What brings us all here to the Hobby Machine website ?

I don't expect one can attribute all of a person's characteristics to the influence of their parents, but if I look at myself (or at least what I think I am) that could seem to be the case. My mother was the lover of poetry, pursuer of the arts, and Bohemian creator of stylish things. My father was a bookkeeper and business man, ex-homesteader made good -- if it wasn't dead flat or compartmentalized neatly into a tick-box it just wasn't right.

Like many here, I have been building things all my life. There is a photo of a very young me holding my first "contract" -- a completed gun rack built from some plywood and the deck boards salvaged from an old snow sled -- that my sister's boyfriend asked me to build for him. I was 10. He never did pay.

I studied art in school, graduated with languages, physics, and shop class. My day jobs have always been something to do with buildings. I spent five years fresh out of high school as a residential glazier, and the last 30 in cultural heritage preservation and/or tourism, depending on how you look at it. I design stylish things to invoke a feeling, or copy and reproduce things to stupidly minute degrees to replicate a look. I use AutoCAD, lime plaster, digital photography, and handplanes. And anything in between.

And like many, I am a consummate hobbyist. Spent 35 years working mostly wood, threw in some taxidermy, fly tying, clock repair, blacksmithing, patternmaking, and now machining. It fills a need that I tend to describe as "creative precision". I can measure things. And it's solitary.

I started coming here to learn about the machines, the tools, the processes in a comfortable environment that wasn't driven by production demands. I've stayed because in addition to the nice people I've met, I still learn about the machines, the tools, the processes, and the environment is accepting and supportive. Regardless of who you are, or aren't.

-frank
 
I grew up always curious how something worked - constantly taking things apart and (usually) getting them back together at home, much to the aggravation of my mom (dad thought it was funny!). Whet from that to mini-bikes / go-carts when I could find a used lawnmower to pirate parts from. then tuning cars for the neighbors & school mates. High School was drag racing in So. Cal. and some road racing with SCCA. My dad was an engineer at Douglass Aircraft and thought that was where I was headed, but the market fell out of the Aerospace industry in abut 1970 so it was "student body right" over into electronics. I wound up as an Electronics Engineer (35 +/- years) by education/degree working for 24 years of that for Varian Analytical Instruments in northern Ca.. Retired from that and got talked into working for my daughter in her start-up residential property appraisal business. Worked for her for 7 years, built my 1965 Ford GT-40, finished it, sold it, paid off the house mortgage and retired again in October 2003. My dad passed away after a long illness that year (at age 92) so I had to sort thru his things. In doing so, I found a Sherline mill and lathe tucked away in a box under his workbench (in later part of his illness he could not go out into the garage any longer). That got me looking for someplace to learn how to use them if, for no other reason, than to keep the memories of my dad building things for my Son and Daughter when they were young.

That lead me here and found an incredibly caring / giving mentor in Mikey - - have been trying to learn something from him everyday since. Most of my machining is very small, but extremely useful in my RC plane hobby, toys for my grand kids, and small things to fix the stuff they break!

Someday I hope to "upgrade" to some larger machines - at which time I'm sure that the extremely helpful folks on this site will generously assist me in completely blowing up the budget!

Dave Harris
 
DHarris said:
I grew up always curious how something worked - constantly taking things apart and (usually) getting them back together at home, much to the aggravation of my mom (dad thought it was funny!). Whet from that to mini-bikes / go-carts when I could find a used lawnmower to pirate parts from. then tuning cars for the neighbors & school mates. High School was drag racing in So. Cal. and some road racing with SCCA. My dad was an engineer at Douglass Aircraft and thought that was where I was headed, but the market fell out of the Aerospace industry in abut 1970 so it was "student body right" over into electronics. I wound up as an Electronics Engineer (35 +/- years) by education/degree working for 24 years of that for Varian Analytical Instruments in northern Ca.. Retired from that and got talked into working for my daughter in her start-up residential property appraisal business. Worked for her for 7 years, built my 1965 Ford GT-40, finished it, sold it, paid off the house mortgage and retired again in October 2003. My dad passed away after a long illness that year (at age 92) so I had to sort thru his things. In doing so, I found a Sherline mill and lathe tucked away in a box under his workbench (in later part of his illness he could not go out into the garage any longer). That got me looking for someplace to learn how to use them if, for no other reason, than to keep the memories of my dad building things for my Son and Daughter when they were young.

That lead me here and found an incredibly caring / giving mentor in Mikey - - have been trying to learn something from him everyday since. Most of my machining is very small, but extremely useful in my RC plane hobby, toys for my grand kids, and small things to fix the stuff they break!

Someday I hope to "upgrade" to some larger machines - at which time I'm sure that the extremely helpful folks on this site will generously assist me in completely blowing up the budget!

Dave Harris
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Oh yea, the folks here LOVE blowing up your budget. Don't ask me how I know that... ;)
 
Fixin to retire. Machining is an extension of my gun and woodworking hobbies. Not formally trainied in any of them. Ordered a GT 1340 as a retirement present. It should be here next week. My old WT has seen it's better days. Milling machine still going strong. This site is how I get educated. Made a few gunparts and reloading machine parts. Now I want to learn how to do it right.
 
I too grew up knowing some things about lathes as my father repaired early day electric motors and power plants. At age 16 ( car crazy period) or so he taught me how to clean up commutators and install brushes on auto generators and starters. He also taught my brother and I about turning wood.
While on leave from the Navy after a year on Adak Alaska I tinkered with Dad's lathe (not really a bar person and had no clue about girls) bored a hole in a bolt then turned a close tolerance plug. The fit is close enough it will compress air when pushed in rapidly. Still in the Navy but at Cubi Point on Luzon in the Philippines I turned a couple of rings so guys could mount "cat eyes" found in the dredged up corral. In Construction Drivers School a Chief Petty Officer gave the class a sage piece of advice, he said "learn to operate the machine you like the least proficiently and the rest will take care of themselves". Learned a little about girls; married the best thing that ever happened to me.
After college I worked in open pit mining where the company had exceptional machine shops and machinists that could build or repair just about any thing found in a mine or smelter. Later took a Quarry Superintendents job at a cement manufacturing plant, same situation for the machine shop. Got more involved with the shop while doing maintenance on the crushing plant replaced 7 inch double rolled bearings on the primary crusher, bearings and shafts in the 36 inch wide conveyor system. Even learned how to vulcanize the splices in conveyors. I inherited Dad's Clausing 100 MK3 lathe then really got aquainted at the machine shop.
Upon retirement I have created myself a hobby machine shop and am learning a lot. I can't remember the circumstances but I found this website by reading a magazine. This website is home to me and I believe strongly that the person that criticizes another's post is really trying to hide his own ignorance. This website has posted rules about bullying and belittlement that I really appreciate and support.
Have a good day
Ray
 
PHPaul said:
When I was a volunteer firefighter, our Chief swore he could pick two firefighters at random, put them in a locked room with two bowling balls and they'd lose one and break the other one. :applause 2:
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LOL! I love it! My Okie grandpa had a million sayin' and along that same line. One day we were watching someone running amok and he leaned into my ear and said " that boy could break and anvil with a feather". Of course everybody wanted know why in the world I was laughing.
 
First I am going to answer the question "What brings us all here to the Hobby Machinist website". It has been mentioned but cannot be over emphasized ...I am here because of the very friendly atmosphere. We can have conversations here like we can face to face around a coffee table and discuss hobby machining issues that we all have.

As for my background. I have always had an interest in mechanical and electrical things for as long as I can remember. When it came time to decide which discipline to pursue at university it was a bit of a toss up between mechanical or electrical engineering. Since at a very young age I had taught myself how to design electronic circuits, first with vacuum tubes and then with those pesky leaky germanium transistors, I decided to take EE at university. After graduation I had a great career as a professional engineer first in the telephony industry and finally designing and manufacturing consumer products for 35 years with Black & Decker. So this is the professional / career side.

As mentioned I headed out in the Electronic career side, but I have always been a closet "Mech or crowbar" as we were jokingly called. In the 70's I loved restoring old american made small engines for folks. At the end of the summer the local dump was open to all and I would go up and look for old discarded lawnmowers. When they looked structurally ok I would haul them home for the winter revival since lots of folks around here were looking for second hand lawnmowers for their cottages. I soon realized that for make small parts for repairing carb needles etc.

I friend who owned the local hardware / hobby store introduced me to the Unimat DB200 lathe package that he could get for me at cost....Done. So this helped me to do some repairs on carb parts, but the neat thing is that at the time there were no industries around that could regrind the small valves for small engines. We had lots of car / truck engine re builders, but their valve grinding machines could not grab the small diameter valve stems for the engines I worked on. I needed a competitive advantage to all the other back yard small engine repairers...so I made a neat mandrel that would hole my valves and fit the local engine repair guys machine. I would bring in a handful of valves and they would say "here comes the guy with the sewing machine valves". Often they wouldn't charge me. So I restored old lawnmowers over the winter and made a bit of cash in the spring.

And finally like others, I am here to learn from those with more experience and to share when I can about things that have worked well for me.

David
 
PHPaul said:
@firestopper: "Missile Sponge" he sez....HAAHAHAhahahahahahahahahahahaha! My 22 years in the Navy were spent in the Cryptology field and I have a grand total of 12 days of sea time.

All of that came from one tour as a resident technician at a Mobile Technical Unit (MOTU-10 out of Charleston, SC) supporting a system that was new to the afloat world. The MOTU also had a well-populated submarine contingent supporting both attack and missile boats. The bubbleheads and skimmers were always yanking on each other's chains, mostly in good humor. A good buddy of mine, a Fire Control Tech (SS) said there are two sorts of naval vessels: Submarines and Targets.
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Yeah, worked on Fast Attack and Boomer submarines then transferred to a Fast Frigate (FF-1086) to hunt subs (ASW). At 200 miles ahead of the battle group, we knew the ugly truth. We where the "early warning" system for the BG aka Missle sponge. Spent 95 days consecutive days steaming once and 45 consecutive days more than I care to remember. Our West-Pac was extended after the assassination Indira Gandhi steaming back and forth to nowhere. That pretty much ruined my Naval career hahaha. The Air Force was like Disneyland compared to the canoe club.:cool 2:
Both great experiences in there own way.

Paco
 
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