A guy from the Toledo shop called my riser system a 'guessing game'

He saw my pour logs and said I was just adding 15% to everything and hoping for the best. In my experience, that was the standard practice at my old place. He showed me his method, which uses the actual surface area of each part and the gating layout. I changed my whole approach about six months ago. Now I calculate each job separately with a spreadsheet. My scrap rate dropped from almost 8% to under 3%. Has anyone else moved away from that flat percentage rule and seen real results?

3 comments

3 Comments

bailey.sam3mo ago

That old 15% rule works fine if you know your shop's quirks.

thea2469d ago

Wait, what exactly is the 15% rule supposed to cover? I've been working on cars for years and never bothered with any percentage thing. Every shop is different with how old tools are or how much space you've got, so a blanket rule like that just feels lazy. You gotta actually pay attention to what your setup needs, not just guess based on some number.

cora4003mo ago

Maybe for some shops, but that rule feels pretty outdated these days.

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