# What does everyone do? (or did, if retired)



## spuddevans (Dec 29, 2008)

Kermit's post inspired me to start one on a similar line. I did a search and found that there doesn't seem to be a topic on what everyone on here does, or did, in their day job, so I thought I'd start one. 

So, just for fun, what do you all do?


I'll start it off, I'm a Clear Wall Maintainence Engineer ... never heard of one??













Ok, I'm a window cleaner ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D ;D

Tim


----------



## rake60 (Dec 29, 2008)

I've been a machinist since 1978.
That job has changed a lot in that past 30 years.
It started out with going home soaked with cutting oil and grease.
Today it's pushing buttons on a data input screen and watching a tool
fly around quicker than you would have a hope of reacting should you have
happened to hit a wrong button on that data entry control panel...
But you DO go home in clean work clothes every day.

Rick


----------



## rleete (Dec 29, 2008)

I'm a mechanical designer doing fixtures and tooling for a company that makes all kinds of reflective products and lenses. The machinists at work do their machining with diamond tools, and hold tolerances of single minutes of arc for angles, and work to 5 or 6 decimal places.

I sit at a computer and draw pretty pictures with SolidWorks.


----------



## Paula (Dec 29, 2008)

spuddevans  said:
			
		

> I did a search and found that there doesn't seem to be a topic on what everyone on here does...



 Except for this one:

http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=2523.0



			
				rleete said:
			
		

> I sit at a computer and draw pretty pictures with SolidWorks.



Same here, except I use Solid Edge. We design and build packaging machinery. Our company used to be part of the Lodge & Shipley lathe company.

Paula


----------



## Brian Rupnow (Dec 29, 2008)

I design machinery and automation. For anyone interested, my web page is www.rupnowdesign.com ----Brian


----------



## IronHorse (Dec 29, 2008)

I design Printed Circuit Boards for one of the largest companies in the world. I was a Jeweller in my 20"s, I think that helped me with the small fabrication I do as a hobby today


----------



## georgeseal (Dec 29, 2008)

Retired Union Crane Operator for 35 years

hobbiest for about 30 years


----------



## joeby (Dec 29, 2008)

I currently work for a medical device manufacturer as a toolmaker. A lot of the day to day work is maintaining the injection molds. I make spare tooling on a more or less daily basis grinding, milling (conventional and CNC), lathe work, EDM, etc., did my own programming and used AutoCad and Solidworks for mold design and engineering changes and such. All good things must come to an end though, the plant I work at will be closing before the end of January, so into the next interesting facet of manufacturing I go!

Kevin


----------



## hitandmissman (Dec 29, 2008)

Worked in steel mill for 31 yrs as mechanic. When mill closed drove big rig for 4 yr than the big dummy(me) fell off ladder in my garage and pulled both arms from sockets. Retired and on disablity since 2005. Started teaching myself machine work since 97.


----------



## artrans (Dec 29, 2008)

started at age 16 in the transmission business which i still doing 31 years later. In my own shop for the last 18 years taught myself how to use a lathe and mill love anything mechanical.


----------



## Kludge (Dec 29, 2008)

hitandmissman  said:
			
		

> Started teaching myself machine work since 97.


Darn, you started when you were 97? Whoa! :big: :big: :big:

Best regards,

Kludge


----------



## Lew Hartswick (Dec 29, 2008)

Retired: 
1 TV technician
2 Engineers assistant at an R&D place
3 Jr Engineer at same
4 Sr Engineer at same
5 Electronics engineer / tech at PSU
6  Same at UNM
It all ended a little over 11 yrs ago. 

Volunteer (un paid) at local high school metal shop. More fun 
  ...lew...


----------



## mklotz (Dec 29, 2008)

I am a dynamic figure, often seen scaling walls and crushing ice. I have been
known to remodel train stations on my lunch breaks, making them more efficient
in the area of heat retention. I translate ethnic slurs for Cuban refugees, I
write award winning operas, I manage time efficiently. Occasionally, I tread
water for three days in a row. I woo women with my sensuous and godlike
trombone playing, I can pilot bicycles up severe inclines with unflagging
speed, and I can cook 30-minute brownies in 30 minutes. I am an expert in
stucco, a veteran in love and an outlaw in Peru.

Using only a hoe and a large glass of water, I once single-handedly defended a
small village in the Amazon Basin from a horde of fercious army ants. I play
bluegrass cello, I was scouted by the Jays, I am the subject of numerous
documentaries. When I'm bored, I build large suspension bridges in my yard.

I enjoy urban hang gliding. On Wednesdays, after work, I repair electrical
appliances free of charge. I am an abstract artist, a concrete analyst and a
ruthless bookie. Critics worldwide swoon over my original line of corduroy
evening wear. I don't perspire. I am a private citizen, yet I recieve fan
mail. I have been caller number nine and have won the weekend passes. Last
summer I toured New Mexico with a traveling centrifugal-force demonstration.
I bat .400. My deft floral arrangements have earned me fame in international
botany circles. Children trust me.

I can hurl tennis rackets at small moving objects with deadly accuracy. I once
read Paradise Lost, Moby Dick and David Copperfield in one day and still had
time to refurbish an entire dining room that evening. I know the exact
location of every food item in the supermarket. I have performed several
covert operations for the CIA. I sleep once a week; when I do sleep, I sleep
in a chair. While on vacation in Libya, I successfully negotiated with a group
of terrorists who had seized a small bakery. The laws of physics do not apply
to me.

I balance, I weave, I dodge, I frolic and my bills are all paid. On weekends,
to let off steam, I participate in full contact origami. I have made
extraordinary four course meals using only a mouli and a toaster oven. I breed
prize-winning clams. I have won bull fights in San Juan, cliff diving
competitions in Sri Lanka and spelling bees at the Kremlin. I have played
Hamlet, I have performed open-heart surgery and I have spoken with Elvis.


----------



## Mike N (Dec 29, 2008)

During High School  Small Engine Mechanic
2 yrs. Tech School  Tool & Die Making
19 yrs.          Tool & Die Maker
15 yrs.          General Manager of a Tool & Die Company (20 employees)

In 5 more years    Full time Model builder ;D
will retire, if my     
401K comes back! :-\


----------



## Kludge (Dec 29, 2008)

Marv, what do you do the other six days of the week? ;D

Best regards,

Kludge


----------



## Brian Rupnow (Dec 29, 2008)

Marv--I knew that there were reasons that I admire you, other than your obvious talent!!! When I grow up I want to be just like you!!


----------



## Propforward (Dec 29, 2008)

It is my sincere hope that I never actually grow up.

Well, I am a pointy haired boss, that is to say my title is Director of Operations at the place where I work. I started work after college in 1992, as a development engineer in England, working on vacuum systems mostly (still do). I had a brief stint as a development engineer for a company that manufactured letter folders and inserters, where I did some mechanical design, with a heavy bias to sheet metal work.

Then I moved to the USA, where my first job was as a senior (to who exactly?) engineer designing industrial vacuum systems. After that I got into process engineering, developing thin film coatings for a flexible circuit manufacturer. The last 8 years have been spent working for a start up company developing a new technology based again on vacuum deposited thin films, during which time I have developed processes, designed some equipment, broken equipment, repaired it again when no one was looking, and gradually built up an engineering and manufacturing team that I am quite proud of, due in no small part to a lot of help and advice that I have been given along the way ever since I graduated.

If you care to listen for it, the advice is out there for the taking folks. Word of advice there for any new graduates looking around. A little humility and please and thankyou when dealing with the folks building my designs went a long way I tell you what.


----------



## kvom (Dec 29, 2008)

I was a programmer, analyst, project manager, and general technology geek my entire career. I started by working my way through university in the computer lab helping grad students run statistical analyses on their data. Thereafter I did software in various industries including telecoms and banking. My last three companies were mainly engaged in the field of online banking via the internet. I retired in 2005.


----------



## cfellows (Dec 29, 2008)

Information Technology Director at DHL Express. Retiring and moving to Austin, Tx in 5 months.

Chuck


----------



## BillH (Dec 29, 2008)

I am a full time flight instructor currently. In my past, I've been an electronics technician. In high school and college did some computer programming.
Hey Cfellows, any chance your flight department is hiring pilots? LOL


----------



## ksouers (Dec 29, 2008)

Another programmer/analyst here, in the healthcare industry for the past 10 years. Also doing a little gratis web work on the side.

Started out as a machinist right out of high school in the 70s. In 1980s spent a couple years sailing on an oil tanker, engine room of course, with "real" steam engines 
1982 started working in the computer department of the oil company I sailed for. Then owned and operated a small trucking company for 10 years. 1998 got back into computers thanks to Y2K.

Over the past few months I've realized I've totally forgotten almost everything I'd ever known about machining and engines. Some of it is coming back, albeit slowly.


----------



## Kermit (Dec 30, 2008)

cfellows  said:
			
		

> Information Technology Director at DHL Express. Retiring and moving to Austin, Tx in 5 months.
> 
> Chuck



I'll be seeing ya when I retire then. Austin is my destination if I don't end up six feet under before that.


5 months... be at least that many years for me. I'm so jealous,
Kermit


----------



## Maryak (Dec 30, 2008)

EVERYTHING THAT I'M TOLD by SWMDBO 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			











 IMMEDIATELY IF NOT SOONER.

Retired Marine Engineer and Yachtie.

Best Regards
Bob


----------



## spuddevans (Dec 30, 2008)

Paula  said:
			
		

> Except for this one:
> 
> http://www.homemodelenginemachinist.com/index.php?topic=2523.0



Oops&#160; :wall: :wall: didn't notice that one 

But I just sprayed my laptop with orange when I read Marv's response.

"More, more"&#160;I say !!!


Tim


----------



## tel (Dec 30, 2008)

I do the same stuff Marv does, except I also de-flower virgins and save maidens from being chucked into volcanoes.


----------



## rickharris (Dec 30, 2008)

In reverse order:

Soon to be retired

Teacher
Software quality consultant
Automated system designer and programmer
Electronics engineer
Royal Air Force Electronics engineer


----------



## itowbig (Dec 30, 2008)

well now im the milk man. was the tow man. milk man pays better and for less hours work.(this is always better) i haul milk products to diferent depots.
towed tractor trailer rigs before that (very demanding job & no glory what so ever)


----------



## tel (Dec 30, 2008)

Seriously tho' - I've had a number of occupations since I started working.

Started off doing clerical work in an office
'graduated' to sales assistant in a hardware store
Worked on a dairy farm
worked for the railway - first as a fettler, later as a plant operator.
Fitter/machinist in a spring factory
Night shift foreman in a fabrication place
Carpenter
Storeman
Maintenance guy at a hospital
Dog food maker
Welder
Park Ranger

At that point the workforce chose to sling me out on me ear and I've been bumming around ever since (12 years) - never been better off than I am now ;D


----------



## Kludge (Dec 30, 2008)

Let's see ... Data Comm Manager (Net Manager these days, I guess), programmer when fat fingering machine code into front panels was all the rage, mechanic on practically everything with a gas engine, a few Diesels and one or two turbojets, freight hauler, courier (Nothing like moving a few hundred thousand dollars in cash from one bank to another in an ex-police cruiser.), warehouse grunt, carpenter (lost that one in under a week - not one of my strong points), a few things I can neither confirm nor deny and some no one will *EVER* get me drunk enough to admit to. ;D

I'm sure there's more but I can't remember right now.

Best regards,

Kludge


----------



## Jack (Dec 30, 2008)

I started at the age of sixteen working in a printing company during high school learning how to wipe up dripping oil. After that I worked for a police department actually running a press. 
Then in the mid to late sixties I toured Southeast Asia printing and dropping propaganda leaflets on the bad guys. After returning to civilian life I worked in a printing company for over thirty years until I fell off of a large press and messed up my back, now I can't pick up anything heavier than a paycheck. 
After I retired I was a courier, maintenance man, all around handy man in machine shop for a short time before becoming a full time caregiver for an ALS patient for a year and a half, (my wife of 38 years) now I make little round things out of BIG round things along with a lot of little chips in my basement. 
Now that I am officially retired and on Social Security I don't do much of anything anymore except have fun and take life one day at a time, and yes I do stop to smell the cutting fluid with an occasional wiff of red layout dye.

Thanks for reading

Jack :bow: :bow: :bow:


----------



## kf2qd (Dec 30, 2008)

I was a machinist for 10 years (CNC & Manual), Went back to college and taught machine tool practice for the 4 years i was there - got a degree in Computer Science and Electrical Technology (was a really great job, would love to do that again...), PLC programmer and controls for a few years, computer tech at several hospitals for 4 years, built, serviced, installed retrofitted CNC plasma cutters ( design work and programming PLCs, end user training), PLC programmer and controls designer for some automated welding equiptment for 4 years, Now i'm working for a company that remanufactures auto parts doing mostly clerical type work in engineering( but I get to live in South Texas where the snow and ice have a hard time finding me...)


----------



## Stan (Dec 30, 2008)

Started as a Radio Mech in Army Signals during Korea. After discharge, took up TV tech trade. Moved into industry through the back door. They were just getting electronic instruments so I had to learn the pneumatic and hydraulic end with night classes for a lot of years. Then came solid state in a big way and so back to night classes.

Started my own business designing and building early automation with 7400 chips and then came the microprocessor and machine language.

Shortly after that my wife had a serious illness and I struggled on for a few years with home and shop but sold out in 1980 and became a full time caregiver. Bought a Commodore 64 that year and been playing with computers and machine tools ever since.


----------



## Loose nut (Dec 30, 2008)

Stated out in the Canadian Navy after school, liked it a lot and would have went career but the wife became chronically ill and I had to get out. 

Then a few years as a fabric cutter in a furniture factory, can we spell *sweat shop*.

Spent the last 27 years in a refinery/chem plant as a welder with a side in pipe fitting, boiler making and tin smithing as well as a few other things.

Mostly now my main occupation is waiting for retirement, can't wait.


----------



## Philjoe5 (Dec 30, 2008)

In loose chrono order, heres how I filled 44 years:
Loaded freight 
Installed industrial epoxy floor coatings
Served ice cream
Did lawn maintenance
Worked as a lab tech
Looked for explosive devices buried in the road using a metal detector
Legal clerked
Chemist in Torrington Bearings R&D
Chemist in the pharmaceutical, photographic and food industries
Instructor of chemistry in various colleges, universities
Full time self taught machinist, retired

I liked most of the work I did but amazingly I get the most satisfaction from the last entry. Probably because it is work that I alone am responsible for and it results in producing a physical object that pleases me.

Cheers,
Phil


----------



## Propforward (Dec 30, 2008)

Oh yeah, I used to work in a fish and chip shop when I was a teenager, but think every male in the UK worked in a fish and chip shop - it was kind of a rite of passage. ;D

I know how to fry fish and make proper twice fried chips anyway!


----------



## Orrin (Dec 30, 2008)

My last occupation before retirement was hydroelectric power plant operator. I got into the hydro business at the Fort Peck Dam in northeastern Montana, then spent 20 years at the Lower Granite Dam on the Snake River in Eastern Washington. Fort Peck's capacity (at the time) was about 210 megaWatts from five units. Lower Granite's was 930 MW from six. For 23 years I helped keep your lights on. 

Before hydro I was in the nuclear field: a reactor operator at EBRII (Experimental Breeder Reactor II) in Idaho; a reactor and experiment operator at ATR (Advanced Test Reactor) in Idaho; MM1(SS) in the US Navy (Machinist Mate First Class submariner) home ported out of Groton (New London), Connecticut. Our boat was the Abraham Lincoln SSBN 602, a nuke Fleet Ballistic Missile Submarine that has now been recycled. 

It has been a very interesting life, having done loads of different things and lived in many different places, meeting many interesting people along the way. 

Now retired, I'm living the happiest years of my life.

Orrin


----------



## DickDastardly40 (Dec 30, 2008)

I may have replied in the other thread, I'll look afterwards.

I am currently serving in the Royal Navy as a Marine Engineer Artificer (now called Technician) with the rank of Warrant Officer class 2 after 25 years and am 42.

I oversea the maintenance and repairs of a variety of landing craft used by the Royal Marines for training their boat coxswains here:

http://maps.google.co.uk/?ie=UTF8&ll=50.712697,-2.021447&spn=0.001868,0.002151&t=h&z=18

I will be retiring late next year to pursue another career, possibly in the private yacht sector. 

Al


----------



## bentprop (Dec 30, 2008)

Marv,isn't imagination a wonderful thing! ;D
Hm,first job.greengrocer.then truck driver,bus driver,bakers assistant(I don't have the nerve to say "baker"),egg delivery driver,reach truck driver(indoor electric forklift),back to bus driver,redundant,tramcar restoration,and currently caregiver to my wife of 35 years.
from collecting diecast models to model trains, r/c track cars,to rc aircraft,to machining,and lately rc boats.Mainly because I want a boat to put a steam engine in.I'm also in the process of constructing a 5" gauge steam loco,but that's a long drawn out job.I might finish it in 10 years,if ever.


----------



## Brass_Machine (Dec 30, 2008)

Not sure if i responded to the first post or not... so I will post in this one.

Currently, senior engineer in the IT field. The stuff I work with exists in cyberspace only. I am one of my company's VMware experts. It's interesting trying to describe what I do to someone who doesn't work in the IT segment. The servers I build/support and design are virtual...

I have been in IT for over 10 years and enjoy it very much. In previous existences of my life I have been:

A Deputy Sheriff (in the great state of Maine).
Owned a sea urchin dive boat business (in Maine again).
Tester for AT&T on prospective employee's customer service skills.
High profile private security.
Drove a bread truck for Country Kitchen (New Englander's will know that brand)

But, I still don't know what I want to do when I grow up!

Eric


----------



## oldboatguy (Dec 30, 2008)

I can't hold a candle to Marv's career. My more modest one is as follows:
I worked as a draftsman for an engineering company after highschool while attending college on a scholarship. After a short time, I inadvertantly blew up the chemistry lab in college thus screwing up my draft deferment so I went downtown and enlisted in a MASH unit. I became a combat medic after training in Texas and the army declared me competent to commit minor surgery. The military fairy godmother department subsequently decided that I was qualified to be a drill seargent which I did for a while before escaping from uncle Sam's clutches at the end of my term of service. 

I went back to work as a mechanical engineer for a 130 year old engineering company which provided fabricating and machining services to power generating stations and heavy industry. During my career there, I worked in designing coal handling and boiler startup equipment for units as large as 800 MW. I also did some fuel handling equipment for nuclear plants. Later I spent a lot of time in Hydro-electric turbine rehabilitation which was very fascinating since we rebuilt some stuff that Henry Ford & Tom Edison built. 

About 20 years ago I founded my own company and obtained several patents for stuff we build for the recycling industry. I sold out a couple of years ago but am still working for that company since I actually enjoy the work. I am now the official "Old Guy"/sales engineer/retainer of the knowledge of where the skeletons are in the closet! I no longer travel world wide but do still cover North America at a rate of about 2000 miles a week.
During the 90's I did a lot of flying in small antique aircraft operating out of my friend's grass field. I got in a lot of sales trips this way. After 911, I stopped doing this since flying below the radar from grass field to grass field with no radio will get you shot down today!


----------



## deverett (Dec 30, 2008)

When asked "What do you do for a living?" I usually reply that 'I travel in steel and dabble in oil'.

Translated that means I served for a few years in the British Merchant Navy as a cadet and junior navigating officer and then moved across to the Offshore Oil industry using my marine 'skills'.

I am writing this in a desert camp (on Abu Ali island) in Saudi Arabia as Saudi Aramco's (the national oil company) marine representative for a seismic survey operation run by the Tiddlies. (Tiddly Winks = Chinks = Chinese). I have no dealings with the survey side, just looking at their boats and make sure they stay afloat.

I get home in about a week's time and will take a well earned 6 weeks' leave. Next time out, I will be on a pipelaying/heavylift construction barge. The heavy lift crane can pick up 2450 tons.

Retirement will come in a couple of years' time, when hopfully I will be able to put into practice things I have learned on this great site, although if I manage to apply _anything_ I have read, and not make too many parts twice, it will be a bonus.

Dave
The Emerald Isle (Sometimes)


----------



## ksouers (Dec 30, 2008)

Brass_Machine  said:
			
		

> Not sure if i responded to the first post or not... so I will post in this one.
> 
> Currently, senior engineer in the IT field. The stuff I work with exists in cyberspace only. I am one of my company's VMware experts. It's interesting trying to describe what I do to someone who doesn't work in the IT segment. The servers I build/support and design are virtual...
> 
> ...



Eric,
I take it being a virtual admin means you pretend to work ;D

VM's are pretty neat stuff. I have 6 xen VMs running on my server here at home. It's nice to isolate jobs and I don't have to worry about crashing everything else while I'm tweaking an install.


Kevin


----------



## two dogs (Dec 30, 2008)

I'm a machinist by trade, starting in 1974. Did the program/setup thing for a few years, then moved into full-time programming 10 years or so ago. Now I do that as well as order tools and material, schedule jobs as well as try and decipher what the design engineers really want and how to make it.
Hope to retire in 5 to 7 years if the economy cooperates

Mark


----------



## lathe nut (Dec 30, 2008)

I was raised on a rice and cattle farm for some side line money I went to work in an old oil field close by where I lived doing workover jobs on the weekend, met a fellow that worked for a major service company he asked me if I wanted a better paying job with a good company, started there in 1976, I have been a sales Person for them since 1978, now a sales supervisor and going to work till they make me stop, its good to get home go in the shop and forget about the days work until tomorrow, not a big world for me, Lathe Nut


----------



## Superfast (Dec 30, 2008)

After High School I enlisted in the USN as an Avionics Technician and served 4 years working mainly on FA-18 and F-14 aircraft systems. After that I stuck with Aviation electronics and went to work for Hawkins & Powers Aviation (Fire Bombers). I got to work on a lot of older aircraft, it was kind of a neat experience going from F-14's to PB4Y aircraft. From there I stayed in General Avaition for a number of years, mainly installing communication and navigation equipment, working for a bunch of smaller companies. Now I work for a major aviation equipment manufacturer in Olathe, Kansas, in the engineering department doing research and development. The job is great, I install flat screen display systems and autopilots. I mainly lean towards the mechanical side of the installations, as I like anything mechanical. 

Scott


----------



## bigal2749 (Dec 31, 2008)

Worked two summers on my uncle's dairy farm in Vermont. The three of us (uncle-52, aunt-51, and me-10) did the complete summer hay harvesting besides the daily chores of a 50 milking cow herd. I know I was a big kid but when I think of a ten year old driving a Fordson tractor pulling a wagon of hay on the state roads---I thank my lucky stars that nothing happened.

   From twelve till college I worked for my father in the summers and saturdays in his carpentry and remodeling business. He did quite well considering he quite school in the third grade. School was not that important in the outlying farming communities of Canada during the Depression.

  Had a varity of jobs in the eight years of college and dental school but finally got out of the weather and had a family dental practice for 28 years until back issues forced me into retirement. Wife will tell you I did 40 years of dental work in 28 years. 
   In retrospect, treating patients 10 hours a day, 5 1/2 days a week with no other excersize was asking for it. 

  Now I'm looking for things to do and after watching this forum for the last couple of months, I've picked up a mini-lathe and anxiously awaiting my first casting kit.


----------



## mogogear (Dec 31, 2008)

Hey Al- How are you? Mr Dentist!

My first career in life was as a mechanic- GM trained and ( old school) NAISE certified worked at a Cadillac house back in the 70's for 5 years right out of high school...THEN went to college...geology.... oil business died in the early 80's enough to make me never use it

Entered restaurant business during college...ran kitchens, tended bar, managed for a national chain, owned three with some buddies, got tired of 80+ hour weeks.. went into food sales to restaurants....

Been in the sales the food trade for 17 years--- I had my own ultralight back packing gear company for 5 years ( just closed it...it was called ... mo-go-gear ;D )

BTW-Designed and manufactured Trangia -like alcohol stoves that weighed in at 5 gm

I also collect and rebuild old lever -style espresso machines and am up to my neck in steam engines and the boats they propel... that leads me to learning how to use a lathe.... I dabble in home distilling single malt scotch too! Cause I am bored... or my 6 year old makes me tired at middle age.. one of the two :


----------



## Kludge (Dec 31, 2008)

bigal2749  said:
			
		

> Had a varity of jobs in the eight years of college and dental school but finally got out of the weather and had a family dental practice for 28 years until back issues forced me into retirement. Wife will tell you I did 40 years of dental work in 28 years.



Hmmm ... dental burrs are truly wonderful tools for model making, you know. They can handle those pesky little problems that crop up now and then that nothing else seems to quite solve.

BEst regards,

Kludge


----------



## NickG (Dec 31, 2008)

I'm a Senior Design Engineer for Direct Fire Ammunition working for BAE Systems. 

I did Maths & Physics 'A' Levels (Chemistry was far too difficult so dropped that!) then a Mechanical Engineering Degree before starting at BAE on their graduate scheme. Been there 7 years now which have flown by, still a lot to learn though!

Nick


----------



## Paula (Dec 31, 2008)

NickG  said:
			
		

> I'm a Senior Design Engineer for Direct Fire Ammunition working for BAE Systems.



Interesting... I just recently designed some robotic weld fixturing for BAE. Some kind of heavy vehicle window frames.

Small world. ;D

Paula


----------



## NickG (Dec 31, 2008)

It is a very small world! ;D We're currently investing in robot technology but we are the Munitions business unit, your fixtures were probably for Weapons and Vehicles (ex Alvis Vickers) up the road at Newcastle.


----------



## Kermit (Dec 31, 2008)

This is what we build where I am working. Test stands and all the other test equipment needed to test jet engines.








No pressure, but people can get killed if we get it wrong,
Kermit


----------



## dwentz (Dec 31, 2008)

Like most of the rest of you I have had many jobs.

First job I worked in a TV shop, then worked in 3 shops at the same time.
Worked in a computer store repairing and selling Apple II and Commodore equipment.
Worked for a software company writing software for the C64
Working in another computer store, mostly did inventory and repair
Managed Tandy Business Products computer center for 5 years (Radio Shack)
Worked in a gas station for a bit after the computer store closed.
Worked as a plumber for a few years.
Worked on my own for 2 years writing software
Worked as a programmer and systems administrator for a hospital.
For the past 12 years, I have been working as a contractor at various companies, where I have worked on secure systems, Designed a satellite communications network monitoring system for the DOD, and develop and maintain systems mostly for the AF.
I also have a small graphics business on the side, 1 aviation company I write software for on the side, have raised 2 kids, and as of last year got re married, and now have 5 kids in total to keep me busy.
On the hobby side, I am a ham radio operator KB9JJA, enjoy electronics, flying RC planes, and very much like working in my machine shop.

Dale


----------



## Kludge (Dec 31, 2008)

Kermit  said:
			
		

> No pressure, but people can get killed if we get it wrong,



That's kind of the same thing as pilots of commercial airliners etc deal with on a daily basis. One oops can result in a rather large number of people's days going terribly wrong. Just make the job more interesting. 

Best regards,

Kludge


----------



## Cliff (Dec 31, 2008)

I started learning machine while working in a machine/welding shop in 1971 worked there till 1984 when I went to work for a wire manufacturing business as a machinist/maintenance man and also did some machine designing worked there till they decided to go out of business 1987. relocated and went to work for Goodrich Corp in 1988 as a maintenance mechanic worked there almost eleven years decided to start my own business where along with my wife we sold and repaired clock's we ran it till about a year and a half ago when my wife's health started going down hill until she passed away back in May and my health caused me to go on disability. Finding this web site has helped me to a great extent get over the passing of my wife and has given me a intrest to try to build a engine come spring. Cliff


----------



## BillH (Dec 31, 2008)

Cliff  said:
			
		

> I started learning machine while working in a machine/welding shop in 1971 worked there till 1984 when I went to work for a wire manufacturing business as a machinist/maintenance man and also did some machine designing worked there till they decided to go out of business 1987. relocated and went to work for Goodrich Corp in 1988 as a maintenance mechanic worked there almost eleven years decided to start my own business where along with my wife we sold and repaired clock's we ran it till about a year and a half ago when my wife's health started going down hill until she passed away back in May and my health caused me to go on disability. Finding this web site has helped me to a great extent get over the passing of my wife and has given me a intrest to try to build a engine come spring. Cliff


Cliff, by any chance was that wire company Gilbert and Bennet in Georgetown, CT?


----------



## dparker (Dec 31, 2008)

Hello All: Started out working at 14 in the family business doing whatever was needed. Assembled and installed irrigation systems, ran backhoe digging trenches for buried irrigation mainlines, run canning machinery in cannery, mechanic on snowmobiles, operated custom mixing pelletted feterlizer plant, lift truck operator in ware-house. One summer as Lifeguard at a pool.

After College I worked in Idaho 5 years as a Nuclear Reactor Engineer where I operated and rebuilt reactors for testing Navy fuel.

Moved to Oregon and ran the Hydraulic Test Lab for a pump company for 32 years. I performed R/D on new designs and ran certified tests on pumps for customers from all over the world to prove that the pumps would do what they had ordered.

In 2005 my health caught up with me by way of cancer and bad heart valve, got the valve fixed but still fighting the other. I have been on disability since September 2005 and doing a few things in the shop. I fix some things SWMBO finds at estate sales and hope she can resell them for more than she paid for them.

I have restored a few small gas engines, (Briggs and Stratton) rebuilt 2 vehicle engines, (Stupidbaker and Pinto) and made a few IC model engines. I do like to make small tooling and fairly quickly built air engines. Not much into long projects and happy that I have a warm shop to play in. 

Daughter and Son are home For Christmas so I am thankful for my family and the ability to read all the great posts and see the fantastic model engines on this forum.

Thank You All------don


----------



## pabird (Dec 31, 2008)

Nothing glamorous, during my senior year in high school (1972) i worked 3-11 shift fabbing truck trailers and boxes for City Welding. After graduation i married my high school sweetheart and we moved to Florida and i worked for an outfit called Stromberg-Carlson installing telephone switching gear. They had a habit of letting you get settled into an area and then transfering you to another time zone. Not good if you wanted to start a family. So in the mid 70's we moved back home to western Pa. and i've been working for an electric utility ever since, almost 34 yrs. Told you no glamour! Very steady though. Smitty


----------



## Cliff (Jan 1, 2009)

BillH
  No the wire company was located in a small farming town in southeastern Colo. the town is Rocky Ford the name of the company is Nagel Wire Company but there out of Texas they have other plants in Texas where they make clothes hangers. They used the experience from the people to build a plant in Texas and when they couldn't use the one in Rocky Ford as a tax right off cause we made a profit they closed it. Cliff


----------



## Metal Mickey (Jan 2, 2009)

Spent nearly 30 years in the British Fire Service. Serving first in Devon, then the West Midlands (mainly Birmingham, Smethwick, and short journeys to Walsall and Wolverhampton.

Was seconded to the Home Office for 3 years and went to Kuwait to investigate the effects of hostilities on tank farms and lessons that could be learnt.

Then went to South Glamorgan (Cardiff) for a few years and onto Bedfordshire where I retired as the Chief Fire Officer.

Now retired to a bungalow in Brixham, Devon.


----------



## speakerme (Jan 3, 2009)

Hello,

I have been a family physician, and part time ER Physician for 36 years. Former hobby furniture making, photography, flying. Now metalworking is the tour de force, but not enough room in the garage for all the tools +
wife pis....d because she has never been able to get the car in the two car garage.

Well a man does have to have his priorities straight... doesn't he...

Best Wishes to group for new year

Chuck M


----------



## Majorstrain (Jan 17, 2009)

Retirement, now there's a nice thought. No work to get in the way of my new hobby. ;D
Only another 25 years to wait. 

Electrician
Electronics tech
Flight instructor and charter pilot -bug smashers only.
Married - no more bug smashing - get a real job back in Perth. 
Postie (Australian commonwealth communications specialist) you know, ride around on the CT110 and stuff letters in the box.
Back to electronics tech at a university. 
If I can wrangle a shift to machinist here, I'll be as happy as a pig in mud ;D 

Oh well, there goes my lurking status.
Phil


----------



## rake60 (Jan 18, 2009)

Welcome to HMEM Phil!

There isn't a lot of difference between bug smashing and machining. 

Rick


----------



## Maryak (Jan 18, 2009)

Phil,

Welcome to our forum. 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





Best Regards
Bob


----------



## Captain Jerry (Jan 25, 2009)

Im retired. I no longer have to sell anything, write anything,report to anyone, read reports of others, raise capital, make payroll, hire people or fire people. Most of the work I've done has been enjoyable and the biggest fear I had was retirement. I sold my business in 1968 and kept working for 4 years so I could keep my hand in. 

Man, was I confused? My wife suggested that we buy a sailboat so we could have some fun on weekends aqnd that was the end of my working life. Within a year I retired, sold the house, stored the furniture, bought a bigger boat and we left the Chesapeake Bay for the Bahamas. That was 8 years ago and even though I've not sailed further south than the Bahamas, you can see The Southern Cross from the lower end of the Ragged Islands. I'll be there in April. Nothing to do but fish, dive, beach comb and a little maintenance.

Oh yeah, the maintenance. Two diesel engines (auxillary propulsion and genset), one outboard engine , two refrigeration systems, water maker, 8 pumps, 2 heads, communications, navigation and rigging. There's not much in the way of services in the out Islands and we avoid Nassau and Freeport like the plague so if something breaks I get the call. There's other sailors of course and we help each other out but there is plenty of work for everyone. 

I don't know how many years I can keep this up. Some small pieces of me don't make the trip anymore. I turned them over to the surgeons as a result of encounters with melanoma and prostate cancer, but they were relatively small pieces that I don't really need anymore. 

This thing we do with lathes and mills and brass and steel, may give me something to do full time when I retire from cruising. Maybe I'll get some real machines and build a real shop but for now I is great to know that there is a group of good people with good ideas that share the same interest.

Jerry


----------



## steamer (Jan 25, 2009)

Well Put Capt'n!

Welcome aboard


Dave


----------



## JackF (Jan 25, 2009)

Retired from the printing trade after 38 years as a cameraman, stripper, plate maker, proof maker, part time pressman. Took up metal working about 2+ years ago and found myself a part-time job in a manual machine shop to help fund my new found hobby.

Jack.


----------



## Noitoen (Jan 25, 2009)

Hi, 
We came back to Portugal, after 16 years in Mozambique and South Africa. Never worked for anyone else but myself. I have a small shop doing electric motor and generator repair and industrial electrical maintenance and repair. I do some special automation retrofitting, involving some VFD the biggest to date a 90Kw constant pressure irrigation pump control. I have some "machinist tools" that include a lathe and a small mill that I use to make some parts needed for my work. Since the shop is quite far from home, I'm now creating a new little space at home, next to my electronics lab, to do a little machining at home. I like to tinker a little with microcontrollers and have a project of my own that controls some diesel irrigation pumps, by monitoring the engine's "health" and varying the speed of the engine to keep the pressure constant. The actuator and pressure sensor is custom fabricated in my shop. I also like to do some woodworking and have some basic tools for the job. I read all I can on machining techniques and have some friends/costumers with some serious CNC machine tools, including wire EDM. When I need some special parts that's where I go.

Keep up the good work with this site, since it's an inspiration to many "shy machinists" 

Pardon my English, I don't get much practice here in Portugal.


----------



## TinkerJohn (Jan 25, 2009)

I may as well jump in here. Ive been in the training business for the past 20 plus years as a Corporate Training Manager/Director or as a independent Training Development Consultant. I am currently Training Manager for a large wireless phone company. Actually Im waiting on the next 6 years to pass so I can play in the shop full time.

Although, I been a hobby machinist for 25 years, I consider myself as only an advanced beginner. Some of projects I see on this board astound me with the level of craftsmanship demonstrated. 

As for current projects, Im currently just started (actually started this weekend) the A3 Switcher in 3/4 gauge. This will be my second attempt to start a live steam locomotive. Ive got a Falk #1 almost complete but waiting on the cylinder castings to come up on eBay since they are not available commercially anymore. Of course, like any true home machinist, Ive got several projects of in various stages of completion scattered around. Some may even get finished!  ;D

---TinkerJohn---
www.TinkerJohn.com


----------



## Phelonius (Jan 26, 2009)

I am retarded chief bos'ns mate USCG. (That's Uncle Sams' confused group and our motto was simple apparatus or something that sounded like that.)
 I have been a soldier,Steel mill laborer, ran a liquid oxagen plant, Been a cat skinner, logger, the aforementioned chief bos'ns mate, commercial fisherman, homesteader, a sailboat bum, and self taught machinest along the way. I am now a disabled retarded old wreck who builds wierd things just because.

 Phelonius


----------



## Kludge (Jan 26, 2009)

Phelonius  said:
			
		

> I am now a disabled retarded old wreck who builds wierd things just because.



I knew I liked you! 
We won't hold your having been a Coastie against you. Much. :big: :big: :big:

By the way, when I was in the Navy, I was an RD (Retarded Dimwit - aka: Scope Dope & Squirrel) in OI (Operations' Idiots) Division and worked in a place called CIC (Confusion Into Chaos). Sometimes they would let us mingle with real people ... but not usually. ;D

Anyway, welcome aboard. Enjoy the insanity; it only gets better.

BEst regards,

Kludge ... USS HORNET, CVS-12, '64-'65


----------



## Cedge (Jan 26, 2009)

Kludge
The Scope Dope thing explains much.  Those guys seemed to get weirder each day.:big: I was a Radar tech myself in my USAF days.

Steve


----------



## Kludge (Jan 26, 2009)

Cedge  said:
			
		

> The Scope Dope thing explains much. Those guys seemed to get weirder each day.:big: I was a Radar tech myself in my USAF days.



Oh, yeah, Steve. We had one eye going in circles watching the PPI, another doing a fan dance with the RHI, another blipping with the A-scope and another watching a fade chart. The fourth one had it easiest since the chart didn't do a lot except sometimes move around on the bulkhead to which it was firmly attached. 

On the other hand, I can now write backwards quite well due to time spent on a target board and do all sorts of other useful things. ;D

Best regards,

Kludge


----------



## chuck foster (Jan 27, 2009)

as for me i just repair riveting machines for a living, semi-tubular rivets and solid rivets.
just a boring job but..........i have the keys to a fully equipped shop and my boss supplies
all the cutters and material (except brass) and all i have to do is make sure i clean up my mess when i'm done.

it's the best job i have ever had. ;D

chuck


----------



## rodbuilder (Jan 28, 2009)

Well I am a Mechanical Engineer at a material handling company. We design and build custom material handling conveyors and bucket elevators mostly, but will do almost anything. We have Engineering, Machining, Fabricating, and Assembly in one warehouse, I love not having to be at a computer all day. Also every once in a while I can get some small drops, our next job has brass so I will be eye balling that job closely.


----------

