School Metalshop Closing

Michael,

Im wondering, did you get your start in High School ???

Even back when I was in school a few decades ago, the machines as well as the instructor's knowlege of current methods was woefully out of date

I later fell into the trade, mainly by accident..........Low and behold, a whole new world I had never even imagined was out there, hydraulic tracer mills, tape controlled machinery and all that...........

The loss at the high school level is hardly a cause for concern, IMO........but when it carries over into the trade school / community college arena, I do begin to worry some.

To find work in a maintenance environment instead of a manufacturing one. I see large amounts of machining done in powerhouses for example. And I'm pretty sure no one is going to ship a hundred ton pickle to India during turbine overhaul.

JTMcC.

When my oldest balked at taking the recomended computer classes in H.S. the counselor told him "All jobs will require you to be able to use a computer by the year 2001". He asked the counselor "What if I want to be a welder like my Dad?" The councilor says "Someday you may want to own the company, and you can't do that without computer skills" and the boy says "My Dad does own the company and he doesn't even own a computer". They made him take the class anyway. . Guidance councilors should be required to have a small amount of knowledge outside the academic setting. My son's councilor looked down on those of us out in the sunshine, working with our hands, and was funneling kids into IT with a veangence. On a similar note my daughter tells me that the interest in the welding classes at the H.S. are much more popular than a few years ago. And I read that the local community college is getting new equipment and expanding the welding department.

JTMcC.

In that statement resides one of the unspoken Great Truths of our modern educational system, IMHO. Those in the system are academics, and truly do not value those who would pursue other paths.

Henry Bibb

Howdy Sam,

I did have a regular skate through my senior year. Wood shop, metal shop, drafting, PE, US gov, and art. I was out of HS just over 2 years and went to visit a friend one day, when he opened the door he asked if I was looking for a job. 2 days later, 10 August 70, I was gainfully employed at a mom/pop shop making $2 per hour. In retrospect I would say the limited shop experience in HS was not a big factor at all. The drafting class probably has helped me the most as far as knowledge gained and used. I have a couple friends that grew up very near where I did, just a few miles apart. We all live 150 road miles from there and did not know one another before moving to current area. One of them is a precision sheet metal man as well as a very competant TIG weldor, the other is a repair and fabrication weldor. Both are self employed, and both had gone to the vocational school which I would have attended if I had taken that route.

So, not so much myself, but those two certainly benefited from the high school instruction. It was a kick when they met the first time at my place, old home week. {;o)

mike

Sam,

Did I ever ask you if you know what a Shake Table is? I used one at that first shop and have not found anyone who knows about them. Imagine a human powered tracer.

mj

You can't even get into welding classes around here the last I checked. Was going to give my brother a birthday present of the tuition for the class & go along with him. The classes are apparently always full within days of registration opening up.

As annoying as being forced to take a computer class is, at least he'll get to mess with the equipment. I took vocational classes all through high school, and we were never allowed to touch the machinery- except for one carpentry class where we were allowed to use the bandsaw and planer and some scraps of wood. I recall various big wood lathes gathering dust, all sorts of saws and a storeroom full of lumber. Couldn't touch a bit of it.

I got far more hands-on time in auto shop- its very satisfying to get your high-school rust bucket up on the lift and really fix it rather than fooling around with floor jacks and 4x4's in your muddy driveway. The back seat of a car up on the lift is also a nice spot for a little nap... :)

Gregm

Ha ha. If they did that, the best joke in all in schools would disappear.

"If you're so good at picking careers, how did you wind up

This is a perpetual, perenial howler. Guidance councilors have to do their dance, but practically nobody ever listens to them. You just smile and nod....

Jim

================================================== please reply to: JRR(zero) at yktvmv (dot) vnet (dot) ibm (dot) com ==================================================

How did they wind up making $100,000+ a year with the summer off? Was it that bad a choice?

Hi, Michael.

We never called em "Shake Tables", but Im pretty sure I know exactly what it is you are referring to.

Yeah--we had a few Morey profilers worked that way--these were excellent tools to retrofit to hydraulic tracer operation.

There were two basic types, both were double column vertical spindle machines, IIRC.

One had a rotary table and an x axis slide only--and a single spindle..........

The other type, which we commonly retrofitted to hydraulic operation, had an X table and twin spindles ( R8 ) on the upper cross rail for a Y axis--these we fitted up with Wilson or Rosebrook tracer valves as soon as we could procure the hardware to do so.

The basic machine design of these was similar to some of the Pratt & Whitney and Devlieg jig borers.

See :

Some old timers might remember the hand cranked horizonal milling machines made by the Keller company, though I have never personally seen one--except as a picture in an old book I have kicking around here someplace, circa 1924 or so, where the operator is milling a die for a Ford Model A fender or door or somesuch, by duplication of what presumably is a hardwood pattern.......Keeping the probe as close to the pattern as possible, without touching it--by hand cranking.......

Morey was the only hand-cranked profiler I ever ran, the rest being converted to hydraulic operation before I ever set my hands upon them.

Most of the tracer mills we used when I was employed at aerospace job shops in the late 70's / early 80's were quite large machines, and averaged about six milling spindles in tandem, 50 taper........the most common was likely made by the H&H Wilson Co., although it was also quite common to convert old planers to tracer mill service.

Another fairly common tracer that was factory made was the Cincinnati Hydrotel........generally these had at least 3 spindles, though Ive seen at least one of them converted to have 12

We often called them "Profilers"........some were even converted to have a tilting template stage and worktables, and were capable of doing fairly precise 4 axis work, typically on large aircraft parts, such as landing gear beams and that sort of item.........

During the mid 80's, the converted planers gradually disapeared from the scene, while the larger Wilson machines were often converted to cnc operation, before largely disapearing from the landscape themselves in the early 90's.......and thus signaling the end of an era.

Interestingly enough, there is scant referance to any of these machines on the net--even though Im sure there are lots of us who spent many years operating them.........

Anyways, I apologize if Ive bored anyone to tears with this somewhat long post--I guess I just figure if nobody else writes about it, a whole era of metalworking history might even run the risk of becoming entirely lost at some point.

Shoot, I used to write about them...but that was back in the '70s.

Ed Huntress

There is in Albuquerque. :-) ...lew...

Nope, doesn't sound like you saw the thingy I have in mind. It was a unit which would mount on Regular Bridgie or clone, etc. You could move it around in x/y by

I think Shake Table was the product name, maybe even mfgr name. I'll dig a little & see.

michael