# I am interested in your story



## jwmay (Dec 15, 2021)

I doubt often come to this forum, because I had been serving as an electrician at work for the last 7 years. My standard advice has almost always been, "hire an electrician" regarding electrical issues. 
But I've been reading through, and I see several of you are quite well versed in electrical principles. So well versed in fact, that my own knowledge seems quite shallow in depth, and narrow in breadth. 
I want to know if you can tell a story as to how you learned so much. I am a reader, and have studied electrical troubleshooting not only in college, but on the job.  I have only ever met a couple people who could find the problem and fix it as fast as I could. But I'm a novice compared to you guys. What gives? What's your story?


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## markba633csi (Dec 15, 2021)

Start early like about age 5.  Most great musicians start early also.  That, plus about 20,000 hours will get you there
I didn't learn Ohm's law until much later, in my late teens, but was playing with electronics well before that.  My math skills are terrible, by the way, but I didn't let that stop me
-Mark
PS I always loved Christmas, not so much for the religious aspects, but for the lights. I always looked forward to the lights LOL my grandpa always left a few loose ones on his tree for me to find and fix


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## pdentrem (Dec 15, 2021)

Making Heath and other kits as well projects from magazines etc. Also was electrician helper for a summer job. Should of continued. My bad
Pierre


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## cathead (Dec 15, 2021)

I go back a long ways.  My father was a ham radio operator and that rubbed off.  My first job
was at a radio and TV shop.  Electronics and electrical stuff has always held an interest for me.
High voltage does not scare me, only gives me a high respect for it.  Back in the 70's I built a lot
of Heathkits and Eicos and eventually graduated to building my own radios from junk parts.  My hamshack
looks like a disaster to some but all familiar stuff to me.  I don't throw much away.  I love old tubes
and building old time radios using them.  Occasionally I will take on an electrical job that no
electrician will tackle.  I'm not sure if that is dumb or smart but I take it a personal challenge.

73,


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## Lo-Fi (Dec 15, 2021)

I think I can cover it in two words: curiosity and necessity. And I suppose in no small part there always being books and things to tinker with at home when I was young, then college tutors who put me through extra classes. Then came the internet...
A mate of mine is a sparky, but I'm not sure even he'd have taken on internally rewiring a motor intended for only 440V to run on 220 (I'm not talking a simple external star to delta swap here). You'd never do that in a pro environment - it would be insane. But as a hobbyist and tinkerer, you're free of commercial concerns and at liberty to explore things from first principals. For a lighting ring, I'm probably going to call the sparky, but for stuff that's outside "normal", I know enough to work safely and figure difficult problems out that a pro might dismiss because it wouldn't be commercially viable to invest the time figuring out. 
*Nobody else is going to do this for me* is and has been a great driver for me. 
Research is so ridiculously easy these days too, though you need to avoid the trap of those who "know a thing can't be done." The internet says that running my Bridgeport on 220V isn't possible. I now have a Bridgeport that says otherwise and have now returned that knowledge to it. But the internet also furnished me with enough vaguely related info to bootstrap my knowledge up to a level where I was confident enough that I could remove the motor core already having a good idea what I'd find, separate the windings and rearrange the connections in a way that I deduced would work for the lower voltage application, crucially without paying somebody to put different windings in at great expense. I guess it comes down to the professional and the hobbyist having very different pressures and constraints.

And in closing: I'm a huge fan of the BigClive YouTube channel. He's a pro electrician, but also a keen hobbyist. Check out his channel if you haven't already!


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## addertooth (Dec 15, 2021)

I started this path at age 5.  My father (an Engineer) gave me lots of training.  I had a workbench, soldering iron, and a Simpson meter which I worked with in the garage, about the time I started kindergarten.


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## DavidR8 (Dec 15, 2021)

I was fortunate to work a bunch under the table with a journeyman master electrician doing commercial work so got a shed load of experience there. I have wired my own renos and passed inspections so I feel good about that. As @Lo-Fi said so well, there is a ton of info on the web now... You just have to be able to discern the dreck from gold.


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## homebrewed (Dec 15, 2021)

In grade school I helped my dad build a number of Heathkit and Knightkit products.  I learned Ohm's law at an early age.  My science fair projects were heavy on the electrical engineering side.  I went to college and got my BSEE and MSEE degrees, then did failure analysis on integrated circuits for 40 years.  A lot of the products used some sort of computer interface to configure them, so I also became familiar with C programming (mostly via Arduino).

Failure analysis was fun because I got to work in a number of disciplines -- EE (naturally), solid state physics, chemistry, material science, high vacuum work, mechanical engineering, machining and computer programming, among others.  It was a job where use of the scientific method to track down failures was as familiar as breathing.  I also got to work on developing new/improved failure analysis techniques and tools, many of which required a lot of debugging to get to work right -- if they ever did   Not every supposedly brilliant idea turned out to be one! 

Although I've been retired for a bit over 5 years I still design and lay out circuit boards for various home projects.  As my wife says, once an engineer, always an engineer .


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## Dabbler (Dec 15, 2021)

When I was five, I held my Dad's tools as he renovated and rewired the lower floor of the 2 story we lived in.  
I learned physics in grade school and built a working atom smasher for grade 7 science fair.  
Moved on to computers in HS and started building them.  
Engineering in U, then did renovations on my own after.  
Started helping guys in industrial bays wire their 3phase stuff. 
After that, worked for an electrician for fun doing primary work - pulling wires, etc, and watched very carefully what he did. an learned tons of the electrical code.

Mostly I'm curious and love to learn stuff.


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## mmcmdl (Dec 15, 2021)

My hat is off to all on here as well as my guys at work . 440 is way out of my league , as is 110 , 111 or whatever it takes .


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## DavidR8 (Dec 15, 2021)

mmcmdl said:


> as is 110 , 111 or whatever it takes .


I just used that quote the other day!


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## davidpbest (Dec 15, 2021)

jwmay said:


> I want to know if you can tell a story as to how you learned so much. I am a reader, and have studied electrical troubleshooting not only in college, but on the job.  I have only ever met a couple people who could find the problem and fix it as fast as I could. But I'm a novice compared to you guys. What gives? What's your story?


When I was 8, my dad bought me a HeathKit shortwave radio kit and a soldering iron.  From there, I built several other KnightKits, and started designing my own circuits with some mentoring from the science teacher in middle school.  By the time I was 12, I had started my own business fixing radios and TV's.   See attached.  From there, I tried to absorb everything I could and ended up getting in on the ground floor of the computer industry in the latter part of the 1960's.  I worked my way up at IBM, Digital Equipment, and ended up the top executive of the microprocessor division of Intel in the lathe 1970's.  in the 1980's I got into the venture capital business in silicon valley and helped start several successful computer, networking, electronic and mechanical CAD companies as a mentoring chairman.  I got off the high-tech gravy train in the 1990's so I could branch out into other fields of interest.  I've been very lucky, but have also dedicated myself to being a life long learner.  It's been a wild ride and I am forever grateful for the opportunities and experiences over the past six decades.


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## Ulma Doctor (Dec 15, 2021)

I started before i can remember.
i played with my toys for a couple days, then took them apart to find out *WHY,* instead of how they work
i performed countless experiments with magnets and DC electricity
i went to tech school, learned vehicular electricity
got a job as a forklift technician, worked on electric material handling equipment and their charging systems
became proficient in DC electric troubleshooting, motor repair, & rebuild
endless reading of everything regarding electrical i could get my hands on - 
countless experiments with AC electricity
designed my first rotary phase converter
got a job as a food packaging equipment technician, went to factory schools for 12 different manufacturers on many types of equipment
became very proficient over the last 25 years by servicing in excess of 1,000 pieces of electrically controlled equipment
i have to have strong electrical, pneumatic  ,hydraulic , welding and mechanical skills just to keep up


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## erikmannie (Dec 15, 2021)

jwmay said:


> I doubt often come to this forum, because I had been serving as an electrician at work for the last 7 years. My standard advice has almost always been, "hire an electrician" regarding electrical issues.
> But I've been reading through, and I see several of you are quite well versed in electrical principles. So well versed in fact, that my own knowledge seems quite shallow in depth, and narrow in breadth.
> I want to know if you can tell a story as to how you learned so much. I am a reader, and have studied electrical troubleshooting not only in college, but on the job.  I have only ever met a couple people who could find the problem and fix it as fast as I could. But I'm a novice compared to you guys. What gives? What's your story?



Check out the book entitled The Art of Electronics. It is quite expensive, but absolutely worth whatever you pay for it.


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## JPMacG (Dec 15, 2021)

Got involved in ham radio when I was 14.  That led to electrical engineering in college.  BSEE, M.Eng.EE, P.E., 40 years professional work in microwave circuits and antennas.  Worked on commercial communications satellites, GPS Block III, MUOS, and others, 6 patents, over 30 publications, etc.  That being said, I know virtually nothing about motors and electrical power systems and I look to others on this forum for advice.


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## Zack (Dec 16, 2021)

What gives? What's your story?

My story.  Sounds like machinists anonymous, LOL.  

I went through a good machine shop trade school in high school in the early 70s.  Liked it and made good grades.  After graduation I got hired on as a turret lathe operator in a lawn mower factory and lasted as I remember less than two weeks.    Endlessly making lawnmower deck driveshafts was not near as fun as working  on different lathes, mills  and surface grinders or making gears.  
Then I went in the army for a few years.    After  the army I got an apprenticeship as an electrician and spent the next 43 years as an inside wireman. Collected an electrical masters license in the early 90s.    Spent the last 10 years or so working as a contract electrician in a large hospital in SW Missouri.    Fire alarms, ex-ray equipment, HVAC, 4160 and 13,200 high voltage and anything else the maintenance men couldn't or weren't licensed to do.   This covid business came along and I decided at 66 yrs it was a good time time to retire.    Also, got interested in amateur radio in the late 70s and got licensed.     Hold an extra class ham license.  Ham radio always complimented my electricial career.    It gave me a lot of insight as to how different machines utilize  electricity, not something all electricians are required to know.   Anyway, back to machinery, have had a lathe and mill for years, don't think I could do without one.  Working with metal is 90 % of what electricians do  and that time way back in high school that I spent in machineshop class helped me SO much in my trade.  

"Well, that's my story".  (quietly take my chair)


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## homebrewed (Dec 16, 2021)

Dabbler said:


> When I was five, I held my Dad's tools as he renovated and rewired the lower floor of the 2 story we lived in.
> I learned physics in grade school and built a working atom smasher for grade 7 science fair.
> Moved on to computers in HS and started building them.
> Engineering in U, then did renovations on my own after.
> ...


Making a working atom smasher!  That's another multidisciplinary thing for sure.  Was it based on the Amateur Scientist article on the subject?


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## homebrewed (Dec 16, 2021)

All these posts make me think I should talk a lot less and listen a lot more


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## Dabbler (Dec 16, 2021)

homebrewed said:


> Was it based on the Amateur Scientist article on the subject?



@homebrewed I couldn't find the right tubes for a cyclotron, so I made a linear accelerator like the new one (at the time) in California.


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## markba633csi (Dec 16, 2021)

Impressive how many electronics guys there are here- not too surprising, actually
No wonder I like it here


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## addertooth (Dec 16, 2021)

Dabbler said:


> @homebrewed I couldn't find the right tubes for a cyclotron, so I made a linear accelerator like the new one (at the time) in California.


Yes, the very high frequency, very high voltage tubes are always the hardest part.  Were you going to use a Van de Graff with a sprayed charged belt as your voltage source?   This was the approach I was using on a D-Style accelerator.  I ended up using a Magnetron tube which still had some life in it. My parents ended up figuring it out, and hid my tube and 14k.v. transformer for the Spray charge. When I moved out at 18, they gave them back to me, and said I could go play with that stuff at my apartment.  By that time, I had fostered a serious interest in girls and had "better things" to do.   I remember when I was young, having trouble relating to other kids, they thought Lincoln Logs and Erector sets were "serious engineering".

The Science Fair judges never believed I built the projects which I constructed, and quietly removed me from consideration for any prizes or awards.  Only the University of Oklahoma judges took the time to interview me, and realized I was actually designing and building my projects.  They offered me my first serious job when I was 17.  I worked one summer building their scientific instrumentation electronics for one of their physics labs.  The job was mostly calibrating sensors, fixing things like Flux-Gate magnetometers, and building ultra low-noise instrumentation amps.  I paid for my car in one Summer with the money earned.

I worked as a Machinist for a few years, as the money they were paying machinists for oil-field production equipment was insane... until the bottom dropped out of that market.

I worked for another couple physics labs for a total of about 18 years, but as the years passed, the gulf between the pay for "pure research" jobs, and private sector jobs grew.  I ended up going to the private sector for several years. Prior to going private sector, I had joined the National Guard as a 44e (Machinist), and over the years ended up gaining three additional MOS (21b Combat Engineer/demolition, 31u Communications, and 92y Supply).  

I deployed to Iraq during Operation Iraqi Freedom One and Two, 2003-2005.   When I came back, I went to work as a Test Engineer on a Base.  I have remained in that field. 

Sorry if some of my statements seem vague, it is by intent.


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## Ischgl99 (Dec 16, 2021)

My dad always fixed everything at home, and I was by his side every minute learning as much as I could.  I built a minibike, repaired the cars, anything that needed to be fixed by time I was 14.  I think I disassembled every toy I had to see how it worked, much to the frustration of my mom, I think they all worked after I reassembled them too lol.  My dad was the manager of the automation group for his company and when I was 15 he needed a prototype control panel built for a factory they were building, that became my summer project and first entry into industrial controls.  After college I started working for a machinery manufacturer as a field engineer and learned electrical and controls by troubleshooting systems on the projects I was on, in addition to the mechanical and process duties.  The EE at the company refused to let me get involved in controls work, and even blocked my view so I could not see what he was doing, so I called my dad to get the Allen Bradley programming manuals our company distributor refused to send me and learned on my own.  The company EE was notorious for putting bugs into the software so he could get trips around the world, and when I was on a project shortly after he quit and the program would not work, my boss authorized me to buy the AB programming software and get it done.  I have always had a knack for troubleshooting and quickly became the go to guy when something wouldn’t work.   The replacement EE was lazy and when he found out I could program, he send unfinished programs on my jobs so I got even better at it.
After that, I moved on to a bearing company running the industrial services department overseeing a crew of field service engineers and a product line of maintenance equipment and vibration analysis equipment, and then as a reliability manager for a company operating water and wastewater plants across the country.  I basically had free rein at the plant I was based out of to make any improvement I could find and had the best boss ever there.  Too bad I took a “promotion” at the corporate level and got into a job I hated that was more pencil whipping than actually accomplishing anything.  Now I am retired from the engineering field and raising my kids while my wife travels for her job.  To keep from getting bored, I started a photography business and spend more time in my shop using the equipment I have accumulated over the years.


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## brino (Dec 16, 2021)

Great thread everyone!

It's like finally getting to know you guys on a new level, like we are talking over a beer on the patio.

In reading it I see some common themes   (.....and they are all also Mars Rovers ;^))

1) Curiosity
a drive to know something
a need to understand at a deeper level
and a true joy at the knowing

2) Opportunity
all kids learn by "play"; it's their job!
but here I see an atmosphere in early life where tools, and challenges were made accessible

3) Spirit
different than curiosity, this is the attitude mentioned above that "I can fix that!"
it often shows as "I can make that better!"

Okay, maybe four themes because perseverance needs to be in there too (....and is also a Mars Rover!)
I am sure we have all failed in some early attempts as we're learning something new.
But we don't let that stop us!

I have found this thread very inspiring!

Thanks for sharing your histories.
When I get some time (this is my last day of work for the year! , well except for monitoring some tests I have running in a thermal chamber.....) I will be back to share some of my history too.

Brian 
(aka -brino)


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## wachuko (Dec 16, 2021)

This has been such a great read... and takes me back so many years... I can't tell you the amount of Heathkits I built while growing up... I even bought a Hero Jr. robot kit!!  I remember spending 24 hours building that..non-stop.... I just had to finish it.  It was just like this one...






I wished I had kept it guarded and safe from my 7 siblings.  But like everything I made, it got destroyed by them playing with it...

And don't get me started on those Skilcraft Chemistry Sets... had a couple of those as well...

Working in my father's hardware store I learned a lot about repairs - plumbing, construction, electrical...also learned how to fix the trucks and loader (gas and diesel engine work, changing drive shafts, etc.) this helped me pay for college room and board as I worked as handy man for people that could not even change a switch plate...  I was very poor then... but it was fun times... whatever was left from rent and food, went to these Heathkits... and later for computer parts...

But there is a huge difference from being able to change parts and troubleshooting... I can follow instructions and replace or build anything from a set of instructions... but it is the creative part that escapes me... I am humbled by reading the stories of some of the folks here... rocket scientists, designers, machinist that can invent something from nothing... that is something I continue to strive to achieve... and the reason I keep buying kits... I want to keep my mind busy and work on further developing skills.


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## Eddyde (Dec 16, 2021)

It all started with the electrical experimenter kit I received for Christmas when I was about 6. I figured I could make the bell ring really loud if I simply plugged it into the wall outlet. A brilliant flash, and then darkness as I instantly learned about resistance and how fuses work and what a third degree burn is as well... after that, My older brother (who was designing and building tube amplifiers at 16) taught me a lot, ohms law, capacitance, how tubes, transistors and other components worked, etc, he also showed me how to solder. When I was 12, another Christmas gift, a Readers Digest book on how to fix everything in the home, taught me the fundamentals of AC wiring. I built a bunch of Heathkits through high school and took some electronics courses in college. I have also learned a lot from reading posts here on HM. However, most of what I really learned, was from trouble shooting and fixing circuits that weren't working. I will continue to study as there is still so much more to know....


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## ttabbal (Dec 16, 2021)

Reading some of these, I am a bit bummed I missed the golden age of Heathkit. I would have LOVED those. 

I was just always curious and into learning how things worked. My parents used to buy thrift store stuff that didn't work for me to take apart, I fixed most of them. Probably half were blown fuses and loose connections. I spent a lot of time in the library reading whatever looked interesting, learned a ton. Got into Ham Radio, built some stuff out of the handbook, and tried to understand how the other circuits worked. Then discovered Tesla Coils. HV was a whole new thing. Nothing quite like being thrown across the room from a Tesla primary to learn respect for the stuff. I don't recommend it. Coils can be fun to build though, just keep more distance than you think you need to. 

I didn't have much access to tools, so mechanical stuff was not much of an option. I did get to take a few shop classes, that was great fun, but I couldn't afford those kinds of tools at the time. I got into computers and programming and went that way for work. I always liked tinkering and building things, so I kept at it with small programs, electronics projects, auto mechanics, 3D printing, rocketry, R/C, etc.. 

As for AC stuff, I know enough to safely work on it. I only do residential stuff, but can handle most of it. Subpanels, breaker and wire sizing, connections etc.. Mostly just reading and examining existing work. Some of the inspected recent work I've seen has some very sketchy stuff going on. I know a couple of electricians that will look over my stuff for trade, so I generally take advantage of that and make sure. I've had to learn a little 3 phase, but mostly just enough to run the motors on my machines. 

I still love building things, which is how I ended up here. I decided I wanted to make metal things, and needed tools. So I got a lathe, then a mill, read a ton, and learned how to do some of it. Lately I've started with cast kits. Really interesting to learn how to hold them securely, and get the part out of the casting. One of my kids has a lot of interest in similar areas, so I'm working with him and teaching him basics. That has taught me a ton. 

I think we get a lot of "maker" types around here. We like to build and fix things. And we get a few career machinists that, thankfully, are willing to help us bumbling newbies learn and show us better and safer ways to do things.


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## Janderso (Dec 16, 2021)

Very enjoyable reading!
One common theme, these guys are curious and have a desire to continue to learn.
I love it.
Learning about a subject you are interested in sure is easier than one you don't care about


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## Bi11Hudson (Dec 16, 2021)

markba633csi said:


> Start early like about age 5.  Most great musicians start early also.  That, plus about 20,000 hours will get you there
> I didn't learn Ohm's law until much later, in my late teens, but was playing with electronics well before that.  My math skills are terrible, by the way, but I didn't let that stop me


A bit of personal history comes into the story, my mother was blinded as a child. About age *3 *(I don't remember exactly, only of doing it) an uncle had given me a "goo giive", a screw driver. When my father had returned from work, he questioned "how is the baby". My mother, as a blink, commented that I had been mighty quiet the last hour or so. (guaranteed trouble) On searching, I was discovered behind a sofa with a partially dismantled receptical and cover plate on the floor. I can only speculate in retrospect that I had the receptical out of the wall but hadn't started on the wires yet. If I had gotten into the wires, I am sure it would be more memorable.

Because both parents were disabled, I spent my teen years working rather than going to school. I am a grammar school dropout. . . On enlisting(age 17), I attended electrical school, EMA, electrician mate class A. Since I had worked with all sorts of circuit theory over the years, I had a fairly high standing despite my lack of education. In my interest of pursuing adventure rather than "spit and polish", I chose an old (1940s) ship going on a polar mission. As an older ship, there were mostly archaic electrical fittings. *Much* to learn in that two years.

On the interruption of my second enlistment, I went to work in Birmingham. In the steel industry, what else. Birmingham was a "steel" town at the time. One works in steel or one becomes a bum. No big deal, just the way it was. My first entry into steel was at an archaic foundry. The foundry buildings had date codes on footings of 1896 and the like. It had been updated some, but most of the original equipment was still in use. This was before OSHA, so had a number of questionable electrical installations. I recall, specifically, changing 2300 volt fuses, pole mounted jacks, in the rain. Dripping wet working on high voltage. . . And being up a pole above a 2300 volt substation working conduit when I "cut out" rotating around the pole. I managed to have my safety belt loose but ready to reconnect as I fell backward, but it was a near miss. The entire crew walked off the job and went home. Yet got a full day's pay. A near miss like that was something that wasn't questioned by even the chief electrician. Over the years, I advanced through an archaic instrument shop into industrial electronics. Essentially following the advancement of industrial electrical systems.

On a "whim', I went to Guam as an electrician for the government. Working "civil service" had so much paper shuffling that it only lasted a year or so. I applied for, and was accepted by a local computer distributor. Not so much for my knowledge of electronics as my experience with "precion electrics" at the foundry. When their overhead demanded a "degreed engineer" as a field man, I went to a college in the Phillipines and was granted a BSEE through testing. So I am now an EE, on paper. . . 

I have found that someone knowledgeable of electricity can find work anywhere they travel. The systems may not be like US standards, but at the bottom line, touch the wrong thing and get zapped. Working with model trains since childhood, making the transition from toys to real models around age 10, making my trains "run better" has always been the driving force behind most any decision I had to make about electricity. That it usually paid well was secondary to that driving force. I was fortunate to have made a career doing something that I enjoyed playing with. Even my relationships with other people were secondary, including several marriages. Women don't like playing "second fiddle" to a wire. . . Ces't la vie, "stuff" happens.

.


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## Janderso (Dec 16, 2021)

Dabbler said:


> I learned physics in grade school and built a working atom smasher for grade 7 science fair.


I didn't know we were in the presence of genius.
Amazing project for such a youngster!!
I'm picturing Abom79 with a sledge hammer =atom smasher. 
That's the way my brain works.


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## rabler (Dec 16, 2021)

So, Ray prompted me to respond to this thread ...

I remember I found this electronics kit at one of my father's partners houses when I was about 5, it was this thing with magnetic blocks that were different components, with a sheet metal ground plane.   (Whole side story there, near Mazomanie, Wi, he had a Quaker background, pathologist,  him and his wife raised horses and goats).  Followed up with 100-1 electronics kits, components with little springs you could wire.  When I was 11 we bought this Imsai computer, 8080 processor, S-100 bus.  I remember soldering all 2100 bus pins, and checking them with a magnifying glass.  Then programming it with binary paddle switches (machine language), later paper tape ...

Electrical Engineering BEE and MEE and worked as a Research Engineer at Georgia Tech while puttering along on a doctorate.  Played a little bit with e-mag as a specialization but decided to go digital.   Lots of parallel computer work, VLSI design, etc,  funded under the Star Wars program (Strategic Defense Initiative).  Later Internet technology.  Lots of early work on IP videoconferencing across the state.  Went on to teach after getting my doctorate, mostly in signal processing, embedded systems, and networking, but especially in design based project classes.  Lots of fun mentoring students setting up wifi localization in a football stadium, software radio, etc.

Much of my core electronics and the math background behind it has long since faded as the digital realm, and student projects along with the other program admin work I did needed little core skill  One of the things I enjoy about retirement is getting back to actually doing some things myself!

I do think the electronics, electrical, and the various aspects of it are VERY diverse, and it is impossible for one person to be an expert across all of those possibilities.  Of course, an academic background from a research university may have some bias on that mindset.


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## pdentrem (Dec 16, 2021)

As Jeff said earlier -
“Very enjoyable reading!
One common theme, these guys are curious and have a desire to continue to learn.
I love it.”


I am always looking at stuff. Ideas are found anywhere and every where. Even digging into MSC and others’ catalogs can bring something to the surface. There are books of interest like “How Things Work”, the 3 volume set called “Ingenious Mechanisms” which I also have and bookcase of others. The old Radio Shack tech books etc. Have to keep the brain working as I get older (risk of Parkinson) and I have a multitude of interests and too little time!
Pierre


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## jwmay (Dec 16, 2021)

Well, thanks everybody. I'm convinced that I will never know what you know. I'm also convinced that's ok. I don't have a strong interest in the electrical trades. I only ever studied it for job security. Unfortunately, industry seems to be more interested in generalists than specialists these days. They want one guy to be happy unclogging a toilet, rebuilding a power transmission, or using a plc to diagnose a machine malfunction.  I like mechanical work, and had a knack for plc's. The plc work seemed a ticket out of heavy manual labor. But that's apparently not what the world wants of me. Thanks for all replies. It's been  great to learn more about you all.


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## aliva (Dec 17, 2021)

Right out of high school I got a job with an old family friend that had a electrical distributor business. They also sold Onan generators. They had no one to repair them so I kind of morphed into the resident technician. A few trips to the factory in Minneapolis for training and there began my career. My job required me to service generators all over the North of Ontario Canada. spent a lot of time in bush planes flying into remote locations. As time progressed the generators became larger units for emergency backup for towns hospitals and businesses. My bosses brother was an electrical contractor so I apprenticed with him for 4 years. I was 1 year short of getting a electricians licences and another better paying job came up in Saudi Arabia working on electric scoop trams. Well after a while I discovered  the HDEM trade. Got my licence  That lead to my last career as a millwright. got that licence to .I do all my own electrical work as I'm too cheap to pay the locally over priced electrical contractors.  Right now at my age I still  know enough to get my self in trouble


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## Lo-Fi (Dec 17, 2021)

What a truly wonderful thread this is turning out to be 

Since we're venturing outside electrical stuff and so many people have shared their stories in such lovely detail, I'll elaborate a little more on mine.

I started with a love of tractors. It was my first word! Not Mum or Dad. Tactor! At, I believe, age 4, my parents bought be a Lego tractor set:








And this started it all off..... I was a little too young for it still, but Dad helped me build it and I loved it... If only it had a trailer... Lego thankfully brought out a set with a front loader and trailer, I loved that too and I was hooked on Lego. At 10, I was into Technic aimed at 14+. My grandfather, who sadly passed away when I was 5, was our kind of tinkerer, so Grans place was full of treasure.... Tools, materials, space to work. We had  a little room called "the den" that was packed full floor to ceiling mostly with woodworking stuff. I messed about with wood, but with nobody really to teach me, I was a little directionless and never really got particularly into it. I remember everything seeming very hard compared to Lego which you could simply piece together and making working mechanisms. It seems absurd now, but I've never forgotten that feeling I had of "How to people design and make stuff? Real stuff". It just seemed like too tall a task at that age!

When I was maybe 10, Dad took me to a Mechano fair, which was wonderful. I remember spending what seemed like hours playing with an epicyclic gearbox, marvelling at the arrangement of gears and being entirely fascinated. So I got some Mechano! At 14 ish, I was still enjoying both Lego and Mechano, but finding it somewhat limited and ventured into radio control. My form tutor at school happened to be the tech teacher, and he was kind enough to let me loose around the workshop. Sadly, the school had closed their metalworking shop the year I joined, but there was still stuff around to play with. For my tech GCSE I designed and built what can only be described as a ducted fan version of the V22 Osprey. It never flew well, I was attempting something way out of my league, but I learned an enormous amount doing it and received help from all sorts of people. I think that's what made me realise that if you want to get anything really technical built, you need machine tools, and somehow befriended the old clockmaker in the village. He taught me loads! His sons were not in the least bit interested in engineering, so I think he enjoyed passing on his knowledge. He was a funny old boy. Thin as a rake, rapier quick with a very dry sense of humour, smoked 60 a day in his tiny workshop in a corner of his garage which was packed full of decades of tools, book, clocks, clock parts. He was kind enough to let me set my first lathe up in his garage. I forget where I scrounged it from, but he taught me the basics and left me to it under a watchful eye. 

My tool collection grew. I learned from books and anybody who could teach me anything. My little workshop eventually moved into the cellar at Grans place having outgrown the clockmakers garage. Later on I got into cars and rented a small workshop with a couple of mates on some old military land and had a riot taking cars apart, building crazy contraptions and generally making a "lot of smoke and noise" as the chap next door who built drag racing cars put it. Good times. I got my first welder and taught myself to weld and fabricate. Rebuilt some engines. Put a V8 in a tiny Diahatsu Hijet sandwich van. Sadly much of it didn't get photographed as the camera phone was only just invented at the end of this particular era!

But that's not the end of the story.... Somewhen around 2003, I went on a trip with Dad to a steam railway centre, which I'd done lots as a child, but never an adult. In the workshop, there was a little board saying "we need more volunteers". It had never even occurred to me that working on a steam engine was an available thing to do. I found one of the guys and enquired, somewhat tentatively. "Great, he said! What can you do?" "Well, I can do a bit of MIG welding, I can use a lathe, I work on cars a lot..." "Can you start next weekend? I'll take you to meet the chap you runs the project!". Getting my hands dirty on a steam engine was (and still is) a dream come true. Every desire I'd ever had to solve every problem I never knew existed was suddenly in front of me, but best of all, steam restoration attracts people with skills... All of a sudden I had access to machinists, welders, platemakers, fitters.... What more can you ask for? I spent a decade working on that project, just soaking in the knowledge. When that finished, I moved on to another, then another and I've now wound up running two projects myself - one a heavy overhaul of a complete loco, the other taking up the reigns on a restoration project that's nearing completion. 

In amongst all this, the internet as we know it came along. A passing comment from a mate about this hilarious guy on YouTube called AvE led me to This Old Tony. This Old Tony made me decide I really, really needed a milling machine and a few tens of thousands of pounds worth of other machine tools and led me to other amazing YouTubers like Tom Lipton, Robin Renzetti and Stefan Gotteswinter. YouTube turbo-charged my machining knowledge and ability. I can do stuff now that I didn't even know about to dream of ten years ago. And I still don't have all the tools I want. Thankfully, the railway does...

I'm on the verge of going pro as an engineer/machinist. Life led me into fixing computers for a living, which has been very good to me as a profession, but is, frankly, a waste of my engineering skills. An opportunity has come up in a steam workshop and it's looking like the stars may align for me to take it....

In closing, something I think we'll all relate to: "Will he be able to lead a normal life?" "No. He'll be an engineer"


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