News, field notes, and open questions from Kratostructures.https://kratostructures.comhttps://kratostructures.com/blog/the-tolerance-you-asked-for-is-not-the-tolerance-you-needhttps://kratostructures.com/blog/the-tolerance-you-asked-for-is-not-the-tolerance-you-needWe held half a thou on twelve parts over nine days. Three months later I found out the bore had twenty thou of clearance.Tue, 11 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTKratostructureshttps://kratostructures.com/blog/what-an-ai-first-machine-shop-actually-looks-likehttps://kratostructures.com/blog/what-an-ai-first-machine-shop-actually-looks-likeI flew home from a robot show and walked past the actual answer at 6:40 that same evening, in my own office.Tue, 04 Aug 2026 00:00:00 GMTKratostructureshttps://kratostructures.com/blog/your-drawings-never-leave-our-servershttps://kratostructures.com/blog/your-drawings-never-leave-our-serversA customer's form asked which AI providers see their drawings. I typed None. Then I counted how many customers had ever thought to ask.Tue, 28 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTKratostructureshttps://kratostructures.com/blog/a-price-is-not-a-planhttps://kratostructures.com/blog/a-price-is-not-a-planLost a forty-piece job by nine thousand eight hundred last March. Five months later I found out where that money went.Tue, 21 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTKratostructureshttps://kratostructures.com/blog/why-your-rfq-waitshttps://kratostructures.com/blog/why-your-rfq-waitsYour quote didn't take three days of engineering. It took twenty minutes, plus three overnight gaps. The gaps are the fixable part.Tue, 14 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTKratostructureshttps://kratostructures.com/blog/every-job-should-teach-the-shop-somethinghttps://kratostructures.com/blog/every-job-should-teach-the-shop-somethingOur senior machinist knew how that part wanted to be cut. Then he was out for four days, and we paid to learn it a second time.Tue, 07 Jul 2026 00:00:00 GMTKratostructureshttps://kratostructures.com/blog/send-the-step-file-and-the-drawinghttps://kratostructures.com/blog/send-the-step-file-and-the-drawingThe model tells us the shape of your part. The drawing tells us what it has to do. Send one and I'm guessing.Tue, 30 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTKratostructureshttps://kratostructures.com/blog/five-ways-a-good-design-becomes-an-expensive-parthttps://kratostructures.com/blog/five-ways-a-good-design-becomes-an-expensive-partA designer in Rochester put an R0.160" in eleven corners and took nineteen percent off his part. He didn't lose a thing.Tue, 23 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTKratostructureshttps://kratostructures.com/blog/how-we-qualify-a-process-vendorhttps://kratostructures.com/blog/how-we-qualify-a-process-vendorA certificate tells me a system existed on audit day. Four delivered lots tell me what happens on an ordinary Tuesday.Tue, 16 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTKratostructureshttps://kratostructures.com/blog/erp-is-becoming-plumbinghttps://kratostructures.com/blog/erp-is-becoming-plumbingOur ERP's screens are turning into a fallback path and the API is turning into the product. Here's what I'd ask a vendor now.Tue, 09 Jun 2026 00:00:00 GMTKratostructures