Hi all, I'm new to this site but not machining. I've been machining since 1986 in a papermill.It's pretty much just one off replacement parts and you run the equipment you need for the job. We have lathes, mills, boring mills, etc. I'll be glad to help anyone i can. I'm gonna retire in 7 years so im starting to set up my home shop now. I'm sure ill need help refurbishing a lathe. I hope to aquire a monarch thats appx. 16X52. I love threading on these lathes.The crossfeed stop makes everything a breeze. Anyway, Glad to be here.
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How many of you are MACHINISTS for a living?
- Thread starter HMF
- Start date
Wow I'm impressed. I joined this forum thinking it was a group of guys in their basement playing around with metal. By the looks of it I might be the only hobby guy here. I have a B.S. in accounting and an MBA. Along with my brother we own and operate a company in the the food business. As I tell people , " I do metal working as a hobby". They have no Idea what I mean. I have two complete and extensive machine / welding/ fabricating shops. My wife and friends have no idea what I do. Sometime , I don't either. I hoped to be able to help on this forum but given the company I'm keeping, looks like I'll be learning.
Steve t
Steve t
I'm from the other side. Took machine shop in high school, made a tack hammer,,,,,,,,,, Then became a truck mechanic, full time firefighter for 25 years then retired to a quiet marina in Ontario north of Huntsville. Bought a 9A Southbend and a Clausing mill and now making parts for my other hobby; making parts for vintage snowmobiles. Make lots of mistakes but thanks to help from this site and Machinists Web am getting better. Thanks to all of those with expierence from us Swarfs.
Larry
Larry
- Joined
- Jan 29, 2013
- Messages
- 114
Since this thread is still going, I'll throw one at you. I'm a chiropractic physician who's done some high school shop machining (messing around) but never really did anything real until I needed to buy a new table for my business as the old one broke. When I found out that the same type of table was going to cost around $16,000, I balked and to make a long story short ended up buying a rong-fu mill/drill, a welder, a grinder, a 13x40 Enco lathe, sold the mill/drill, bought an Enco 9x48 vertical mill (Bridgeport type) and a whole bucket load of other stuff until my garage and little 8x10 shop are completely full and I'm about to kick the cars out or build a new garage. I did get my table re-furbished and working like a charm. I am not, however, a machinist as I am self-taught and don't get paid anything.
HOWEVER, I am likely to be chased out of my small town practice by regulation in the form of healthcare reform and the dramatic increases in my cost which cannot be passed on due to law. Also I have never made enough to have the ability to retire after 18 years, so at 46, I am now potentially considering going into machining as a way to wear out other parts of my body and because I have found that I love it so much. I consider it quite an honor to be amoung so many veterans on this forum and have already been greatly assisted by many of you. Maybe in the future if one of you is taking old students who still have a lot left in them and more desire to learn and less concern about making money (small town Chiropractors are not rich people at $24/hr or less and very manual labor) I may be asking for a job!
Barry
HOWEVER, I am likely to be chased out of my small town practice by regulation in the form of healthcare reform and the dramatic increases in my cost which cannot be passed on due to law. Also I have never made enough to have the ability to retire after 18 years, so at 46, I am now potentially considering going into machining as a way to wear out other parts of my body and because I have found that I love it so much. I consider it quite an honor to be amoung so many veterans on this forum and have already been greatly assisted by many of you. Maybe in the future if one of you is taking old students who still have a lot left in them and more desire to learn and less concern about making money (small town Chiropractors are not rich people at $24/hr or less and very manual labor) I may be asking for a job!
Barry
- Joined
- Mar 14, 2014
- Messages
- 36
41 years plus 3 years vocational. I still am on the floor using manual and CNC and trying to teach and find the ones that want to acquire the skill instead of the paycheck.
I am in that situation of trying to get the skill and the job that needs it. It's not easy to find a job in the field where I'm at with the level of skill I have, even if I graduated it will be still hard.
I see it as get the skill first and the money will flow in afterward if you are good at it. I'm tempted at this point of getting a loan to get some space and machines to do a jobber style of machining business, but I am figuring that I'm too new at it I will fall flat on my face and lose more from it.