Advice for a New Machinist Student..

You are embarking on a fabulous learning curve. I started my apprenticeship in 1961 and after 5.5 years qualified as a fitter/ turner / toolmaker. loved the work although I moved on to become a marine engineer. I'm now 75 and well retired but I still run a manual lathe and other tools.

Pay attention to the instructors and ignore the showoffs, they'll give you the wrong ideas. Good luck and enjoy. BTW you've come to right [place top learn and discuss. everything. Remember there is no such thing as a dumb question, only dumb answers, provided by the uneducated.
 
I would like to add my 2 cents as a none machinist. I started as a TV repairman in the sixties at age 14. Started doing auto repairs when my gas station let me down. I spent a lot of time doing electrical repairs for garages and they spent time teaching me all sorts of mechanical repairs and tricks they used. I ran a successful heavy duty repair shop for years and learned machinist work from machine shops that let me
"assist" in running machines because they were busy. I am retired and have my own home machine/woodworking shop. In other words. I'm not qualified to say any thing about anything.

Learn everything about everything. Start a collection of notes about what you see and where you see it. Follow the forums like this. Go to YouTube and look up old machinery videos. How things are made. Watch how they change a crankshaft in an ocean liner. Build an airplane. Study rocket engines. I have about 15-20 people I follow. Look carefully in the back ground at what is taking place. Pretty soon you will come up with solutions that others can't. CNC may pay the bills right now and is the future for production. The basic Leverage/Mechanical/Physics/Mathematical have not changed and are being glossed over today. The other people are right about manual machines. When you use an engravers method of tar to hold a small piece in the mill, people will look like you are a genus. You will be amazed of what was known and done hundreds of years ago and ignored today. Use your imagination and learn to think outside the box, do quality work and you will become invaluable. As said above, don't be afraid to make mistakes, but do learn from them.

Sorry about the soap box. I follow the principal "Thoose who do not study history are doomed to repeat it." Good luck on your career!!! Charles
 
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