Entrepreneurial endeavors can be a risky business, unless you’re already doing your work as a hobby. After moving to a cabin in the Cascade Mountains, Dmitri Zyuzin found himself watching more and more paramotor (powered paraglider) videos with a building desire to fly.

When you’re making parts, there are a lot of things to keep in mind… tolerances, feeds and speeds, tool wear, workholding… the list goes on and on. Whether you’re making your own parts or stuff for a customer or even shipping components off for Xometry, the final finish of your product is important to remember.

This article is in reference to a previous article and class from Autodesk University related to surface finish.

Adding a finish to your parts isn’t always vital, but it is certainly one of the more entertaining parts of machining. For those who are looking for a finish that is arguably one of the most classic, engine turning will add a unique sheen to your parts.

Tormach is a company that makes a bunch of machine tools for cutting many different materials, including metal… and we love cutting metal.

Received these project photos in the inbox a few weeks back and just now getting around to posting them.  Andrew lives "across the pond" in England and is a model engineering enthusiast.  He cut out these bevel gears with his Tormach PCNC 1100.  From Andrew: