True Engineering Skill

[JonC]

Hi all,

I'm not bothered about replies although, of they are very welcome.

As a 58 year old engineer running an oil & gas machine shop (reminds me of the joke "how do you get to run a small engineering company ?...… buy  big one and wait 5 years !!!) I would just like to say that what I see on this site in terms of everyone achievements is absolutely outstanding and a tribute to the profession.
I have employees who have worked for the company for fifty years right through to apprentices, both qualified and new and you guys n girls could wipe the floor with them.
difference being, you work with what you have and find a way to produce what's needed given the constraints vs the easy life of can't do it/ haven't got it etc etc which I constantly face.
Well done everyone, you probably have been and continue to be inspirational to those who are trying to produce the very best in manufacturing. I wish I had a shop full of you all.
PS this does make me wonder whether we are missing a trick by not involving all your knowledge into the present day ?

Jon

[simplyloco]

Hi Jon. Appreciate your sentiments. Us model engineers like what we do, unlike many shop machinists!.
John
Ex shop machinist and ex factory MD...

[JonC]

Hi John,

I think you've summed it up right there, we like (love?) what we do.

for so many it's become a lot less than that and I constantly get told that Tesco pay only a little less for stacking shelves which I agree seems ridiculous but where's the pride in making precision parts?

Jon

[pgp001]

I fully get where you are coming from with this.

I work as a design engineer in a manufacturing company, and I have a steady flow of machinists and fitters coming in to the office telling me that they "cannot" do something that has been designed.
In reality what they mean is they "cannot be bothered" to do it because they might have to do a bit of work for a change.
Our machinist has some really nice semi CNC lathes and milling machines etc, and he gets a bit miffed when I go down there to show him how to do his job.

Glad I am now counting the weeks up to retirement, I have had my fill of it now after 33 years. 

Where in N Yorks are you by the way, I am just over the border in W Yorks.

Phil

[Jo]

this does make me wonder whether we are missing a trick by not involving all your knowledge into the present day ?

I am a retired Systems Architect/Engineer the customer (MoD) had no money to do design/development work for new stuff so I was offered early retirement 16 years earlier than I could otherwise get it, what could I say 

Glad I am now counting the weeks up to retirement, I have had my fill of it now after 33 years. 

Make the most of it once you are retired you won't have any spare time 

Jo

P.S. the only time I was ever taught anything about machining was the one week we had in the mechanical workshop as an electronics Apprentice

[crueby]

I wonder if the time pressure difference has much to do with it? As hobbyists we get to tinker around with setups for days on end, rather than the 10 minutes before the foreman comes over and demands 'Aren't you done yet?!' ?   As for training in my case, I had a short lesson in using a lathe in 7th grade, then a lot of reading of books from authors like Kozo, followed by mucking about in the shop for years. Seems to have worked out!

[JonC]

I fully get where you are coming from with this.

I work as a design engineer in a manufacturing company, and I have a steady flow of machinists and fitters coming in to the office telling me that they "cannot" do something that has been designed.
In reality what they mean is they "cannot be bothered" to do it because they might have to do a bit of work for a change.
Our machinist has some really nice semi CNC lathes and milling machines etc, and he gets a bit miffed when I go down there to show him how to do his job.

Glad I am now counting the weeks up to retirement, I have had my fill of it now after 33 years. 

Where in N Yorks are you by the way, I am just over the border in W Yorks.

Phil

Thanks all for the replies, and interesting to hear people's backgrounds and how they came to enjoy removing what others put there.

Phil, although I live in North Yorks I do actually work in West Yorks. I'm the MD at Lonestar in Leeds next door to Costco.

Jon

[simplyloco]

Thanks all for the replies, and interesting to hear people's backgrounds and how they came to enjoy removing what others put there.

Phil, although I live in North Yorks I do actually work in West Yorks. I'm the MD at Lonestar in Leeds next door to Costco.

Jon

Gosh Jon, think of 1987 when Royal Ordnance at Crossgates had just been bought by Vickers. I spent seven months in that factory as a consultant, bringing them and their ancient MRP system screaming and kicking into the 20th Century! I bet you had some of their machinists working for you, but they might be a bit old now. They had a full time rate fixer on the shop floor, and the hard working machinists used to 'doctor' the punch tapes to improve their bonuses and never mind the abuse of the machines!
The place was a complete shambles, from top to bottom...
John

[JonC]

Hi John,

The company would have been known as LWD Precision Engineering back then and I was a Sales Manager for a tooling company. I visited Vickers a lot trying to drill holes in the armour plating. I used to love visiting especially when they were test driving the Chieftans around the test track.

Jon

[RReid]

Sometimes training (THIS is the way it's done...) can get in the way of creative thinking or the ability to "think outside the box. We hobbyists have the advantage of our ignorance (sometimes). And the advantage of time, as Chris pointed out.

[Craig DeShong]

My education is engineering, my job was in Information Technology (computing).  I was lucky to have a few friends who had endless patience to give me excellent instruction and advice when it came to machining as a hobby.  They let me ‘crawl out on the rope’ pretty far at times and I think that taught me to ‘think’ about what I’m doing.

[Art K]

Jon,
I'm a machinist by trade, and my present job has me rebuilding I think the term in Britain is reengineering shocks for old british cars. I think a lot of us do this the way we do because we see what needs to be done and don't have someone looking over our shoulder saying it can't be done.
Art

[bent]

Vickers...thought they were gone...but today am detailing a drawing for a hydraulic valve stack, containing some Vicker's valves apparently under the Eaton banner now.

Am also a working mechanical design engineer, and have been happily stealing ideas from the brilliant minds here to create all kinds of havoc in the world...and build some models of my own.

[Rich Carlstedt]

Great Question and good comments.
Have worked in shops for 60 years.
Although I am a Manufacturing Engineer, I have to say there is a huge difference in engineering approaches and machine shop approaches to solving problems or making parts. I was a problem solver , most people I have worked with were 'fellow workers" and "don't get paid ! " to solve problems when you ask them....in my experience. There was no such word as 'Can't" in my vocabulary . my employers knew it and took advantage , which was fine .
What I never told them was that as a young man I read Model Engineer magazine in the 1960's and was inspired by the work that some of those hobbyists accomplished with a meager workshop. Analyze their approach and you learn that many machines are far more versatile than their intended purpose !  Take a screw-driver for example- What is it for ?  Yes, it can tighten screws...but it can be a letter opener, a small pry bar, a splitter or chisel, a weapon or a heat sink, or a shim or spacer- many things, but if you are taught it is only for screws, good luck !
 When I had challenges at work, I would go home and repeat the work in my shop to develop a better method. But the most important factor to find a really good machinist is to find one that does machining at home......not saying there are not good machinists out there, only that those who make metal chips at home seem to be far better at solving workplace challenges.  The same is true of engineers, find one that has a Bridgeport at home and you will find a real engineer !
Rich

[crueby]

Very well put, Rich!