# Jay Leno article on machinists



## alloy (Feb 8, 2015)

I like this guy 

http://www.kanabco.com/vms/reprints and essays/callingallmachinists.html


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## Billh50 (Feb 8, 2015)

Great article !!


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## Mark in Indiana (Feb 8, 2015)

Great article. I often banter with friends who are attorneys & financial guys about that. I tell them: "After the apocalypse, there will be no need for you guys. My skills will be in demand as I build Mad Max cars & weapons."  :jester:


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## Rbeckett (Feb 8, 2015)

Leno has been a staunch supporter of machinists for as long as I can remember.  At one time he had a deal worked out with several colleges to help young machinists get started and save some of the costs of their tuition.  Don't know if he still does that, but he has been supportive of our skill and trade for a long time.

Bob


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## brav65 (Feb 8, 2015)

Thanks for sharing the article.  I am not a big fan of Jay Leno, but I have to say I agree with everything he wrote in his article.  As a construction professional I have had to deal with the stigma that I am just a construction guy who gets dirty for a living and is not smart.  Well they are right on one assumption, I get dirty for a living.  I have two college degrees in unrelated fields and earned them without taking a loan by working full time.  I have been standing dusty and dirty in a bank holding $300K in deposits and had people wrinkle their nose and make a face at me when they had a couple hundred buck total in their account.  I just chuckled to myself as I got into my paid for truck that was worth as much as their house...


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## pdentrem (Feb 8, 2015)

He is so right! A few friends are in the nuclear power industry and they say that today North America can not build a new reactor as all the special skills and machines are in Asia. I needed a few 1/2" SS pipe fittings to fix a degreaser and they have to be imported from China!
Crazy
Pierre


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## thomas s (Feb 8, 2015)

I read somewhere that he has a machine shop in his garage. To repair parts on his own cars. thomas s


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## MikeWi (Feb 8, 2015)

When I was a kid I always wanted a job that required working with my hands, and at that time, this meant being a tool and die maker.  I should also comment that there wasn't a lot of vocational counseling back then and I had no idea of all the possible professions that were available.  In any case, my parents convinced me that there was no money to be made in that kind of work, ditto fire and police like I was also interested in, so I ended up doing computer work like my Dad. Later on, it just seemed like it was too late to change (though it wasn't).  I made good money, but sitting behind a desk just doesn't do it for me.  

At least now I get to scratch that itch as a hobby, but I look at articles like this or see a video of some artisan, and man do I wish I could go back and change everything.


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## brav65 (Feb 8, 2015)

MikeWi said:


> When I was a kid I always wanted a job that required working with my hands, and at that time, this meant being a tool and die maker.  I should also comment that there wasn't a lot of vocational counseling back then and I had no idea of all the possible professions that were available.  In any case, my parents convinced me that there was no money to be made in that kind of work, ditto fire and police like I was also interested in, so I ended up doing computer work like my Dad. Later on, it just seemed like it was too late to change (though it wasn't).  I made good money, but sitting behind a desk just doesn't do it for me.
> 
> At least now I get to scratch that itch as a hobby, but I look at articles like this or see a video of some artisan, and man do I wish I could go back and change everything.




Tell you Mom and Dad that there is a lot of money and machining metal. I built a 3 million dollar hous for a gentleman that specialized in machining titanium for aerospace industry. He showed me a 24" block of titanium that he was going to machine a part out of and just the material was hundreds of thousands of dollars. He said that 2/3 of the material would be machined away.


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## iron man (Feb 8, 2015)

I am a fan of Mr. Leno and what he said is right on no one builds anything anymore. Thats why you see all the Radio Shacks closing it is not the internet that killed them it was a lack of anyone fixing or building anything anymore. This is a throw away country with a bunch of consumers and no builders and that will cause or is causing our economy to fail,, good article something for you guys to be proud of.. Ray


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## ddushane (Feb 9, 2015)

That's a good read, we need to do everything we can to spark the interest in our young'ns, My 7 yr old grandson was in my shop sandblasting pieces of a 110 yr old wood burning stove we're redoing for my shop. He was having a blast on the step stool at the blasting cabinet. It does a heart good to see that happening. Hoping to teach him about everything in my shop.

Dwayne


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## HMF (Feb 9, 2015)

[h=1]Calling All Machinists[/h]This is an article that was published in the Popular Mechanics magazine
Written by the Tonight Show host Jay Leno





*CALLING ALL MACHINISTS*
_BY JAY LENO, Photos By John Lamm_



*Leno's cars, like his '32 Packard, don't just look good.
They run right and that means he needs skilled
machinists to make parts.*

​​​[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]Nowadays, if I meet younger people who run machine shops, they're working there because it
was their father's machine shop. You don't see a lot of young guys starting machine shops.
But it's a respectable trade and there's still a lot of money to be made. Take the guy who used
to be in the building next to mine. He made airplane parts and his business got so big he outgrew
the space. This was a guy with a little machine shop with a bunch of machinists. He made $14
million the year he left. I'll tell you how he did it.  There are tons of phony airplane parts
coming from Asia and other sources that are stamped "Approved." Trouble is, they're not approved
by anyone that matters. So the big airlines would come there and say, "We need 600 titanium bolts."
Then they would have to have somebody stand there while the guy made the bolts out of titanium.
So the work never got out of the airlines' hands. When the bolts were done, they were stamped,
graded and delivered. You have to understand that some critical aircraft bolts are 4 grand apiece,
because the only way you can ensure that the bolts are being made right-there's such a black
market for counterfeiting aircraft parts-is to pay a trustworthy man to watch each and every
part being machined. That's why they're so expensive. So bolt by bolt, this guy's a millionaire.
What a difference from years past. In the old days technology was expensive and labor was cheap.
Look at my 8.0-liter Bentley. You've got about 75 acorn nuts holding the water jacket on. When
this car was built you could pay a guy 10 cents an hour to sit there all day and tighten acorn nuts.
Now it's just the opposite: Labor's expensive and technology is incredibly cheap. It's odd, but
I'm not simply talking about physical labor today. I'm talking about people with real skills. 	
I watched "Dateline NBC" a while back and they had some guy on who was a math genius. You could
throw him a column of figures and he could add them up quicker than you could on a computer. There
are guys like that with machinery, guys who can just look at an engine and know all there is to
know about it. Take the late Harry Miller, a real American genius-aesthetically and mechanically.
Here was a man who made racing parts and engines in the 1920s and 1930s that looked like beautiful
sculpture, but they actually worked. I don't believe Miller was a trained engineer-he was just an
intuitive engineer. I don't think he went to MIT or anything like that. But he had the vision. So
did Ettore Bugatti. And they had shops full of guys who had the skills to machine and make anything
they needed. How many guys are there like that today? I don't know. But a lot of them just get
passed by because it doesn't seem as though preserving and encouraging these skills is worthwhile.
By establishing college scholarships, I'm just trying to open up another area for kids-an area that
they may not know is available. When you're a kid, you always think you're the only one who thinks
about anything. It's like sex. You think, "My parents don't know anything about this." It's the same
type of reasoning.

I like the idea of making the job of a mechanic a respectable position. In my mind, I rank a
machinist higher than a computer operator. But I think in America's mind, a machinist is like a
Jiffy Lube guy-nothing against Jiffy Lube, but these are guys who have only the most basic automotive
skills. The machinist's craft just isn't acknowledged, probably because it's hard, meticulous,
often dirty work. People don't understand it.



[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]


​[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]*When Leno needs parts for his cars, he can't usually
find what he needs on the shelves at your basic discount store.*
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT][/FONT]​​[FONT=Trebuchet MS, Geneva, Arial, Helvetica, SunSans-Regular, sans-serif]Here's an example we should never forget. Somebody literally made all the airplanes-the fighters,
bombers and transports-we used in World War II. We didn't win the war just because we were great
fighters-not to demean anybody who fought-but we also won because we had the ability to overwhelm
the enemy in terms of skilled production and technology. Think about Henry Ford and his chief engineer,
Charlie Sorensen, figuring out how to build four-engined B-24 Liberator bombers on a mile-long
assembly line in an enormous building at Willow Run, Mich. In California, before these East Coast
guys got into the picture, they built aircraft painstakingly one at a time outside in the sun.
But under the pressure of a world conflict, a couple of mechanical geniuses figured out a better way.
Back then, we had plenty of people with the necessary skills: Kids learned machining and welding
in high school, then they worked as apprentices until they mastered these trades. We built things
that were very well done. And we did it all in America. Take my '32 Packard V12. It was built in
Detroit, but some of the parts came from as far away as South Bend, Ind. The whole thing was made
here, most of it under one roof. That doesn't happen anymore and it worries me. You think about
another world war and you say to yourself, "Uh oh."

I needed high-speed gears made for one of my Duesenbergs. They're hypoid and helical. I found people
who could make one or the other, but not both. I couldn't find anyone to make them. There wasn't one
company in this entire country. Every gear cutter I tried told me that all the machines had been sold.
Some went to Korea, some to China. But I called a company in India and they could make the gears. And
I guess that would be okay. But finally, through an older man in Chicago, someone 10 years past
retirement, I was able to get them made. And all it took was 18 months. But a few years ago, this job
could be done within a few miles of Burbank Airport, right near my garage. I don't know if that means
anything to a lot of people but it's important to me. All these venture capitalists today don't make
anything. When they're dead, there's nothing left. Years ago, people made things that lasted. There
was a finished product. I have a garage full of 'em. If you want to preserve old cars, you need people
with the skills to do it. We're growing a generation of kids who won't know how to work on old cars.
That's why I support the Fred Duesenberg Scholarship and POPULAR MECHANICS sponsors the
Jay Leno/POPULAR MECHANICS Scholarship at McPherson College. It's too bad, but I see a lot of
essential skills going to Mexico or Japan. You can still wander off on a side street in those
countries and see some guy making something work because he's literally whittling a piece of metal*
to fit. True machinists don't think of metal* as something hard and unchangeable. They can make
anything they want, or replace nearly any part that's ever been made. I have a lot of respect for
those guys. I always will.
[/FONT][FONT=Verdana, Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]
[/FONT]_This article was printed in 
	

		
			
		

		
	



	

		
			
		

		
	
 magazine. 2001_


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## Mark in Indiana (Feb 9, 2015)

Personally, I think there's hope for the skills & trades occupations. More often when I'm talking with shop and garage owners, they complain that they can't find any competent tradesmen. My response is: "Quit expecting a PHD to work for high school drop out wages and  pay a fair salary".  They responded with numbers that they are paying a competitive salary.


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## alloy (Feb 9, 2015)

I'm glad I found this article and posted it.  I've never got more post thanks and likes before even when I rebuilt my Bridgeport 



Mark in Indiana said:


> Personally, I think there's hope for the skills & trades occupations. More often when I'm talking with shop and garage owners, they complain that they can't find any competent tradesmen. My response is: "Quit expecting a PHD to work for high school drop out wages and  pay a fair salary".  They responded with numbers that they are paying a competitive salary.



We have been looking for someone for several months now.  We make helicopter parts and need a good dependable, experienced, drug free  person to run VMC's.  I've sat in on several of the interviews to judge their skills and was asked about one guy and I said I think he could probably fill the janitorial position we have open.  The owner said he didn't think he'd be safe around the shop.  And that's the best guy we had apply for the position.  Basically if they are good, they are already working.  We offer good wage,  a great 401K, medical benefits, great working conditions, and 3 weeks paid vacation per year and still can't lure a good CNC person to work for us.  I hope to retire from this company it's just that good.

They did bring me a helper out from the assembly area  and some days she does great, some days (weeks) she does not. I've been teaching her how to set up jobs for over two months now. Last week wasn't a good week for her.  I decided this was a new week today and things would be better.  But I didn't think about bad parts from last week would be in the parts I did the second op on today.  And at 4:15 today when the 3" face mill on the machine she was setting up turning a 2500 RPM hit the hard jaws on the vise and 10 HP tried to drive in through vise and the belts slipped and smoked and the motor finally stalled I decided that last week wasn't actually that bad.

Tomorrow will be better


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## JimDawson (Feb 9, 2015)

alloy said:


> And at 4:15 today when the 3" face mill on the machine she was setting up turning a 2500 RPM hit the hard jaws on the vise and 10 HP tried to drive in through vise and the belts slipped and smoked and the motor finally stalled I decided that last week wasn't actually that bad.
> 
> Tomorrow will be better



Oh the pain. anic:

Maybe a bit more training would be in order, like where the E-STOP is located.:angry::talktogod:


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## itsme_Bernie (Feb 9, 2015)

Fantastic article- my sentiments exactly.

I wish he said this on the Tonight show!

Bernie


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## itsme_Bernie (Feb 9, 2015)

By the way- hypoid and helical- does anyone know if that is done with a rotary table on top of another?

Bernie


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## alloy (Feb 9, 2015)

She knows where the E stop is, just isn't using it.  She watched a tool cut through a part and a fixture last week and said it didn't look right to her.  We need to work on that some I think. 

I get busy and don't see what shes is doing.  I have 6 mills to set up and run and it's a handful to say the least.  

One day  came in from lunch and she had all 6 machines running, I was proud of her.  Then there are the bad days.  But for somone that's never been in a shop before and only trained for two months being able to even set up a basic simple job it pretty amazing.

  But she doesn't "feel" it I think.  I'm not sure if I'm saying that right, but you feel it or you don't.  And that's something I cant teach.


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## HalM (Feb 16, 2015)

alloy said:


> I like this guy
> 
> http://www.kanabco.com/vms/reprints and essays/callingallmachinists.html


Did anyone here ever mess with the boss?  I had one that said I needed to be watched like a hawk.
A lot of times he would be in the surface-grinding shop downstairs and I would be on
a Bridgeport right over his head.  One day I fitted a dull chisel tool into a pneumatic hammer
and hooked it in a corner of a workbench foot and pulled the trigger for about a half second and
went right back to the mill. I could hear him flying up the stairs and then the lights kinda went out.

Everybody crashes something, sooner or later, and it doesn't need to be a nightmare thing, it's showing
us just how careful we need to be and to get our heads out of our asses.  The thing I hate the most is
tin sheet pickups on the drill press when I was So Sure I had it under control.

That, and setting my clothes on fire with the MIG welder......


Hal M.
Radio Transmitter Gizmos
One at a time


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## epanzella (Feb 16, 2015)

I'm a retired contractor and was always amazed at some of these office types with big jobs and 200K plus salaries that couldn't understand the simplest of mechanical concepts.


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## coolidge (Feb 16, 2015)

Excellent post, Leno is the man.


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## MikeWi (Feb 16, 2015)

epanzella said:


> I'm a retired contractor and was always amazed at some of these office types with big jobs and 200K plus salaries that couldn't understand the simplest of mechanical concepts.


It seems like you either got it or you don't.  I inherited my Dad's trait of looking at something and understanding how it works and how to fix it (really generalizing here, I'm not superman).  It just comes naturally to me, but I have two younger brothers that can barely tighten a screw without help, and it's hard to understand how that's even possible.  My wife is learning to be pretty handy around basic hand tools, but it's coming slow.  To me, it's like she has no "common sense", but of course that's not it at all, and I have to make myself be patient when she doesn't get things that I think are obvious.   I'll never be a good teacher.


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## atunguyd (Feb 17, 2015)

MikeWi said:


> I inherited my Dad's trait of looking at something and understanding how it works and how to fix it



You mean you have "The Knack"


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## MikeWi (Feb 17, 2015)

ROFL!  "utter social ineptitude".  It's true!  Sigh, why am I laughing?


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## john11139 (Mar 28, 2015)

I know, its really scary sometimes to think how our country would survive if the ships quit coming in from China.  I bought a Leroy Somer generator that needed the fields rewound.  I had a awful time finding someone that could do it.   40 years ago I knew a fellow that did it all the time.  I still have a elec. motor rewound by him and a skill saw.  Some one told me that in India you could find a local guy sitting on the street that could do it and look like new.  I can remember in the 40's of all the fellows who had little South Bends, Logans, Clausings, Atlas lathes making aircraft parts in their home.  A few years ago my father in law gave me a lot of popular Mechanich's magazines from the 40".  I enjoyed reading them and admired those fellows.  I wish I hadn't threw them out when I was done. The first radio I ever owned, I built it from scratch from  a company called Burnstein Applebee (I think) located in Kansa city I believe.  They sold all kinds of elec. parts.  I think Radio Shack was called Allied Radio back then.  I still have a VOM that I built by ordering parts from them.  Now you can get a cheap one from China free with the coupon from Harbor Freight


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## Mark_f (Mar 28, 2015)

john11139 said:


> I know, its really scary sometimes to think how our country would survive if the ships quit coming in from China.  I bought a Leroy Somer generator that needed the fields rewound.  I had a awful time finding someone that could do it.   40 years ago I knew a fellow that did it all the time.  I still have a elec. motor rewound by him and a skill saw.  Some one told me that in India you could find a local guy sitting on the street that could do it and look like new.  I can remember in the 40's of all the fellows who had little South Bends, Logans, Clausings, Atlas lathes making aircraft parts in their home.  A few years ago my father in law gave me a lot of popular Mechanich's magazines from the 40".  I enjoyed reading them and admired those fellows.  I wish I hadn't threw them out when I was done. The first radio I ever owned, I built it from scratch from  a company called Burnstein Applebee (I think) located in Kansa city I believe.  They sold all kinds of elec. parts.  I think Radio Shack was called Allied Radio back then.  I still have a VOM that I built by ordering parts from them.  Now you can get a cheap one from China free with the coupon from Harbor Freight



 Hmmmmmmm ........ I think they call it progress. In my late teens and early twenties, I worked in a motor shop and we rewound power tool armatures and fields, rewound motors too, now we just throw them out and get a new one from china and India.


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