Today I finished making the batch of watch parts I started yesterday and started working on programming a new, more complicated part.
Getting the soft jaws cut and the second op going took only a few minutes, and I had all the parts finished within an hour. I then deburred the edges and threaded each of the holes. The tapping of these holes was surprisingly smooth and easy and felt a lot like the threads were already cut, but after testing each one with a thread gauge, they all came out correct. Somehow I broke the just the tip of the tap inside one of the holes, and it felt like a very slight crunch, very similar to breaking the chips when threading the stainless, so I didn't think much about it until I pulled it out.
Thankfully there were many more taps, so I swapped it out with another one and finished the rest of the holes. From there, I washed each part in soapy water, rinsed, and dried them. After inspecting each one, I found they were all within 0.001" of the design, which is well within acceptable tolerance but not entirely ideal.
My boss got me a new contract to work on, which is going to be the most complicated part I've worked on yet, using 4+ operations and some very unique CAM techniques. The piece is very similar to one @saundersmachineworks skateboard truck but not as organic of a shape.
