Posted by Baz on 24/09/2020 19:04:04:
Totally agree with S.O.D, industry will also have roughing and finishing tools for everything, on a lathe they will probably run constant surface speed, something not available to model engineers also flood coolant versus our paintbrush and pot, two totally different worlds.
Indeed. As model engineers we're almost axiomatically making small components. We just want to be able to achieve the limits and fits required to get our products to work well.
Industrial manufacturers, OTOH, have competitors in all aspects of their operation, and cost control and economy of operating time is embedded from the earliest stages of the design process. I can remember components for a remote valve control assembly being produced for JCB by a supplier where I was an Industrial Engineer, where the drawing status reached Issue 7 whilst the first production batch was still on the shop floor – all the mods being in aid of speed and consistency of output.
Generally speaking, we ain't doin' this for pay. The designs we work to may test our ingenuity, but often in totally different ways to live industry. Of course we experiment, and cheerfully pocket any advantageous techniques we find, but IMO emulating competitive industry too assiduously is more likely to make our work harder – and more expensive.