At what point are you considered a "Machinist"?

[mmcmdl]

Last time I looked , Southern Pa has the most jobs available in the entire USofA . Manufacturing in Md is non-existent these days .

 

[CJ5Dave]

I needed a lathe part made. I went to 5 shops. One is more of a welding/fabrication shop but had some lathes and mills he bought with the shop and did not use much. He said he had finally hired a “real machinist” for the first time and show it to Perry. I had the whole lathe saddle in the back of the Yukon and Perry could recognize none of this, even when I showed him the lathe parts diagram. He asked me if I could bring the parts in sometime for him to see. It was all right there in front of him. Owner finally said they could not make the part. Not a machinist.

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Sounds like a lot of industries where the employees are run into the ground. I've worked with people that guarded all of their knowledge, unwilling to share the simplest bits that would make a task turn out better. Never understood that.

The only manufacturing facility I have toured was STI Guns in Georgetown, TX (now Staccato) and virtually everything there was done in CNC machining centers. Beyond the CNC, the rest was hand fitting of competition pistols. It's a very nice facility. Other than that, I've only been in job shops. One shop I visited in New Mexico's oil country was remarkably clean. The owner told me that he had one employee whose only job was to keep the machines and shop clean. There wasn't a stray chip to be seen anywhere.

Oh boy, I could tell you stories.

I had a guy who absolutely hated me for no discernable reason, simply the most Narcissistic Sycophant you would ever meet.

He told me he would never teach me anything and I would flunk out of the program and lose my job. This was in my first year. Nice guy EH?

FF 25yrs later and he's my group leader.

He would come at me with an attitude..."DO THIS!" Almost always a **** job.

And I would just look him in the eye and say, "Cant, you never showed me how and I flunked out.".....The look on his face.....

We went round and round with this until I got called into HR one day. All I had to do to defend myself was simply ask "What kind of leader cant get his guys to work for him?"

Now all along I was doing good work, some would say exceptional work for engineering, and turning out whatever complicated contraption they wanted. That go to the point where they would just come to me with a problem or idea, buy me the tools and materials and I would give them better than they envisioned.

So when it got to the point of going in front of HR, I wasn't the one with egg on my face. Im pretty sure me still working here after he has retired tweaked his nose a little.

**** em! But do it gently and with a smile on your face so they dont even know you're doing it.

 

[mmcmdl]

My buddy Joe is always hiring , he went thru the apprenticeship with me . All of our guys made out very well over the years .

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Funny , I got a message on here from the great grandson of the original shop founder where we served our time . He is a member on here . He runs a shop at Johns Hopkins .

 

[RaisedByWolves]

Last time I looked , Southern Pa has the most jobs available in the entire USofA . Manufacturing in Md is non-existent these days .

During our committee work for the presentation I mentioned we found a Harley plant in your area paying good wages.

Not that one plant amounts to much, but then again our plant is one of the only ones left in Trenton. You used to be able to get fired for being late or hung over, get breakfast, and go to a few different shops looking for a job and have one buy dinnertime.

When I wanted to get out of this plant circa 2000, there were no Toolmaker jobs worth taking. Now that the trade is in demand and wages are eclipsing what I make I'm too close to retirement to make a move.

I can take early retirement with a full pension and $800/month for gap insurance in a few years and go get one of those jobs though.

That would equal roughly a little more than $2K a month free and clear above whatever I could make working.

That would be nice.

 

[mmcmdl]

Harley sends me Emails every damn day . It's only 30 minutes away , but I'm RETIRED !

 

[mmcmdl]

I just looked this up . The plant closed in 2014 but the union leaders still must be getting paid ?

Union FactsUnion Facts

www.unionfacts.com

 

[projectnut]

Apprenticeships are a thing of the past , haven't seen any available in this area in years . Any union shop you must have served your time already , which really makes no sense . The community colleges have MTT courses still , but no machines , I guess for liability reasons .

Apprenticeships may be a thing of the past in your area, but they're still going strong here. A quick look at the Wisconsin Workforce Development site shows 50 companies in the area offering apprenticeships.

As for the unions bringing people up through the ranks, that depends on the specific local. My dad got his Steamfitters journeyman's card by going through an apprenticeship program sponsored by his employer. Where I worked the union wouldn't let any of its members go through similar programs the company was offering. Their reasoning was that if an employee became a journeyman or master in any field, they would then be responsible for making sure the work was up to code and was done properly. They didn't want any employees to have any responsibilities other than showing up for work.

At one point the quality of the mechanics and technicians applying for jobs was so poor the company had to make courses at the local technical college mandatory. The company paid the tuition and related costs. The employee would be paid to attend the classes. They could choose to take a daytime class which would be part of the normal workday, or an evening class in which case they would be paid additional time to attend.

The local technical college has a waiting list for its machining and tool and die programs. They now even offer a basic 1 semester machining program.

 

[Smithdoor]

I feel like there are a plethora of requirements to being a machinist, here is a small sample:

• Break ?? taps in your workpiece (bonus points if in the final operation)
• Remove ?? taps successfully from your screwed up workpiece
• Drop a really pretty part on the floor the moment you are done making it thanks to oily hands
• Drill holes in the wrong spot on non-replaceable stock and repair them
• Fill your first 50 gal. drum full of chips
• Break an endmill after packing the flutes with aluminum chips
• Learn a new swear word during your first time cutting 300 series stainless
• Realize that you bought a machine that is too small
• Realize you are spending a lot more than you anticipated on tools
• To be continued....

Can not wait to see your words regarding 400 series stainless. Most machinist will have magnic to test for 400 series then will not machine it.

Dave

 

[Parlo]

Just for fun.

A Machinist does not:
Wear gloves
Wear jewellery
Use a flycutter
Make shiny parts
Use adjustable wrenches
Mention how good their work is

They do:
Roll their overall sleeves back a couple of turns
Supply parts with the appropriate finish
Put things back
Only borrow a tool in an absolute emergency
Supply solutions not problems
Help others
Appreciate that they are part of a team ( instilled during apprenticeship )
Know that no job is beneath them

Feel free to add your own to the list.