GOOD DIGITAL CALIPERS

smokeywolf

Well-Known Member
I suspect it's pretty hard to find good apprenticeship programs these days. I was lucky enough to step into a state sponsored engineering/machinist apprenticeship program when I left law enforcement in the latter half of my 20s.
 

RicinYakima

High Steppes of Eastern Washington
EDIT: Pure electronics sort of fizzled in the way of careers, but electrical controls in general still has a very high demand. I've got people bugging me all the time - can't find enough people. It pays well. Most of the apprentices I get already make more than I do teaching and once they finish the apprenticeship or graduate, they'll make doiuble what I do.
From 1976 thru 1984 he traveled all over the world converting mechanical system to electronic systems; foundries, mills, shops and many more. It truly was the second industrial revoluation.
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
From 1976 thru 1984 he traveled all over the world converting mechanical system to electronic systems; foundries, mills, shops and many more. It truly was the second industrial revoluation.

Surely it was.

What has happened since is that no one bothers troubleshooting at the board level these days. If it is determined that something with a printed circuit board is at fault, swap the component or the board and get the line back up. Downtime cost several tens of thousands of dollars per minute, even in small companies today and a $5k electronic device is peanuts in comparison. Now, all the electronics are made somewhere else, by someone else (actually by machines), so the cost of the electronics components is down compared to when automation started taking over. Even the $30 to $40/hour paid to the electrician is peanuts - it's the "hour" of don-time that carries the big cost.

Makes it sound like it's become a "parts-changer" job, but so much is so automated now that other skills in integration have become more valuable, such as understanding how each electronic device "talks to" the next. Networking everything has become huge now, so designing and troubleshooting a board has been supplanted by comprehending large, complicated systems.

Today, an industrial automation tech who also knows networking would be who your brother was during his era.
 

Jeff H

NW Ohio
My brother, now in his late 60's, works for Crown Forklift in NW Ohio, rebuilding circuit boards because they can not get them from China. He is doing well.
There's some irony!

We've let this chip shortage" bite us in the butt, big time, but someone is making something out of it.

In '95, I got a call on a Sunday, wanting me to come in and solve a problem on a machine which was the bottleneck of the whole plant and process. NOTHING could be made without this machine.

It was an hour each way and I was on salary. All I could do is tell them what was wrong, so after a line of questioning, I determined that some knucklehead power-washed a pressure transducer, which likely cause a short on the board. I told them "call Bob." "Bob" was one of my maintenance mechanics who ran a side business repairing old VCRs worth repairing and could solder. I told them to take the part to his house, be nice, wait without complaining and kiss his butt big-time.

The question of "overtime" came up and I had to ask - "When the plant starts at 6:00 AM, how much money will we lose with in the 24 hours it will take to get a new part over-nighted?" "Bob" found the open trace cause by the short and soldered a little piece of wire across it. Back in business! I'm not sure what they worked out with "Bob" in terms of compensation, but I made sure they fully grasped the VALUE in that guy being on the payroll and available should something this stupid happen again. He thanked me Monday, so I gathered they made it worth his while.

If you don't mind, I'd like to use your story (no names) in class to underscore the importance of really knowing what t he hell you're doing and not just falling back on paper credentials. I will likely get caught and fired some day, but I put a lot of emphasis on KNOWING your stuff, taking initiative and taking responsibility - developing VALUE in yourself so you're the one who gets hired and is the last to get laid off. "Old guys," like your brother are the kind of inspiration "young guys*" need and should aspire to equal.

*"Girls" included, but they agree to being "guys" for such purposes and usually need much less heckling and cajoling to get their acts together.

Sorry. That was long, but dangit, OLD GUYS ROCK and young guys NEED the positive influence.
 

Winelover

North Central Arkansas
In HS, I took the college prep curriculum. However, also took drafting, double period for most of the afternoon. Had a very good teacher...........Mr. Danielson. Still can remember his name after 50+ years. Also had an affinity for mathematics. I did go to college and graduate with BS. I never did use my degree. However, both of those subjects didn't hurt my career choice as a union pipefitter for 36 years. BTW, I retired at 58 years old with good pension with full benefits. I'll be turning 72 tomorrow.
 

L Ross

Well-Known Member
My house has 5 different additions [not done by me]. The south side of the house is part of the original square hip roof Farm house, I think it was moved here. The title indicates it was built [or moved to this lot] in 1920. There is fake slate type siding over 4" cedar lap siding. I believe the style of the fake slate siding was used in 50s and early 60s.
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ANYWAY, to the point, I think the house had shifted when it was moved...or more likely, the movers didn't get the footings right, cuz the whole south side has a lean to it...is NOT plumb. When the slate siding was installed [I assume about 70 yrs ago], that whole south side wasn't plumb, There are 5 windows on the south side and you can see how the siding installers had to cut wedge shaped pieces around the windows...30" wide windows and judging by the siding, one side is about 1/2" higher than the other side. When I installed some alum combination storms, those windows were tricky, the rest of the house was fine.
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btw, the east and west side seem close enough to plumb, at least to this Swede's eyes. The north side doesn't have any windows, due to the multiple additions on that side...so there is no noticeable lean. It's kind of weird to only have one side of a square house with a lean to it, LOL.
Grew up in an old farm house built in 1863 that had been moved at least three times before Mom and Dad took out a land contract on it and the barn, and 10 acres they sat on for 4k in 1960. The last time it was moved someone got the field stone and mortar basement foundation wrong and the house was a little bit bigger than the basement. Then there was an addition put on with out a basement under it. The whole darned house moved seasonally. The chimney sat still in Winter but the house heaved up and down around it. The chimney was unsafe to use as a result. No insulation unless you count the hundreds of pounds of honey comb, bees wax, and honey in the walls of the East side second floor. Nothing was square or level in that dump. My brother and I used to roll checkers across the dining room linoleum floor as targets for two stainless ball bearings rolled down an inverted piece of door sill as a make shift double barrel. Mom and Dad sold it in 78. It burned shortly thereafter. I think the new owners may have......celebrated the conflagration. I almost miss the old place.
Oh I almost forgot. Ever seen a stringer of live walleyes in the sump pump pit in your basement? My Dad and Uncle Elmer would fish all night during the run. They had a little shanty on the river they could nap in. At dawn they'd head back to our place, put the night's catch in the flooding basement and go to work. They'd clean the walleyes when they got home and before heading back to the River. You could watch the ground water weeping through the basement walls and floor in the Spring.
 

JonB

Halcyon member
SNIP>>>

Oh I almost forgot. Ever seen a stringer of live walleyes in the sump pump pit in your basement? My Dad and Uncle Elmer would fish all night during the run. They had a little shanty on the river they could nap in. At dawn they'd head back to our place, put the night's catch in the flooding basement and go to work. They'd clean the walleyes when they got home and before heading back to the River. You could watch the ground water weeping through the basement walls and floor in the Spring.
I don't have a basement, the house has crawl space. But there are two dugout cellars. The foundation is partly fieldstone in combination with about every type of block that was available 100 years ago. I suspect the original owner was as much of a scrounger as I am, LOL.