Has a friend or relative been responsible for your beginnings in this hobby?

I could claim truthfully that my paternal grandfather was a research mechanic for NASA, or that my maternal grandfather was a professional machinist before anybody ever heard of a computer much less a CNC. Those things are true, and I do have some of their tools, but the fact is if my wife hadn't given my a cheesy little Chicom Chinesium lathe from Harbor Fright I might not be doing what I am doing for a living today. It still feels like a hobby. I almost feel guilty some days out in my shop makingparts for people. Somedays it is a hobby still. I work on customer projects and my projects continuously all day long.
 
For as long as I remember there has been a lathe in my life. My father took an correspondence course in electrical engineering while working with my paternal grandfather in the plastering contracting business. As Dad put it "grandpa got the money and Dad got the work" from the business. thus the career in electricity. He sold power plants as part of his business and when the local blacksmith couldn't supply the replacement bushings as required my dad bought a lathe. That South Bend arrived at about the same time I did. Dad later became manager of the local REA power distribution system so no longer had to turn bushings, a time I wasn't allowed in the shop as he needed to concentrate on the work. During my teen's he made a carosel shelf for the kitchen cabinets during the house remodeling. He had traded the South Bend for the Clausing 100 MK3 that I have Inherited. He taught my brother and I how to use that lathe.

It was during that time the 1937 Ford Coupe I was driving ( this was 1952) needed some front spring repair which took place at a friend of a friend's machine shop. The machinist (one man shop) told me he had a gear making project and could not devote much time to my needs. So I got every thing ready for my job so he could do the 5 minutes of overhead welding required. I did notice his work during that time and I now I may have mis- understood what I thought he was doing. It seemed to me that he was cutting the gear on a lathe and had some sort of indexing device mostly a bar (spring) and a wedge mounted on the carriage. I later learned that the gear was used to drive an airplane propeller to provide ventilation in the local coal mine.

During my hitch in the Navy I turned a couple of rings (jewelry) for guys that wanted to mount "cat eyes" found in the coral used as base material for the airstrip and plane parking lots at the Cubi Point Navel Air Station Luzon Island in the Phillipines. From that point on I had the itch but not the space or finances for a machine shop. I did have a 10" radial arm saw that was used for hobby and some kids furniture. During my working career I was near employer owned heavy machine shops and visited when possible.

I inherited the Clausing lathe and still have it. My curiosity about how Biff ( the machinist) had made that gear that day has never dwindled so now that I am retired I have another lathe, a mill/drill, a horizontal mill, a shaper and some tools in a shop from a made over house. This website has been a welcome part of my machining activity and I appreciate the help and support I have received from the membership.

Have a good day
Ray
 
The earliest I can remember wanting to run machine shop tools I think was somewhere around
3 grade in school when I was getting into trouble drawing pictures of metal lathe's. Probably what
got me started was my first erector set. (I now have 72 sets). I have a textile machine shop that's
now only my hobble shop because there is no textile in US of A today... I also have a weld shop
and a wood shop backed up with a sawmill. I'm happy...
 
My 18 years older brother had a wood lathe and I loved to watch him make bowls and spindles. He worked for our shirt-tail Uncle who owned a well drilling company and I watched him build shafts and bushings for his walking beam hole pounder, but my real inspiration began in 1960 when as a freshman in high school I took a class called General Metals. It included Electricity, Welding, Sheet Metal, and Machine Shop. Everyones first project was was a plumb bob, and I was the first one to finish. The teacher, Mr. Traester, said "Eugene, you seem to have a real talent for this". I took his classes for the next three years and upon graduation went to work in a welding shop. Then I worked in an automatic screw machine shop, not my bag. I worked in a couple of other machine shops till I realized that the only people making any real money were the owners. I never worked as a machinist again. Fast forward to pre-retirement, my wife and I decided to build a shop for our automotive hobby (circle track racing) JET was having a special and a lathe and Milling machine fit into the budget. I'm Happy too...
 
My best friends's Dad was a Doctor with a very demanding practice. When not working, he spent time in his shop including
building a scale replica of a steam locomotive. This was done on a DP and an Atlas 618. After he passed away, my friend
had it for years and then passed it on to me. It sat around my shop until I needed it to make parts for a project,
so I decided to overhaul it and learn to use it. I've always enjoyed building and making things, so it's no surprise that this has
become a hobby.
 
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