what they’ve done and that passion will continue to fuel that fire. Yeah. That’s really cool. If you’re looking to increase your spindle up time without adding any head count, check out the Hennig workflow automation system. I’ve seen it. I love it. It’s a compact automated pallet delivery solution that lets you work ahead of your machine. So your shop never stops.

[27:33] You can load up to 40 pallets with material, fixtures, programs, and just let the workflow cook. The Hennig workflow is designed for high mix machining, works with a wide range of machines, and even with 125 pound payload on top of a 300 millimeter pallet, yet still takes up less space than most competitors pallet automation system. That means more production, fewer manual changeovers, really just a practical path to high profit lights out machining. Learn more about Hennig workflow by visiting hennigworldwide.com slash workflow. So, like I said, you’re not going to see a lot of manual machines here, right? So, and, and there’s reason for that for sure. But what do you think people have wrong? Like what are, I still see value in them, but where do you think people, a lot of people are going to walk right past those machines that are here this week and never even look at them because it’s considered like old outdated, you know, et cetera. But what, what would you say, you know, you see a shop running both, you work in a shop running both, you run both. What, what’s your take on like why people should still be paying attention to manual machine? Personally, it’s just understanding like that’s where it all starts. And it’s a really great foundation for building a general understanding of machining, like on a lathe, you’re learning the X and Z axis.

[29:00] And it’s kind of going back to what we said, being able to see the cut and feel what that particular insert does. There is definitely, I think, a place for it. I don’t think it’s outdated or even dead in any way, shape or form. There’s obviously a time and place for it, but to completely move into CNC and just completely forget about manuals would, I think, be rather unfortunate, especially for bringing in the next generation. And in your shop, what do you guys see? Like, how do you determine what goes to the manual? What goes to a CNC? Is there, is there a specific parts or types of parts or quantity? So for example, I used to machine this little bushing that would get welded in onto the trailer. And I used to have to do it by hand. So I’d have to take a round piece of stock, drill it out, bore it out, and then face it, turn it down. But we usually have to make a good number of them for, I think we make like eight of them per trailer. And it just got to the point where we just needed to just crank them out because they’re making trailers every week. We needed to simplify how we do this. Cause doing it on the manual is taking way too long. But, you know, we also have big giant pieces of steel that we need to put into the big lathe because that lathe is the only one that can hold it.

[30:27] Okay. So it’s a matter of simplicity, saving time, and then just size of the piece that kind of says, okay, can we get this one part done on the manual? Okay, go do it. And then if we have time, throw this program on, run this many parts and just have them ready. Jason, what you, you, you said you have some manuals. When do you guys use them? The biggest? No, rare. I mean, it is rare. I mean, like literally I’ve got some manuals. I think we’ve got two lathes. I’ve got three left over cause we had some more, but we just kind of dwindled them down. But literally one is open. One is set up on the same little drilling op every, you know, that literally we just sit there and just drill holes, like, I don’t know, twice, twice, uh, maybe once a month. Yeah. That’s about it, you know, but we’re not using it for anything else. And then a little repair work or making a little bushing or, you know, just some, some parts that something quick that we need to make a little gauge or something like that, that’s pretty much it. In our case, we have a few jobs that will always run over there. Kind of like you, like you have most of that. That’s any sort of volume has transitioned to CNC machines, but yeah, we do a good amount of like just internal tooling and work holding over there, like we need a plug for the fourth axis or something like that, you know, we do a lot of prototype work, um, for our customers. We won’t run all of that in the manual shop, but there are times like that last mill op that needs like a 13 degree porthole in the side of this shaft or something, and like, rather than setting up a horizontal or doing it on five axis or whatever, we’ll run it over there, you know, in the same amount of time, it’s going to take them to set that up over there.

[32:09] They can throw it on manual and be done in an hour, you know, or something. And then like the repair work, you know, and that’s, that’s, that’s probably one of the more fun things that our manual shop does. I can’t tell you, I mean, at least weekly, somebody shows up at our front doors and says, Hey, I’ve got this, I got this bracket, you know, brake caliper bracket off a 1962 Jaguar, and I, it’s, you know, it’s all rattled out here. Like I need to, you know, and those are just fun, right? And then what’s really interesting about that is I would say once or twice a year, somebody brings some in for some random repair and we do it. We’ll tell them, give us a couple of weeks. We’ll get to it when we can. Sometimes we’ll do it same day, whatever. But probably about once a year that turns into a client though. No way. Yeah. Cause like that person maybe owns a company that you’re like, Hey, do you, could you also make like this little shaft? Like right now I’m getting it from Wyoming, you know, and like, you know, actually we could do that. So yeah, it’s, uh, but those are some of the more interesting jobs we’ll have come through the shop or just always these like little random, like walk-in repair. We, we get the same thing. Yeah. Matthew Nix, who used to host Making Sparks, he’s got a shop in Poseyville, Indiana, and they started out as a, I mean, basically fixing tractors in Poseyville, Indiana.

[33:31] And you know, now he’s got a massive organization, but I mean, kind of same thing, started with those basics and was able to build on that. In your daily routine, are you doing repair work or are you doing like new products, like what’s that mix look like for you? So it’s pretty much all the parts that we make are going to be going to something. Whether it’s an agricultural trailer, a harvester, piler, but it kind of just depends on what’s, what project is going on, where, what group of welders are needing these parts to get this trailer done. So it’s kind of a back and forth. I’ve machined a lot of parts that I’ve done over and over again. It’s just, when are they necessary? So it wouldn’t be repairing a product. It would be making, you’re making new product, but it may be going to repair. Yes. Repair equipment. Yep. Okay. Gotcha. Yeah. And it’s, and I’ve been trying to do more of seeing where these parts are going, especially into the farm equipment. Cause when I first started, it was going to side dump trailers, silage trailers. But, you know, seeing these parts get made into farm equipment that I grew up, I grew up seeing, you know, my dad was a farmer for 30 years. I saw this equipment all the time. Yeah.

[34:48] So now that I have the chance to make the parts that are going to be going into it, that are then going to be out in the field harvesting potatoes. Right. It’s again, it’s seeing where those parts go that really keep that motivation. You know, Mike, I think about, we’re talking about the farming industry and how vital that is to the survival of the country. Right. And, but I think we also traditionally, we think of machining as aerospace, oil and gas. I mean, those are the ones that are going to be the keys. And there’s so many uses that are there for that farming industry. And it is so vital. And I think as the shows grow, as the knowledge grows, as you know, the exposure grows, we’re starting to really uncover a lot more of these stories where it’s, you know, Yeah. I mean, the stuff we’re doing, I mean, it’s Paul’s thank a machinist, right? That’s exactly what it is. I mean, there’s, there’s nothing in our lives that we’ve, that we’ve touched today that we’re not touched by a machinist first. That’s correct. Yeah. Yeah. No. And I think what’s important to bring up, especially with the new generation is you don’t need to be machining aerospace or defense parts to be a machinist. Right.

[36:03] And that’s one thing that I struggled with getting into it is I felt like if I wasn’t running a CNC or if I wasn’t making these types of parts, I didn’t deserve to earn the title machinist because that’s the one thing that I really wanted. Cause I thought being a machinist was just the coolest job in the world. Yeah. I mean, it kind of is, but just getting that through to the younger generation, it’s like, you can start out small and it’s, it’s just the way that you think and go about handling those problems and solving them. That is what will make a machinist. So Ethan, on that, you know, as we start to kind of wrap up, one of the things I’d like for you to talk about, kind of speaking to that younger, that next generation, that new machinist, whatever, we found you through social media. Yes, sir. You kind of hit the world and you said, Hey, I’m doing this and it’s cool. Yeah. And I know that that’s opened up a lot of opportunity and relationships for you and whatnot. Talk to that person, right? Like put, like talk about like your journey of putting yourself out there and getting on social media and telling your story and kind of what that’s done for you. Yeah. So when I started, basically I just wanted to make videos and show my friends and family what I was doing at work. And it just kind of sorted catching more attention and people started seeing more of it, but I think the thing is, is just start like one thing I always tell myself is keep it simple and make it cool. Yeah.

[37:26] Like, because that’s how I had to learn. I had to learn it a very simple, simple way at a very slow pace, but why can’t I just make something in the manual lay that I do at work, hit it from some different angles, make it cool. Yeah. Cause then the next person that sees that will think, well, I mean, it’s not super complex. It’s not super hard, but I could, I could do that. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. What all social media channels are you on? So I am mostly on Instagram and, uh, from Instagram, I was told to get on LinkedIn and I’m really happy that I did. Cause obviously I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t done that. You know, I think one of the, one of the takeaways from, for me on that is you mentioned about starting in as a machinist, right, whether that’s a manual or a CNC machinist, you had this drive to be better. And I think the, the message I would want to send to people is you don’t have to, and there’s no expectation for you to go from start to expert machinist. Like it is a process, it is going to take time. So that is okay. Like, let’s like, just be patient and keep working hard at it because that’s how you’re going to get there. That’s a great way to put it, but it’s easy to see, you know, you look on Instagram or you look on LinkedIn and you’ve got these like spectacular products and all these, you know, it’s that like, Oh, it’s perfect world. Well, let me tell you in order for them to get to that part. Yeah.

[38:49] How many, how many, how many did they film? Yeah. They’ve got a 45 second video that took six days to get there and broken tools, broken parts. So, yeah, yeah, I, I’ve definitely had that one of the videos I had done. Uh, I admitted it was the third time that I had to make that part mostly because I either had the wrong print. I didn’t look at the print in the right spot. And so what they saw was the finished product, but that one part I machined three times. That’s right. Yeah. So, well, and what I love about what you’re doing is, I mean, one, you’re, you know, you’re, you’re inspiring a bunch of people to like, this is cool. This is fine. This is fun. It’s okay to be learning, right? Not be perfect. It also helps probably even build your own passion for it, right? Because you’re building a community around yourself. Again, back to just my crew, you know, I mean, the, the people that have that passion are the ones that are excelling in my organization every day, right? I mean, they, I’ve got people with more experience and that, you know, are quote better machinists, right? But, but they’re the, that younger group is closing that gap pretty darn quick. And they’re, they’re picking it up. Yeah. Yeah. I’ve definitely seen that. We’ve got probably three newer hires that are young. And I mean, their, their curve is, it’s like straight up, like within two weeks, you know, it’s like, they’re touching off tools, changing tools, like making adjustments, and then within four weeks, it’s like, you know, we’re standing and watching them do setups and like, you’re like, you’re a little, a little piece of it is like, let’s just wait. But then, you know, part of that, you need to keep them engaged.

[40:26] And they, but they’re smart enough to handle it. So you got to make that decision, like, okay, they can do X, Y, Z, let’s put them on that next step. And, and now like, they’re just completely running, you know, machine all day, start to finish setups, changes, whatever, doesn’t matter. They’re just doing their thing. And so. Keeping them consistent on doing that over and over. Like, that’s one thing that I really think will keep them invested and keep them in it, because the more you’re on it, the more it’s going to stick. And, you know, they get to, it’ll make the whole process faster. The setup’s going to be done faster. So now they can pay attention to how is this tool cutting this at what depth, what surface speed. So it’s just little by little, it’s going to compound to where they’re just going to know it and be super happy to continue learning. Yeah, that’s great. Well, Ethan, as we wrap up, I’m going to give you a task for your first time at IMTS. Yes, sir. I want to, I want to see on social media, all the manual machines you find at IMTS. Challenge accepted. Yeah. Cause I mean, they’re here. Oh, I’ll find them. They you’ll do a lot of walking. I, I’ve already had to do a lot of walking. I took the train this morning and that was an adventure. Is that your first time on a train also? Uh, one that didn’t have, uh, train cars and lumber. Okay.

[41:45] All right. So yeah, to be on a train in a city, I never thought I’d ever be in, on a train that I’ve only seen in movies, it was kind of wild. Well, Jason, thanks for helping host this episode. Yeah, I appreciate it. And Ethan, thanks for being on it. Absolutely. Thank you. And Jason, you know how we end the show every time, right? So if you’re not making chips, you’re not making money. Bam.