Mark Daugherty has always been good with his hands. He built a wildly innovative company by learning to manipulate sophisticated machinery, but his most precious tools are still the two he started out with.<\/p>\n
\u201cI didn\u2019t come from money,\u201d Mark said. \u201cWhen I was a kid, I sold newspapers until I had enough cash to buy a dirt bike. Since I didn\u2019t have the money to fix it when it broke, I had to learn how to fix it myself,\u201d he said. \u201cAt 10 years old, I\u2019d spend my time in the garage learning how to work with my hands, solve problems and improvise. It gave me a solid foundation for understanding mechanical stuff, which is very important to the machinist trade because you work with your hands and your head.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Mark Daugherty (pictured above) can make anything. Whether he\u2019s fashioning a simple shaft or satellite parts, he approaches each project with the same amount of wonder, enthusiasm and care.<\/p>\n
Machinists are fundamental to manufacturing high-quality products. They take raw materials\u2014usually metals, such as steel and aluminum\u2014and produce the very parts and components that bring ideas to life.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d always had a desire to make things, but it wasn\u2019t until my dad shook me out of bed one day and had me go meet his friend at an engineering firm, that I realized there was a path for someone like me,\u201d Mark said. \u201cMy dad\u2019s friend was a brilliant inventor and an extremely talented designer. The firm specialized in building machinery for industrial use, and they gave me an opportunity to work there. They called me \u2018The Kid.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
After a year, The Kid was offered an apprenticeship and was taught the basics of machining metals and the mathematics relevant to producing components. Soon he began to learn his way around the machines and equipment.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had to be there for a year before they\u2019d teach me anything, though. For a whole year I just swept the floors and did everyone\u2019s dirty work. I had to prove myself and prove that I wanted to be there,\u201d Mark said.<\/p>\n
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When assembling the tone arm, as pictured above, precision is everything.<\/p>\n
The trade came naturally to Mark. He was a quick learner and showed competency each step of the way. With a little encouragement, he enrolled in a formal program, and the training further broadened his scope and mastery.<\/p>\n
After the program, he started to bid on jobs and take on his own clients. Once again, Mark was back at the bottom.<\/p>\n
\u201cI bought a couple machines from my old firm and moved into a chicken coop. We had no heat, so I\u2019d run the machines while wearing my goose down coat. I did that for a year before I got the opportunity to lease a building,\u201d Mark said.<\/p>\n
While he found much success and developed a diverse portfolio of clients quickly, Mark knew that to stay competitive, he needed to get his hands on a CNC (Computer Numerical Control) machine, which allows for automation.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs soon as the bank approved my loan for a machine, I started my own business, officially,\u201d Mark said. \u201cIt was 1985, and I\u2019ve never looked back.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Art and science and the machining of the platter (pictured above). <\/p>\n
Mark Daugherty Industries (MDI) is home to 33 thoughtful, precision-obsessed employees. The 25,000-square-foot factory, filled with state-of-the-art equipment, is a far stretch from the cold chicken coop where Mark first set out on his own, but at the heart of it all is still just a guy who gets a kick out of making cool things.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe do it all here. From soup to nuts, from design to finishing,\u201d Mark said. \u201cWe take on commercial projects, military projects and even artistic projects.\u201d<\/p>\n
Artists Christo and Jeanne-Claude\u2019s director of engineering went to Mark when they began their ambitious masterpiece, The Gates, in New York City. Mark built the machines and fixtures that made all the holes in their flamboyant saffron-colored structures. When Harry and Mat Weisfeld, of VPI, and Shinola decided to collaborate on The Runwell Turntable, they too went to Mark.<\/p>\n
\u201cVPI and I have had a very collaborative relationship for over 20 years.\u201d Mark said. \u201cHarry is not just an audiophile, he\u2019s incredibly artistic. And, I\u2019m pretty innovative. When he saw we had the machining capacity to make beautiful, high-end components, it inspired his creativity,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019ve made a lot of things over the years that have required very intricate precision machining.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The milling of the top plate (pictured above).<\/p>\n
There have been times when Harry will draw something on a napkin over lunch, and Mark will head straight back to the factory, show it to his team and get to work making it.<\/p>\n
\u201cBefore, I\u2019d just run back and make it myself. Now we generate 3D CAD drawings and send them to Harry and Mat. If they like it, we make it. Sometimes we have to go back to the drawing board. It\u2019s a process,\u201d Mark said.<\/p>\n
For The Runwell Turntable, MDI fabricated the top, the platter and the tone arm. \u201cThe platter is one of the most essential aspects of the turntable running correctly. It has to be perfectly round, flat and parallel. Its bearing component is machined within tenths of a thousandth of an inch. That\u2019s a super-tight tolerance to the point where you have to take into account the temperature when it is being machined, or it may affect how it runs,\u201d Mark said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor clarity of this super-tight tolerance, look at a hair from your head. This measures two thousandths of an inch. Divide your hair in half to get one thousandth of an inch. Now take that half and divide that by 10. These 10 pieces would be tenths of a thousandth of an inch, specified as .0001. Two or three of these tenths are what determine if the platter will run correctly,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor great sound, according to VPI, the stylus should to do all the work and reflect what\u2019s been imprinted on the vinyl. You don\u2019t want the mechanical aspects of the turntable to give off any kind of sound,\u201d Mark said. \u201cThe platter achieves that goal through its mass and substance not influencing what has been put on the vinyl.\u201d<\/p>\n
The tone arm, with its rigidity, tight tolerance and integrity does the same. All of this is mounted to a \u00be-inch-thick aluminum plate, so there\u2019s no vibration coming from the floor or resonance coming through the speakers.<\/p>\n
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The top plate (pictured above) inspected for quality.<\/p>\n
\u201cEngineering and prototyping is about developing a really high-quality product so that the customer gets a lot of value,\u201d Mark said. \u201cI grew up watching US manufacturing get sent overseas. I remember how my mom would buy a vacuum cleaner that would last 20 years, and now when you buy one, it\u2019s designed to last a year so you\u2019ll have to buy a new one,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we like the idea of building things that last, right here in America. We buy innovative machines and operate with a high level of productivity so we can compete with the world market.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Tools of the machinist trade.<\/p>\n
\u201cBelieve it or not, the biggest industry problem for machine shops or fabricators is lack of talented people who want to get into the trades. There are gaping holes. Traditionally it was looked down upon as dirty work,\u201d Mark said. \u201cThe way Shinola is promoting the industry and manufacturing, to me, is essential\u2014and awesome! It\u2019s what our country needs.\u201d<\/p>\n
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Top plates (pictured above) being prepped for shipping.<\/p>\n