
Swarfcast
Noah Graff, used machine tool dealer and editor of Today’s Machining World, interviews machining company owners, equipment gurus, and experts with insight to help and entertain people working in the machining field. We discuss topics such as how to find quality employees, customer acquisition, negotiation, and the best CNC equipment options for specific jobs.
Latest episodes

May 8, 2024 • 43min
Pasta Machines and Precision Parts, with Antonio Adiletta — EP 140
Pasta machines operate a lot like cam screw machines, Antonio Adiletta told me when I interviewed him for this week’s podcast. Antonio is co-owner of Arcobaleno and GAM Precision in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. After growing up in Italy, Antonio moved to Canada and then eventually emigrated to the United States with his wife and business partner, [...]

Apr 24, 2024 • 41min
Innovating New Attachments for Screw Machines, with Elliott May—EP 143
In honor of this weekend’s PMPA National Technical Conference, we’re resharing a podcast we did last year with Elliott May, engineer at BME in Port Huron, Michigan. BME builds original custom attachments for cam multi-spindles. They also rebuild Acme-Gridley screw machines. Elliott and I talked about a lot of fascinating things in this interview. How [...]

Apr 17, 2024 • 17min
Ghosted by a Customer, What Do You Do?—EP 215
I’m dealing with a customer right now who seems interested in some CNC machines Graff-Pinkert has for sale. They told me they needed this type of machine ASAP! And these machines are RARE! They even said they had a big job for the machines already and they are on the “verge of pulling the trigger [...]

Apr 10, 2024 • 39min
How to Prevent Fires in Your Machine Tools with Mike Campo-EP 98
On this week’s classic episode of Swarfcast, we’re talking about preventing fires inside of machinery. Our guest is Mike Campo, Midwest Regional Sales Manager with Firetrace International, makers of fire suppression systems and solutions. Fire suppression systems keep businesses, people and equipment safe by automatically detecting and suppressing fires in high-risk equipment, like CNC machines, [...]

Apr 3, 2024 • 50min
Leaving your Father’s Manufacturing Company and then Founding Your Own, with Howard Sheldon-EP 214
Our guest on today’s show, Howard Sheldon, grew up working in his family’s third generation precision turning company. He planned to eventually take over the business from his father, but unfortunately succession didn’t happen the way he had hoped. Howard left his family company in his mid-30s, and 10 years ago started his own Swiss [...]

Mar 27, 2024 • 30min
The Benefits of a Manufacturing Business Sharing Financials with its Employees, with Reid Leland-EP 132
It seems that today’s younger generations of workers, such as millennials, want to understand why they are instructed to do their jobs in a certain way more than their predecessors. Many of today’s employees are not content to just follow orders and take home a check. They want to feel invested in their work, they [...]

Mar 14, 2024 • 37min
How to Market a Manufacturing Business by Becoming a Thought Leader, with Joe Sullivan-EP 137
In the last year, our used machinery company, Graff-Pinkert, has been successfully growing our business brokering division. This podcast and Today’s Machining World have played a huge part in our marketing. They have established us as thought leaders in the machining industry, and that is bringing in customers. It only took 24 years of writing [...]

Mar 8, 2024 • 43min
Breaking Your Machining Business Out of Its Goldfish Bowl, Roger Duffy (Part II)-EP 212
Today’s episode is Part II of our interview with Roger Duffy, owner of F&F Machine Products. In Part I we touched on Roger’s natural entrepreneurial instinct and how he loves to push himself to get out of his comfort zone. In this episode, we’re delving further into Roger’s business adventures and philosophies. He believes in [...]

Mar 1, 2024 • 13min
How to Turn a Business Failure Into an Opportunity—Seeking Serendipity EP 211
How many times has something happened to you that really sucked but then eventually turned out to be a good thing or even a great thing that happened for you? Today, I’m going to tell you a story about when a big machinery deal went to hell and then how its failure led to an [...]

Feb 22, 2024 • 54min
How Do You Manage Employees When a Company is Acquired? With Jennifer Fondrevay—EP 175
Recently, we have seen a growing number of mergers and acquisitions in the manufacturing space. After these deals are finalized there’s a lot of uncertainty for the employees caught in the middle of reorganization. Our guest on the podcast today is Jennifer Fondrevay. Jennifer is a best selling author and the Founder of Day1 Ready, [...]