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Question for shop owners and machinists.

TC VMC

Aluminum
Joined
Jul 12, 2006
Location
UK
Any of you guys get a little stressed out at times ?

I opened my own shop back in Jan. of this year. Tig welding equipment, Manual mills / lathes, 1 large capacity CNC lathe (combination type) and a VMC I felt would cover every angle (Cincinnati FTV).

Things arn't bad, I got off to a good start, secured good work and its reasonably steady.

But apart from that, the stress is getting to me more than when simply running VMC's for someone else.

First the lathe's spindle drive failed, costing quite a bit, second - air compressor's oil cooler cracked and nearly seized, 3rd Cincinnati's toolchanger went out of alignment (encoder problem) and lost 2 days.

Any fellow shop owners (and machinists also) feel the stress at times. Ever regret your career choice ? How do you deal with the stress ?

I'd love to take a holiday but who would answer the phones and get the work done ? Thats the thing about this profession, if you let a customer down, they'll probably walk.
 
welcome to the world of self employment. stress comes with the territory. how do you deal with it? alcohol or xanax or both.

all joking aside, when things go bad just think about why you went out on your own in the first place. no matter how stressed out i get i just can't see myself working for anyone else. i take the good with the bad and would'nt trade this job for anything. there are benefits to self employment.
 
I'm in the same boat as you. Normally the stress comes from scheduling difficulties. I find that going to the gym 2-3 times a week in the morning does wonders for me. Don't fall into the "but I don't have time for that" trap. There will always be a few days when you can't do it but you will be far more efficient if you get the exercise and you will get more done. Your heart will be a happier piece of meat, repetitive strain injuries will be far less likely to occur and there is another part dangling from your torso that also experiences a performance boost after exercising.

Good Luck.
Glenn @ Metro North.
 
Luckily i've no grey hairs yet, i'm still in my early 20's !

LOL, on the alcohol issue, it must be a trend amoungst machinists. The most talented 3 cnc machinists I know have all 20+ years of experience in the aircraft sector of machining. Not cabin parts etc... but stressed components for landing gear and wings etc... All 3 are self confessed alcoholics. I opened my doors in January and havent touched any alcohol since New Years eve. There is a pub 100 yards from my shop and house which doesnt make it any easier. But it was a decision I made and i'm trying to stay away from it. I sometimes forget what the word moderation means !

I hear air traffic controllers sit and look at tropical fish go round in circles ! Would that help ?
 
I'm 26 and my hair is noticeably turning gray. It's a family shop, which makes it all the better. When I lived at home with my parents, the work really came home with me. It was never ending.

Regret my choice? With my family I never really had any choice. It's why they had a boy, to run the shop. They had me in here at 6 years old, running machines at 8. Yet, it's scary that very hard times are still coming to the industry. I just hope to be good enough to make it another generation. That's enough stress right there. Scares me to death. 3 generation, 80 year old shop, I don't want to be the one who puts it out. Yet, I don't believe I want my kids involved. Go be free with your life. Unless they really love machining, but I ain't trying for that.

You should see the old man and I argue. Puts those guys on Orange County choppers to shame.

I deal with it by drinking heavily, Xanax are great. Don't ever mix the two or you'll pass out pretty quickly. I don't drink as much as I used to because mornings are a killer and I need to be productive at work. Also, the lack of brain cells really sucks. I need to be sharp.

I joke to my friends that you don't know what stress is until you have to make payroll.
 
Your lucky we went 3 years feeding our family by digging ditches and doing construction till our business took off. No Stress Allowed Here! If we feel the pressure we just grab a 6-pack and go fishing...

John
 
I opened my own shop back in Jan. of this year. Tig welding ....bla bla bla

Things arn't bad, I got off to a good start, secured good work and its reasonably steady.


You don't have enough time in to determine "steady!"


How do you deal with the stress ?

When the dog bites, when the bees sting, when I'm feeling sad .... (Are you old enough to take it from there?)


It's not machine shop werk - it's called self employment. If it was easy - everybodied be dooin' it. Now git out of here and leave more werk on the table fer the rest of us!

LOL!

Think Snow Eh!
Ox
 
I been doin this for a lot of years, and I'm used to it now. In fact I think it's normal. I get out of the shop maybe a half day a week and go ride my sportbike. That'll clear the stress for ya!
 
I've run my own business for 13+ years, with 1 off for good behavior (haha, a little prison joke there, actually the wife won a scholarship & we lived overseas for a year, but I digress).

Things that make you stressed out come with the territory, and there is no changing that. What you can do is to alter how you react to stressors.

Changing your behavior takes some some insight, some discipline, and practice/repition over time. New habits are hard to establish.

My personal #1 stressor is "too many jobs, not enough time". This problem has it's root in the fear of losing face with a client, or losing the client entirely.

You'll find that most stress arises from fear of some kind. Identifying that fear helps you address it.

The things I do to cope with this are:

A) Make a list of jobs in order of priority. Sometimes that list change daily. This helps clear my mind of worries, and allows me to focus on the one job at the top of the list.

B) Negotiate with clients openly and honestly regarding your ability to meet the deadline. This may mean hiring temp help if you can't make it work.

C) Remind myself that no client is worth wrecking my health or marriage over. More importantly, I work better, faster (and safer, when I'm working in the shop) when I'm rested, fed, and calm.

D) Remind myself that there are other clients if things go egg-shaped and wobbly. Care, but not so much that you lose perspective.
 
Got cancer last year,did 8 mos. of chemo and still put in 40 hrs. a week, well most weeks
anyway.In Jan. of this year the Co. I work for sold out to a large corp. and I had to deal with the resulting BS from that.
I guess it finally got to me because in the last
month and a half I screwed up two BIG JOBS, it really hurt our reputation.I'm taking next week off to regroup.I've never been a whiner or a complainer before but I feel like I'm in over my head anymore.

Ford (gone fishin')
 
Joe788, the worst ones were down hole instrument parts, 17-4 1025 cond. from one of our good customers.Round parts with offset dias.', holes drilled and tapped on the periph. on the 4th axis.Did the math and nailed those ops, felt pretty good about that.Went on to the other ops,
lots of close tol. GD&T stuff.Went to the next ops, .104 holes drilled 6 to 8" through the lenght(I know,shoulda been EDM'd).After I broke a drill off in one pc. 4" in, I did another check
on the previous features and found some things that I missed the tol. band on that I thought I had right.I don't know what happened other than
I just plain had my head in my ass.

I hope that made sense,it's kinda hard to explain
these parts

Ford
 
Once the confidence takes a knock it can play on your mind for days. Sometimes its best to just leave the shop for a while I find.

"A man that never made a mistake never made anything..."

Thats the first thing I was told when I scrapped my first job 6 years ago. I find it real hard to work with something else on my mind, and the result is usually forgetting to clear clamps and fixtures during traverse moves etc...

Luckily, I've never got a Z move out so far as to hit a machine bed. I would never forgive myself for doing that.
 
What really stinks is that I had almost 100 hrs. in these parts. They were scrap before the drill broke, and I missed it. I'm not the worlds greatest machinist, but I'm good enough to do this kind of work , as I have done similar work for this cust. before.

Ford
 
Ford,

All I can say is I'm sorry to hear that. Anything i've scrapped has been maybe 8 - 10 hrs at the most as we mostly done one offs and prototype work.

Theres probably no feeling worse in the shop environment than when you see the figures on a measuring device way out of spec. It isnt the lost time or even the material that gets me down, its feeling plain stupid.

Lets say a power failure causes your spindle to drop slightly and ultimately scraps a job. I wouldnt feel so bad in that situation.
 
As far as mechanical and electrical problems and general maintenance problems, there's this guy named Murphy......
If we were certain of his where abouts, we would collectively chip in and secure a contract on his ass and get him put out of commission permanently.


When you go self employed, they put your name on a list. He keeps track of the names, and makes sure
you get your share of unplanned repairs.
Machines seem to run forever....even that frayed and 3/4 cracked-thru belt on your machine -at work- won't fail. But when it's your own shop, lookout. Belts break, electronic gremlins work overtime to put you behind. Thanks to Murphy.
Get on the road to get parts. See how everybody is out driving below the speed limit because you're trying to get someplace? Murphy!

Those problems you describe will come up at the worst times. One way to fix them is to buy a new machine....or 2....or 3.
Then when all the machines are new and not broken, you'll have to work 3x as hard to make the payments. Just about that time, a good customer or one that promised you more work will be gone for
one of any various reasons.
I bet most self employed guys on this board have
'heard' of that big job from a customer that talks big, but never pans out.

For sure, sometimes it is best to take time off to regroup. May feel like a guilt trip, but the up side is, you should be more productive after a break from the stress. Many,many days it seems -nothing- goes right, and might be best to just call it a short day, and start fresh tomorrow.
The determining factor is how you handle those situations.

You've been at it 5? months.....and the stress is 'getting to you'.....


Remember.....it's not just you.
One of my customers....just today....is building
an assembly....it's a $90K job. Their customers customer had added extras to the project that caused delays and required added engineering.
Now they want to cancel the project because it's taking too long! And my customer has some big money invested in parts and labor.

Ox has it right.....IF it was EASY.....

dk

Edit: FYI I'm -completely- sober while writing this... It's early yet!
:D :D
 
Hey TC,
If you are already feeling the strain, and only been at it since January, man, you gotta get away from the shop for a couple of days!
This month marks my 10 year anniversary for my little cnc machine shop. I was gung-ho for probably the first 3 or 4 years. But since, I basically treat it like a job and nothing more.
Don't get me wrong, I still like machining, and especially tinkering with the cnc machines, but it's just another way to make a living now.
One of my sayings of wisdom for a machine shop: "It's always something"

Just learn to expect your day to never go as planned. Roll with it...adapt...write things down.
Whatever you do, don't get in a hurry. Learn to pace yourself and take your time.
Also, don't bite off more than you can chew. You need at least one or two local shops you can count on to help you out with overflow work, or when delivery dates are pulled in.
Don't price yourself too cheap. If you get all the jobs you quote, you are too cheap.
Use pricing to control your workload. Never say no...price it way high, and it you happen to get it...you will make a killing!
Owning and operating a cnc machine shop has to be one of the toughest ways to make a living in this world we live in.
Good luck,
Greg
 
"If it was easy, everyone would be doing it" - that used to be my saying. Now it's "I must have rocks in my head...".
 








 
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