Well gosh, you offset to the side that's scrap! LOL I agree that with a wire edm you have a one shot deal to make it right. Depending on length of the cut, the material, and the phase of the moon, by the time the wire gets from here to there, the metal might distort causing what in all rights is the correct program to turn out scrap.

I cant imagine an economy so out of whack that crap is passed off as good and the crap is paid for. I just did a conversion of .2mm. I’m appalled that a shop with a computer controlled machine couldn’t hold .008” tolerances. Was that total, or the range? +-.1mm, or +-.2mm? One is huge, and the other is ridiculous for a CNC lathe to have missed by. That sort of tolerance wouldn’t have been tolerated where I worked (retired). My belt drive 16” swing Southbend lathe out in my shop will hold within .001TIR with finagling. Production will hold +-.003” That’s not out of round, that’s size. Out of round? How did they do that? A loose chuck?

Instrument maker? I only met one and he wasn’t a good example of any trade. If you mean finagling silly tight tolerances and you need to use a Sheffield shadow gauge to show a .0003 range just to check, and you’re only allowed +-.0001, then yes I have done it and it can be trying at times. I used to think the tolerances were useless due to the fact the engineers never put a temperature this sort of tolerance was to be taken at. Too big by a couple of tenths and you know it will be extremely frustrating to get the part back in the centers? Just chill the shaft and bingo, you got it nailed. Too small? QA it warm. And the range of warm to cool isn’t very large at all.

Your first post of checking out South Africa made me think you wanted to go there. Where would you go from South Africa? I heard New Zealand’s economy isn’t too swift either. Not corrupt, just not happening. Great roads for motorcycles though… If I were young again, I’d seriously consider Australia.

I’m glad I didn’t offend you. I tend to be opinionated and sometimes I have to watch that my opinions don’t offend.