Any old / young machine shop workers here? Video

[..]

http://www.youtube.com/embed/BckZ4i1BzF0?feature=player_embedded

[wiggydotcom]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing that. Those guys are true craftsmen!

[robin]

That is a great story we need more of that today!!!!!!!

[FLAVALK]

Proud work! 

[salty1]

People who take pride in their work and themselves!    Thanks for sharing.

[alph]

that was an excellent video Brittman, i LOVE old tools!!  here's my wood lathe;

wouldn't trade it for anything "new" out there.

[RP#62]

That was outstanding.  Thanks.
-RP

[mhallock]

Only job(s) I've ever had.....working in machine shops.....first one in Florida in 1973....the one I'm in now since 1981......things are alot different now.....C.N.C machines....CAD/CAM........I mostly program the machines, tool and fixture design, and process planning......not much time making chips any more. Great video. Thanks for sharing

Mark

[old2soon]

Glad to see there still be folks know how to git er done drawin in the dirt.  Good vid-truly enjoyed it.  RIDE SAFE.

[Popeye]

Thanks for posting that.  Great video.

[Gary]

Very cool. Brought back some memories seeing some of that equipment.

My job through high school and partly thereafter was working as an apprentice machinist. I did realize after 3 plus years into it that I wouldn't be doing that for the long haul.

Warner & Swasey Turret Lathe along side an 18 year old version of myself


A good group of folks at the Central Texas shop for sure. Great post, thanks!

[bigguy]

Made my morning. Thanks for posting that.

That's not the way it's done anymore. Maybe it should be.

Truer words were never spoken. IMHO

[.]

My dad is a retired machinist who started in 1971 after retiring from the Air Force. I'm an old welder who still remembers how even if it's been awhile since I've done it. Great story. Progress is a mixed blessing in that what we gain has a hard time replacing what we've lost-at least to those who remember what we used to have before those memories begin to fade with the passing of generations.

Thanks for posting that. Made my day.

[henry 008]

thanks for posting.  very, very similar to the shop i started in!  my 1st lathe ran from a belt in the ceiling too.   

[HayHauler]

Very cool. Brought back some memories seeing some of that equipment.

My job through high school and partly thereafter was working as an apprentice machinist. I did realize after 3 plus years into it that I wouldn't be doing that for the long haul.

Warner & Swasey Turret Lathe along side an 18 year old version of myself


A good group of folks at the Central Texas shop for sure. Great post, thanks!

Gary, I worked for 4-5 years right out of high school for my dad, running that exact machine!  Man, that brings back memories.  I sure wish I had taken a few pictures of that machine and some of the parts we used to make.
Thanks for the trip down memory lane.

Hay  
Jimmyt

[Daniel Meyer]

No matter how sophisticated we become, the work still has to get done.

The new stuff has its place...and has made things possible that are simply amazing...

But the old methods are better than the new in a good deal of cases.

[R J]

My Great Grandfather and my Grandfather had a machine shop on the farm.

I got to sweep the floor.    I was too little to do anything on a machine.

If they broke a piece on a implement, they would just make another part only stronger.

My Grandfather was a nice guy.    I had a 57 Chevy, that I was racing in California.   Got beat damn near every weekend.

I called my Grandparents about every week on Sunday evening.

One Sunday I was talking to my Grandfather and told him about getting my butt beat on the Strip.     He asked if I still had my vacation time set up.  Told him yes, he asked if we were going anywhere.   Told him we were coming back to Panora and seeing all the relatives and then head for home.

He told me to bring my car back and plan on tearing the engine up in it.  He told me I'd never get beat again in that class and when they tear ya down they will not find a thing.

Wife wasn't to enthused of me tearing the car apart and then heading for California with younguns in the car.

Told her OK, you and the kids fly home and I'll drive the car.    If it fails on me, I'll pull it of to the side of the road and torch it.   She didn't like the torching part, but she did like the thought of flying home.   So that was what we did.

I pulled the motor, tore it apart and Grandpa did his Magic, by the way he was in his late 80's.    He ported it, he polished it, and he shaved the block .055.   We bored it out, fitted the pins to the pistons, He did something to the rings, but he wouldn't show me.   Put it all back together and installed the engine.

Grandpa told me to drive it about 20 miles under 50, after that he said drive it like ya stole it.     When ya get back here, change the oil and go for it. This car that always beat me, never beat me again.  He lost several $100 in tearing me down for illegal stuff.   He never found a thing.

I probably put another 90,000 miles on that car before I sold it to get another Vette.   OH, by the way I kept the engine and put it in the Vette.   Oh Vette had a bad motor.    Grandpa rebuilt it and we sold it to a kid in town, it was a 327.

[Charlie McCready]

Thanks for sharing that Britman. I worked in machine shops most of my life before retiring in 2007. I was fortunate to have newer modern machines to operate. One place where I worked I programmed and ran a computer operated lathe. Made wheels and hubs for coal mining machinery. I have a milling machine in my basement and still make a lot of brackets, etc, for projects I'm working on.

[HayHauler]

Thanks for sharing that Britman.  That shop was just like my stepdad's shop I worked in.   We had concrete floors, but everything was done by hand.  My stepfather had a 6th grade education, but taught me more in those 4 years than I have learned in the next 30.  He could look at blue prints and quote jobs without writing anything down. 
One time he made a jig to turn the journals on crank shafts for concrete pumps.  It took him about a week to design it and about 3 hours to build it out of one inch plate with pins for locating the different lobes on the crank.  It was amazing watching home work and learning all I could from him. 
God rest his soul.......

Hay
Jimmyt

[BobB]

Thanks Britman, great message...  All those belts and no computers.  I had to pass that link along to three riding buddies each of which have their own machine shop business.