Shop Time w/T.W. Friends

I gain 800 feet just coming up from town, depending on the route it can be long and steady (3 miles) or short and savage (1 mile).

Living here sometimes provides a challenge in the winter. In town they get 3" of snow, we get a foot.

 

Damn... you guys are awesome.. I truly appreciate all the feedback and motivation guys.. seriously. It's very comforting hearing this from other guys in the industry and hearing that its the Norm.

Thank you! I definitely do pride myself on that.. and like to contribute that to my growth here.

That is what I've gotten from other co-workers as well, and I think part of the reason its hard for me to realize is I havent had any shops/work environment/co-workers, etc to compare to. But.. from hearing stories from others and peaking into the Machinist Reddit page.. I am starting to see its pretty much the same BS everywhere. lol

Rusty, I really owe you a beer for this.. these points are hitting home for sure and I will absolutely put them to use. I have quite a few people here I am thankful for and always will be.

Well, that's kind of how I feel sometimes too.. glorified setup/operator. There are things that humble me real quick and make me think that I dont know what I'm doing in this trade. But then I realize those are just learning opportunities.. and I figure it out on my own after some trail and error, or reach out and learn from the other guys and take that knowledge and shove it in the bank for the next time something like that comes up. I am still very much learning too. Plus.. its all just a dumb name/title anyways right. If you're good at what you do.. I dont care about schooling or tenure or a title. I also feel like geographical/location plays a big part in shops atmosphere, pay, character, etc. but again... I dont have a lot to compare to.

 

I was waiting for that!

 

I guess it depends on which side of the union you're on
I've never worked in a union shop - one of our other factories is union, but there's rarely any real problems. Manufacturing engineers up there have to be a bit careful not to actually run production parts, but other than that are basically free to do what they need to do. I've heard stories about engineers getting in trouble for doing any hands on work in some shops - wouldn't be my style.

We try to be very thorough with work instructions & standard procedures, but at some point you have to assume the operator has some basic understanding of the parts & process.

I'm currently working on the procedure for setting up & running a robot loading system we're adding to a gaging process. Pretty easy this time around as we've already done basically the same thing on several other types of gages.
Biggest issue is generally just getting the operators over their fear of the unknown or fear of being replaced. Once they get comfortable with it they usually like having some of the drudgery removed.
Some of the rollouts, however, have been frustrating for the operators if we've had to do a lot of debugging of the equipment or process.

 

Cap'n Crunch, Brisket flavour?

 

Me too, ... soon. I love shooting this thing! Old pic off my phone from when I rattle canned it.

 

It often seem operators are against any change even if you demonstrate to them how it instantly makes the job easier.

I have had fellows say things like "...but I always hang the clipboard on that nail..."

 

morning

 

Our shops union and pay is the same across the board for General Machinists. 34/hr. Toolmakers are what would be closer to what you do and it's like 2 or 3 bucks more.

 

ahhh see I have zero knowledge of Union stuff.. and that pay scale is a little higher than out here.

 

A sad moment in music history today, legend Loretta Lynn has passed in her sleep at age of 90.
She released her last studio album (50th) in 2021.

RIP Loretta and thank you for all you gave to us.

 

Talk about a revolution in clean energy. It would make the EV market

It would be fun to

 

She could sing!!!!

https://youtu.be/cnJykoFrSHI

 

Gearbox for the miniature Lely is getting closer.

 

What weight of gear oil does that thing take?

 

Small dab of grease after powdercoat

 

FTFY

 

Now to cut the bar out and weld the other one in.