Start from the machine, not from the catalogue.

Tooling, workholding and probing on a machining centre fail in three predictable places: runout at the tool tip, movement in the vise, and a probe that no longer repeats. The families below cover those three points, in the order they are usually checked.

On a lathe the work rotates, so the failure moves to the chuck, the live centre and the tool interface. Jaw condition and tailstock alignment show up directly in taper and concentricity readings, which is why the workholding side is measured before the spindle is blamed.

Grinding exposes guideway condition before anything else. A worn lining shows as a step in the work rather than as a spindle fault, and the position reading only means something if the encoder is sound. Slideway material, wear parts and the scale are the three places to look.

Electrode holding is a reference problem: the electrode has to sit in the same place every time, on a machine that is wet and often runs unattended. The workholding and reference parts used here are chosen for repeatability rather than clamping force.

A rebuild is a sequence, not a purchase: measure, strip, reline, scrape, re-measure. The material and wear parts have to arrive in the order the sequence needs them, and the measurement that closes the job is the same one that opened it.

When a machine is automated, position has to be reported rather than assumed. Manual and motorised slides carry the movement, linear encoders report it, and probes confirm it against the work. All three have to agree before the loop can close.