How I Spent My Friday

I have been poking around a local machine shop for the last few months.  I've become such an annoyance that the proprietor decided to give me a shot at manning a vertical machining center for the day.

 This is the machine I worked on today.  A Mazak VTC-16A.  I can't really say I was machining.  The machine was doing the machining.  I was there, swapping out machined parts for bar stock, breaking the edges off of fresh parts, and making sure nothing caught on fire.  It was arduous work, but I loved it.

Hopefully this will result in me being a better prototyper.  We'll see how it works out.  I go back in next Friday.

Best,
John Bear Ross