Ep. 54: Cheap as Beans and Expensive as Time

In this year-end wrap-up episode of The Lone Machinist, Jamie and Curt unpack the wins, losses, and lessons of 2025 while looking ahead to 2026. From broken thread mills and tool break detection paranoia to shop layout upgrades, anchor point workflows, and the mental inertia of one-man shops, this conversation is packed with practical insights and plenty of laughs.They dig into why small annoyances matter more than big purchases, debate the true ROI of sticker printers, dream about overbuilt anodizing setups, and agree that sometimes the smartest move is just making life easier. If you’ve ever driven the struggle bus, overthought a workflow, or bought a tool just to remove friction, this one’s for you.Links Discussed: cheap lathe video (must watch): https://youtu.be/h-8BlX8pxAg?si=inSjol-Yo5pNf5Sm Fiber Laser Coin Video: https://youtu.be/p-GXAnlnAxg?si=sya0FS2GEpWEKJDX  Local Raspberry Pi AI: https://www.geeky-gadgets.com/whisper-qwen3-mellotts/        The Lone Machinist: Website: https://thelonemachinists.com/ Bonus Content: https://thelonemachinists.com/#bonus-content Merch: https://www.jspeceng.com/online-store Patreon: https://patreon.com/TheLoneMachinistsNeed Work Done? Check out Subtract Manufacturing at: https://subtractmanufacturing.com/Want to try out Toolpath? Give it a go and get 10% off by using the code TLM10 at checkout: https://toolpath.com/Jamie: http://instagram.com/jspec_engineering https://www.jspeceng.com/Curt: https://www.instagram.com/confoundedmachine/ https://www.confoundedmachine.com/