1940s Vocational Guidance Film: The Machinist and Tool Maker - 1942 - CharlieDeanArchives

[@fredfarnackle5455]

Wow, that's a blast from the past! I wish I had seen something like this before I left school in UK, I had no idea what I wanted to do for a job. As luck had it a friend told me he was applying to become an apprentice in HM Naval Dockyard, Portsmouth UK, so I thought I'd give that a go. Passed the exam and started a 5 year apprenticeship as a fitter and turner in 1956. Best thing I ever did! I went on to become skilled in any type of machine and eventually as a toolmaker/senior toolroom technician. Then I joined the merchant navy as an engineer, sailed round the world, then moved into electronics and the early days of computers. I have never looked back, that apprenticeship gave me confidence to do anything. I'm 82 now and still machining things in my shed with a lathe and a milling machine that I converted to CNC. - and enjoying it!👍 Oh yeah, I fix computers too and anything that breaks around the house. Wouldn't be dead for quids!😎

[@jackgreen412]

Such a rewarding career!

[@flycorvus]

Good for you, Fred! Take care!

[@Barmaley80x]

Such job was my second job not in my speciality. But if you really Engineer, this is not problem and you always ready and open for learning. Engineer - it sounds quite cool.

[@christophercolumbus8944]

cool story bro

[@middlemanclayton1]

What are the odds your comment is at the top and the first one i read? I too have done an apprenticeship in HMNB portsmouth and still work there to this day as a CNC machinist, although I started my apprenticeship back in 2012 so I'd say you probably have a bit more experience than me XD Its strange to think theres even a small chance we may even know some of the same old hands that you worked alongside and that taught me as i came up. Good to hear you still have a passion for the trade so long after.

[@haroldcarpenter4702]

Let me add some insight to your video. I was a shop teacher for 25 years at 3 school districts. Each district layer me off and stated “ no one works with their hands anymore”. I started work at 14 and I am 80 now and am still working and have never been out of work. Maybe we still need people to work with their hands.

[@chasein7019]

I'm 68. I retired 2 years ago as a Software Engineer in a research lab. I worked there for over 40 years. We had a machine shop that made everything. All custom work for a new project. I loved it. Anything I wanted Ernie would make it for me. If I needed something made for a home project I would sit at my desk with random parts looking confused until Ernie walked by and he would say, WHAT NOW? Then he took my parts, threw them in the trash and went back to the shop and made it. Many times I would sit at his table in his shop and write in my lab book. Sometimes I would walk into his shop with my plastic caliper and make believe I was measuring his work. I didn't have a clue. Sitting at my desk trying to screw a 1" bolt into a 5/8" hole until he walked by and took all my stuff away. It was a game and funny.

[@djhaloeight]

damn right. we need to bring the jobs back to the US. although the kids now have no work ethic. if we fought wwii with the attitude kids have now we’d all be speaking german. 😤 i’ve been a union rolling mill operator for 16 years, and am proud to still work a blue collar manufacturing job. honest work, and the pay is good.

[@tgi3d881]

I am doing a CNC certification, but prefer manual. Plenty of people in the program hate getting dirty or even operating manual. I tend to like the older people learning because most tend to get their hands dirty to get the job done. While the younger ones don't get dirty and end up on their phone most of the time they act like they know more than me. But I always have to explain why something is not working or have to stop what I'm doing to go over and stop them from burning up a tool

[@montyzumazoom1337]

@@tgi3d881 When I trained a lad I always took them to a manual machine. Made them put a cutter in a milling machine and taught them to wind the machine by hand so they could feel what the tool was doing when cutting metal. I showed them the difference in high speed steel milling cutters, then hss ripping cutters, moving on to Ticn coated tools and solid carbide tools. Showed them the difference between upcutting and climb milling. Did a similar thing on the lathe with various tools and methods. You have to understand what the tool is doing, you can’t do that by solely learning from a book.

[@dennythomas8887]

The biggest mistake the US Department of Education (and bad ideas) ever made was doing away with the Industrial Arts Programs in our schools. Not everybody is cutout for collage and advanced education to work in "white collar" occupations. Regardless of how advanced we become, we are still gong to need Carpenters, Plumbers, Electricians, Repairman, Mechanics, and people that can work with their hands with a high degree of skill. I retired 2 years ago after 45 years as an Airframe and Power Plant mechanic (A & P) on Airliners. The last 10 or so years I was a mentor and trainer, teaching the new kids coming from (A & P)Trade School. Many of these kids had the basic skills obtained by helping "Dad" work on cars growing up, but quite a few had zero basic mechanical skills because nobody at home knew how to work on anything and there wasn't any type of Industrial Arts programs available in High School to learn the basics. I'm talking not having a grasp of basics like "lefty loosey righty tighty". If I handed them a nut and a bolt and said put these together, it was a real struggle. This in turn cost the Company a lot of extra money because these kids were supposed to work with me and learn the specifics of working on Airliners, but I had to spend (waste) an enormous amount of time teaching the basics of hand tool use. " No Jerry an adjustable wrench does not double as a hammer" As a country we are in sad shape.

[@djhaloeight]

Why isn’t this stuff shown to kids nowadays? I love these old vocational vids.

[@kkknotcool]

Mainly because China owns most of the jobs.

[@wilde.coyote6618]

Steer kids to be insurance agents. The only way to make a good living in the machine tool industry at it is to own your own business.

[@kkknotcool]

@@wilde.coyote6618 Or get hired on at a high level where a profitable company actually needs you. I know people who make high five figure programming CNC. The problem is that 66% of what jobs pay are a joke for how much education you need, 23% are not a total ripoff(like in supervising or something salaried) and 10% are jobs most people would really want.

[@wilde.coyote6618]

@@kkknotcool I am lucky to have 2 lathes, and 2 mills in my garage. While it supplements my income, I don't have enough business to go full time. I also have a 9 to 5 job as a machinist for a manufacturer. They import thousands of bearing retainers from China. My income from my 9 to 5 falls within the average salary perimeter, it doesn't keep up with the cost of living. 30 years ago you could count on health insurance, a pension, and a open door to the middle class. Meanwhile my boss, God bless him, seems to be doing very well financially. And keeps the wealth to himself, and family. I will be positive, eventually doors will open for me. I do one off stuff.

[@kkknotcool]

@@wilde.coyote6618 What kind of mills?

[@ciceroskip1]

Went to a trade school in 1969, pre-apprentice machinist-tool & die. Learned all the machine, bench work and class room shop math. Got a job as an apprentice die maker, I learned to run almost every machine in the shop. Moved up to die design, eventually got promoted to foreman in the die department and chief designer, all in 30 years with the same company. Lots of overtime , a lot of younger people now do not want to work overtime. Now retired and still do some part time designing.

[@ciceroskip1]

I think it comes from having too many frills without having to earn them when they were young. My children never got everything they wanted, but got what they needed. They are both very successful, and hard workers.@nunyabusiness3786

[@liamobrien9451]

Look, I've been working as a fabricator for a couple of years now, and we're a lot of young people in the workshop. They're all perfectly happy working a lot of overtime, although I'll have to admit I'm not one of them. I'll work overtime if it's needed, but I'd rather work hard during my regular hours, plan out my work in advance, and actually get some free time for myself to do the things I want, instead of spending my evenings at work

[@OceanusHelios]

Usually overtime is required because of an utter lack of planning by management and a complete unwillingness to hire and train more people. This is all because investors get paid first, and workers take the hit so that rich people can have too much money to spend, not knowing who had to sacrifice time with their family so these rich jerks could blow off money and be playboys.

[@ciceroskip1]

@@OceanusHelios If you ever worked in a job shop you would know that it is a series of highs and lows. If a customer crashed a die and needs replacement parts quickly a good shop will do what ever it can to get replacement parts to the customer. Shops that hire and fire people just to get work become know as revolving door shops and will have trouble finding employees.

[@montyzumazoom1337]

Engineer here, 46 years experience and counting….. finished my apprenticeship as a toolmaker and running a manufacturing facility now. Lucky enough to have had an old fashioned indentured apprenticeship at a local engineering company, where, on going for the interview for the position, I had to take my father along with me. He was interviewed as much as I was! This was like an apprenticeship in the old days where you promised to commit to learning a trade or skill, and your father promised to make sure you did!! I was taught Metalwork, woodwork and technical drawing at school, all of which I enjoyed. In those days, you never thought of or had the opportunity to go to university.. Instead it was “what do I want to do when I grow up and leave school? What job do I want to do? People today just want to buy things, not make things. A lot of industry has gone overseas, factories have been demolished to make way for retail parks and superstores. Kids need to be educated on how the world works and what goes in to making things that we use everyday. This is a great film (I just wish more of the lads were wearing safety glasses!).

[@jly74]

Safety Glasses - My boss (1971, prototype machine shop, packaging machines) would have fired you on the spot if you walked thru the shop door without wearing a pair. Smart man!

[@quickdiy8127]

You think the general public is to blame for jobs being offshored? You know the companies fired everyone and moved off short to raise their profits and salaries at the expense of the American public losing their jobs and having a lower quality of life right?

[@montyzumazoom1337]

@@jly74 The only safety glasses we had when I was an apprentice were those clear flexible plastic goggle type ones that used to mist up. One of my pals got hit in the eye when a tap broke as he was on an NC drilling machine, he wasn’t wearing safety goggles and as a result he lost part of his sight in one eye. He must have been about 17 years old.

[@jly74]

@@montyzumazoom1337 We had safety glasses that looked just like common reading glasses with little clear plastic side panel for peripheral protection.

[@montyzumazoom1337]

@@jly74 Yes you can get them same as prescription glasses

[@pitsnipe5559]

Attended a vocational high school in the 1960’s to train as an electrician. After that joined the Navy where I apprenticed as a boiler technician. Gave me the knowledge and skills that led to a rewarding 35 year career. We need to go back to providing vocational training in our high schools.

[@chuckeymurphey]

As a student machinist myself it's nice to know that manual machining hasn't changed a whole lot.

[@ciceroskip1]

As far as manual machining goes ,the biggest changes are carbide inserts in the cutting tools, and 2 flute taps.

[@christophercolumbus8944]

this was one of the videos that inspired me to become a machinist thank you youtube

[@StonesAndSand]

This was me as a high-schooler back in 1982. It's been a wonderful trade, and an awesome skill for inventing.

[@christophercolumbus8944]

where did you work? do you have experience splines? gears?

[@StonesAndSand]

@@christophercolumbus8944 Sorry for the late reply, but no. My work was with plastic injection molds.

[@jackgreen412]

Big 👍. LOVE THIS! I'm a retired industrial arts teacher and loved every minute of this. My dad worked at Martin Aircraft IN Baltimore and in Nashville building B-26'S and P-38'S during WW II . He had a medical deferment that sidelined him, so that was his contribution. That's why I'm a big believer in technical/vocational education.

[@cryoine7194]

as a machinist myself(mechanical engineer) I thank you for your service, you may not have taught me directly but my IA teachers are responsible for the person that I am today, the love for metal, steel and the processes to shape and manipulate them. IA teachers are criminally under rated but very often spoken highly of by their students

[@jackgreen412]

Mike Rowe is one of my favorites !

[@tgi3d881]

Wished my high school still had the shop when I went there. Also did a lot of searching on what I wanted in life. Manual machining is my focus now. I can do CNC but manual is my preference. Currently finishing my CNC certification and find myself annoyed with the people there who hate getting their hands dirty or doing manual

[@jackfrost2146]

Give me manual machining any day--the machine becomes an extension of yourself which is very satisfying. CNC machines are amasing, but only an extension of a computer.

[@spiderbrandt4066]

This means nothing to any one but me but I still have my First oil Can from 1967 , you would be working on a lathe then suddenly you get a squirt of oil in the back of your head , we had oil can fights , I was 15 , the good old days

[@1995dresser]

I'm 63 and graduated from vocational school just after the mid 1970s and I remember these films also that's the first and last time I ever ran a shaper was in school never saw one after that in all the places I had worked over the years

[@rogerdepretto440]

Bloody love this Video as a Toolmaker absolutely enjoy watching.

[@alexsmith-ob3lu]

These vocational films are splendid and very well made! Better than the films and so called “promotional ads” of today! Thank you for sharing these classic films!

[@mrtrek64]

I've been working in my trade for going on 40 years now. But if I had it to do all over again there is no question I would have gone into machining. The opportunity for advancement and excelling seems endless if you're willing to commit and learn the craft to the best of your ability. These machining lathes look like fascinating pieces of equipment to learn to use.

[@jasonpetersen7986]

As a shop teacher (machining) those old timers in that video, that were born in the 1800’s knew more about machining than I’ll ever know. Amazing

[@TheExplosiveGuy]

I was extremely lucky to have learned machining from a few very skilled old-school machinists, they taught me a ton of tricks and methods that modern day machinists don't know or understand. I also went to a tech college for machining and my teacher was a 4th generation machinist, he _really_ knew his stuff. CNC machining has definitely improved the machining process, but it has also killed off a lot of specialized knowledge and practices which is very unfortunate. I know an old school manual machinist who won a bet with some Boeing engineers, he won $10,000 bucks from them after he completed a job they said was physically impossible to do with manual machines, so of course he did it with nothing but manual machines lol.

[@christophercolumbus8944]

why do you say that?

[@TheExplosiveGuy]

@@christophercolumbus8944 because of the computerization of the machining industry, it has killed off a lot of old skills and know-how that was common knowledge in the days of all manual machining, along with the ability to use a pencil, ruler, slide and protractor to design and draw plans by hand. I'm a machinist of 17 years with a ton of old school experience and yet I don't hold a candle to the bonfire of skill my non-digital predecessors had.

[@christophercolumbus8944]

@@TheExplosiveGuy that's because you're a douche-bag

[@TheExplosiveGuy]

@@christophercolumbus8944 Looks like youtube didn't like your response there, I wonder why that could be? You mind telling me why I'm a D-bag? Though honestly I think you're just projecting.

[@TrulyUnfortunate]

Gotta love the guy running the engine lathe without safety glasses. I would have been blind 5 times over in my 30 years of machining if I hadn't worn safety glasses. It is cool seeing the old machines,some of which are still in use today. The first machine I ever ran was an old Warner & Swasey from WW2,it still had the "Property of the US military" tag on it.

[@joelima3967]

That’s the first thing I noticed, no one wearing safety glasses. Big penalties now for infractions of safety violations.

[@jameskern8051]

I ran turret lathes at a shop at 18 yrs. old out of Vo-Tech in 1973. Learned much there but learned as time went on in other shops on things like heat treating, different fits, and so on. Ran turret and engine lathes, horizontal and vertical mills, surface grinders, radial drills and a shaper. (The job I retired from in 2020, no one knew what a shaper was!). I ran a Cincinnati Horizontal mill so old; it had been converted from overhead belt power. Retired now but was always proud of my tools and the knowledge to make something from nothing.

[@mechpatt]

Started my Fitting & Turning apprenticeship in 1980, in my 42nd year already! Always learning something.

[@christinafuzzell5279]

When I was 18, I dated a guy who's dad owned a machine shop and was himself the foreman of (now the owner) and so I worked in the shop on a manual lathe and deburred parts. I loved it but barely grasped the concept of it all. Had I had access to something like this, I'd have likely excelled and stuck with machining as a vocation past the breakup!

[@dixonhill1108]

The moment you remember your grandfather was a machinist and probably watched a similar video in the early 50s. 70 years later and all my focus is on mastercam.

[@rolandchetty6901]

Iam a qualified Toolmaker with 30 years of experience in metal pressing. This is a very interesting trade for those who want to become a highly skilled and professional traders mentor.

[@warrenrines3924]

I was a machinist I used a manual lathe and a CNC lathe or Mill. It is a great job and you can make a very good living. Kids should be watching stuff like this is school.

[@miguelcastaneda7257]

They don't want to get dirty

[@1pcfred]

@@miguelcastaneda7257 when I worked in a machine shop I didn't get that dirty. I did get a lot of metal splinters though.

[@klaidenmorad103]

You may not get rich with be machinist except if you Owned the machine shop but satisfaction of making the parts or repairs the broken parts will make your days that's why I did work 20 years in machine shop.

[@MikeOrkid]

Today on This Old Tony we travel back in time and learn the basics.

[@KennyInVegas]

All kidding aside.....I'm fascinated at how the machine threads and also how rifling a barrel is performed.

[@yayitronics]

great video! Im gonna show this film in the shop!

[@scarakus]

Sounds like you may not be getting proper Titling for your job description,,? Machine shops are notorious for that... been there, done that.

[@kevinklei3005]

As a retired Australian toolmaker I found this fascinating but didn't realize that safety glasses hadn't been in invented or used in 1940 .

[@spiderbrandt4066]

Hi Kevin , Did you do a 5 year Apprenticeship , I did I'm 70 , we made Tooling for Ford and people like Tupperware and so on , love these videos I have a 102 year old lathe I'm restoring , I'm going to stop here I'll talk all day

[@kevinklei3005]

@@spiderbrandt4066 Hi Yes a 5 year apprenticeship with the S.A. Rubbermills that went on to be U.S. Royals then Uni Royals and finally Bridgestones .The I ended at Rainsford's [mirrors seatbelts ] plenty of vintage cars for 15 years Then Hendersons for 26 years in Quality control mainly car seats for Holden Mitishibutsi and Ford . Many good Memories but do remember a lot of bad injuries . All toes gone a whole left arm ripped off on a lathe a LH hand gone in a press . Fingers gone .That is one of reasons I got out of toolmaking into Quality Control . PS I am 76 today .cheers Kevin

[@spiderbrandt4066]

@@kevinklei3005 I hope you have a very happy Birthday Kevin , It's not you who lost all those limbs I hope , thanks for that you made my day . Spider

[@kevinklei3005]

@@spiderbrandt4066 No worries and luckily it was not me with the missing pieces .However the Scottish guy who lost his arm also had is car catch fire which then caught his house on fire and his son fell in to a vat of trycoeitherlene and was cooked to death having his body disintegrate which caused it to fuse to the Teflon slab at the morgue which then made them having to bury him still glued /attached to the slab. I knew the lady in the Morgue who had to do the autopsy .I hope you had more pleasant memories than me on that . The guy with the cut off left hand we made a special large gear knob so he could change gears with his stump . I was apprenticed by mainly German and Russian toolmakers and 2 poms from Rolls Royce all their tools had been stamped with R.R. But things have definitely improved with safety and machining technics . I have a Myford lathe and another older one but are vary wary of them after witnessing the damage they can cause. I wish you luck good health and happiness in your long life . Cheers . Kevin

[@Watchmaker_Gereon-Schloesser]

@@kevinklei3005 here's a "young" (now 34 years "old") north german (Hannover, Hamburg, Kiel) clock and watchmaker. It was facinating to read your comments. Yes - I think I'm about to make myself also some little casting tools (for Britannia metal for parts of gauge O live-steam locos, british loco, like the A4 Mallard). Sure you have more experience in that then I. I love these old films. Everything was HANDMADE. Molds with 5:1 copying mills (Deckel and the like) GREAT products that made. I think since the semiconductors and the 1968's we are going in a wrong inhuman direction. Look at the beauty of things in the 1940's (Art-Déco) is was much more complicated to do such nice forms BUT they made it nevertheless BEAUTYFULL. Today with the see-and-see (CNC) it would be much easier to produce products in that style of fraction of the former cost but no it's square, ugly and cheaply made... Same for houses, music, textiles, films (how I love Technicolor I.B. and Kodachrome, I have 16mm films and an Ampro Stylist sound projector) Same for me I could go on and on. If you like visit my website: gereon-schloesser point ch Cordial greetings! Géréon (living now close to the lake geneva, fenchspeaking switzerland)

[@lotus7replicachevron479]

Been a fitter Turner (machinist) since the mid 80s, I've done the lot from apprentice to running a multi million dollar company, now back on the floor doing what I love, turning handles, it's a great trade

[@theyear-pj4sj]

Fantastic video. I am a young designer in the UK - I design parts and assemblies for aerospace engine test rigs. These days, noome is becoming a designer by working up from the machine shop floor. Well, if there are, it's very few. Some of my bosses did it but now the designers come straight from university. Generally there is a good theoretical background but usually near zero knowledge of machining methods and practical limitations/possibilities. That can be picked up, but only by learning from older heads, especially those who've been on the shop floor. I often think that current mechanical engineering education would benefit from a slightly greater emphasis on manufacturing methods. There is a generation of engineers who don't know some fundamental basics.

[@lathejack]

Ah, that looks like a miniature two cylinder crankshaft that the young man has set up in the lathe at 9:35.

[@elburropeligroso4689]

It looks like he was turning the center journal down, as well.

[@MrEab2010]

my Dad likely watched this when he was in school back then. He became a machinist and toolmaker.

[@spiderbrandt4066]

me to , ha ha

[@emilmihaidragomir8329]

As a CNC programmer and operator I just 💗💗💗💗💗 this!!!!

[@Look_What_You_Did]

Doubt it. Dumb ass emojis gave you away.

[@j.d.1488]

Vocational classes are missing in most Public JHS's and HS's. Shame

[@SgtBrewdawg]

Boy, I miss doing this work.

[@cbroz7492]

...yet another reason I love watching Mike Rowe's programs...unfortunately many zamerocan look down of folks who work with their hands..

[@fredc3543]

Still relevant advice for today.

[@62Cristoforo]

I’ll bet my late uncle saw this in the early 40’s as a tool & die maker for the Canadian navy. His rank was called Engine Room Artificer.

[@acousticarchivefortwayne930]

Two years Tech School after high school. Studied Machine Tool Operation: blueprint reading, mathematics, geometry, trigonometry, applied materials science, communications, and shop classes. Signed my Tool and Die Apprenticeship papers and after 5 years was a Journeyman Tool and Die Maker. Did high precision machining work using lathes, mills, surface grinders, EDMs, CNCs and did metal heat treating. Made a paycheck equal to or better than some Tool Designers. Not only did we understand tool design but also knew how to make the tools. After 15 years went on to become an Aerospace and Automotive Quality Engineer and did that for another 15 years. My first year of Tech School a guy at a party told me I was wasting my time. He said manufacturing would be dead in 5 years. I guess I got the last laugh because I just retired with a nice 401k four years ago.

[@jonivanart]

Love these videos. Thanks for posting. I tried to email you and the it won't go through. How can I get in touch about permissions to use a piece of footage from this video?

[@carlschnier4089]

We had vocational training school in the 60’s and 70’s when I was in high school. Great to know !

[@carlschnier4089]

Don’t forget the safety glasses and face shield

[@ak-79]

I wish I've seen this video before I became a machinist. Have no regrets, though. Love it.

[@sailingstpommedeterre4905]

Awesome video!!

[@SivaKumar-bx3fn]

Thank you for your sharing experience. I am very proud. Also I am MACHINIST.

[@7-7-724]

Wow this great. I remember in the 80s we was still being governed by the same principles during apprenticeship. HNC HND. Now we see CNC, CAD CAM, Wire erosion and Spark erosion. We use EDM m/c's today with formed electrodes to sink or wire a form. CNC's are used for unconventional machining allowing to climb mill and plunge mill etc. When dies are formed we use CAD now so the die is scanned. This allows the company that the tools have been produced for to simply make a call to reproduce a particular die rather than sending the whole tool out to toolmakers they order the part. I used to build Press Tools. We see these guys building die set on radial drill here. We see a lot of prototype's being produced on 3D printing today. Kids are doing it at home lol. Still it is very important to remember the foundations theory and practical when machining. Without this COMPUTERS are DUMB.

[@robertqueberg4612]

We’ve come a long way baby. This is a trip back in time. You have to wonder what these people did after they went blind without safety glasses.

[@highwatercircutrider824]

They went on disability and taught their kids and grandkids to do the same!

[@TheChrisey]

Safety was virtually nonexistent back then. The ones that became disabled probably did what every other disabled person did. I'd imagine that the stubborn ones could even continue working the lathe after they became blind.

[@jessewoody5772]

@@highwatercircutrider824 you sir are an idiot. To hear you tell it, you think skilled tradesmen were lazy back in the day. Well Im here to tell ya that ain't even close to the type of work ethic that built this country. My guess is you are too young to remember what work ethic looked like.

[@jessewoody5772]

@@TheChrisey If you think you can operate a lathe or any other type of machine blind you obviously have never run any machinery. Stay in school kid

[@acsiata]

Safety glasses, safety gloves, safety hat, safety bottle of milk . People today are to much of a pussy. You aren't going to live forever assholes. Enjoy it.

[@luisparedes5797]

A lost trade that needs to come back to our schools and teach the new generations a good trade..

[@thatonetroll1059]

It ain’t lost its just done by robots and it doesnt pay well as other jobs

[@paulz5531]

The kid on the shaper has the best hair of film.

[@robinlehnerd1475]

I never went to school--instead I (involuntarily) worked (without pay) in my dad's oil additive business until I was 21. At 21 my dad died and I ended up homeless and then moved in with my girlfriend in another town and got a job at a Tyson chicken plant. The job was a miserable dead end. A few years later with a wife and 3 kids (I have 4 now) I quit that job, paid my way through 2 years of general studies in college and at 27 I started working for US Motors in the winding department. I am now going to college in machine-tool and finishing my first semester this fall. I have done well in the classes with manual lathes and blueprints. I am certainly top of the class despite having less experience than many of the other students. I am already the "go to" teacher for most of the students, several of which have said I am better at teaching them than the instructor himself (who has over 30 years experience). I don't know what the future holds but I am glad to be doing something that seems beneficial. (Incidentally, I am high functioning autistic and I think this may help somewhat with the need for precision and conscientiousness)

[@thymii]

Damn, sounds pretty rough. Hopefully you've had the opportunity to move on. As a fellow autistic machinist student, I can say that it's a fulfilling way to spend the days, especially helps me to have a special interest in metallurgy :)

[@alejandroperez-xf3qb]

I watch this video atleast once a month 🙂

[@4u70229]

Salamat po sa video…MRC(SW/SCW) …Batang Bankers..Caloocan City

[@mikecrawford5331]

Great video !

[@el_deplorablede_tejas1394]

I remember being shown these types of films when I was in elementary school in the 80s. 👍 But once VCR's became common in school's around 89/90, These films stopped being shown.

[@MichaelKingsfordGray]

But you do not remember your real name!

[@marciosantinelli]

Parabéns !!! Best Regards from Brazil !!!

[@t.d.mich.7064]

Everyone is so worried about these people not having safety glasses! Get over it, that's the way it was back then.

[@kkknotcool]

Also it's really stupid. There was no economical plastic glasses back then. Glass glasses where usually more dangerous then having nothing.

[@cpasseno]

Back on the good old days when men knew how to squint!

[@user-fb9os7hy2y]

They used to flip v1 rockets over at 300mph with the wing tips of their spitfires..smoking a woodbine and checking the racing form...with only a cotton singlet and tie pin for safety.😂👍

[@jackfrost2146]

@@kkknotcool Back in the 60's, one of my fellow apprentices was walking past a lathe when the cutting tool shattered and smashed his safety glasses lense. He was very lucky to get no eye injuries!

[@justkeepingitreal7768]

9:03 to 9:12, those things he described are just a few of the many things kids these days are taught they are too good for or that they are better than.

[@OneEye.]

Think I saw this in the late 70s for my high school machine shop class.

[@ccdrouin]

The amount of eye injuries must have been horrendous

[@ericv8319]

And after man invented these machine tools he invented safety glasses in the early 21st century!

[@batbootalgawee5216]

E

[@canaldeingenieria3575]

what a great video! 😁

[@_CAT-lg4sr]

Anybody else notice less than half the operators had safety glasses and not one had hearing protection? (or an eye-patch, lucky I guess) A different time, pre-OSHA for sure ! I was lucky enough to live in Connecticut in my youth. They have a public "Regional Vocational Technical School" program there (15 now, from what I understand) scattered across the state. If you can pass the entrance exams, you can attend one, if there is an opening. You have to pack in all the academics of a standard high-school education and your chosen vocational field education in a 4 year period. Very tough, many did not make it to the end. Minimum required grade of "C" to remain, otherwise you were required to transfer back to the school you would have normally attended. My freshman class started with 429 and 125 made it through to graduate 4 years later. I went to NRVTS (Norwich, Ct) and trained to become an electrician. The best decision a 14 year old ever made. My career has served me well as an IBEW union electrician for over 40 years now.

[@boathemian7694]

I have an old South Bend 10” from this era

[@blameusa7082]

If only these guys where alive today, they would be rulers of the Machining world.

[@hansboelstler2255]

They are !, Here at Ajax Spring & Mfg.

[@kkknotcool]

If these guys where alive today they would go into a feild that paid decent. Modern matching has become a game of compete with skilled machinist in China who work happily for well under american minimum wage.

[@fsecofficial]

They are alive today. Lol. They can barely make a phone call.

[@paulbfields8284]

They are alive and still working every day. I’m one of them and I was trained in exactly the same way this video account. I’ve been a Journeyman Tool and Die Maker since 1980.. I design and build anything and everything that comes my way. My father started training me when he was 66… he too was a journeyman engineer, too and die maker, machinist and machine tool designer and builder. They don’t make em like us anymore but they are still out there… not to be misconstrued with CNC operators either..

[@breadring]

@@paulbfields8284 The days of the old toolmaker are numbered in terms of advanced technology, many of the old ways are no longer needed or used in more modern workplaces, BUT, the old toolmaker who knows how to use his skills will never be out of work, today's so called toolmakers don't have the basic understanding how to look after the equipment correctly that are needed to produce HIGH QUALITY products, pride in the workplace these days has all but gone.

[@jeffdeluca1153]

Love this video. Does beg the question how many eyes were lost before the advent of safety glasses 🤔

[@joeruth123]

Quite a few

[@tc6580]

I have been a machinist over forty years in the early days nobody wore safety glasses and surprisingly eye injuries were rare.

[@joeruth123]

@@tc6580I worked with a dude who got steel chip in his eye. Stuck in good. Whem he pulled it out, with needle nose pliers no less, it tore the white of his eye. He had a patch after that. It wasn't lost, but he wore a patch over the gross thing he had left. You only go blind in an eye twice ;)

[@YukYuk12]

Machining is an amazing thing

[@MarceloPereira-vl3gh]

Eu amor este vídeo muito bom parabéns 😊😊

[@mohamedsakr5570]

I love these old schools

[@pgmreallaw]

Too bad we don't still teach these skills as a vocation for young men!

[@KimAllMighty]

Someone accidentally pressed dislike........

[@CrustyAbsconder]

A friend of mine in the 8th grade, was a very talented musician. He could have spent his lifetime making lots of money as musician, and possibly even joined a rock-band. But a careless teacher in shop-class, let him saw all his fingers off with a band-saw. He was a smart kid with lots of potential, who became a depressed drug-addict. In 1988, Texas A&M University cancelled their Vocational Educational Program and advised all students even Seniors to change majors. The writing was on the wall long before that as the program totally sucked, and was just a place for the jocks to get a fake-college-degree.

[@1pcfred]

Everyone is ultimately responsible for their own safety. Your friend should have watched out for his own fingers.

[@rvdboston9568]

how could you cut fingers with a band saw? I would understand a table saw kick back accident, but band saw? you need to be a really talented musician to cut your fingers

[@1pcfred]

@@rvdboston9568 some bandsaw blades are really sharp. Like the saws that butchers use.

[@rvdboston9568]

@@1pcfred My kitchen knife is also very sharp, but why would I cut my fingers off?

[@1pcfred]

@@rvdboston9568 I guess you don't cut up much butternut squash? Man that stuff sure is tough. Made me break out my heavy Henckels chef's knife it did. Usually I just use a lighter carving knife in the kitchen. I felt I needed more club though. I use continuous diamond plates then polish on Spyderco ceramic stones and then strop on a charged leather when I sharpen. So my cutlery is extremely sharp.

[@garylee1703]

I love how there is no eye protection shown.

[@macroevolve]

I have used vernier mics and dial calipers since I started in the machining field in the mid-90's. I just never warmed up to digital readout, other than height gages and the like. Once you get a marketable skill, you likely will always be able to get a Job. You just have to avoid getting a Felony...

[@jameskern8051]

An engineer 1 year out of school asked me for a set of calipers to measure. I handed him my vernier caliper, told me he couldn't use it. I replied, "If you can add, you can use these".

[@scratchdog2216]

Love the hair at 2:40.

[@dwightpowell6673]

Tool and die maker positions I do remember seeing them being advertised in the NEW YORK TIMES employment section in the late 70's....early 80's.....then nothing...Those were highly coveted jobs..met some Caucasian Tool and die makers...all German..or Irish descent or recent immigrants.

[@jessewoody5772]

Some of us are Polish too

[@chrisberrymanalo]

I’ve been a machinist for 20 years now

[@jameskern8051]

Hang in there brother! Retired with 47 years! Big difference between a Machinist and a CNC button pusher!!

[@juanfelipecopete9368]

Lovely

[@Nerwik]

what tolerances did they have?

[@Hani13ful]

.0001

[@GameLab_Studio]

Am in aerospace and we hold .000020 mill straight and round

[@larkalfen9510]

Same as today's The only difference is that it became automated (CNCs) Johansson gauges are same as they were in 20th century Same goes for micrometer

[@scarakus]

I love machine shops, except for the sulfur oil...

[@davediamond7228]

the worse..in the old days..sulpher in a spray mister and the whole shop and people are totally coated in it at the end of the day

[@Backyardmech1]

These are trades that even today are GREAT paying jobs, but aren’t pitched out as much. Even construction positions.

[@Tellyfive]

Bet most of those machines are still working or restorable today.

[@steveu235]

An honest appraisal "A fairly good job"

[@nickmad887]

thanks

[@sundarAKintelart]

Where had that "RCA" Gone? (Title)

[@Jeremy-ib6ei]

true machinists have died out after the last 30 years of manufacturing being sent out to foreign nations….and sadly….its been gone too long to restore the trade to its full glory here in America, as there’s no one left to teach the youngsters. 😔 We were once the best in the world hands down…we showed the world how it was done to say the very least 💪🏼🇺🇸

[@Look_What_You_Did]

Typical ameritard. You are the loser... not your country.

[@racer67]

When life was great! Society today disgusts me!

[@JeffinTD]

Makes me wonder what video people will watch 80 years in the future about people of today…

[@Jason-sz5zv]

The same kind of video's only in Chinese (our new masters) thanks to Bill Clinton ! (U.S - China Relation Act of 2000)

[@Harpoika]

A fairly good job! XD

[@yungnen8710]

На резце (после 2-й минуты) сменная пластина?! Блин...

[@JayKayKay7]

Abom79's GrandPaw.

[@enterBJ40]

Just what I thought

[@Baneslayer]

Back when everyone took pride in their life, work, each other and world around them. Society has fallen apart and degenerated.

[@fainderskurs-koi8767]

Кто то объяснит, почему у вас малая каретка развернута на 45*? И так у всех где я только видел. В чем прикол? Микронная подача?, так я свою развернул на 2* и десять делений, пол сотки.

[@earlvanfleet3501]

Why was the last pic showing us how to thread backwards?

[@flyfly368]

it was a reverse screw. Greetings from Russia from a worker with 40 years of experience💪👋

[@earlvanfleet3501]

@@flyfly368 55 years of traditional machining, in 87 took programming and CNC since, I know what I see, thank you for you underestimated response. F@ck the US but I sent rovers to Mars with my capabilities!

[@flyfly368]

@@earlvanfleet3501 🚀👍

[@kevinconiston2270]

Don't think it was threading backwards as you call it. The operator just put the spindle in reverse so the tool can run in opposite direction without taking it out of pitch. ( if you look closely tool not cutting).

[@flyfly368]

@@kevinconiston2270 👋💪

[@railroad9000]

Before the PPE requirements; safety glasses, etc.

[@Look_What_You_Did]

and yet losers like you that have NEVER done any of this work run your collective mouths...

[@StevenMartin-c8w]

I have one just like that one and alot other stuff

[@randymadden3473]

Went on to win a World War, and then put man on the moon.

[@highwatercircutrider824]

And then we gave it all to China

[@DeadlinePhil]

@@highwatercircutrider824 yeah the us really went down hill in recent years

[@MrShobar]

@@DeadlinePhil yeah I can't figure out what looks worse. The pompadour hair cuts shown here or today's shaved skulls and tattoos.

[@MrShobar]

@@highwatercircutrider824 Who's "we"?

[@wilde.coyote6618]

If it wasn't for vocational school, I would be dead or in jail.

[@oldschooljack3479]

I was a machinist for 10 years. I got out of the trade when the facility I worked at closed down. The trade has advanced to the point that most of the "skill" is no longer required. A lot of the work has been exported to countries with low skill/low pay employees. You can still earn a living as a machinist in the US... But don't expect a steady or lucrative career.

[@miguelcastaneda7257]

True I used to run shops now am a cnc helper...and repair older manual and cam nachines...but wages no where near what used to be ...but they still want your knowledge

[@TheHonudiver]

"If you’re not afraid of hard work and are willing to start at the bottom, you can become a machinist."

[@avrahamkrichevsky4831]

A WAY better than become a McDonald's waiter or a junky.

[@johnjaco5544]

I wanna start on day 1 as a tool and dye maker

[@PrivateEyeYiYi]

Step 1: Move to China.

[@TheReal10bears]

Machining jobs in the United States are gradually being automated by cnc machines. Hand operated machines & the "Machinist" are a dying breed. The machinist now adays are computer programmers.

[@PrivateEyeYiYi]

@@TheReal10bears Good point. Also it requires more than skill at inputting computer codes (which is not the same as computer programming - but I digress). It really takes a machinist mindset, an understanding of materials and the underlying physics. Frankly I can’t understand how you’d acquire this on a CNC, but I’m an old fart.

[@sabawi7]

Can I reuse the video?

[@denniscrossland3587]

I agree with the last comment. This still applies and clearly explains terms such as machinist and tool maker.