Today is March 14 (3/14), which bears a striking resemblance to the mathematical constant, pi (3.14159265359) and has officially been dubbed Pi Day.

The world of metalworking and machining is broad, in part because there are so many varieties of metal to play with. One of the most forgiving metals to cut is brass, and here’s four reasons we love to work with it.

The internet is rife with anxious machinists that are either iffy about their tapping techniques or they avoid tapping with any method beyond the familiar. Understandably so… taps aren’t always cheap and breaking one off in a hole will (at worst) ruin your part or (at best) waste hours of tedious work trying to get it out. While there is no easy answer to breaking a tap, knowing your options can help avoid breakage. So, here are four of the simplest ways to tap.

Wood is a great material to cut when you first start learning to machine – it’s fast and cheap. But, machining in wood has a darker side as well.

Some people think of face mills as large diameter tools with lots of inserts. These kinds of face mills need big spindles to push them efficiently, but a fly cutter provides an effective way to face on low horsepower spindles and can deliver superior surface finishes - here's why:

These are things I hear over and over again talking to CNC’ers. There are some better ways and some better answers that can really improve your feeds and speeds practices, if you’re open to them. Fixing your feeds and speeds is one of the easiest productivity hacks you’ll ever make.