lumberjack_jeff
Plastic
- Joined
- Aug 10, 2006
- Location
- Montesano, WA
Long time lurker, first time poster!
At risk of providing too much personal info, I'm 44 and after a stint in the high-tech world, I now have the opportunity(?) to choose a career which better suits me.
I'm finishing up our new house. Once this is done, I'd like to go into business.
Strengths: math, engineering, curiosity.
Weaknesses: sales, machining experience, back.
I'm pretty handy, the family calls me "mr fix-it". I worked for 18 years in mechanical engineering (I'm not a degreed engineer but I can read prints well, I know geometric tolerancing, for instance and I have written g-code for a pump impeller cut on a toyoda mill - in notepad!). Except for the unpleasant working conditions of the manufacturing facility (no heat - brr), I always envied the machinists.
I now have three sons, the youngest of which has high-function Autism. I realize that the work world is going to be tough for them so I'd like to establish a business/trade they can grow into.
I have a 36 x 36 shop here at my house in Western Washington, it would be well-suited to setting up a small machine shop. I see three potential paths to get where I want to go;
1) take some community-college classes on the topic
2) spend some time working as a chip-sweeper for someone else hoping for an opportunity to learn.
3) buy some tools (I covet a monarch 10ee and a bridgeport series cnc 1 mill) and hope to teach myself the trade while making enough money to cover the cost of parts broken out of ignorance.
As I see it now, the biggest hurdle will be my skill level. I don't have the cash to buy a shop full of new tools, but I do think I have the cash to get a core set of useable equipment and build from there.
What do you think? My wife is the bookkeeper for a little machine shop, and it's likely that I could get a job there if I were to ask, but I'm unsure how much of an opportunity I'd get to learn what I need to know.
TIA
At risk of providing too much personal info, I'm 44 and after a stint in the high-tech world, I now have the opportunity(?) to choose a career which better suits me.
I'm finishing up our new house. Once this is done, I'd like to go into business.
Strengths: math, engineering, curiosity.
Weaknesses: sales, machining experience, back.
I'm pretty handy, the family calls me "mr fix-it". I worked for 18 years in mechanical engineering (I'm not a degreed engineer but I can read prints well, I know geometric tolerancing, for instance and I have written g-code for a pump impeller cut on a toyoda mill - in notepad!). Except for the unpleasant working conditions of the manufacturing facility (no heat - brr), I always envied the machinists.
I now have three sons, the youngest of which has high-function Autism. I realize that the work world is going to be tough for them so I'd like to establish a business/trade they can grow into.
I have a 36 x 36 shop here at my house in Western Washington, it would be well-suited to setting up a small machine shop. I see three potential paths to get where I want to go;
1) take some community-college classes on the topic
2) spend some time working as a chip-sweeper for someone else hoping for an opportunity to learn.
3) buy some tools (I covet a monarch 10ee and a bridgeport series cnc 1 mill) and hope to teach myself the trade while making enough money to cover the cost of parts broken out of ignorance.
As I see it now, the biggest hurdle will be my skill level. I don't have the cash to buy a shop full of new tools, but I do think I have the cash to get a core set of useable equipment and build from there.
What do you think? My wife is the bookkeeper for a little machine shop, and it's likely that I could get a job there if I were to ask, but I'm unsure how much of an opportunity I'd get to learn what I need to know.
TIA