How does your shop handle shift change?

by Morning Machinist

Author

Jon House
January 30, 2025

Is tardiness an issue at your shop? Below are some interesting ways different shops are handling shift change. Perspectives from machinists and from managers…

Top Comments include:

  • “If you're late a minute, it's a point, if you're late 15 minutes, its a half a point.(can't make this sh*t up) You get 6 points and then you're fired. Beings that i work for major corporation, I'm a maintenance mechanic, so they give us leniency and let us flex if it's an emergency and we call ahead. If it's too much time, they make us use vacation and it's up to the supervisors discretion on if they give you a point for the short notice vacation.”

  • “We changed to have 2nd shift start time overlap 15 minutes for shift change. They got paid and the other guys could leave on time. Never had an issue once we did this.”

  • “This is a company problem and company problems are not mine. My shift is over. If the company failed to ensure their staffing needs are met it is of no concern to me.”

  • “My old timer day guy from last job told me he'd give me any time I gave him...if I showed 20 min early he would stay 20 late....I've always done the same....don't roll in at the buzzer and expect me to stay. New job is 1 shift so doesn't matter. I'm also a believer that if your not 15 min early your late.”

  • “Most of you guys have never worked on Emergency Overtime Repairs. You want big boy pay you do big boy work. The slackers will be handled.”

  • “Dude it's called leave a written line up. I've only ever came across 2 or 3 occasions where a written line up wasn't good enough and in that case, leave it for the next shift. This is not your problem to solve. You leave at your scheduled out time, whether the next shift is there or not.”

  • “Our shifts overlap by half an hour.”

  • “At the large facility where i apprenticed if you were one second late or punched out one second early you were given a verbal/written warning. If it happened three times you got canned. Tardiness was not an issue there!”

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Any advice???

This question generated 160+ responses over a two day period. A lot of support from the machining community. Here are a few of them…

  • “Morse spiral point CNC style plug taps. You are using a hand tap. Notice the flutes are straight up and down on your tap? That design is really only for hand peck tapping, and chips load up and break very easily. Also with 4 flutes, the cross section is weak.”

  • “2 or 3 flute, ‘spiral pointed’ taps are your best friend any time you can push the chips out the bottom.”

  • “A 4 flute tap is a hand tap. If you are tapping a through hole get a spiral point tap, if blind hole get a spiral flute tap”

  • “You need a spiral flute tap and a better chamfer on your hole. Slow and steady wins the race!”

  • “As my old instructor used to say “are you working with cheese? It’s low carbon steel!” Spiral point three flute, tap magic cutting fluid.”

  • “I avoid 4 flute taps at all costs”

Equipment Recommendations

It appears Bison had the most votes on this question. But here are some additional comments.

  • “Bison”

  • “Cushman steel 4 jaw chucks were the best”

  • “Schunk by a long shot. Huge fan of their products. I’m a horizontal and vertical mill set up machinist and every single product I’ve tried from them was like GMC vs daewoo. Their tool holders, work holding, quick load tools.. only other brand I will support until the end of time as far as work holding is mitee bite. Talon grips saved me so many times with thin parts and flatness call outs and chatter. Schunk pallet systems combined with talon grip fixturing…. Now instead of 2 parts in a vice you’re nesting parts and running 20 instead and freeing up operators and cut out 90% of your tool changes.”

  • “I'm happy with my Atlas.”

  • “I have just bought several cheap Chinesium chucks and was very surprised. They are actually good chucks for general shop work.”

Funny Post of the Day 🤣🤣🤣

Machinists with questions or advice 🤔

⁉️ Are the guys that work in aerospace know-it-alls?

⁉️What spindle load would make you feel uneasy?!

⁉️ Anyone else turning PTFE?

⁉️ Anybody out there still using old school double end centering machines?