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Within Tolerance Episode 277 - Matt Blackwell of Blackwell Engineering

2026-05-01 · 09:29 UTC ·Within Tolerance Podcast ·0 min read

Brief

Matt Blackwell is interviewed in a podcast-format conversation (Within Tolerance, Episode 277) about moving from 20+ years maintaining military aircraft and flying C-17s to running a one-person backyard machine shop. The interview covers how he built a fiber-laser fixture business by accident, practical spindle-gripping and fixturing lessons, and how he scaled to tapping hundreds of thousands of holes while navigating hobby vs. business trade-offs.

Why it matters

Matt Blackwell (Within Tolerance Episode 277, published 2026-05-01) spent over two decades fixing military jets and flying C-17s before launching a one-man backyard machine shop.

Key details

  • He unintentionally founded a fiber-laser fixture business from that shop, learned practical spindle-gripping techniques, and eventually tapped “a few hundred thousand” holes for customers.
  • The episode examines the messy boundary between hobby and business, with concrete lessons on tooling, fixturing, and scaling single-operator workflows; Matt’s IG is @blackwell_engineering.
Source evidence

Matt Blackwell spent over two decades fixing jets and flying C-17s before building a one-man backyard shop and a fiber laser fixture business he never planned on. We talk spindle gripping lessons, the messy line between hobby and business, and how a guy in a backyard shop ends up tapping a few hundred thousand holes.

Check out Matt's IG @blackwell_engineering

Help support the podcast www.patreon.com/withintolerancepodcast

Channel: Within Tolerance Podcast
Published: 2026-05-01
Video URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Udjy_KsxU7Y