Any machinists out there?

[ultrarunner]

machinist cnc prog 31yrs, its a dieing trade in the past 10 yrs sean 80% of work go to china.

The Bay Area used to be a mecca of small to medium size shops...

I did a lot of work on the space shuttle project... some for James River, Continental Can, Kellogg's and Caterpillar... two of our long term clients were Steccone Squeegee and Upright Scaffolding...

All have long since left the area and all of the small shops have folded.

One of our competitors was having a struggle... the son was sharp, but just not that interested in the business of bidding only to loose out.

He sold off the shop, kept some equipment and moved to an old farm in wine country... it wasn't long before he put his talent to use improving machinery used in the wine industry and put in a small vineyard on his property... have not seen him in years... read a nice write up about his business and patents in the SF Chronicle...

Sometimes change can be good.

 

[lockhaven]

I am a mold builder by trade. I now design molds and fixtures for some small shops still hanging on. it is a trade that is on it's last leg. I am familiar with shapers (an old way of moving material fast) i also program lasers. My apprenticeship taught me sheet metal, general machining, EDM, NC lathe and mill, gear cutting with the right equipment I can build anything you desire. Problem is the industry is dead in the US China has attacked us and corporate America has allowed it.

 

[JD 4520]

If you have a tractor, you're a mechanic. Can't have one without the other.

 

[czechsonofagun]

I will probably repeat myself, but my first job after college was for this tool shop for a huge company. We made die casting dies for aluminum, it was beautiful engineering.

I was in manufacturing preparation with most of the time designing special tools and EDM electrodes. Cool stuff and I wish I had access to the equipment there - and the knowledge of those old timers.

 

[om21braz]

He sold off the shop, kept some equipment and moved to an old farm in wine country... it wasn't long before he put his talent to use improving machinery used in the wine industry and put in a small vineyard on his property... have not seen him in years... read a nice write up about his business and patents in the SF Chronicle...

Sometimes change can be good.

+1 Redesign of existing Italian winepresses, etc. at one time, if not now, would be a good business to be in. On a tour of a local winery, one of the winemakers was doing the tour and noted how problematic their machinery was. He compared it to having a Ferrari and the manufacturer's technicians were hard to get onsite, not to mention the cost.

As for machinist? Apprentice here - moved into design and now occasionally get my hands back on a Bridgeport, lathe, or welder. Funny how the CNC (read younger) guys cannot figure out how to make some parts that were originally done "by hand".

 

[Taylortractornut]

I used to get a chuckle out of the T&D students in college. T&D shop and Machine tool operation were in the same building divided by set of class rooms. The T&Ds most never had turned on a machine in their lives used to brag about being the best because they got degrees at the end of 2 years. MTO students got certificates. They had to take 2 maths, English Lit, Psychology, and some other bs to take TD. We got 98 percent more shop time with a better teacher. Our machines were older Cincinatti and South Bend and other units, I liked to hear the T&D kids whine about the old machines making mistakes when compared to the Highschool ones I used these were like new money.

I made my teacher teach me how the use the T&D class's EDM machine. THats a handy unit there. My teacher said It was a good thing to know how to use it and the othe machines like the shaper and horizontal mill.

OM21braz I know what you mean by the CNC machinists in awe of what a hand machine can do. I have a friend that can program one but is lost on a manual machines.

Im working one ugrading my foundry, I found a large ceramic foundryshell from the old Ford head casting plant. Its double the sieze of the one I have now.

 

[czechsonofagun]

You are either operator or machinist. If you are machinist, you can do more with old equipment than operator with the best.
My boss at the car shop had 2hp Bridgeport and used it as a drill press. He had rotary table too - saying he did not figure it yet. I say what is there so complex about rotary table? That machine kept me sane while working for him.

 

[dmccarty]

Over the last year or so we have done a fair bit of driving on the NC back roads.

I was amazed at a couple of sights.
- How many machine shops are out in the middle of no where.
- Some of the operations were/are very large.
- How many are recently out of business.

But I still see some that are open and I wonder how they make a living.

Later,
Dan

 

[300UGUY]

I worked in tool & die for 35 years. Several years ago, I was talking to a young machinist for Makino, a builder of machining centers. He remarked that he had never worked on a machine "with handles". It took me a minute to understand what he was talking about.

 

[2LMAKER]

This pretty entertainmg thread.
Considering a toolmaker apprentiship was 8000 hrs machine time ( the math classes were seperarate)
At the end of your apprentiship the old timers would ask if your were a "toolmaker now"
When you answered "yes" they'd all get a good laugh
After 35 yrs in the trade with most of which using manual machines ,CNC is the cats meow . Things that would take hours to set up and special tools for,can be done with standard tools in a fraction of the time. One thing to remember people doing it for a living have to do it best possible way.
While fixing old US iron then making stuff on it is great. Don't kid yourself there is still quite a machine trade in US and what can be done is even more amazing.