Nick

I write about engineering and communism. Follow me at instead

[Nick @DFManufracture]

New preface for Forest and Factory, titled "The Immortal Science," to inaugurate the French edition is available (in English) to read now. Links in replies. Special thanks to @SoleilSans for the translation and to my coauthor Phil Neel.

[Nick @DFManufracture]

Those of you looking to read Forest and Factory in French can get a copy here https://t.co/x9JY9z8Ftc

[Nick @DFManufracture]

New preface for Forest and Factory, titled "The Immortal Science," to inaugurate the French edition is available (in English) to read now. Links in replies. Special thanks to @SoleilSans for the translation and to my coauthor Phil Neel.

[Nick @DFManufracture]

...and on Phil's substack here, which I highly recommend you subscribe to https://t.co/LO94yaij2M

[heatwave magazine @heatwvmag]

Issue 2 is now entirely online! Visit https://t.co/dnaZJZ6HGM for the full issue. Subscribe to our Patreon to get Issue 3 when it drops—A few highlights from issue 2👇

[☭This 📉 Wreckage☭ @ThisWreckagePod]

IT'S HAPPENING @DFManufracture @endnotesjournal

[prada meinhof @Prada_Meinhof]

FABRIQUE & FORÊT
-- Science & fiction du communisme --

Phil. A. NEEL & Nick CHAVEZ

Sans soleil | Collection µV

Traduction : Julien GUAZZINI
Date de parution : 03/04/2026

https://t.co/IfcQjX6z90

[heatwave magazine @heatwvmag]

While "The Commune Form" demonstrates "commitment to participating in and interpreting cycles of struggle in the unfolding ecological crisis," it mistakes the form of occupations for their function, occluding their inability to undertake communist measures. Reviewer F.P. writes:

[heatwave magazine @heatwvmag]

Want to be a cool cat and buy a copy of Issue 1? 🐱 You can snag a copy from haters cafe's webstore (link below). Also, subscribe to our Patreon and get Issue 2 when it launches.

[heatwave magazine @heatwvmag]

"[Beavers] would gift their knowledge to those of us who would accept it. I have learned from them, and here I have passed a bit of that knowledge on to you. But their gift is not without obligation. How might we reciprocate?"

[heatwave magazine @heatwvmag]

Beavers mirror our own species capacity for niche construction. Recognizing this helps us understand not only capitalism's destructive character but also the key to communism's conscious embrace of this ecological reciprocity.

[heatwave magazine @heatwvmag]

In Dams and Deluge: On Communist Niche Construction, P. takes us through an extensive mediation on the many lessons that communists can learn from beavers. These enigmatic ecosystem engineers offer numerous lessons for those who look closely.

[Woodbine @woodbinenyc]

Our Research Group returns Sunday at 5 to discuss Phil A. Neel & Nick Chavez's 2023 @endnotesjournal essay "Forest and Factory: The Science and the Fiction of Communism": https://t.co/nYL2mwLVQU

More info: https://t.co/IQDdOcY48Y

[Nick @DFManufracture]

@outsidadgitator Working on it!

[Nick @DFManufracture]

@CharmaineSChua What a loss

[BreakingTaps @BreakingTaps]

Ok so this post is getting some heat, but I feel like it's a good teaching moment. How would a machine shop make this part, and why might it be expensive?

I'm assuming it's like 1-2" diameter and <5pc, and no crazy tolerances (+/- 0.005", 3um Ra or similar)

- 2 axis lathe: Change collet, face the part, rough OD, finish OD, groove, deburr. Walk it over to mill and hold in a collet block, finish other end, cut keys, deburr. Clean/measure/ship

- 2ax lathe with live tooling and sub spindle: Change main collet, change sub collet, potentially change live tooling, then one-and-done the part on the lathe.

- Mill-turn: ditto, but probably already has the tools needed in the magazine

- 5 axis mill: the ultimate prototyping tool, I've done far dirtier things than this part on mine 😅Gonna be slow though. Can probably one-and-done

- 4th axis on a mill, same idea as 5ax but probably needs second op

Ok so it seems pretty simple. Probably 5-10min cutting per part max. Why would it be expensive?

Well bar-fed lathes are the easiest automation a shop can have. Once setup on a job they are money printers.

So the 2ax + live tooling + sub spindle machine is _probably_ already committed to high volume work. Changing out the tools for a low-cost onesie-twosie is simply not worth a shop's time. No-quote or f-u quote.

The plain 2ax lathe is possibly free (especially if it is not bar-fed), but now you're paying someone to do two ops minimum, maybe three depending on shop. Might need to change tools on the lathe. Might need to dial in a vise on the mill. That's optimistically 2-3 hours of work total and even at ridiculously low shop rate still a few hundred bucks.

The mill-turn is spending its life doing crazy complicated parts. Go watch Edge Precision on YT for examples. No-quote or f-u quote.

The 5axis _might_ be free and will have the tool magazine to support prototyping work, but is the wrong tool for the job. It'll be slow, and competing against other high value work so the price is high.

4th on a mill still needs a second op, and will probably be the slowest of all options and worst quality. Probably cheapest though, because whatever shop is willing to run this part on a mill 4th likely doesn't have any real work to do (aka they probably suck, clapped out 1995 VF2, etc).

That's the situation. Shops can make the part, but it's so simple/cheap it's not worth it. Tearing down a setup for $50 isn't worth the hassle, or the machines are busy with high-paying jobs.

Shops that specialize in prototyping will make it, but you're gonna pay a premium because you're paying for machine availability and turnaround.

Xometry will make it for you domestically and cheap(ish), but that's because some poor guy in his garage will make it on a clapped out monarch and tormach, measure with calipers, and then realize he actually lost money on the job because a tool broke (and Xometry skims their 20% or whatever).

Please note I'm not trying to justify the current situation, merely explaining why shops might charge seemingly crazy prices for simple parts. It quite literally isn't worth their time. 🤷

This is my pet peeve with manufacturing discussion on twitter. There's not enough manufacturing in the US, so what capacity exists goes to high-paying jobs. Don't blame the shops for taking the good work over junk jobs. They are just following the money.

I'm not even touching on the capital costs, where a simple 2ax lathe is $150k+, live tooling + sub is easily 250-300k, and a mill-turn or 5ax could be 500-1m or more. Add another 200k if they have a pallet changer, plus another 500k for all the pallets and work holding and holders and tools.

[Chuang @chuangcn]

As Chinese New Year nears, the season of wage recovery is in full swing—migrant workers fight to claim unpaid wages before heading home. Rather than listing individual protests and actions (too numerous), here’s what Kuaishou users are saying about them in the comments.

[Nick @DFManufracture]

I have the same username on the other (colorful, celestial) website for this interested in spending less time on this one.

[Nick @DFManufracture]

@outsidadgitator "see also, China" is a perfect stock rejoinder for just about any of the weird ahistorical assertions about "The West" these kind of idiots like to parrot

[Nick @DFManufracture]

@BigMeanInternet Nate Silver, the man who has famously never been wrong about anything