Mark you are an inspiration to us all, I hope the struggle is less each day and that you are soon back with your beloved machines and tools. I have admired your exquisite work from afar, and wish that I could do the same. I frequently hesitate to start because I doubt that the result will be good enough.
Thank you,
I am improving gradually all the time. I actually take a few steps sometimes, in the house, but I must be careful as I am very unsteady and can fall easily. I can not afford any more falls. damn doctors think I belong in a home as it is and my only problem is , I can't walk (without falling). It will be a long time before I work in the shop I am afraid. We'll see what the summer brings. I am adapting well to being "challenged", I think. My service dog is a big help for comfort.
I do try to inspire others. I have had a lot of people say "I wish I was as good as you" or "I'm not good enough yet to do that". You can probably do just as good a machine work as I do, and so can almost everyone else, but you must have the attitude, "I can do that". I never ran into anything I couldn't do. that mentality has served me well my whole life. I was always into electronics as a child. I was repairing televisions at 11 years old. the tube caddy was almost as big as me ( no solid state devices back then.) I moved into rewinding electric motors and industrial controls by teens and ham radio. After high school I got a degree in industrial electronics. Then I discovered machining. I shoveled chips and then started repairing the machines. This was before CNC, it was called NC and used paper tapes for programs. the machines broke down and the boss said , "can you fix these?" I said sure ( I'd never seen one in my life.) I fixed the machines and every other machine in the shop. I taught myself to run all of the machines while repairing them. One day the boss asked me if I was a machinist and I said "no". Then the shop master machinist came in and asked for a tap. Boss said what kind? master machinist said " not one pointy on the end, a flat one". He got his tap, left, and I turned to the boss and said, " Hell yes, I'm a machinist! The rest was history. In ten years I was a master machinist and also became a tool and die maker by the time I moved on to my next job. In that time I also got a degree in mechanical engineering and hydraulics for the machine tool industry. There wasn't a machine tool I couldn't run by then and at forty I got offered my dream job as an engineer for a major U.S. CNC machine tool manufacturer. I traveled the U.S. , Canada, and Mexico solving problems on new machines and servicing the very old machines that weren't supported anymore. I learned CNC programming. I was making $65,000 dollars a year in 1990, with a free company car, flying 150,00 miles a year , living in fancy hotels and loving life. Then in 1997 the years of heavy work as a young man and lifting more than I should took its toll. I was having a hard time keeping the pace. I got arthritis, a bad back, and could hardly make it through a day. By 2000 I was disabled and on company disability. That ran out and social Security turned me down. I went broke and bankrupt. Lost everything but my house. my doctor made sure when I appealed they couldn't turn me down and I got my Social Security 3 months later. It was a big adjustment going from Almost $70,000 a year and a company car to living on $20,000 a year. My health got worse and worse over the years. I built my home shop and continued machining. I have machined through two heart attacks, two strokes, open heart surgery for an arterial dissection, I still have an ascending aortic aneurysm threatening to kill me, Spinal stenosis so bad my nerves are all shot from the waist down and severe neuropathy that has stopped me from walking at the present. Until a few months ago , I was still machining and hope to again. the only reason I ain't making chips now is there isn't enough room to get the wheelchair in the shop. WHEN I get out of this chair, I will machine again. I guess my point is........ when someone says, "I can't do that" or "I am not that good" , They defeat themselves before they even try. It is a hell of a lot better (and more fun) to TRY and if it isn't as good as expected , TRY again till it is good enough. Hell I failed a lot of times in life. I just hid it and kept trying till figured it out. EVERYTHING is common sense. Don't look at the whole picture. Just look at the small part you are concerned with at the moment then move on to the next. That makes everything simpler and doable. One time I tore apart a huge machine to repair I never saw before. I had parts and wires and circuit boards scattered everywhere. The owner came over and asked if I was sure i could fix it. I said "sure" ( then said to myself, "I hope". )Took a few days but I got it!
i'm just saying ..... Take a chance and try..... you may surprise yourself. This is is aimed at ANYONE that says " I'm not that good yet" You don't know that.