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Portland OR. Shop needed for a Make a Wish

Richard King

Diamond
Joined
Jul 12, 2005
Location
Cottage Grove, MN 55016
I have been asked to teach a young man how to scrape and rebuild ways thru Make a Wish. The student is 16 and lives in SE Portland, OR. We thought we had a shop to do the class, but it turns out it is a work shop and not a machine shop.
I told Make a Wish we needed a Granite Surface plate and the work shop has granite topped work benches that you know would not work.

The class is scheduled for Fri, Sat and Sun August 14 - 16. from 8 AM to 5:00 or so. Dapra and Glendo are donating some tools for a lower price and I will be donating my time as a gift.

If you can to host I will teach you to scrape too as part of the gift.

I talked to Columbia Steel where we did a class last spring but they have 2 issues, They would have to wave their rules about no one under 18 can come on the site and they are not open on weekends. The best bet would be a small Machine shop that can be open for the weekend class. If that can't happen I would do a weekday class.
Please call me ASAP if you can help or email and I will forward your name to Make a Wish and they will contact you. 651-338-8141 & [email protected]

We need a machine shop with a lathe or mill to demo on plus a well lit work area with work bench, vise and 18 x 24 or bigger Grade A Granite surface plate. If needed Make a Wish will buy a Granite plate too.

Thanks and I hope you can help. Rich

PS: Don or Charles I put this in General because I figure more Machine shop owners read this forum. Thanks!
 
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A 16 year old has learning to scrape a machine surface flat on his "bucket list". I guess there is hope that machine work will be carried on by the next generation. Good luck to the young man and good luck and god bless you for the efforts you make to keep the old hand skills alive, literally, alive.
Bill D.
PS: I hope my last sentence is not offensive I mean it in a 100% positive way just not sure if it came out right. Feel free to delete it if it seems wrong.
 
A 16yr old whose only wish is to learn to scrape sounds like a really interesting guy, have you reached out to Brian at Versamil yet? I know he is somewhere up that away and his shop sounds like it should be heaven for a kid like that. By the way can you post a bit more on the kids story here? I wonder how scraping came up as his one wish?
 
Richard, I don't think I can be of any help to you, being that I'm on the wrong coast, other than to offer my best wishes and prayers that all works out well for this young man and your endeavor to grant his wish. I think this is a fine thing you are doing for a great cause and I'm sure someone with a shop in the area will be glad to help out.
 
We had one very generous guy volunteer.
Ken Brown
CEO
Applied Motion Systems, Inc.
12000 NE 60th Way
Vancouver, WA 98682

I forwarded his email to Make a Wish, so they will contact him. The young man reads PM so I am sure he is getting pretty excited.

It will work for me...Make a wish said the student lives near Oregon City, which looks like it is about 30 min from Kens shop . Thanks everyone. When I hear more I'll let you know.
Thanks Ken and everyone else for your wishes and support. Rich
 
the student lives near Oregon City, which looks like it is about 30 min from Kens shop .
The map is very deceptive, Richard. To get from Oregon City to Vancouver, you've got to cross your choice from two of the most heavily congested bridges on the entire West Coast (I-5 or I-205 across the Columbia River), and the shorter route goes right through downtown Portland. You might be able to do it in 30 minutes at 2:00 in the morning, but during rush hour it could take well over twice that long without (someone else's) accident along the route, or three times that long with accident. I have spent more than 30 minutes just trying to get over the river on I-5 on a weekend...

Just saying, allow for lots of time. And if the student's transport is local, they'll know all about this.
 
I'm in Oregon City. Would be thrilled to host if wanted. If he wants a tour of Brian's shop I could probably set that up too.
 
Motion Guru is a great guy, I would really like to see his shop. Glad things worked out, some how I knew it would.
 
Thanks Garwood, I am sure parents would prefer to drive 10 minutes compared to 1 hour each way. Please email me and I'll forward it on. I'm sure Ken would understand. The young man has a heart condition and the lesser the stress the better...for me too..lol....Rich

I will be donating a HKA-18" Sraight-edge, Dapra is donating a hand, power scraper, blade kit and Glendo is Donating (or lowered the price alot) a Accu-finish 1 with wheels. So he should be all set. If someone is feeling generous...he could use a 1/2 moon scraper too. PM me or email and I'll set you up with MAW. I would put the case workers name here, but I think she would prefer to keep it private for now. Rich

PS: Thanks Stu...i would have never known. I do recall during the class the bridge by Columbia was always plugged up. Rich
 
Our shop is oddly enough 1 minute from I205 with 3 right turns from the exit and no traffic lights. We are a reverse commute from Oregon City and depending on where the lad lives it could be 30-40 minutes on Friday morning . . . Saturday and Sunday would be a breeze. It's a straight shot that skirts downtown altogether.

If Garwood can accommodate and lower the burden on folks, I'd be happy to help. If he needs a granite surface, I can have ours delivered.

We have family friends whose son is also a benefactor of Make a Wish and Saint Jude's Hospital undergoing treatment for melanoma at the ripe old age of 5. We are only too happy to pay it forward.
 
Richard I recently moved from Tigard, OR about 15-30m from Oregon city, no bridges (unless you want to go over Sellwood bridge :eek:). But where I worked also in Tigard, recently closed, I believe they still have equipment and are looking at a series of auctions, but definately have or had the equipment you could use and I doubt the owner has sold the property in less than a month and half. Big shop, QC, Toolroom and office. The owner is a personal friend of mine so if I can help with contact info or whatever PM me, I would like to help if needs be, but if your set-up with Garwood go for it.

Good on ya bro, Robert my ±2
 
Rich, email sent with my contact information. If I can assist in any way don't hesitate to call.

Ken, I have the granite covered if they want to do it here. Vancouver is usually 25-40 minutes for me depending on traffic. We're a few minutes from the top of the hill in Oregon City.

Thanks!
 
Thanks everyone...it might be fun for the young man to meet you all and have some local back up if he needs it. Maybe we can all meet up over at Garwood's shop and have a coke. Also my classes are set up for more and if you want to stop in for a few lessons or watch or help all gratus.....I would be honored to meet you and shake every ones hand. I have forwarded Garwood's info to MAW...the others can write me,,,or PM and I will send it to them too. Good night. Rich
 
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I just got a phone call from Make a Wish and they have talked to Garwood and he is the man. They said his shop is 4 miles from the students home. Also they will be taking some pictures that we can post here and in the local newspaper. MAW wants to thank everyone. Rich
 
I just received a call from Make a Wish and they said they would prefer it be a private class of the Student, his Dad and Garwood. Sorry I sort of jumped the gun on inviting some local mentors to come and watch and meet the young man. MAW is going to send a thank you letter to me to post here next week. After the class, they will send out a press release and photo's we can post here too. Rich
 
Make a wish asked me to post this here. Hunter's wish doesn't include a Biax Power 1/2 moon flaker, so if you have one your not using or some old straight-edges, etc. see below. Rich
____________________________________________

If you are interested in contributing tools to Hunter’s wish, please contact Parvaneh Givi at Make-A-Wish Oregon by phone or email: 503-802-7338 or [email protected]. If you’d like to donate money to Make-A-Wish Oregon to help make other wishes come true for children like Hunter, you can send checks to:

Make-A-Wish Oregon
2000 SW 1st Ave., Ste. 410
Portland, OR 97201

Or you can donate online at: https://secure2.wish.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=donate&chid=005-000

PS: Hunter shoot me a PM or Email please
 
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