Chance of a Lifetime

[rake60]

Every now and then things come together for whatever reason.

I love the opportunity to teach a new person the machining craft.

In my new job I work with the maintenance department of a manufacturing plant.
That maintenance department does have an old South Bend lathe and Mill/Drill machine in it.

The maintenance department includes a man who I will call Bill.
Bill was a Journeyman Machinist before he became a maintenance man there.
He claims those machines are JUNK and can not be used make emergency replacement parts for the
production machines on the floor.

Another man on the maintenance crew is a very young guy who I will call Mike.
He doesn't know anything about machining, but with a little coaching he made two threaded pins that
are totally acceptable replacements for the factory originals today.

I can already see that Mike is going to become a maintenance department machinist.
Bill will be waving his Journeyman's papers saying that the machine can't do what Mike had just done.

Skills are learned, proven and retained.
Papers are for decorating walls or to be flushed away after their best use for personal hygiene.

I know both of them will see this post and assume I'm referring to THEM!
No worries to me.

Mike, stick with it!

Bill, I know where the plunger is in the men's room should things plug up for you.

Rick

 

[dsquire]

Rick

Its been a while since we chatted. Just read this and the first thing that came to mind is attitude. You can't do what you don't want to do. If you want to do something you will figure out a way to do it with what you have got. :bow:

Cheers

Don

 

[Tin Falcon]

ilike the old quote " Those who say it can not be done. Please do not disturb those who are doing it!"
Last year there was a "Machinist" who agued with my wife about the team build concept and how it was impossible by a bunch of guys in home shopes. Meanwhile my TB engins sat there and ran on a few psi of air.
Tin

 

[stevehuckss396]

Elegantly stated!!

I look back on what I have done with my "junk" lathe and "junk" mill drill and most people don't believe that my projects were actually made on them. I have upgraded to a real Bridgeport and soon a bigger lathe but that is only because I would like to do bigger projects. Good for Mike!!!

 

[krv3000]

just my bit the work that gets dun in peoples workshops in this forum is fantastic sum of you may be time served and sum are not it dus not mater if sum one thinks that the tools you have is crap and warn out as long as you are happy with wot you do having a pece of paper saying you can do that and being abel to do it is two difrent things all i say is just keep having fun ps forgive speling bob

 

[Chazz]

What bob said, having worked in the residential construction industry as a HVAC subcontractor over 17 years, I've seen my share of "Journeymen" qualified tradesmen who I wouldn't hire to build a dog house! :big:

In this case it appears to me you have one machinist by trade (but for what ever reason(s), no longer\ever was a ma chinest at heart) or even a lack of job satisfaction (again for what ever reason(s)) and a young mind eager to learn the trade. :-\

That's my 2 pesos,

Chazz

 

[Blogwitch]

I've seen bits of paper come and bit's of paper go, in my eyes, a lot of the time they mean absolutely nothing when it comes to hands on engineering.

People pay to go onto short college or private courses to get bits of paper like that, but unless the course is about five years long, there is no way that they can get all the grounding that is needed, even then, to cover everything that would be required for machine maintenance you need many years of hands on experience. I did over 20 years of engineering after coming out of the RAF, and I only scratched the surface.

The reason he most probably says the machines are no use is because he hasn't a clue how to use them correctly, and will make any excuse not to use them.

As Rick says, little bits of paper like that are only a**e fodder.

Keep the young lad, get rid of the paper waver, in the long run the lad will be the best bet.


Bogs

 

[larry1]

Bogs, you put that very well. I believe that paper waversare generly just that. Larry

 

[steamer]

Hi Rick,

The paper waver will no doubt be put off by all this...watch over the youngin.

If given enough rope, the waver will, without fail, hang himself.

Dave

 

[Tin Falcon]

Ufortunatly the ink on some of those papers are meaningless. I have heard of stories where the government gave money grants tax breaks whatever to comanies to train machinists. And then the companies pencil whip the documentation saying the guy has a certain number hours on the lathe mill surface grinder whatever. when in reality they stick the guy on a drill press for 40 hours a week for months on end.
i have seen my share of folks who were machinists on paper but otherwise pretty much worthless to operate a machine without insuctions.
Tin

 

[steamer]

Oh and if he's truly a journeyman machinist, he knows that a good machinist is always better than his tools.......

 

[rake60]

I have never seen the papers myself.

My closest interaction was cutting a perfect keyway on one of those "junk" machines.
While the journeyman was explaining how it couldn't be done I handed him the fan shaft.

To borrow a phrase from my Grandpa, "That went over like a fart in Church".
(I learned a lot from Grandpa, sorry if it shows.. )

The books came out and the keyway was scrutinized.
It was .252" wide, that's to spec.
Ah Ha! It was .008" too deep!!!!

A key doesn't care how deep a keyway is.
OK, if it's an 1/4" keyway and it's 3/8" deep that might be a concern.

Some things are critical, most things are not.

This week I will be teaching Mike how to single point thread on that junk lathe.
He's a little worried about crashing the machine.
I told him that we'd put an indicator on the carriage and set the exit point at "0" on the .500 mark.
Crank it out at that point and disengage the half nut.
He thought that sounded too simple. IT IS THAT SIMPLE!

Too many of the old, experienced machinists want the world to believe it's hard to do.
It isn't hard to do and the young up an comers can do it quicker and better than we can if we
just give them a chance to learn their skills without repressing them with what Cant Be Done...

Rick

 

[don-tucker]

I have allways said that a good Engineer is on a par with with a Doctor with the knowledge that is required,I know they deal with life and death situations but I am talking about the skill that is involved to produce a good job.
I have been in engineering all my life and am still learning,I have to say that whenever I mention this in non engineering company I get shot down in flames,but how do they know,to them it's a job you get dirty at and that's it.Engineering has never been treated with the respect it deserves in the UK ,poor conditions and poor pay,I have had people applying for a job and the answer to the question,why do you want to be an engineer,is "there is nothing else about" sad isn't it and that was 15 years ago.
Sorry to rant on a bit.
Don

 

[vascon2196]

Oh and if he's truly a journeyman machinist, he knows that a good machinist is always better than his tools.......

This is absolutely true...I work with about 30 highly skilled machinists who most of which learned their craft on an old south bend lathe back in the 60's and 70's. "A good craftsman never blames his tools" they say.

I'm 32-years old and have caught myself cursing my tools many-o-times. Though I know it's not the tools fault it makes me a feel a little better (for a short while) until I cool off. Over the past few years I have learned that if you don't have the tool or stock available that you can usually manage with what you have available.

My two-cents anyway...

Chris