Any machinists/metalworkers/engineers here?

[Eli]

Anybody out there? Got a few questions about stuff like.. How to get started?

 

[Missus]

I am a certified welder...



I would go to your local tech school and ask the instructors...

Welding is cool... You can always find a job at it too...

 

[Ornery]

CNC Machinist for over 20 years. You sure you want to do this? The only way I can make decent money is with overtime. My boys are going to "work" for the government if I can help it!

There is a severe shortage of people that want to get into machining. Hah! Who can blame them? Too much thinking, noise, grime and risk for the money. Give me a little more money for the trouble and it might be OK.

You could probably hire on somewhere and earn as you learn. Bodies are needed no matter what you can do.

 

[Missus]

That is true O...

I learned a lot about cnc turret press programming by just doing...

I miss sheet metal work...

I am in customer service... Better money and benefits, but not as satisfying as working with my hands...



Maybe having your own shop would be good, but the start up costs are so high!!!

I think getting a job in a shop first and then if you think this is what you want then you can always go to night school... That is what I did... I work full time in a sheet metal shop and went to night school for welding... Funny... I was either at work or at school... Wasn't home for maybe 4-5 hours... Just long enough for shower and sleep... But I loved it!!!

 

[Ornery]

No kidding? Not many women in the trade at all. My wife works in a bank with a gal that runs CNC on an 8 hour shift later. I asked why she didn't just put the other hours into that instead of part time at the bank. She said 8 hours was all she could take. Too boring.

CNC can be like that. Take a day to program and setup a job and then load and unload parts for the next three. Personally, I spend a hell of a lot of time BS'ing and reading. It would be cool to have a Bridgeport and lathe in a shop at home. Add a welder and you could design and build about anything!

 

[ArkAoss]

ornery, any mazak expierience?

 

[Fathom5]

Ornery, the company I used to work for provided machined components for the Aerosapce, Medical and Marine Military fields. Short run, exotic materials (no dirty cast iron here)and cellular machining so every operator was running 2 lathes and a machining center and dropping off completed parts. They have an apprenticeship program through a couple of local High Schools and the local Community College and pay for schooling to get their journeyman's cards. A very clean state of the art shop.

There are good shops out there with good pay and benfits but you have to look.

Advance Turning Here's a link to the company I worked for up until a month ago. I'd be curious to here your thoughts on this place compared to where your at now? They are always striving to stay ahead of the competition.

 

[ArkAoss]

heeeyyy, I see a couple of Mazak Quickturns in that machine list, cool.

 

[Ornery]

No Mazak at all. Very limited experience on various machines. I ran one GE controlled machine, a Monarch VMC-75, for most of that 20 years. If I can help it, I'm moving on to something else. Why should I bust my ass doing this crap when I can make about as much money shuffling papers or something?

I'd love to get into some kind of "government" job, so I can double dip for retirement. I don't care if it's city, county, state or federal, I'm just disgusted with paying into the damn Social Security system. I keep waiting for something to fall in my lap, but nothing so far. How much luck will a 43yo have getting into a government job now? I'll look into taking a civil service test or something. Or pull some strings at city hall, who knows?

 

[ArkAoss]

My pops works for a mazak local office, sending out the repair guys. With your expierience you could get a job (and training) to do repair on mazak's, with travel pay, covered hotel's, probly a trip to japan eventually.
And then, alot of the guys that work as Tech's, work there for like 15-20 yrs as service tech's then they can split and work for a machine tool consulting company and make more than mazak pays, and not have to travel.
Its all about the expierience. you've got 20 yrs? You'd probly be able to get a job as a technician, if you want to learn.

 

[Fathom5]

ATM has a lot of Mazak's, lathes and machining centers but I don't think they've updated the equipment list in a while.

 

[Missus]

Yeah... I was working in a factory that made fuel tanks and then a factory that did thin gage stainless...

I decided to get this job because the money was better and the benefits are better... But I REALLY miss...

I would love to have an arc welding job... Like pipe or something...

But it hard on the eyes....

 

[Ornery]

I could make 30% extra for travel doing service for the company I work for, but I've got zero interest in that. Nor do I ever want to work 2nd or 3rd shift. There are other opportunities in this company, but not too much money. I still think I'd be a lot better off being a "government worker". Not sure I'd like it, but that remains to be seen. I know I'd have less work load and likely the same pay and benefits. Guess now would be a good time to do the research since I've got time on my hands.

 

[Tiger]

I've been a production welder 12 years for a local company. We got rid of our last stick welder 6 years ago. We use Lincoln Powerwave 455 welders. They'll weld anything from Aluminum to Stainless. I do like the work and we do get paid better than anybody else in the plant, but if your working for the wrong company at the wrong time it can be a Bi***.

I'm looking for a move up to the big leagues, got an interview with John Deere Tuesday. More than likely working third shift which is a whole lot better than second. I won't be welding for the rest of my life. I've been burned in places no human being has any business being burned. There's nothing like smelling something burning, raising your helmet only to discover it's you!

I'm working on my MCSE and Oracle certifications and plan on being a computer geek till retirement.

 

[Ferocious]

I did CNC machining for about four years way back. Turning and grinding lathes mostly. Cincinnati Milacron and Okuma mostly, with a little bit of experience with Werag machines.

Like so many of those type of jobs, the workplace environment and pay/benefits qualities can vary a lot. One place I worked at was so bad we were forced to organize with the UAW. Needless to say conditions and pay improved significantly. The plant manager (worthless) was "relocated".

As far as training, I simply hired in shortly after high school (while going to college p/t) and worked my way "up."

 

[Mday]

i plan on hanging out in the machining room of Stevens when i get there =)

i'm in a dual degree program (BS and BE, from NYU and stevens respectively)...

the machines they had in their basement made me drool... literally... okay, i'm gross...

i remember the story that one of the machinists told about "tolerance" and a professor (of engineering) who had a stick up his you know where... the prof asked for a setup with a rod going into a uh, piece of cylinder with a hole... the dim/tolerance was 2" +/- .001" for both... the machinist made the rod 2+.001" and the hole of the cylinder 2-.001 =) it was so funny =)

 

[Ornery]

mday, if you think it's funny at school, you ought to see what "engineers" can pull in the real world! God, all mighty! :|

 

[Missus]

LOL Tiger!!!

That happened to me on a weld test... I was migging a gas tank together and the canvas shirt that started smokin'... I thought it was just smokin' from a ball, the bead was going so well I didn't want to stop... The guy finally tapped me on the should for me to stop.. I have a couple little scars on the inside of my elbow from that fiasco... Luckily I didn't catch on fire...

Ever have a ball land on a fold of your jeans when you were welding and didn't find out til it burnt through and rolled down you leg??? Just a tiny one...


Interesting...

 

[Unsickle]

Laf, I'm wearing a VanderBend tee shirt right now. I had the opportunity to have them weld some stuff for me while I was in high school.

 

[Capn]

I'm a fourth year MechE. Machining is ok, but it's far too time consuming to do many parts yourself. Far easier to just send it out to a shop, besides someone with a good amount of experience can do a better job than me almost any day.

 

[Tiger]

LOL Missus,

I've burnt the sleeve off of a couple of black tee shirts that way.
I've also gone home with less pants leg than I've arrived with. Always seems to be the left side too.

Put a pair of safety glasses on an engineer and they lose 50 IQ points. Had one come out the other day to watch me weld up his new improved widget. He ended up standing right in the blast radius for my welder. I advised him it would be better if he moved back a little bit so as not to get burned. The arrogant look I got back was all of the permission I needed, he got hosed with sparks and BB's. I wonder if he's done counting all of the holes in his shirt?

 

[Eli]

Hmmm.. Well, .

I want to get into it because I love building stuff, working with my hands. It is my dream to be able to fabricate my own items. After looking into machining a litle, it very much interested me. I almost went out and bought one of the Sherline kits, with no prior experience, or anything, I wanted to get started so fast..

CNC interests me a little, but I'm more interested in creating things with my hands. Not programming a computer to do it for me, if you know what I mean. Although I'm sure both have distinct advantages.


Regardless, I DO want to get into it, for my own personal benefit and hobby. I want to build, and eventually create, miniature working models of 2 cycle and 4 cycle engines. My ultimate goal would be to build a design of my own.

When I was oogling over the possibilities, it suddenly occoured to me that if I did infact learn how to machine stuff like that, I could probably make a living off it. Then things like school popped into my mind. I wouldn't mind going back to school, really, but its a lot to think about. Then there's also the "time factor". If it's going to take me 10 years to learn how to machine a crankshaft, then maybe it's not worth it.


I'm sad now, I really want to get into this, but as things usually are, it sounds harder than I'd like to think it would be...


I am still going to buy the Sherline "Ultimate Machine Shop". I need to see if I've got what it takes, or whatever.

Sherline Tools

If I fail, it's only 2000$ down the drain.

Sherline tool package 6000.
Sherline tool packages

This is what inspired me the most.

Jerry E. Howell Model Engines

Check some of the plans and the stuff he's build out. Man, I wish I could do that....

 

[Mday]

yeah, ornery, some of us can be so dumb =)

but the most important thing was that the professor was such a dck ;-)

i can be an ass too, but at least i'm nice about it ;-)

 

[Mday]

oh, those machinists i met said that today's engineers know jack about machining, and that machinists were a dying breed =(

anyway, i like machines =)

i used to take apart so many things as a child (and break some too :s)

 

[Ornery]

OMG Eli, don't buy that thing! Oh, I hope you didn't already! Honestly, it's not even worth buying a "knock off" Bridgeport, let alone a pseudo "do-all" miniature machine tool. They aren't rigid. That's everything when cutting metal and trying to hold size. If you got a piece of equipment that flexed during a cut, you would hate machining. You'd never get a true taste of what it can be like.

For what you want to do, you'll need a solid lathe and a Bridgeport. That would be perfect. Buy used ones. There are sites that specialize in used shop equipment. The Bridgeport will always have some value. The lathe will too as long as it's solid to start with. The ways can be reground if they're worn, but if it's an inherently poor design it will never be any good.

If you buy these machines used, you should always be able to get close to what you pay for them, so not much risk there. Man, I hope I caught you in time! :Q