Parts Department
by Justin Brouillette & Jem Freeman
Latest episode
193 - Coffee in the front, brooms in the back with Drew Dayberry
193 - Coffee in the front, brooms in the back with Drew Dayberry
About this podcast
Justin Brouillette (Portland CNC) & Jem Freeman (Like Butter) discuss CNC machines, their product design and manufacturing businesses, and every kind of tool that they fancy.
Show Website - https://dept.parts
Episodes
The newest 20 of 195 episodes
- 193 - Coffee in the front, brooms in the back with Drew Dayberry · 1 h 0 min · Episode 193Drew Dayberry of Debris Factory joins Justin solo while Jem takes a break. Drew went from skate shops and ad agencies to Shopify, brooms, and melting sign-shop plastic into…
- 192 - Daddy's in a meeting · 37 min · Episode 192Justin's fresh back from IMTS, a giant manufacturing trade show, and has stories about the machines, the crowds, and a bit of luck along the way. Jem shares how he's handling…
- 191 - Winamp skinned my Multicam · 48 min · Episode 191Jem's machinist has quietly thrown out the Multicam software and now runs the CNC from a web browser, complete with utilization tracking. Justin's stuck clicking thousands of…
- 190 - Zero point plywood · 52 min · Episode 190Jem closes $19K in sales via text message while Justin battles shipping errors and imperial tape measures (slam?!). Justin shares CNC de-tabbing tricks, discuss auto-chucks with…
- 189 - Just the two budgies · 58 min · Episode 189Jem hits the dream product mix with 16 deliveries in one day while Justin codes at coffee shops and preps for baby number two. Justin built a free Mac app that previews CAD and…
- 188 - Steel dreams and spider screams · 50 min · Episode 188Justin cuts 4140 steel for the first time for PDX CNC products while Jem battles venomous spiders and pallet racking inspections. They discuss organizing shop kits with…
- 187 - Is this your vasectomy app? · 57 min · Episode 187Jem and Justin compare sales swings and shop chaos: a robot-cooked sander, a $15k sanding head quote, and high schoolers quality-checking parts before they ship. Plus network…
- 186 - Slashed Shopify by 99% · 48 min · Episode 186Jem’s wiped out after installing seven sculptures in a single day, while Justin’s machining a 65-inch timber spear gun and fighting the ShopSabre’s Y-axis overheating. They talk…
- 185 - Rearranging racks at midnight · 54 min · Episode 185Jem and Justin trade toddler war stories before Jem confesses he'd rather tear down 4.5m pallet racking alone at midnight than hire anyone. Justin reveals his June sales cliff…
- 184 - Everything's an (AI) Hammer · 49 min · Episode 184Jem and Justin chat about the World Cup's surprisingly warm reception in the US, Jem's Kitta Parts Builder getting a 3D preview upgrade (doors that actually open), and a FedEx…
- 183 - Hoarding unfinished projects · 46 min · Episode 183Justin makes himself a 5-axis trophy and a quick YouTube shop tour and tests his Gimbel CoolantClear. Jem survives a short production week down a person, rants about builder POs…
- 182 - Droppin' drawers & doors · 49 min · Episode 182Justin migrates from Squarespace to Shopify (finally!), accidentally nukes his navigation menus with AI, and drops $1,200 on used Lista cabinets. Jem wraps up 10 months of robot…
- 181 - Please vibe responsibly ft. Justin Gray · 1 h 10 min · Episode 181Justin Gray joins Jem and Justin to talk vibe coding, from NASA open source to CNC tool library nightmares. They riff on AI security traps, why machinists need GitHub, and the…
- 180 - 50% up, scattered AF · 1 h 3 min · Episode 180Justin just crushed a record sale. Jem is actively avoiding his books. Together they navigate code benders, steel headaches, and the beautiful disaster of trying to keep a shop…
- 179 - Bill me later, daddy · 46 min · Episode 179Justin caught a facing issue on fresh UMC pallets before they could ruin parts, while his Shopboard reel blew up on Instagram. Jem survived a surprise WorkSafe inspection and a…
- 178 - A popup worth thousands · 53 min · Episode 178Jem powers through a sick week and sales slump while Justin accidentally nukes his revenue with a premature sale popup. They swap stories about migrating to Obsidian, testing…
- 177 - Chippy, don't do it · 1 h 8 min · Episode 177Justin wrestles with a backwards-wired Tormach AF50 saw and delegates tasks to his new hire. Jem rebuilds his job management system on a local server. They discuss 150% increase…
- 176 - We don't sell to inch people · 49 min · Episode 176Justin hires his first office employee, Jem catches up on emails using Cursor, and both discuss the challenges of delegating tasks in their growing businesses of delegating tasks…
- 175 - Trenchcoat tool tags · 58 min · Episode 175Justin and Jem weigh up if expensive trade shows are worth the $15k entry or if walking the floor with a "trench coat" of products is the smarter play. Between squashing bugs in…
- 174 - Spreadsheet Queens · 53 min · Episode 174Jem and Justin chat about complicated speaker parts, CAM programming headaches, and why wood routing feels less reliable than metal work. They geek out over Joe Roggenbuck's…
