How did you learn?

[DavidR8]

I was looking for course at my local vocational college and I came up blank. I can learn welding or sheet metal work but no machinist course work.
I'm thinking that's a function of the lack of industry in my local area.
So it makes me wonder, where does a person get machinist training today?

 

[Mitch Alsup]

I learned how to do silver brazing buying a MAPP/Oxy torch and by having done 10,000* hours of solder and silver soldering. (*) only a slight exaggeration.

I learned how to use a lathe by truing commutators on my Taig micro-lathe.

I learned how to use a band saw by having spent thousands of hours using cross-cut/bow/coping/hack saws.

I learned how to use a mill by buying/using a mill until the parts coming out bore some resemblance to what I was trying to make.

I still watch videos of guy who are actually good at machining.

 

[NCjeeper]

I had college classes. Back when I was living in Charlotte NC the local community college offered a basic machining class.

 

[Boswell]

YouTube, Hobby Machinist forum, some general mechanical sense and a willingness to screw up some while learning. BTW, still not terribly skilled but I don't tend break things (much) anymore and most things I work on come out OK. I sure with YouTube had been around when I was a kid (or even middle aged )

 

[mickri]

I didn't have access to any kind of shop courses. So I just started doing stuff. Asking questions on this forum and watching videos. Especially Mr Pete's videos. I practiced on ordinary pvc pipe. Nothing to any kind of measurement. Just going through the process of threading and turning. I think that my first real project was to make an axle bushing for an old home build utility trailer that had been left abandoned on my property by the previous owner. This required fairly precise turning to both ID and OD and also to width. Instead of buying a qctp I decided to make one. I made a norman style qctp. This was a great learning experience. Lots of turning to precise diameters. Drilling and threading holes. Milling slots. Then on to other projects. Made a chuck for my er32 collects. Metric and imperial threads, turning an internal taper.

That's how I have been learning this stuff. It is a slow process for me.

 

[benmychree]

Apprenticeship, back in the "olden days" of the 1960s; gone forever, it seems.

 

[ttabbal]

Pretty much by messing up along the way. YouTube and the forums help me figure out what I need to know, but actually learning how to do it is mostly trial and error on the machines. I got a good basic rundown on cutting forces from the grinding thread, that was helpful to know. I believe that I would have broken twice as many lathe tools without it.

 

[dulltool17]

Got a Summer job in a local shop back in 1977, while earning my Eng degree. Spent two Summers doing sub-contract work for CAT. Started just as an operator, but was making my own set-ups the end of the first Summer.

 

[Firstgear]

I was looking for course at my local vocational college and I came up blank. I can learn welding or sheet metal work but no machinist course work.
I'm thinking that's a function of the lack of industry in my local area.
So it makes me wonder, where does a person get machinist training today?

That’s because they only teach CNC any more. They don’t teach basic lathe and mill skills. Those are a dead and gone skill set. As a country we are in deep $hit! Those skills have been transferred, you guessed it to China and other low cost countries. It’s a shame. In high schools they no longer teach shop nor home economics. As a country we are in real trouble in this area!

 

[Bob Korves]

Try to find a hobby machinist in your area (and/or on this forum) who is willing to be a mentor for you, answering questions on the phone and showing you in person when needed, using your machines and shop, and/or his/hers. Build a friendship, be kind, listen, and absorb knowledge like a sponge. It will make you both better machinists, learning from each other and being able to put the information, skills, and knowledge into communication, something that is good for both of you. If you cannot coherently explain the work, tooling, and techniques with words, you probably do not have a proper grasp of it.

Reading some books on the needed subjects is also helpful, as are YouTube videos, if you can separate the good information from the bad...