Back to the basics

My "desire" to own a lathe and milling machine came at around the age of 20 when i was working in a machine fabrication shop. It took me 27 years to realize that dream, I'm 47 now. I've accumulated 10s of thousands of dollars worth of auto mechanic tooling, and some welding equipment in that time. Life has a way of putting things on hold, but eventually, if the dream is nurtured, it happens. Early this year I bought a used SB9 lathe and a used Bridgeport, I bought lots of tooling for both and I built a cnc plasma cutter pretty much from scratch. Now I'm living the dream. The ultimate scenario for me is to start making a living building things in my shop..metal art, one off parts, etc... and selling these things for income.

If you got the desire to do it, it will happen. It helps to have a supportive mate, which i do.

Keeping the dream alive!
Happy Holidays
Marcel
 
Richard, thanks for the appreciation. It means a lot to us to hear it from time to time. Being here for Christmas isn't too bad once you get used to it. I've been in for 8 years and have gotten to spend 1 christmas at home. We're in the process of going back home right now though so we have sent all of our privates and first time deployers home early while us NCO's take care of training the new unit. They haven't made it yet, but at least they're on their way so they don't dwell on being stuck here on Christmas. I remember that first one and it was rough. This will be the last one though as I'll be getting out in March. I'm still newly married and being single in the army is a blast but the prospect of starting a family and maintaining this career path is a little scary. To be honest, getting out and starting over when I'm half way to retirement scares the hell out of me too but I have the GI Bill so I should be able to deal with being a 27 year old freshman haha.

Marcel, yea I seem to run through hobbies. I don't just dabble, I usually go the "Go big or go home" route, but I'll develop a hobby and then 3 or 4 years down the road something else will spike my interest. With diving, there isn't a lot left to do besides keep diving, which I do constantly. But when I get my instructors certification I'll have more or less reached the top. There are a few levels above it that I don't really care to deal with the politics of, so it's time to get a new time killer between diving rather than studying diving. Before diving it was skydiving and before that it was wood working and cars and before that it was playing guitar. The only one I don't really keep up with is the guitar. I've kinda lost interest in that one. Since I was in diapers, though, I've had more fun taking my toys apart and seeing how they worked than I did playing with them so I'm amazed that it's taken me this long to take the plunge into purchasing machining equipment. You're right though, the supportive spouse seems to be critical. I'm in the process of designing and building a small ambient pressure submarine and just about everybody thinks I'm nuts. Kelly has yet to bash it though or shoot it down in any way. Though sometimes I'm sure she thinks I'm crazy haha. When I'm cruising the reef though and seeing all my friends who are wet and cold after the dive, I'll have the last laugh! :drink2: I've never had much interest in making a living at what I like to do with my spare time for fear of growing tired of it. As was the case with automotive maintenance. I've put some thought into giving scuba lessons here and there as a suplemental income or possibly opening a part time dive locker when I get home but that's about as far as I want to take it, I think. As for machining unless it's a really good friend or family I'm fairly certain that I'll keep my parts to myself lol. By the time I'm 80 I hope to have a huge shop bursting at the seems with contraptions that I've made even if they haven't been used for decades! Good luck to you though in turning it into a career! At least you'll have a job that you love and can work whenever you want to!

Thanks for the kind words and Merry Christmas to both of you! (or Happy Holidays if you're a PC type person. I'm not)
 
I think the more experience members should do a few articles in this area for beginners. It really does help knowing the full list of basic's you would need for tooling for either mill or lathe work. Also one on machine purchasing and what to look for what levels of machining would be nice too.
 
Price of entry isn't that much different than other hobbies. Boats (break out another thousand), snow machines, motorcycles, golf, skiing, hunting, scuba, ham radio...
 
I worked many years as a industrial mechanic, millwright, and machinist.
Being a bit of a tool junky I bought stuff I wasn't required to have and tools I didn't even need.
Gotta do something with em now.
Well, 40 years of collecting is a big head start and I sympathize with those of you just starting out.
It is a most gratifying hobby and I would suggest that you take it easy on the tool purchases.
As you work and learn what you need for your projects then you can pick items up. Think of what you want to do and plan the machine work from setup to completion.
Watch for REALLY good deals and then you might justify a splurge or get an item that you might not need for a couple years.
Lotta folks financially burn themselves out in the first year or two.
 
Tert, you seem to have pretty well nailed it. The learning curve has been pretty steep and while I'm not yet an expert, I'm on my way :nuts: lol. I've learned that it's pretty easy sometimes to get carried away with stuff you think you need but when you take a step back and think, there is almost always a way around your problem. If nothing else, you have machining/fabrication equipment of some sort if you're getting into this hobby, so use it and make what you need. I've had to make several jigs and fixtures and cutting bits so far. I've learned to love estate sales, also! Not that I didn't before, but I only did auto and wood work before. Now I actually know what that box of lathe tools is that is marked at $10. I think I'm going to set up a will specifying that in the event of my death, and not until, my wife will be given the combination to a safety deposit box which will contain a list of what my tools ACTUALLY cost.... not what they cost at a yard sale or what I told her I paid at the "sale" they were having lol
 
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