Machine trade in tailspin

[CompositeEngr]

My opinion on high standards:
Spope--keep it up!

Without high standards to meet, there will be no progress, just more bad TV.
There has been a general erosion of standards everywhere, in favor of "relative" standards. Relative standards get us criminals who claim they are victims of the system.

[Thrud]

GWP
Give my regards to the furry little buggers!
Good Hunting!

SPope
Yeah sure, I could teach - what not to do - got that down pat - Green Willy could supervise while discribing in detail the intense pain I feel as I drop the chuck on my big toe all the while screaming at the top of his lungs expletetive deletives at me and telling me to "Hurry up! I want that job done by 2:00 numbnuts!" That way the kids could experience real life work conditions up close...

Bluechips
I was just bugging you - relax. Don't worry about it - they like to mess with your head a little there. Part of knowing a profession is deciphering what someone is saying in reference to it. The wording of the tests (at NAIT in particular) are such that you will answer incorretly if you do not really understand your trade. Sometimes more than one answer can apply - watch yourself. They do a sincere effort to train people properly for the trades there and it gets weird sometimes. It is easier to do this stuff when you are younger, never stop learning, and try to keep up on your trade - always do your best at what ever to try to do. Play safe and have fun - good luck with your course.

Safety TIP:The best looking NAIT babes hang out in Hairdressing!

[spope14]

Hey Bluechipps - keep the faith and keep up the good work. From first impressions, I would hire you. Do not let the written stuff get you down. It is in the end knowing where and how to find information, and how to apply it in making the best parts on earth. I know a guy who could not pass a written test on earth, but can read numbers - decipher numbers, and make things I could not yet imagine how he even thought of doing. Uses a lathe and mill like an extension of his mind, and can even make his use of a file seem like that Yoo Yoo Ma guy playing his big fiddle. Written tests are highly overrated......

GWP - go out and have fun while the sun lasts. Look forward to your stirring the pot again, I kind of like guys like you.

Thrud - You could teach more than you think.

As for the machine trade, I do so hope this stays intact. What a shame that a part of our heritage is being lost so fast, so many good craftsmen are growing old or having jobs pulled from them, and our youth is being steered away from it by too many reasons to even start listing.

[bluechipps]

<font face="Verdana, Arial" size="2">Originally posted by Thrud:
GWP

Safety TIP:The best looking NAIT babes hang out in Hairdressing!

</font>

na there all kind of frilly.
Any guy with half a brain would go after one of the cooking students. good looks dont last long, but good cooks last a life time.

Just have to becarful not to get them seriously POed though. As they all carry around big ass razor sharp knives, and know how to use them.

[bspooh]

I am afraid to write anything...

brent

[farmwrench]

Had a heck of a time reading through this thread. I haven't been online since the 8th! And then a fire call half way through!


1. Our school tried to "phase out" the local agriculture program. (after the metal shop was shipped out) We formed a group of students, grads, local agribis, concerned parents and anyone that would help the program. "The Friends for Ag" has demanded top programs and student preformance and the head of any school board idiot that wants to send the program down the river. They tried to make it a human dumping ground for "springer show" types. We have raised $40K in scholarships and have set up a milk vending machine to promote and help pay for our projects. (just set up a month ago)

2.Less than 2 million farmers produce more now than ever before! We will eat our own to keep going. In the processes we goof it all up. Too many potatoes, tomatoes, vegies.... are worthless, a years extra corn in storage hangs like a sword over our head. Government intervention keeps the bad afloat, and the good frustrated. SO keep breading so I have some hungry people around! I machine so that I have someting to show that I produced other than the fat ass down at the $3.99 all you can eat.

3. Rich uncle sent my wife and I to China for a week. Saw a prision bus. International school bus with big Dt466 badge on front. One row bench 4ft from the back bulkhead. One row of prisoners sat on the bench sholder to sholder, next row on the back row's knees and the back row put their head down on the guy sitting on their lap and their hands over their head fingers locked, and sow on all the way till the crew was loaded. One guard in the back with what looked like and 870 and one in the front with the same. No bars, no cage, no hand cuffs. This bus wasn't full and the driver was having a hard time steering with the back bumper just about laying sparks.

Case of Tiger beer $1.00 US in cans no deposit. (I think that is how they solve their hazmat problems, just can it).

[Thrud]

bluechipps:
oh, sure they can cook, but can they massage my follicle challenged head - I THINK NOT!
...on second thought the cooks could use roast beef and smashed taters & gravy

Brent
Chicken? Never stopped you before big guy - after all you do have a teenager!

SPope
Yup. I could teach that safety boots should be worn by me even at 3AM at home (Who put that #&*@ing table in the kitchen anyway?)...

Dave

[chief]

I detest the lost of our industrial base and poor education and training but I do not
miss the lazy overpaid union or non-union employee that spends every extra minute hiding in the toilet. Industry and Labor
have to work together, America as well as my stock portfilio depend on it.
There are opportunities out there if you are willing to apply yourself.
I will make or at least try to make anything anyone asks me to (people will pay if they need it) even if I waste a lot of stock doing it. When people know you can do it
you'll never go hungry (I didn't say you can buy a new SUV).
Many years ago while visiting my father at
the BORDENS plant where he worked a machine was down because of a bent shaft, the company machinist wanted the buy a new shaft.
I explained then showed the maintenance supervisor how to stub a bent shaft. I was
offered a job on the spot, I declined the offer but did pick up alot of work from people in the plant who needed things made.
I am currently working on project that might
net me up to 500-1000 a year( granted, not much but it is a very limited used item and when you realize that it takes 30 minutes to make and .85 cents worth of stock, it isn't a bad deal). Think boys, use your head.

[C. Tate]

Supply and demand theories apply to the industrial trades also. When the supply does not meet the demand the price will go up and when the price goes up the demand will follow.

By this I mean that when the supply of good machinists dwindles the pay and benefits will increase to a point that more people will be drawn into the trade. Look at UPS why the hell would anyone want to drive a **** brown truck in a **** brown uniform and tote packages all day? Because thy pay him big money to do it. If the pay and benefits went away they would be looking for people to drive UPS trucks.

Don't mistake my words I am not trying to say machinists are underpaid or that UPS drivers are overpaid just pointing out what I think to be the facts. I do feel that many in the workforce today over estimate their value and many of us don't know the difference between want and need.

[Thrud]

C. Tate

I agree. Everybody seems to want something for nothing. They forget someone, somewhere is going to pay the price if they don't. Working in manufacturing and doing a lot of job cost analysis made me realize many things. When I had no way to make a special gear and went to a local machine shop to have it made and installed I was shocked at the final price (about 6 times the owners estimate) but smiled paid the price, thanked him for helping me out when I was in a jam and left. I know the bull**** shop owners go through with employees, screw ups, and just all hell breaking loose every minute of the day (sometimes). I appreciated his help, it was worth it. Sometimes paying extra is cheap.

[old_porsche]

One of the reasons I registered for this BBS was this particular thread.

I used my machine shop training to work my way through college. Yes, while the rest of my classmates were saving their money working as lifeguards, I was doing the night shift making accessories for stainless steel milk coolers. Yes, I paid for college, all of the expenses.

My classmates that were in machine shop went on to be real live machinests. Some of them I will see later this summer at our 40th class reunion. I am very proud that I have had training in a trade. I enjoy the knowledge I have learned. I am recieving help over on the "third hand" with a problem I have had for years with my lathe.

The Machining trade has changed a lot. In many cases it has become a cottage industry much like it was prior to the industrial revolution. The internet is hanging a lot of it together. I know machinests now that are working at home doing "job" type contracts. Yes, they don't have the conditions that they had in the factory, however that doesn't mean they aren't doing well. Some of them are even competiting for contracts using the internet.

Its a supply and demand thing believe me. Not everything is made in China. Remember when something breaks in the United States, they don't go overseas to get support for repairs.

My better half, is telling me to turn it off, so off, for now.

Good luck to you all,
David Duffield

[spope14]

I also used my machine training to work through college. I was a machinist apprentice all through HS, even working for the shop as a lawn helper and assembly person from age 13 on. At age 20 I finished my apprenticeship, and technical schooling in machining. Worked at the shop for three years to save money to go back to college to teach and do anything BUT machining.

Studied Industrial Arts, math, and English to be a teacher. Applied for work study money, and what happens, they need a maintenance mahinist and machining teaching asistant. Four years later, I trade in my English degree for Manufacturing Engineer, take five years to complete college, and get three Majors.

And I owe my school funding to my machining background, which after one year away from the trade (the year I dod not ave work study) I realized i loved. I now teach machining, and love each day. They really pay me to do this, which is the end punch line of the whole thing!!!!!