OT: Am I going to regret buying a new mill?

[wheels17]

I had an interesting experience when my windshield cracked on my 2016 Outback. I figured a couple of hundred for changing it out. Oh no, you have to re-calibrate the Eyesight lane monitoring/smart cruise system when you change the windshield. Huh? Insurance company says I have to go to Safelight. They flip the windshield in under half an hour, then dick around with calibrating the Eyesight for another 3 hours. The tell me they've run out of time, please come back in a couple of days.

Next time, 3 more hours sitting in the waiting room, and they still can't calibrate it. So they send me to the dealer.

Third shop visit for the windshield. The dealer says 3-4 hours to calibrate. 3 hours later the dealer has the Eyesight system calibrated, bills the insurance company $425 for the calibration.

The thing that really bugs me about this is that the factory has to have a method for calibrating the system in a few seconds. They aren't spending hours on this on the assembly line. Why can't they pass these techniques on to their dealers?

There's a problem with the wheels on the new Corvettes being very easy to damage. So someone sued GM to get them covered under warranty. GM's defense was apparently to say "our warranty covers defects in materials and workmanship, this is a design issue so it is not covered", and the judge bought it (a bit more complicated than that, but still).

GM Doesn't Have to Help Buyers of Cars w/Inherent Design Flaws - Ep. 7.128 - YouTube

Suit Thrown Out Over C7 Corvette Cracked Rims | GM Authority

 

[moldcore]

I'm 72 and getting out of the business because of this. I found myself spending more time and money trying to keep up than actually working and making money. All you have to do is look at Boeing and the 737 Max that relied on software to overcome design flaws. I feel sorry for the next generation and what it will bring.

 

[wyop]

I think there is a misunderstanding by some people that this is a case of "can't learn, afraid of change."

Speaking for myself, it's not "can't learn". I learned how to run a compiler and fix stupid gcc-isms in bad code to get programs I wanted. I don't enjoy C but had to learn enough to solve dipshit-developer mistakes.

It's not even "don't want to learn" because I am basically lazy but still enjoy new stuff.

It's that I refuse to do things the absolutely stupid way that many so-called "developers" think is oh-so-kewl. So many things in modern computing are stinking garbage, problems that were solved rationally decades ago thrown in the trash for nonfunctional braindead crap.

It's not that we can't learn. It's that we don't want to throw away functioning, rational systems for absolute shit.

When we farmed, we started out with a tractor from 1995 that had all manner of computer interlocks, self-diagnostics, electric-over-hydraulic controls, a computer-controlled powershift transmission (you could literally be going down the road in top gear at 20 MPH and throw it into reverse, and the computer would downshift, bring the machine to a stop, shift it into reverse and then go backwards - you never needed to touch the clutch or brakes), but after a few years of dealing with the infuriation of sensors going bad, etc, we traded it off and I got two Deere 4x40 tractors.

Those old xx40 tractors had no computers anywhere on the machine. You could remove the batteries once you got those older machines started, and they'd still run for as long as you could feed them fuel. Sure, the Deere xx40 tractors were less fuel efficient, but they always worked, and they were easy to work on. They had much simpler transmissions that did not forgive fools if you tried to jerk them around. I loved those xx40 tractors. They worked.

I had other farmers tell me "You're just scared of progress! You don't know how to fix the newer machines, because you're scared of electricity!"

I'd then reply: "I'm a retired electrical engineer. Want to tell me how scared I am of electricity again? When I'm paying $20K to $50K for a machine, it had better work when I say it's time to work, and when that time is in the middle of the night to bale hay and the dealer's shop is closed... I'm getting a machine that's ready to work when I say it is time to work."

That ended those discussions.

 

[wyop]

I had an interesting experience when my windshield cracked on my 2016 Outback. I figured a couple of hundred for changing it out. Oh no, you have to re-calibrate the Eyesight lane monitoring/smart cruise system when you change the windshield. Huh? Insurance company says I have to go to Safelight. They flip the windshield in under half an hour, then dick around with calibrating the Eyesight for another 3 hours. The tell me they've run out of time, please come back in a couple of days.

Next time, 3 more hours sitting in the waiting room, and they still can't calibrate it. So they send me to the dealer.

Third shop visit for the windshield. The dealer says 3-4 hours to calibrate. 3 hours later the dealer has the Eyesight system calibrated, bills the insurance company $425 for the calibration.

We have a 2010 Outback. My wife and I have never owned a car that had so many recalls. The dealer is 130 miles away, and they'd send us recall notices which involved them putting it on their dealer-level computer diagnostic box to just tell us "OK, you're all set. Your car doesn't need anything under this recall." You want to hear an angry wife? Send your wife on a 260+ round mile trip to be told "OK, your car had nothing wrong. Thanks for coming in!"

Then this past summer, my wife had a rear brake light go out. OK, so I decided "get some LED lights and slap them in - they'll last longer than the filament bulbs."

Two months later, the wretched ECU starts throwing codes, disabling the ABS, anti-skid and other systems in the car. What was the cause? The LED light bulbs. OK, so put filament bulbs back in. It is still throwing a code, which I cannot clear with my OBD-II box. Turns out the inertial sensors in the car needed to be re-calibrated. I called around and found a guy locally who's own wife drove a Subaru Outback, and he had a dealer-level OBD diagnostics box (a Snap-On unit - cost him $4K+, and monthly software updates). He re-calibrated everything in 90 minutes for $100 and we were done with that problem.

We will never own a Subaru again.

 

[kustomizer]

I get in my 2018 ram 3500, push the brake, push the stop/start and nothing happens, a warning on the dash tells me I need the damn fob thing again, if I keep it in my pocket like I used to with my key every few hours I pick something or kneel to pick something off the floor and the horn starts honking, lights a flashing and the same fob that started all that shit won't turn it off until I walk back to the house where the truck is, then it will shut it off. I drive the truck from the house to the shop to grab the garbage so I can drop it at the dump on my way to town, stop, get out, go inside and get the garbage, go back th the truck and the tailgate is locked and wont open, the truck is too tall to just put it over the side so I go open the door, get smacked in the shins with the electric running board, push the wrong button and set off the horn and lights again. Much better than it used to be, why that shit found its way onto a pickup is beyond me.

Back to machines, I have several older Haas machines, love them, I have a newer ST10 lathe and have only run a few jobs in it since new, 2017, it is the last of the old classic control, it takes 5 times the button pushing of the older machines to do a given thing, the screen is cluttered up with stuff I wish wasn't there, once it is making parts it is fine, it is quieter and faster than my SL20 by a long shot. If I get more or replace machines I recon I will look for used ones of the type I am used to, I too am older and wish to learn more about wearing out motorcycles, catching fish and a few other interests. This techno shit that is taking over everything makes no sense to me ( or anyone else I know, they are old too )but you can trace that all the way back to a couple of cavemen sitting on a couple rocks in front of the cave grunting something about "younguns these days".

 

[Trueturning]

Hi All:
Warning, I have a pissy rant to get off my chest first but then I have machining related question.
So, tonight I drove a 2019 model Toyota Corolla with every fucking techno feature ever made to piss off old farts like me.
You start it by pushing the "START" button ...twice.
You stop it by pushing the "START" button...once.
Push it three times by accident and it makes an ugly noise.
So, no more key like a normal car...this newfangled shit is "BETTER".

You disengage the parking brake by putting it in "PARK" and stepping on the brake pedal until the little red light goes off.
You turn on the parking brake the same way, but it takes a while so you have to sit there with the engine running and your foot on the brake until the little red light comes on
So no more parking brake lever...this newfangled shit is "BETTER".
Took me 5 minutes and a look at the car manual to figure that one out.

The environmental controls reset themselves to the "Useless" position every time you turn the car off, so when you start the whole fucking works fogs up and you need to dig out your glasses and find the right buttons to get it working again.

The car drives OK but the techno shit...well you can guess from my tone what I think of it!

This from a guy who wants to throw his idiot phone in the river whenever it beeps and farts at me and expects me to know what that new noise is supposed to mean.

This also from the guy who wants to murder someone at Microsoft whenever the Windoze 10 box decides to "Update" right in the middle of something important.

So here's the machining related question:
I've been pondering upgrading my 2001 vintage Haas Minimill to something with a faster spindle, that I can also put a TRT 100 onto.
Maybe something like a DM-1

Am I going to regret this???

My old Minimill lets me put a C clamp on the door switch so I can run the spindle with the door open if I want...and I want...I REALLY want.
My old Minimill has a straightforward control with a monochrome CRT screen and a floppy drive and a simple RS 232 connection that even an old fart like me can run...I don't want and don't need newfangled internet enabled shit that will sooner or later find a way to fuck me over like every other internet enabled piece of techno eventually has.
So do I do this, or am I going to regret selling the old girl forever.

Remember...this is from the guy who ripped the internet connection from the design computer and ditched all the software maintenance a few years ago, and runs Windows 7 and Windows XP , Solidworks 2015 with HSMWorks, and Mastercam 8.1 on the shop computers. (No not Mastercam X V8...Mastercam V8.1 from 1998!)
I'm also 64 years old and getting more and more curmudgeonly as I get older (how can you tell!)
Am I really too old for new technology?

Cheers

Marcus
Implant Mechanix • Design & Innovation > HOME
Vancouver Wire EDM -- Wire EDM Machining

Those are pretty good work horses I have heard. It is probably a good choice however you might manage to actually use it. Sure you might have to clamp the door shut or whatever. Newer designs are sometimes silly and it might take years before it is designed better. CNC’s are still in high demand. Some people can buy them Or finance them.

What I have always noticed is that whenever I buy something that if it becomes a topic for discussion what seems to always happen is that someone always knows of a better one two blocks down the street that costs a lot less.

These folk are not helpful to talk to before a purchase either that I have ever noticed unless they are selling something themselves. That can work out good because I know the person and they are the direct seller.
Good luck with the mill. Make money and fix it up or look for a better one and a deal. You can always fix up that first one later.

 

[EPAIII]

Sixty-four, smifty-four; I'm 78 and it only gets worse. I am fighting a headlight problem that is probably going to cost me near $1000. All you really need to turn headlights on or off is a $3 toggle switch.

Learn to live with it.

 

[TeachMePlease]

I'm 72 and getting out of the business because of this. I found myself spending more time and money trying to keep up than actually working and making money. All you have to do is look at Boeing and the 737 Max that relied on software to overcome design flaws. I feel sorry for the next generation and what it will bring.

Yeah, because your generation didn't look at the wondrous Exploding Pinto and shrug their shoulders and say "meh"?

It's nothing new...