Vent: That one engineer who told me to 'just watch the red light' still makes me mad

I was 3 months into running a Haas VF-2 at a shop in Cleveland, trying to set up a new part for a rush job. This older engineer walked over, saw me double-checking the offsets, and goes 'you new guys overthink everything, just watch the red light on the probe and go.' So I did, and it crashed the tool into the vise, scrapping a $350 billet of 6061. The light was for a different sensor they never updated the sticker for. He shrugged and said 'well, now you know.' I still think about that dude every time I set up a job. Has anyone else had a senior guy give you bad advice that you followed and regretted?

3 comments

3 Comments

the_piper3d ago

That probe light trick only works if the machine has the right sensor settings.

valc913d ago

$350 for a billet of 6061, man that stings. I worked with a guy once who talked like that too, told me to just eyeball the tool setter because "the numbers are close enough." He was wrong and I ended up with a broken insert and a bad part. @the_piper is right, that probe light trick depends entirely on the sensor settings being right, which no one bothers to check until after something goes wrong. It's like some of these older guys forget what it was like to be new and just want to feel smart by making you feel dumb. Worst part is they never apologize when their shortcut costs you time and money.

mianelson3d ago

Yeah old heads love acting like their bad habits are "experience" lol. Sorry you had to deal with that nonsense.