[AT] Where are the machinists?

Francis Robinson robinson at svs.net
Fri Sep 29 19:27:24 PDT 2006


	I was wishing for a bigger lathe and a smallish mill and a big old mill but
one of my best neighbors saved me the trouble. Somewhat recently he bought a
huge old lathe (nice) and a huge old vertical mill. I can use them when I
need to so why buy one.   :)   I haven't needed to yet but it is kind of
nice to know I can. Actually if I just mention I need something done he will
jump in and do it. I work very hard at not taking excess advantage of his
helpfulness. I did go down and help he and my son Scott move out his old
Buck stove and move in his new very fancy, very heavy pellet stove this
week. I have a decent South Bend lathe about 10" swing x 36" between
centers. Quick change etc. It serves most of my needs. I still need a
smallish mill but I have already waaaay over spent on toys this year. I have
been putting a push on the woodshop but I can't seem to get any time to work
in it yet. Of course I don't to use the wood shop on tractor projects very
much.   :)   I did cut a couple of plywood panels for the bottoms of the
seats on the Allis C and the MM R. I also nailed an old tuna can to the end
of a 6" piece of large dowel to make a cap to cover the end of the angled
exhaust pipe on the MM R. You just slide the dowel down the pipe and hook a
spring to the side of the engine. Should I call that tractor work,
woodworking or arts & crafts???   ;-)
	I'm a good woodworker and turn out really first class sawdust. I'm pretty
careful to not call myself a machinist. I'm closer to a blacksmith. Then
again when I am woodworking I call  a hatchet a precision woodworking tool.
:)
	My maternal grandfather was a toolmaker for IHC (now Navistar) in Indy for
many many years. We used to hunt together some but sadly I don't recall us
ever discussing machine shop stuff. He just didn't like to talk shop away
from the shop. He had two separate lives. When with family he usually talked
about family type stuff. In his garage he had a small bench with a vise (I
have that vise), a small grinder (I have that too) and a few hand tools
(yep, I have those too)...  It took him a couple of trips to haul his hand
tools home from the plant when he retired. I have quite a few of those but
most were stolen from his shed on the side of the garage.
	My father frequently talked about jobs he had worked at and how things were
done. He grew up with model T fords (he was born in 1909). He was constantly
rebuilding some old bucket. At one point he traveled the state fair circuit
with an old auto daredevil show. Repairs were constant. He spent WWII
working 12-7 at Allison testing aircraft engines. He was not the world's
best mechanic but was a good one for his day and always ready to share what
he did know.
	I got most of my machine shop basics from high school (very good large
shop, decent teacher) and later from studying articles in magazines like
Popular Mechanics, Mechanics Illustrated etc. I wish I could remember more
of it.
	I love working in the shop, sure wish I could be organized...


Francis Robinson quote: "People that throw out trash while driving are
trash..."

"farmer"

Francis Robinson
Central Indiana, USA
robinson at svs.net

-----Original Message-----

I thought the same ,but lately I havent had time to read much so I even
checked the deleted folder .
 I took Tool & Die at Vo Tech for two years . Went to the Navy after
graduation, took their schooling and turned down an instructor position .
Served on two tenders before getting out .  Atlantic Richfield snached me up
till they sold out . Got married and wife was working and I wasnt so moved .
No machinists jobs around but the trailer plant took me because I knew how
to bend sheetmetal .   I miss the shop, got my own but not nearly enough
tooling to do a lot .  Being in the navy on a tender where you had a full
foundry, weld shop ,machine shop & so on ,if I'd of been into tractors then
I would've had some really nice restorations.
   But what was the tractor connection on the orignal thread ?    Ivan







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