A good post from The Practical Machinest forum.
Hello,
To say that this thread, has been thought provoking, would be an under-statement. Can a person, purchase an indicator, with graduations of .00005"?
Yes. But in all of my 45 years of building precision tooling, the standard rule,
has always been that the measuring instruments, must be able to read to 10%, of the required accuracy. Now, to realize true, verifiable, accuracy, to
+/-.00005", you need another 0, after the decimal point.
I would be willing to state that the spindle bearings, of even a new, CNC turning center, would have more clearance, than that. A part turned, or bored
on most engine lathes, is not truely round, but close enough for the average
requirements.
The return on investment(ROI), has to enter this discussion, at some point.
The old statement, that declares, "We can do anything, the impossible, just takes longer.", might fit this situation. What price for perfection, that does not return a benefit, equal to the required investment?
What Kreiger says, may be different, than what can be proven, in a clean room environment.
Keep thinking,
Bob