So recently I have gotten an internship where I am to spend the summer working for a company producing 3d printers for industrial purposes. To be clear the only knowledge I have going forth is Linux and basic highschool shop woodworking. I really don’t know where to go regarding learning about getting around a machine shop before I start. Now to clarify the guy who owns the place explained that he’ll show me how everything works and ultimately I’m going to put on their distribution of raspian on their raspberry pis they use as controllers, but still I would like to see where to go for info before hand so I’m not completely useless.
TL;DR: I don’t know shit about working in a machine shop (CNC, lathes, etc) & a bit more about 3d printing, where do I go for knowledge on the internet or personal experience?
@kewldude007 This question had somewhat you in mind, but posting to the community for more broad knowledge
3dmonstr is the name of the company, they use repiter running upon raspian for remote control & monitoring. In my full capacity as an intern I’m going to be manufacturing parts for the printers along with setup at opening for precision, but starting out I’m going to be just observing. Guy’s super into open source, which I appreciate, and is part of the reason he uses linux on his printers.
Anyway I can start off with what I have on me at all times, your mileage will vary however because I do more general things that being manual machines only and not production work
A 6" scale, this is my most used tool and this is the one I use
something to make marks with, I use a king size sharpie
A small file, I have some chinese triangle files that dull fast on hard materials but seeing you are dealing with aluminum that may not be an issue but you know me
I
Following his advice, honestly I’d show up for your first day and ask for a list of needed tools (or send him an email for what he wants you to show up with, if anything).
If you’re going to start by watching to learn, he should be providing you the tools you need initially and show you how to use them before you need any of your own. He might not even want you to have your own tools (especially as an intern this would be a curious request IMO if you’re not a career machinist).
Something to remember is that interns get hired with an expiry date and usually without a fancy precise vetting process.
In keeping with that the latitude you’ll be given at work will be limited since as a responsible shop they don’t want to end up relying on you.
Remember, whatever you make/come up with/set up/develop, make sure it’s a justified use of time, repeatable, and understandable.
Once they become more convinced in your skillset, they might choose to hire you longer term and might start relying on you. Before that, you might as well be a vendor/contractor - everything you make needs to be sellable and you’ll need a sales pitch.
