Machsupport Forum
Mach Discussion => General Mach Discussion => Topic started by: BClemens on February 27, 2009, 06:56:30 AM
-
What is your trade?
I'm a welder - in a cryogenic chamber with an electron beam.
Bill C.
-
Fisherman originally if you could consider that a trade, was certainly cold and wet ;D Now I repair the boats amongst other machining and welding work, mainly one off jobs.
Hood
-
Fantastic Hood! I spent 26 years repairing boats too. Finally bought the marina and went broke. Problem with the boats that I repaired, they were for pleasure....and are idle and in disrepair when times get tough. Great!
Bill C.
-
Machinist/machine designer with way too much welding exp. I had a shop with
a couple of doz. employees but for the last 15 years just me.Fix everything and anything.
Designed stuff from underwater logging equipment to systems for the Advanced Life support
systems on the Mars project.(Don't ask I woulkd have to kill you.)Now I am half way to understanding electronics and this controll stuff.Hey a new trade at 52!!.
Also a fisherman, well a fishaholic.Hard core fly fisherman.
-
Bill,
the fishing industry is declining in Scotland and the leisure crafts are increasing, however I don't do very much work for the leisure crowd or WAFI's as they get called ;) The majority of them want stainless products and highly polished at that but they want it for less than material costs let alone machining and fabrication costs.
Keith
That's a much more civilised type of fishing that you like, the kind I did involved going out in mountainous seas and getting very cold and wet for very little reward latterly.
Hood
-
Interesting the diversity and talent of the people who enjoy this CNC work and go after such a challenge....Are we all over 50? I darn sure hope not...
Bill C.
-
Hood your fishing industry is declining,ours is almost gone.I just finished
fabing a s/s rudder arm for a local fish boat.All we have left is a short prawn season.
Seems the fish farm industry has help erraticate our salmon stocks
-
Keith
ha ha now that is funny, guess what I was making up today. Well dont bother guessing I will tell you, a stainless steel rudder and tiller arm for the boat that my brother in law is fitting out :D
Bill
42 but look and feel 20 years older :D
Hood
-
Hey GUys,
Well adding to the other thread of where you live...
I live in Mexico just a 2hr drive from the texas border.
Im just 28, and by trade I am a mechanical and electrical engineer, that used to have a Kitchen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vance_Miller) countertop fabricating business, but recently closed it, and starting to build OEM machines, mainly things that you cant buy off the shelf, or that by doing so it would cost a fortune.
Fluent in spanish and english, and just some portuguese, but to be honest i tried giving support to the spanish forums but cant understand a word they are saying! spanish from spain is like a whole other language when talking about technical stuff.
Hell Im so used to working with things in english that most of the time i think in english
Have a good one
Fernando
-
RETIRED , 69 YEARS OLD. Yup , I remember when , ;D
Machinest , tool and diemaker , design engineer , mechanic , welder, all kinds.
Great grandfather,
Also use to fish , Lake Michigan.
AND , still not enough hours in a day.
Ed
-
Cnc machinist by trade, now doing programming and some engineering, and yep I'm over 50! ;D
Mark
-
Workaholic.............. will list later, got to get back to work for now. ;D
Brett
-
I'm a recently laid-off metrologist; or more accurately, senior manager of a instrumentation/calibration department in a biotech company. I've worked in this field for almost 20 years and it's treated me well. But it's also a risky business and at the ripe old age of 47, I'm getting tired of having to keep starting over at yet another biotech (I've worked at six different companies).
I've now got a calibration/validation business working at the same thing, but as a contractor. But while the economy (and business) is slow, I've decided to spend some of my free time learning all about machining and cnc. They'll come in handy for my hobbies of rebuilding cars and long-range shooting.
-
BRETT, YA , RIGHT LOL ;D
We know better
Your probably hiding somewhere. :D
Ed
-
heycorey,
Always thought being a meteorologist would be a good job, you could get out of bed, look out of the window, see rain or snow or sun, then just call in your findings and go back to bed! It must be a cut-throat business 'cause everybody wants that job.
just kidding...
CNC work is rewarding....and keeps you thinking.
Bill C.
-
What is my trade? Sounds like an old (really old TV show - if you don't remember it, you are not old enough).
Trade - By the numbers - Paperboy, short-order cook, grocery clerk, made paint (dirty - hazardous to health don't go there), inventory control and truck parts counter guy, bad-debt collector, loan company manager, finance sales, insurance sales, director of marketing. Retired - hours are good; Pay sucks.
Now - almost 70 - attending trade school to study and learn manual lathe and mill practices. In the garage CNC mill(small Taig), old no-name 12X36 manual lathe.
Bob@BobsShop - waiting for the next stimulus check so can buy more toys - or beer.
-
I run a CNC machining facility.
Not too big 15 CNC's from company's like Mori Seiki(3), OKK(3), Victor, Akebono(2), Okuma, Femco, Bridgeport, Focus(3) and as any true engineering company a manual Bridgeport turret mill and a Colchester lathe.
I/we do OK, I could do a lot better if common sense had not been bread out of the human race ;)
Graham
-
Graham,
Sorry good buddy, that is only getting progressively worse by the generation - ask any large company like IBM. The only thing taught in our schools anymore is how to breed, even same sex breeding now too.... This is a serious situation that doesn't seem to get any attention by our educators. Even colleges are turning out nothing but consumers.
Sorry for that dirty picture!
Bill C.
-
Graham,
I know exactly what you mean. I was a supervisor in a couple cnc shops.
Each generation gets worse . Just button pushers .
Ed
-
OK, Grandfather was a pretty big farmer and Dad a drywall contractor so those allways filled in when I wasn't working on something else. 12 years old I pulled my first motor out and immediately started working on cars. Bought my first car when I was 13. During the school year when I was 14 worked at a fab shop welding, manual mill, manual lathe, sawing and auto repair on the weekends. Worked for a contractor during the summer building turkey barns and getting a damn good tan. ;D When i was 15 I worked with my neighbor during the school year who was a vinyl siding contractor and the summer building turkey barns......... don't forget the tan. School year when I was 16 I helped my neighbor with the siding and that summer I lived at my girlfriends parents house ::) and a friend of a friend that lived near by put me to work restoring Corvettes. School year when I was 17 (back home now) the owner of one of the parts houses I dealt with bought a John Deer dealership and paid me per tractor to uncrate the new ones and assem. fluids, acid in batteries, etc. When I had all those put together he hired me full time (after school) to do repairs, auto machining, (boring cylinders, valve jobs, etc.) and help run the parts counter. When summer came around one of our customers that we had at the parts house asked me to go to work for him doing auto repair and I took him up on his offer. We worked on cars till about 11:00 every night except the nights we were drag racing :) (usually at least 3 nights a week and every Saturday and Sunday). We had a lot of fun. I worked with him until i graduated and went to a technical college in Texas. We had school 40 hours a week and they got me a job at an auto repair chain. I worked 60 hours a week there and it was ranked the top independent shop in the nation at that time. Through them I had chances to take classes that the same school I was going to during the day put on but was advanced compared to the day classes I was paying to take. I liked those but there was a problem. Going to school 40 hours and working 60 hours didn't allow time for the advanced classes. I asked the school if I could transfer the advanced credits to the lesser and they wouldn't allow it so I was getting pissed.... Came home for Christmas break and the first person i ran into at the mall while Christmas shopping was the guy i had worked for while at my girlfriends for the summer. He had gotten a huge state of the art auto restoration shop and asked to come talk to him. I did and offered a very good job so i went back to Texas, loaded up my tools and came Right back (told the school they could kiss it too ;D)and went to work. They had a huge back log and I was banging it out. Caught them up in about 6 months and butted heads with the owners son more than once. I had put a clutch in his dads road coarse race car and a lot of suspension work one weekend when I was working for him in the past and that really bothered his son. He never got over that but I did ;D. Only time I ever just quite a job but i drove home with my tools grinning like a cat eating briers. The next day I went to a small production shop and applied for a job. They called me 3 days later wanting me to come to work but I already had 30 cars in the yard and 2 in the shop. :) A year into this my brother-in-law bought an oil compnay and with it came a full shop up town. He asked me to move up there so I did. We had a good time as well but he really had a good time. Got a cal from the cops one night saying the door to the shop was open and I found my brother-in law passed out on the couch in the office. LOL He wasn't feeling any pain. Well, I decided it probably wasn't in my best intrest for him to be leaving the door open with all my tools in there and the owner of another Shop/Tire store had been wanting me to manage it for him, so I did. This was a lot of fun too but the insurance wasn't the best and it was very long hours. I was looking at having kids in the near future and insurance, benefits, decent hours (not to mention good help is hard to find) were starting to look better than partying and drag racing. I did that for 2 years and went to work at a good sized plant. I was hired for weekend shift as a cnc operator (3 12s) and really liked that. I had insurance and still got to work on cars in my shop. The shop grew to include auto body repair and painting and was working 5 other guys and running 2 shifts Monday- Friday and still working weekends too. After about 3 years of this I had worked up from operator to lead to setup to supervisor, the auto shop was wide open, I had a 1 year old and was remodeling the house my Gradpas Grandpa had built in 1862. I had a full plate and decided something had to go. Since I had been working on cars pretty hard for about 12 years I was getting burnt out and the shop was by far the the greatest source of stress. I closed it to the public and picked which ones I wanted to work on. Sometime after that the plant was getting ready to do a fair sized addition and asked me if would consider going into maintenance. 6 months or so later I gave in and that's where I have been for the past 10 years or so. About 2 years after going into maintenance one of the corprate guys saw a car I had painted and asked me to take a piece home and make it show ready. I did, he liked it and I have been doing that for the past 5 or 6 years as well. The second year of doing the trade show parts the sales guy called and said of the 31 trucks inside at MATS 30 of them had my parts on them. :) This brought other companies in as customers and times it demands going days without sleep but I must like it....... I still do it. LOL The trade show stuff is what ultimately introduced me to Mach because I wanted to keep as much as possible in house. Dealing with trade shows there is often last minute changes, something someone forgot they needed to display, etc. and dealing with others schedule can be a real pain at times. I also do training aids for sales groups. While all of this was going on I also managed to do some residential construction, high end custom cabinets, got certified in land and game management. I keep my PPG certification up to date as well so if something should happen to my friend I can spray for him while he is layed up. I let all of my ASE certifications expire but picked up several in other areas including welding. I have no idea what I'll be when I grow up. ;D
C++ programming is the flavor of the week this week.
Brett
-
JEEESH Brett !
And I thought you were just a regular ol' country boy.
I feel privileged and honored to have had the opportunity to actually meet you in person.
I'm impressed to say the least !
Bravo,
RC
-
LOL, Thanks RC. Your right, I'm just a regular ol' country boy, just been a busy one but I'm slowing down a little now. :)
I forgot a few of things I'm really glad to have been a part of. I was also a PTO president, coached little league baseball for 3 years, assisted 2 teams one year, coached the allstars 2 years, micro soccer one year and was on the county's school improvement council (all of this was for my kids and others and trying to change what has been mentioned a few post back). I also did some substitute teaching for my high school auto mechanics teacher 3 or 4 years after I graduated when his health was failing him.
Brett
-
heycorey,
Always thought being a meteorologist would be a good job, you could get out of bed, look out of the window, see rain or snow or sun, then just call in your findings and go back to bed! It must be a cut-throat business 'cause everybody wants that job.
just kidding...
CNC work is rewarding....and keeps you thinking.
Bill C.
I'm afraid I just don't have the curves for meteorology. Well ... not in the right places anyways.
Since someone else posted a picture or two ... here's one of my corral. I sold Big Red awhile back, but still have the others.
(http://i48.photobucket.com/albums/f225/heystuart/0eecf934.jpg)
Along with getting a little mill, I'm also getting certified in duracoating in the near future and will likely be getting certified as a Colt Armorer as well. I'm thinking my little mill will come in handy on the gunsmithing side.
-
Brett ,
No one said you had to write a book. ;D It took me half an hour to read it ,
and another 2 hours to read it to Britt . :D
So , I guess you didn't work today . BUT it was nice to tell us all. ;)
Thanks.
Ed
-
Cars? Naw, I try to get over them! They're just transportation now but I keep up with the new stuff. Just bought my wife one of the new Mustang GT convertibles which struck my fancy (great car). C++ was tackled a number of years back and I use it quite often along with LabView at work and I'm still writing in Visual Basic. I have a degree in electronics but went off in other directions after serving in the Navy for six years. I'm still a kid at 61 the other day (26th).
Thanks for the opportunity to be modest about myself....
Looks like diversity is a trait for those of us interested in Mach3.
Bill C.
Brett, another of your talents must be typing! Interesting read...
Also, someone said to post a picture.....
-
Looks like diversity is a trait for those of us interested in Mach3.
Exactly Bill. A good group of level headed guys with plenty of common sense and the ability to do anything. Maybe we should be running the country? LOL Mach has such an appeal I think because it is a a nearly never ending learning process. It leads to so many things. I have allways thought that anyone can do anything they want to. Lots of "want to" here on this forum and that is just a persons nature.
Brett
-
I don't see how a person can even exist without a shop and some machine tools. It would be a dreary existence!
Bill C.
-
I agree.The first 9 months of my existance where pretty dreary indeed but once I
saw the light and found a cresent wrench ;D
-
Gee, I hope you don't consider that a machine... ;D
Bill C.
-
Some days.....
-
I am now retired
Was tool and die maker, general machinist,production machinist,trouble shooter,welder.
Now i have all my time for myself, the wife,and my machines ,Waiting for a cnc milling.
Marcel Beaudry
-
Hi, my name is RICH and i'm just a boring process engineering designer who has been involved in most aspects of engineering
design and construction of chemical plants. The experience over the years has been very, very diversified, from
conceptual design to full facilities. Hobbies include music, ham radio, cars, woodworking, electronics,engraving, firearms,
hunting, and always wanted to have a house with three rooms; namely a bathroom, dining room,bedroom and a 7 or 8 stall garage
for each of the hobbies i enjoy! They are somewhat seasonal. So it would just seem natural to have a small machine shop and
have fun at CNC as it encompass a piece of my work and other interests. As a hobby i can have just as much fun maching a part,
getting something to work, helping someone out, or experiencing the sickness called ADD CNC ( Adult Deficit Deficiency Computer
Numerical Control ). The doctor told my family that's it's incurrable and they must learn to live with it!
But you know, it's all in the name. RICH
When i was born my mother named me Richard and everyone called me Rich or Richie. Now when i was an alter boy the pastor
called me Dick and i hated that name since my name is Rich and not some hanging part. But in those days you had to show respect
and little did we know that we would be learning a book called Dick and Jane. ( the Jane i got to know was hot) Anyway, as time went
on the name went back to Richie, but my mother-in-law was proper and always called me Richard. Then i moved to Delaware and everyone
would never call me Rich and only Dick. So i finally accepted the name. Then was tranferred to constructiion in Tennessee and my hardhat
had Dick on the side of it. It didn't take to long at the site to sense that something was wrong as people started calling me pecker.
That ended quickly when i fired a guy. Some time later off to another construction site in Texas only this time Rich was on the side of the
hardhat.Ha, dumb once but not twice! Then i went to the first site staff meeting, was introduced as Rich, but the construction manager asked me
a question post my introduction. He said that when he called my office i would answer the phone as Dick and noticed that my design team called
me Richard and that the guys out in the field called me Rich. He asked what name the staff should address me by? I responded to the "big boss"
that they could call me anything they wish, just don't call me Pecker. You could hear a pin drop in the meeting and after what seemed like an
eternity of silence he responded with "smart ass" and i repsonded with that's fine just don't call me Pecker. He got somewhat disturbed
and once again just said ...give me a name and no smart remark. i repsonded and said Mr. V...... , my last name is fine. Well it was probably
10 years later and I met that manager ( now head of all the construction division for a major company ) at a managers meeting and on seeing me
he asked me to join the group and during conversation always addressed me as Mr. V....... One of the guys at the table asked me what position
i held with the company as someone so up the ladder would address me as Mr. I said i worked on the Company Board. The guys at the table
were impressed and remarked how young i was to have such a position in a major company.
Well the manager leaned over and whispered to me "Drafting Board, Pecker" and i see you have not changed. Manny of the words
are direct qoutes.
RICH ........and it's all true :)
-
;D Great story RICH.
Brett
-
(Rich needs to write short stories as a satellite venture) - very good Rich! Kind-of rare that I read an entire post like that - I read that one...
Bill C.
-
Hi Rich,
You really should not have told anyone, especially Sam, about the 'Pecker' nickname - I think you know just know what's going to happen now.
Tweakie.
btw. I'm just a boring old electronics engineer - nothing special ever happens in electronics.
-
btw. I'm just a boring old electronics engineer - nothing special ever happens in electronics.
You wanna bet, let me loose near any kind of electronics and spectatular things can happen ;D
Hood
-
Hi All
My trade I qualified for is call Electronic Mechanician Some thing only the South Africans can think up. 60% electronics and 40% mechanical and all on cnc Machines. I left the trade and became a Boiler maker (steel construction and manufacturing worker). Then started a nc maintenance company,that lasted until my bookkeepers did me in and I lost it. I am current an employee for Victor Fortune South Africa (service engineer). These days a lot off mechanical work (rebuilding spindles, scraping of slides etc)The Machines I have Is for My hobby flying Radio controlled planes
Enjoy Life it is short
Cobus
-
LOL @ Tweak. Na, my humor is not to make people angry. I try to just have fun and hopefully make friends. Lot's of times people just don't see my comments the way their intended, they get offended, and then I wont cross there path again. One quote I remind people of...... "Don't take life to seriously, none of us are going to make it out alive"