Ha, gotta push back a little on the "holds tenths" thing. A worn out manual mill holding tenths all day? That's not really how it works. Those old Bridgeports can still cut nice parts in the right hands, but tenths is more about the guy turning the dials than the machine itself. A clapped out leadscrew has backlash you can't just feel your way around forever. What that old timer really has is years of knowing exactly how his machine lies to him and making up for it.

You kept that bookmark two years, so what was the actual tipping point that day?

Honestly the biggest fix for me was timing each step separately for a week, turns out I was spending way too long on wheels because I kept wandering back to check polish residue. Breaking it down made me cut the fluff and now I shave almost 30 minutes off the average car.