Your machinist personality

[C-Bag]

There is another facet to this and for me it's this forum. I bumbled onto this forum when I adopted an old Atlas 7b shaper. It needed a starter cap and this was the only place on the whole World Wide Web that mentioned the exact cap needed. I had crawled several other machining forums and over and over it just reminded me of some of the places I'd worked. New guys were FNG's who had to somehow navigate into acceptance by not drawing ire of the old hands. Not here, the vibe was different.

I was needing a new forum because the one I was on had turned into a clickbait personality contest by the mod and I wasn't going to provide clickbait for "awards" anymore.

Since most of what I'm doing is machining and I'm doing it all by virtual I needed a place where your tools and your present skill were not grounds for a mugging by the old hands and this seemed like the place. I've jumped a lot of jobs in my life and only had a couple that had that rare combo of respect and challenge along with the actual support to get the job done. For now this place feels like that to me.

 

[EmilioG]

Covet; The word can have two meanings;
verb (used with object)
1.
to desire wrongfully, inordinately, or without due regard for the rightsof others:
to covet another's property.
2.
to wish for, especially eagerly:
He won the prize they all coveted.
verb (used without object)
3.
to have an inordinate or wrongful desire.

I think we fall in to # 2., I hope.

 

[cg285]

It's not meant to be a philosophical treatise, just to point out that it's really easy to fall down the rabbit hole, so follow such and such guidelines for maximum enjoyment/minimum frustration.

On the philosophy note, we (as a society) certainly do a good job promoting no boundaries or self-control. My intent with the 'machinist personality' idea was to provide paths for newbies to best get started, and to provide seasoned folks with a way to get their bearings periodically. If you're in the profession, it kinda doesn't apply.

Just food for thought as it turns out.

path for newbies, seasoned bearings. way over my head. i think i'll have a beer

 

[PHPaul]

I posted a flippant (tho accurate...) answer earlier.

Having read through the responses since then I think I owe the OP a somewhat more serious answer.

Plato said "The unexamined life is not worth living." I heartily disagree.

If it works for you, great, but it's not for me. I know too many people who suck all the joy out of life by minutely examining every decision, action or random event in life. You can be a responsible adult without a being neurotic about it. I'm 67 years old. My bills are paid, my family is clothed and fed, my retirement is funded.

I tend to dive into a hobby, spend a considerable chunk of money on it and then move on to something else. I've been through photography, building computers, model railroading, refurbishing antique tractors and rebuilding and riding old motorcycles. I've thoroughly enjoyed each of them, collected more tools and learned new skills that have come in handy in many other areas. At the moment, it's playing with a lathe and I suspect that if I can scrape together the money it'll expand to include a small mill.

Some may consider the way I approach my hobbies and disposing of my disposable income impulsive or frivolous. I consider it living in the moment and having as much fun as I can in the time I have left.

 

[Dredb]

My wife thinks I spend my time gloating over my collection of tools. She told me this, she was not joking.
I resolved to gloat quietly in future.

 

[RandyM]

My wife thinks I spend my time gloating over my collection of tools. She told me this, she was not joking.
I resolved to gloat quietly in future.

Is it gloating or does she just not understand what makes your life a happy one? I think some people get jealous when they see other people happy.

On another note. Some people also see the sharing and posting of ones' tools, workshop, projects, and machines on this forum as bragging. I feel that is as far from the truth as one can get. This is a place of fun, sharing, and enjoyment. I am really glad we have members here that don't let things like that bother them and come here and enjoy this forum. Keep up the good work everyone. I am having way to much fun.

 

[C-Bag]

Hmmm, gloating would not be how I describe my time in the shop. My wife is a psychologist and appreciates my involvement in my shop. She doesn't always understand what I'm doing but is amazed when I show her something I've made or a tool/jig that I've come up with. She is often the one who tells me about sales and then dives in looking for cool stuff. She just calls my time spent amongst the tools as "mill'anda'lathe'n" because she she can't keep straight what they do. It makes her happy that I'm happy. Same with my music. It's far more productive and mentally stimulating than passively watching tv and since I don't drink or smoke it's a healthier vice. I also am extreme frugal and almost never buy anything new so she's almost always in on the purchase and the first words out of her mouth are " what would do with this, and how often would you use it?" The process of telling her what I see using it for and the projects I see needing it for, along with the price are usually enough to ground me enough to get real and not let my TAS (tool acqusisiton syndrome) get the better of me. It also means I don't have to ask forgiveness later