We have come a long way - skills are improving.

You mean how to do it the easiest, shortcut hacks? Not happening here.... :) I'm a not sure I'm doing it right hack, but sometimes it turns out anyway.
 
Aukai said:
You mean how to do it the easiest, shortcut hacks? Not happening here.... :) I'm a not sure I'm doing it right hack, but sometimes it turns out anyway.
Click to expand...
Bottom line . Make it work ! :encourage:
 
I wouldn't call myself a HACK but I'll tell you my motto.

FORM FOLLOWS FUNCTION
 
I suspect most of us are not trained machinist, myself included. The Tool Makers in our tool room at work completed an apprenticeship of 8000 hrs., these are guys in their 60's. Don't know what the requirement is now. That's basically a 40 hr. a week, 50 week a year gig for 4 years to become a journeyman. More time "in the saddle" than a 4-year college degree.

There's NO WAY any of us picking up our first lathe/mill off CL or eBay could expect to be at that level of competence. I've puttered in my shop over the years at least 8000 hrs. but would never consider myself a machinist. There are so many techniques I haven't learned and lots of mistakes from trying something new I haven't done yet.

I will say that I'm pretty happy with my general competence after 35 years of playing with this stuff. I recently was making a skimming pass on my Bridgeport over a steel part and gouged the edge because I didn't lock the quill. In the olden days, I'd have probably chucked the part. I fired up the TIG welder, glued on the filler, sanded the part back close, and finished the job on the mill.

A Tool Maker at work once told me that the sign of a good machinist is how well he can hide his F-ups. I still make plenty of mistakes and my ever-growing experience is making me better at hiding the inevitable. The most important thing to me is staying safe (machine and person) when trying something new. If you think it could be a problem, take precautions ahead of time so you and your machine stay safe.

Bruce
 
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BGHansen said:
I suspect most of us are not trained machinist, myself included. The Tool Makers in our tool room at work completed an apprenticeship of 8000 hrs., these are guys in their 60's. Don't know what the requirement is now. That's basically a 40 hr. a week, 50 week a year gig for 4 years to become a journeyman. More time "in the saddle" that a 4-year college degree.

There's NO WAY any of us picking up a lathe/mill off CL or eBay could expect to be at that level of competence. I've puttered in my shop over the years at least 8000 hrs. but would never consider myself a machinist. There are so many techniques I haven't learned and lots of mistakes from trying something new I haven't done yet.

I will say that I'm pretty happy with my general competence after 35 years of playing with this stuff. I recently was making a skimming pass on my Bridgeport over a steel part and gouged the edge because I didn't lock the quill. In the olden days, I'd have probably chucked the part. I fired up the TIG welder, glued on the filler, sanded the part back close, and finished the job on the mill.

A Tool Maker at work once told me that the sign of a good machinist is how well he can hide his F-ups. I still make plenty of mistakes and my ever-growing experience is making me better at hiding the inevitable. The most important thing to me is staying safe (machine and person) when trying something new. If you think it could be a problem, take precautions ahead of time so you and your machine stay safe.

Bruce
Click to expand...
Well said, Bruce. Well said. Only point of contention: I've seen quite a bit of your work. I'm sure I'm not alone that even though not a formally educated one, you ARE a machinist.

Regards
 
8000 hrs for the journeyman machinist papers
10,000 hrs for the toolmakers papers . The extra 2000 hrs goes into tool grinding , metallury (sp) heat treatment , die working ,etc .
 
I use the time honored, "seat of my pants" method. :)
Someone once said, if you aren't screwing up, you aren't learning anything.
I've also found, there are many ways to accomplish the same outcome.
 
Jeff . I've always enjoyed working with the engineers that had the theory , but not the reality part down . We never knew what the final outcome would look like . It was very much like a " always learning " position . You will never stop learning , and you'll never stop " screwing things up " . We're " mechanically inclined " ! :big grin:
 
As someone at the very beginning of the journey, this thread gives me some hope. It's truly inspiring to see the amazing work of the members here. I do screw up a lot, (so I have that part right :) ) where I need to improve is on the post mortem. If you don't fully understand what went wrong, it's hard to get better. It's the bane of the novice, not even recognizing that that operation you just did wasn't a good way to accomplish it, as it limited your future options.
 
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