I miss machines........

[khryslerkid]

I interviewed at a power plant once, second interview was with the maintenance department.. no **** they laid a ton of instruments, tools and other devices out on the table and asked me to explain them all! Another company gave me a schematic and a short period on time to wire this circuit and make it work. Looking back that was smart, right off the bat they knew if I was clueless or not.

I had almost the same experience for one job interview. They had a five page test with all kinds of questions. Math, measurements, welding, machine and a variety of other subjects. Took me a bit to complete it right there in their office and not really being prepared for it. I handed the completed test to the secretary and she said to have a seat while she checked my answers. A few minutes later she replied with "Haven't had one of these in awhile." I had aced the test! She said she would get me an interview with the boss right away. What a letdown, they didn't and wouldn't pay anywhere near what I was already making.

 

[Ron H]

I had almost the same experience for one job interview. They had a five page test with all kinds of questions. Math, measurements, welding, machine and a variety of other subjects. Took me a bit to complete it right there in their office and not really being prepared for it. I handed the completed test to the secretary and she said to have a seat while she checked my answers. A few minutes later she replied with "Haven't had one of these in awhile." I had aced the test! She said she would get me an interview with the boss right away. What a letdown, they didn't and wouldn't pay anywhere near what I was already making.

Lol, bet they WOULD today!

 

[WileE]

Like these ?

 

[747mopar]

I had almost the same experience for one job interview. They had a five page test with all kinds of questions. Math, measurements, welding, machine and a variety of other subjects. Took me a bit to complete it right there in their office and not really being prepared for it. I handed the completed test to the secretary and she said to have a seat while she checked my answers. A few minutes later she replied with "Haven't had one of these in awhile." I had aced the test! She said she would get me an interview with the boss right away. What a letdown, they didn't and wouldn't pay anywhere near what I was already making.

That same place to even get the interview you had to pass the POS MAS test, don't remember what it meant but it was mechanics, wiring, reading comprehension, math, etc, etc. Felt like an interigation!!

 

[3sloppydogs]

Way back in the mid 70s I started working on construction machinery. I was fresh out of high school. My boss sent to a machine shop in Baltimore city called Trimble and Fink. They welded and rebored a swing tower for a backhoe. It was either a 580C or a 4500 Ford I don't remember which but that's not important. I do remember it was the coolest thing I had ever seen.
They all of the machines driven by belts off of a turning shaft that was overhead. The operator would slide the belt off an idler to a driven block to run the tool. Sadly they shut down soon after due to all the reasons.
That was back when Baltimore was still a decent place and had a good manufacturing and service base

 

[Nate S]

I designed and built custom high speed assembly machines for 25 years. Always had a big machine shop available. Fun stuff, mostly for making sensors that go in cars and medical devices. Last machinery gig was making flat bed laser cutting machines. Now I do lasers for defense. Luckily still have a little machine shop I can use when I want.

 

[1 Wild R/T]

I like watching Joe Pie...
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=joe+pieczynski+

This Old Tony is fun..
https://www.youtube.com/c/ThisOldTony

And CEE does allot of big jobs
https://www.youtube.com/c/CuttingEdgeEngineeringAustralia

Missed a few ...

Abomb 79
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=abom79

Ox Tool
https://www.youtube.com/user/oxtoolco

Keith Fenner
https://www.youtube.com/c/KeithFenner

Mr Pete
https://www.youtube.com/c/mrpete222

There are lots more There are a number of incredibly talented guys in third world countries building stuff with primitive equipment... If given access to basic WWII level equipment they could do amazing work...

 

[Cranky]

I don’t know what your thinking but I’m wondering why I couldn’t find a place to teach me, learn at. And not one shop was welcoming for a then kid wanting to know something and learn.

In the nicest words I can say, they told me to away, because the filth filled responses I received were truly words that floored me. The nicest response I got was ago F#%^ yourself and I had a wrench thrown at me. Along with items that I still don’t know what they were.

As far as I’m concerned, this is the reason I try my best to stay away from machine shops and purchase ported heads.

I’ve met only 2 shops that welcomed me and thankfully worth there weight. Great reputation and friendly. Awesome work done every time. For these guys, they would get the shirt off my back and keys to the car if they EVER called me up needing it.

Wow.....when I was about 9 or 10 I went to the newspaper to see about a route in the small town I lived in at the time and well, the 'veteran' boys that were already there started throwing anything they could get their hands on at me. Anyways, when I was about 13 I went to this automotive shop that was a couple of blocks away and started hanging around. Asked if they had anything I could do. The owner said 'not really' but I could sweep the floors but he couldn't pay me. Good enough I thought as I wanted to mainly see what was going on. This shop was pretty old and the grease and dirt build up made a really nasty surface but gave it a shot. At least he let me watch him redo heads and bore blocks etc. Saw that sort of grease/dirt build up at one other place and that was the round house at a steel mill where I delivered parts when I worked for a heavy equipment place years later. That placed looked like a hell hole and though no way I'd want to work there but 3 1/2 years later, I went to work at that steel mill.....thankfully, never worked in that round house!

After 5 years I quit the steel mill to go find a better job....yeah right. Hard lesson learned but about a year later a buddy of mine offered me a job at the machine shop he managed and that was my start. It was a production shop so he showed me how to operate some simple machines and do some minor machine work and turned me loose.

With my dad being a machinist I always thought I'd follow in his footsteps, fortunately I learned early that I can't take much repetition. Monotony is no friend of mine so I took a liking to maintenance where there's a mix but both places had machine shops so I do dabble. At home though.. I grew up with a machine shop in the basement, I was boring dirt bike cylinders as a kid in the lathe and the shop has only gotten bigger.

I'm one that likes repetition....so long as it isn't days on end. I could get into a rhythm and punch out some parts and it would be burned into my feeble brain lol. The jobs I didn't care too much about were the one off jobs that were somewhat complicated would come in then a year or so later it would come in again and would have to rethink it all over again.

Guess I was more lucky getting hired at the shop; my best friend got a job there and when they wanted another part time employee working evenings, got in. Real crap work at first cleaning machines and doing the most monotonous-simple machine jobs. Gotta start somewhere and their company prez position was filled, not needing it filled by a 17 year old, lol. My first day, the co-owner walks me over to a filthy lathe, chips overflowing from the tray saying “I want you to clean this machine like it’s YOUR car; not your old man’s”. He was a piece of work; but the other owner, after a few months, took me under his wing, he was like my 2nd dad, teaching me stuff, giving me more responsibility, and more challenging things to do. He liked the fact I did my work well…lessons from my perfectionist father “If you're not going to try to do the job right, don’t do it at all.” I dreaded having to get a job at Mac’s or as a dishwasher, so this was a lucky break as I reflect on it. The experience came in handy throughout my career.

Oh man, never ever wanted to work in the restaurant business!

I’m a CNC Machinist. I’ve been doing it since ‘95. I currently program and run a Fadal 6535 VMC 5 axis with a Fanuc 18i control. The company I work for is in the railroad industry. It’s a job. I will say, I love machining Stainless Steel and Aluminum. Cast Iron... not so much. It’s dirty, and rusts. It’s really ****! I will say, you don’t see many guys make it to their 70’s. All that great smell isn’t so great for your longevity.

My first machine shop job was in 79 then in late 79 went to a place called CAMCO....Computer Aided Machining Co. You ever see a 'tape drive' machine? Fanuc control (don't remember the model) but these were the 'upgraded' control that allowed you to make corrections at the machine and then run a new tape. At the time, we had a crappy programmer and well, usually had to make a new tape lol. The machines were all Mazaks machining centers and were pretty nice. I liked that job but it didn't pay well even though I was getting raises quite often.

I had almost the same experience for one job interview. They had a five page test with all kinds of questions. Math, measurements, welding, machine and a variety of other subjects. Took me a bit to complete it right there in their office and not really being prepared for it. I handed the completed test to the secretary and she said to have a seat while she checked my answers. A few minutes later she replied with "Haven't had one of these in awhile." I had aced the test! She said she would get me an interview with the boss right away. What a letdown, they didn't and wouldn't pay anywhere near what I was already making.

I got told more than once that I 'have too much experience'. Always thought that was a cop out and that they must have some really dumb employees working there and didn't want anyone that knew anything. When I questioned one interviewer about that his reply was "you will probably not stay long and will be out looking for something else and we want someone that's going to stick around".

 

[Slap Stick]

The real answer was, "you wouldn't stay due to what we will pay".

 

[Islandkent]

Abom has changed since I started watching him years ago. Love Joe Pi. Smart dude. Did anybody ever check out that Ca Lem? Man that young fella can make anything. Watched him years ago make a lath out of scrap and just went bigger and better from there. Very talented young man. Nothing he won't tackle.

 

[barnfind]

I find Allen Millyards work fascinating.

 

[BeatersRus]

while not a machine shop,persay,i do have a guru of welding down the road from me.
hes in his 70-s now,former army and we get along great.

hes currently doing the bodywork on the 70 challenger,and saving me about 20 grand in metal and fab work.
i bought it for 10k,and it needed about another 10k to be a car again/bodywise.
if i had taken it to RJ,i woulda spent over 50k in metal and restoration and been upside down.
this is not a slam against RJ either,he does Great work,i just cant Afford him and if you bring a Major project to a shop,you should Expect to have to dig Deep.

Back to Jerry,
he has the touch,and the skills,that i just dont see duplicated anywheres else.
for instance,one of the jobs i saw him do,was rebuilding the Teeth on a Flywheel Inside the trans of a large farm tractor,
he took the starter off and welded new teeth on,filed them up,and had that machine back up and going in 2 days.
whats so impressive?
the starter opening was about 3-1/2 inches wide...thats it!!
now imagine working in That Small of a space....!
and he gets all types of jobs like this,people will come from Hours away,just to have his skills and talents.

my entire point is,when these guys pass,we will have lost a Generation of Skills.

 

[Ranger16]

my entire point is,when these guys pass,we will have lost a Generation of Skills.

And THAT is the one thing you CAN take with you.