How did you learn?

BtoVin83 said:
finally figured that the pay didn't reflect the skills needed to be a journeyman, became an engineer
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Unfortunately, work that requires dirty hands never receives enough respect or compensation. You probably became a MUCH better engineer as a result of your shop experience. Or were you referring to the kind that rides in front and blows the whistle?
 
BGHansen said:
He commented once when I was grinding aluminium on my bench grinder that he'd yell at a kid for doing that in the shop as it loads the wheel.
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Reading that sentence I could so hear my fathers voice yelling those same words to me when I was a kid!

BGHansen said:
Don't be afraid to make mistakes because you will.
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This is hands down the most important thing to learn. You will break things, you will ruin parts when you have them 95% complete. We have all done it. It's part of the learning process, don't let it discourage you. The more you learn, the less frequently it will happen, but it will never stop and you will never stop learning.
 
Not a train engineer.
Knowing how things are built and how to build them really helps in designing equipment. Went to work for a company building portable pumps and was on the design team that has built the largest portable diesel driven pump, 28000 GPM
 
mmcmdl said:
The high school shops are long gone in the area , and I believe the colleges do not offer the MTT classes anymore
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Back in the day, when there were classes to take, a pretty good textbook was "Technology of Machine Tools".

Here's a link.

Under the category of "additional reading" for novice students was "Machine Shop Trade Secrets". Kind of a stupid title but it was written by a smart guy and was a pretty decent text with more of a focus on practical, getting it done, kind of stuff. Good, practical, introductory material.

Here's a link -- still available!

Of course, there are countless excellent books. Some of my favorites include:
  • The Amateur's Lathe by L.H. Sparey
  • Nuts, Bolts, Fasteners and Plumbing by Carroll Smith
  • Machine Shop Practice by Moltrecht
  • Anything by The Ancient Masters such as Colvin and Stanley, Robert H. Smith, etc. etc.
I find reading about machine work to be very relaxing and enjoyable. Beats watching the network news by a wide margin..

-MK
 
I never really started out to be a machinist ( and I'm still NOT) but fixing and/or repairing things in my world just became too much of a hassle without a lathe. I can't even estimate how many times I had to steal a hole from one thing and weld it into something else because I had no way of making that hole myself. I started out with an old worn out Logan which not only did the jobs I asked of it but opened my eyes to the world of machining. After years of doing ball park work I bought a new Chinese machine and realized I had learned a lot more than I thought, most of it from this website. As my capabilities grew I bumped into a new limitation which was solved by getting a mill/drill. I would expect that as I learn more about the world of milling I'll be needing some other machine that I don't have room or dollars for. That's how the bug bites, I guess! Some where along the line I augmented my welder line up with a TIG and it has turned out to be a great mistake eraser.
 
I'm in a similar situation. I would love to take a class, and would settle for learning CNC at the local vo-tech. After all, it shouldn't be that difficult to understand the basics of turning and milling on CNC and apply them to the manual machines. However, they just don't offer any night or weekend classes. I have a full time job and a mortgage to pay so daily classes at a votech are just out of the question. Welding does offer night classes though, so I'm thinking about starting there. Other than that, I am doing as everyone else mentioned: lots of youtube, lots of reading, and doing all the projects I can while I get tooled up.
 
I just looked and found this locally:

Machining (MAC) | Central Piedmont

catalog.cpcc.edu catalog.cpcc.edu

I wonder if I would be bored to tears if I started with the basics and tried to move up the list? I doubt they would give credit for home shop experience.
Looks like I could start with CNC without a prerequisite. Only $76 per credit hour.

Robert
 
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Thanks everyone for your fantastic responses.
As an aside, I have to say that of all the forums I frequent, the people here are by far the most helpful I've ever run across. I tip my hat to you all!
 
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