My old lead hand said he could hear a bad insert from across the shop, and after 14 years I finally get it

Dakota Rivera · 2026-10-26T19:40:04.426255+00:00

Ran into my old lead hand Dale at a hardware store in Rockford last month, first time I'd seen him since he retired in 2019. We got to talking about the new guys on the floor and he mentioned how he used to walk the aisle during a run and just listen, no looking at the load meter or the spindle gauge or anything. I laughed at him back then because I figured he was just old school. He said the sound of a dull insert is like a dry cough, kind of a scratch that don't match the cut, and one bad edge on a face mill will tip you off before your parts start going out of spec. I ran a 6 inch face mill on 4140 all morning on Tuesday and sure enough one insert was chipped and I caught that scratchy tick about two minutes before my finish started climbing. Now I catch myself standing still with my coffee just listening instead of hovering over the screen. Any of you learn the sound thing the same way, or did somebody sit you down and make you hear it first?

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My old lead hand said he could hear a bad insert from across the shop, and after 14 years I finally get it | CNC Operators - HW Forums