The one time I trusted a 3D model over the print, cost me 4 hours in scrap

Last month in Dayton, we had a rush job on a 6061 bracket. The CAM file looked perfect on screen, so I skipped double checking the toolpath against the old paper print. First part came out with the hole pattern shifted 0.08 inch, total garbage. My foreman just said 'the machine don't lie, but the dude who made that model might'. Now I always pull up the original drawing on my phone before any new setup, even if the model looks clean. Anyone else get burned by trusting a digital file over the shop print?

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the_lucas17d ago

Took the same hit about two years ago on a stainless part, spent a whole shift redoing the holes because the CAM model had the datum off by a hair. Now I do a quick check before I even load stock, just pull up the paper print and eyeball the critical dims against the model side by side. The file might be perfect 99 times out of 100, but that one time it isn't, it ruins your whole day. I also started writing the print revision number on the setup sheet so nobody grabs an old file by accident. It's a pain, but it beats eating scrap.