New job at work (machinist)

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MrJLR

MrJLR

Built, not bought
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Menifee, California
I'm a machinist.....35 years
We got a huge contract to make parts for bunker buster bombs.....
This part is 10" OD..... We had to buy a new, bigger lathe...$500,000!
The lathe will pay for itself in 7 months.....
Fun part to make....at least the first few...then I hand it off to operators.

Jeff
 
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Hard honest work.
High school dropout making 6 figures.
The secret is not quitting or giving up and really trying to learn and advance yourself through the years.....

Jeff
 
There is a video of a bunker buster being used somewhere, it's one hell of a shell that penetrates the blows up.
Congratulations on the contract
 
Reminds me of a part we ran for Michelin. It was closer to 8 inch O.D. . It had threads inside about 2 inches deep. First a 2 inch centerless drill, then its offsets changed to run it as a boring bar to hog out. Last step was to weld a handle on its outside.
Did yall have issues with chattering I.D. tooling? We had to buy a couple of special bars for final passes to get the req'd finishes.
I enjoyed CNC programming and operating more than anything else I've done in this life... including sex. Don't tell her I said that. The double spindle Miyanos were a lot of fun but that shop did run the same parts over and over again. Took about 4 years to get bored with it.
The shop that took in the one off emergency parts for local companies was the most challenging/rewarding.
Imagine having one piece of material, one shot to get it right. It's bronze. It has a 4 start 20mm pitch left handed acme I.D. thread 6 inches through. Its got a 4 inch O.D. (6 or 8 bolt, I forget) bolt flange in center of it length. So its a long nut more or less for a motor operated material gate.
They didn't pull the screw and bring it along to check/prove the nut. They climbed a ladder, pulled the worn out nut. That's all I had to work off of.
I had to test cut the threads in a scrap piece of aluminum about 2X2 and measure.
Then I find the only thread bar long enough for this part in house is right hand. I gotta cut left hand threads from inside out.
A mechanic from the local 3M plant is hanging around waiting for this part.
7:AM to 10:35PM for one part we may never make again. That mechanic had to go climb the ladder and screw this nut on, get their line running again. I drove home with my fingers crossed.
 
Good for you. I enjoyed my time as a machine operator. I worked at Viking pump and ran 5 automatic screw machines. I wish I had one in the garage. I could keep myself busy.
 
MrJLR said:
I'm a machinist.....35 years
We got a huge contract to make parts for bunker buster bombs.....
This part is 10" OD..... We had to buy a new, bigger lathe...$500,000!
The lathe will pay for itself in 7 months.....
Fun part to make....at least the first few...then I hand it off to operators.

Jeff
Click to expand...
We would like to see a picture of your new lathe Jeff.
 
toolmanmike said:
We would like to see a picture of your new lathe Jeff.
Click to expand...

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Ever get the urge to write a little message on the inside of the housing?
 
Sweet government contracts are nice to have. I’ve been lucky to have a good buddy be a machinist and has taught me a few things over the years. He does make a good living always a shortage of great machinist here for log mill shutdowns.
 
My brother in law was an old school machinist until a contract dispute shut down the shop. ( Long story but the guys went on strike for a year...the owner told the guys he was going to shut it down but they didn't listen. All this over a few cents and I mean a few cents).

Anyway, without a job, he went to school to learn CNC programming and found a new job in Orlando moving from WI.

Fast forward maybe 8 years and now my BIL gets called into the office to be told by the Boss he is retiring. The good news was he was GIVING the bidness to his five employees!

Two years later he sold out to his former co- workers with a six figure buy out plus 10 years monthly payment.

They made parts for F16 and F18 aircraft.
 
MrJLR said:
View attachment 1715417415

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View attachment 1715417419
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Hey Jeff,
That looks like a 2-axis slant bed, Been a machinist going on 40 years and now making from VERY BIG to small Oil patch Prototype stuff here in the Grrrrrrreat State of Texas on Mazak Powermasters. I ironically got my start in the industry just up the road from you in Ontario when as a young lad I answered a classified ad for an apprentice Tool and Die Maker, then on to Moldmaker and now just do Prototypes/ Rig Down/ Test Waiting and Scrap remake stuff that they need in a hurry...I hate production work.

You near C.I.M. on Euclid?
 
2-axis, with about a 12" chuck. It couldn't have cost $500K. Not unless there are some real special features I can't see.
 
My grandfather was a machinist tool and die maker.

No idea on the date of this picture, they retired the machine when he retired in the mid 80's

They got a new computerize lathe to replace his, he said when they can pass him up, he will retire (they wanted him to learn to use the new one).
It took a few years for them to do that with the learning curve and equipment issues.

He retired with about 50 years with the same company, it is my understanding that this lathe was there the entire time.
They built cement mixers and later pumpers.
grandpa11.jpg


Alan
 
Cuda Al said:
My grandfather was a machinist tool and die maker.

No idea on the date of this picture, they retired the machine when he retired in the mid 80's

They got a new computerize lathe to replace his, he said when they can pass him up, he will retire (they wanted him to learn to use the new one).
It took a few years for them to do that with the learning curve and equipment issues.
View attachment 1715418498

Alan
Click to expand...
Well, boring those deep holes isn't exactly what most CNC lathes were meant for. Not unless they got a customized one. That actually looks like a huge gun drill (or?) to me. Definitely not a regular lathe, for sure.
 
69_340_GTS said:
Well, boring those deep holes isn't exactly what most CNC lathes were meant for. Not unless they got a customized one. That actually looks like a huge gun drill (or?) to me. Definitely not a regular lathe, for sure.
Click to expand...
Never thought about it. Maybe working on a hydraulic ram, this wasn't the only process he was involved in.


Alan
 
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