Cleaning up the shop

This is what Ive spent the last couple days doing..then it flooded. Shrug. Only a couple inches deep though as it passed through

Before...

formatting link
After...errr..during

formatting link
Going back out in just a few minutes. There is slightly more than 1' of water on the other side of that roll up door at the moment. I tarped the bottom of it Monday..back filled with dirt. and its holding ok. Tommorow I fire up one of the 1 1/2" pumps Ive got and empty the end of the drive way. We have lots and lots more rain coming.

Since they closed the Grapevine (snow)..I cant get down to LA..so...time to get stuff done.

Gunner

The current Democratic party has lost its ideological basis for existence.

- It is NOT fiscally responsible.

- It is NOT ethically honorable.

- It has started wars based on lies.

- It does not support the well-being of americans - only billionaires.

- It has suppresed constitutional guaranteed liberties.

- It has foisted a liar as president upon America.

- It has violated US national sovereignty in trade treaties.

- It has refused to enforce the national borders.

...It no longer has valid reasons to exist. Lorad474

Reply to
Gunner Asch
Loading thread data ...

What a dump!

formatting link

Reply to
Beryl

Ayup..sure was. Id taken in a BUNCH of stuff from a factory Id shut down and was selling and giving as much stuff away as I could, as fast as I could. Got it cleaned up pretty good too!.

Then I closed down ANOTHER factory...sigh..and it looks almost as bad..though not quite.

Gunner

Reply to
Gunner Asch

Arrghhh! This is not to be tolerated - he left a chisel leaning on the cutting edge! I just hope it's not on metal or concrete. Not so bad if it is resting on wood.

formatting link

B-) I know "can't remember everything." Blame it on the stroke.

- pyotr filipivich We will drink no whiskey before its nine. It's eight fifty eight. Close enough!

Reply to
pyotr filipivich

You gotta quit closing down them factories -you haven't got enough room.

I blame global warming.

- pyotr filipivich We will drink no whiskey before its nine. It's eight fifty eight. Close enough!

Reply to
pyotr filipivich

Yeegads! You are correct! Ill remedy it immediately!

Rush!! Zoom! Slam! griblegriblegribleglot! Slam! stompstompstomp

Whew! Thanks dude! I almost lost the edge on that thing!

Well done Sir..well done indeed!!!

Gunner

Reply to
Gunner Asch

Frankly,,...you are absolutely correct. Unfortunately...I got a shitload of that stuff in lue of pay. They didnt have enough money to pay a crew..so they coughed up some cash for me..and gave me bunch of shit they had that I thought I could make some money on.

Anyone need a complete 15-18" tool post grinder? Dumore, with all tha accessories in the case. Great! Condition.

Probably gonna put it on ebay one of these days. Sigh.

All those 8' florescent fixtures Ive been putting up..and the 5 cases of

4' and 8' brand new tubes...have come in handy... Well..about half of them have...sigh....welding machines, etc etc etc.

When the people living in California dont have any money..they cant buy Stuff from me. They cant give me money..I cant pay all the bills on time. Sucks.

Local jobs..about $9 an hour. Right. Might work for a young single guy...but aint gonna do me much good.

Gunner

Reply to
Gunner Asch

Looks pretty organized to me.

What is that on monitors on picture 17?

Reply to
Ignoramus18274

So, YOU'RE the one who's been closing down all the factories! Do you know a guy they call Dubya?

IT'S A GODDAM CONSPIRACY, I TELL YA.

Steve

Reply to
Steve B

=============== While anecdotal "evidence," it is all we are likely to get.

The media has made it clear that California has serious socio-economic problems, but postings such as this indicate that their troubles go far deeper and are more serious than commonly reported. One of the major symptoms of a "sick" economy is a significant shift of economic activity to the underground/unofficial sector. A klaxon horn goes off when even the underground/unofficial economy begins to change from cash to barter transactions.

We now appear to be in the first stages of such a change [thanks for the "heads up" Gunner].

FWIW -- it should be noted that once a plant is liquidated, the employees are dispersed, the tools and machines sold, and the building/land converted to other uses, those jobs and manufacturing capabilities "ain't comin' back," no matter how much "stimulus" money is spent. This is a one-way street, short of total reconstruction/re-creation, and even then the trained/experienced manpower will not be available. An example of this was the severe shortage of "rough necks"/"floor workers" during the last U. S. oil boomlet a few years ago.

Unka George (George McDuffee) .............................. The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. L. P. Hartley (1895-1972), British author. The Go-Between, Prologue (1953).

Reply to
F. George McDuffee

Dirt? Those are monitors Ive not had the time to test yet. They came out of one of the factories and I dont have a clue if they work or not. I think they do..but..shrug.

If they do, Ill give them away to people who need em.

Ive given hummm..probably 25 computers complete, away in the last 6 months, after wiping them and installing a modified Windows. Not a lot of money locally..and folks can always use computers for free.

Shrug.

Reply to
Gunner Asch

He retired over a year ago. There is a new guy in charge these days...Barney or Barry or something or other. Doesnt have a clue what he is doing either.

Gunner

Reply to
Gunner Asch

What I see proves a point of failure in this country. That s*1t your taking in from these "shops" closing is indicative of what a shop should NOT have to be globally or even regionally competitive. You can't deliver on time if your equipment is outdated and slow compared to your competitors. If I hear that same stupid ass phrase again,"it takes a good machinist to do good work on these machines", I'll puke. They close their doors and blame it on everyone else.

First point: The shop I left does very high end work on old beat up machines. It takes twice as long as the next competitor. Work was not getting done on time. Deadlines slipped. There were layoffs as the customers reduced their exposure to them. The competitor is now working double shifts and has several new machines coming on line. That competitor has had the same customers.

Another telling point: Ever notice why all the new high end tools are metric? That's because in Europe they know the value of the tools required to complete a job on time. They have driven machine tool design for years now. All the best inserts and holders are designed and manufactured overseas. There is a higher demand for efficient tools there. Apparently not here because of our love affair with old crappy inefficient machinery.

Last point: My software has some very efficient tool paths available if you have the right machines. Less than 50% of the shops I've seen (that's what I've seen) have the capacity to run (or even know about) such paths. They stick with the old tried and true slower but deep cutting. It's a disease.

-- Bill

Reply to
BillT

George....California claims to have +10% unemployment.

The fact of the matter is that its well over double that. Most places its at least ..at least 16%. Someplaces..the Salinus (sp?) Valley..its almost 50%. Hell..even the wetbacks are packing up and going south, back to Mexico. I see them headed south whenever Im down in LA/Santa Ana etc etc.

A good indicator of the trouble we are in..is normal everyday traffic on the So. Cal freeways. It used to take me 1.5 hours to drive from Ontario down to Costa Mesa..and during the 4:45-7:30pm rush/crush..up to

3 hours.

Now it takes me 45 minutes to make the 45 mile trip. During the evening crush...it takes 1-1.25 hours.

That means there is a significant amount LESS traffic on the roadways. And that means a significant amount of people simply have no reason to be on those freeways. In California..its common as hell to work 50 miles away from ones home..and drive it twice a day.

Even truck traffic is way down. Ive been doing this for over 12 yrs, and have a good feel for traffic ...and it appears to be at least 1/3 smaller than Ive ever seen it.

Last report I read...Michigan was #1, and California was #3 on the worst hit states of the Great Depression Part Deux.

California, once a state that had the 7th largest economy in the world. Is now down around 25th or even lower.

Thats why I dont bother leaving the homestead unless I can get at minumum 2 jobs lined up. I simply cannot affort to drive the 140 miles down to LA, and then return. Hell..last two weeks I spend down there, because not one of my customers paid me COD and had to wait for one of them to cut me a check so I could get enough fuel to drive back north. I have my travel trailer parked on a friends property, so it doesnt cost anything to stay there but there is no water, sewage and damned little electricity. And without money..there is no food either. My dogs get to eat before I do. Fortunately Ive got the homestead pretty well stocked food wise..but when down in So. Cal....shrug

And I dont see it getting any better either. As long as the media is leftwing controlled..we are not going to see whats actually happening. They are going to water it down and "prevent panic"

Shrug

We do indeed live in interesting times.

Gunner

The current Democratic party has lost its ideological basis for existence.

- It is NOT fiscally responsible.

- It is NOT ethically honorable.

- It has started wars based on lies.

- It does not support the well-being of americans - only billionaires.

- It has suppresed constitutional guaranteed liberties.

- It has foisted a liar as president upon America.

- It has violated US national sovereignty in trade treaties.

- It has refused to enforce the national borders.

...It no longer has valid reasons to exist. Lorad474

Reply to
Gunner Asch

================ Seems like a "no brainer" to install traffic counters on "strategic" routes such as the major interstates to monitor traffic flow, as a reliable real-time indicator of economic activity, which is why it was/is apparently never done. A second indicator would be consumption data for electrical power.

Unka George (George McDuffee) .............................. The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. L. P. Hartley (1895-1972), British author. The Go-Between, Prologue (1953).

Reply to
F. George McDuffee

CHP used to have real time traffic flow information that the public could view on line George. I don't know if they do today or not but they know exactly what is happening because the regulate the inflow of traffic to the freeway system dynamically.

Reply to
John R. Carroll

formatting link
Sheesh

Reply to
John R. Carroll

F. George McDuffee wrote: ===============

Yes indeed, it's the free market at work and you have to love it. The irony is that for years I heard nothing from the right wing but how great the free market is and how capitalism is the greatest system in the world. Yeah, it is when your country has economic domination of the world. But now as China is passing Japan as the world's number two economy and is growing at 10% the U.S. is losing it's preeminent economic position. As our economic position declines and as other countries rise and pass us up it creates a vicious cycle in this country. The examples of these factories closing and people being put out of work are more and more common. As the workers struggle to find replacement jobs they only find worse and lower paying jobs. This trend sends the entire population in a downward spiral with the living standards going too. But that is just how the free market works. Somebody has to lose. Whenever a new country takes over the lead in economic activity the former leader declines. Sometimes the decline is severe and sometimes it's permanent with the former economic powerhouse being turned into a poor country. That's what is happening to us. We're declining. It's easy to see and to measure. That's how the free market works though, right? There are a few winners and a lot of losers. It was great when we were the economic winners. It's not so fun anymore when we're losing is it? But that is what you have to accept in a free market. Most players lose just like in Vegas. As long as we're sticking with the free market we better start getting used to it. Maybe it'll turn around in time for your children or grandchildren to see things improve. Maybe not though.

Hawke

Reply to
Hawke

Yeah, he's nothing like the other guy we had before. Praise Allah.

Hawke

Reply to
Hawke

=========== Unfortunately the data provided on these URLs seems to be the "average speed" of traffic rather than actual vehicle counts. However the average speed as a proxy for traffic density appears to be able to give some insight *IF* the historical data is available going back say 5 years, with fixed times or time periods, e.g 8AM, 9AM, 10AM to noon, 4PM, etc. for specific fixed locations to allow examination of the trends and to establish the [possible] correlation with employment and other economic activity measures such as GDSP [gross domestic state product].

I have submitted a request for the historical data to CalTrans. I will keep the group updated on any progress/results.

Unka George (George McDuffee) .............................. The past is a foreign country; they do things differently there. L. P. Hartley (1895-1972), British author. The Go-Between, Prologue (1953).

Reply to
F. George McDuffee

PolyTech Forum website is not affiliated with any of the manufacturers or service providers discussed here. All logos and trade names are the property of their respective owners.