How did you learn the Machinist trade?

[widgitmaster]

How did you learn the Machinist trade?

[lakeside]

CETA Training program though Mas Dep. of Employment and Training 1981 Quincy,Mass. 6 month Then on to first job as tool and cutter grinder $4.20/hour

[WhiteTiger]

Books and hands on. Had a bit of an early advantage though as I was being paid by John Bean May & Barret to install and maintain automotive alignment, brake and engine machinery when I was still in school. (long story, not worth the telling)

First actual machine tool exposure was right after high school, running lathes and mills finishing and tuning cast rolls for the printing industry. Just kinda growed from there


Tiger

[Geof]

Traditional apprentice program which was actually a contract between the company that I was indentured to and my father. The apprenticeship term was 10,000 hours and for the first three years included one day every two weeks attendance at technical school and two nights a week night school. Because I lived in the country I did correspondence schooling instead of night school. I started a few months after my 16th birthday and because I completed all my exams with acceptable marks I had the term reduced to 8,000 hours. My papers for Completion of Apprenticeship and my New Zealand Trade Certificate as a Fitter, Turner and Toolmaker were dated on my 21st birthday.

I don't think these kind of apprenticeships are at all common now, anywhere.

The interesting thing is that two years later I moved to Canada and in the first job I got there I finished up supervising apprentices 5 years older than me.

[cadfish]

Working on getting a call from the owner and hoping I will get my very first machine shop job, washing cars gets tiring after a while, 3 years.

[brownandsharp]

NTMA,
8 months pre-employement training. then they sent me to work @ $8 an hour, employer sent me back to NTMA for cnc programming 1 & 2, then I went back for mastercam 1 & 2.
now I make 3 times that.
Thanks NTMA.

[sdantonio]

How did you learn the Machinist trade?

I think "did" is the wrong word in my case.

I would say, still learning and have a long way to go.

The woods are long and dark and deep,
and I have miles to go before I sleep.

[Flatline's Up!]

reading books and breaking things...

still doing a lot of both after these few years

[2muchstuff]

To start, high school metalshop, after that bought a lathe then trial and error.

[mxtras]

For me it was two almost worthless years of community "college" then 14 years at an Austrian machine building company - first as a tool and cutter grinder, then a machinist, then machine assembly and finally Engineering.

Lots of broken cutters, scrap parts and many years later, I am still playing.

Scott

[vacpress]

I wouldnt even begin to claim being part of the machinst 'trade', however I think like most peiople here it was a lfielong interest in mechanics, robotics, electronics, etc.

The real catalyst was building music equipment when I was a teenager, this required me to get a bandsaw and drill press to fabricate the complex analog circuits and faceplates... However, I have always been obsessed with robotics, and when I realized I could build usefull robots(almsot 3 years ago now) I was immediately obsessed.

The other catalyst has to be Industrial design school. I didnt learn a huge amount from the instructors, but the environment was invaluable to a self-starter like myself. Seriousely, want to learn alot of practical skills? Goto any school that has a shop you can access. Beleive me, the community college shop may be much better than you think!

Robert

[widgitmaster]

It's amazing how many "Self Taught" machinists there are !

Eric