Who Are We?

[DUM1]

hey all ! like meeting ya...
name is Curt. nationality,  Blackfoot tribe. From Montana dropped out sophomore year of high school started machining a couple years later 1988
been doing ever since, programmer since 90 now a setup guy at a shop in Dallas Oregon.
I'm divorced with three grown kids youngest 26. All doing well.
I've got some property in northern Idaho 5 acres that I am developing for my retirement.
I hunt and fish for fun.   

[Incogneeto]

hey all ! like meeting ya...
name is Curt. nationality,  Blackfoot tribe. From Montana dropped out sophomore year of high school started machining a couple years later 1988
been doing ever since, programmer since 90 now a setup guy at a shop in Dallas Oregon.
I'm divorced with three grown kids youngest 26. All doing well.
I've got some property in northern Idaho 5 acres that I am developing for my retirement.
I hunt and fish for fun.   

You Are my Buddy!!!  

Sooo which week is Mine.

[DUM1]

You Are my Buddy!!!  

Sooo which week is Mine.

cmon up , look up Clark fork Idaho . so awesome there. It's all I think about.
bought a wood Mizer LT 15 wide on a trailer plan on cutting some lumber to build with. I could put you to work!

[SuperHoneyBadger]

bought a wood Mizer LT 15 wide on a trailer plan on cutting some lumber to build with.

Now THAT sounds like a f'n plan. Awesome looking saw

[Incogneeto]

cmon up , look up Clark fork Idaho . so awesome there. It's all I think about.
bought a wood Mizer LT 15 wide on a trailer plan on cutting some lumber to build with. I could put you to work!

Buddy !!! You better be careful!!!

I get social security can buy and hunt my own food and I'm still young enough to be an Asset!!

P.S. I promise not to touch your wife or Daughters.

Your cousins .... well they can make up their own minds.

P>S> you think I'm Kidding?? LOL!!

[Incogneeto]

cmon up , look up Clark fork Idaho . so awesome there. It's all I think about.
bought a wood Mizer LT 15 wide on a trailer plan on cutting some lumber to build with. I could put you to work!

You gonna have to buy me dinner at "The Squeeze Inn"

I'm Not Cheap But I'm Easy"

[Newbeeee™]

Who is Thee Newbeeee....
It all started 58 years ago and from 8 years old i was fascinated with my Grandad's Myford ML7 lathe....worked with Dad (I'm the son of a carpenter ) and uncle's in school holidays from 10 so got the self employed bug early.
Could have had pro soccer trials but Dad said get a trade, so a craft/toolmaking apprenticeship at a black box company it was.
Halfway through apprenticeship went into the modelshop and luckily the company went public so had to split into multi companies to grow, which gave me the golden opportunity to run the modelshop at 20 and then get into the DO, which i then was handed the reigns at 23, "responsible for all mechanical aspects of the company".
At 30 a new tech director arrived and proved one man can't make a company, but can break it, so i left disillusioned from the best job I ever could have had and bought into a mates off road motorbike dealership (I had been doing British Championship Enduros) selling MotoTM bikes.
During this time i split with my partner which was fraught times for our 2x girls, and i was sub CADding for a couple of other people in the evening....
Within 2 months a director from the old co asked me to continue design work as a subby, and it all got bigger and prototypes led to leaving the shop and starting an Eng company with another mate....who then after 18 months said he didn't want to do it anymore.... so, disillusioned again i went to work for a Customer (tier 1 Goodrich GE Shorts) as Tech Manager and 1st job was upgrade the company.
So DLog and not-so-Smartcam was out and 3x seats of Mcam V8 and 2x seats of Inventor were purchased and all was smooth but we were always trading as insolvent.
If we had a good month the boy (owner's son) would go buy a Hitachi and put us further in debt....in the evening I was still CADding for a customer or two....
Then by chance on a boys night out met my wife to be...luckily as she's been a rock.

Back to work....After 5 years i had decided my apprenticeship on how not to run a business was complete, so it was time again to have another go at being a manufacturer, nagged on by the CNC milling manager....so i agreed on the proviso that all business "things" were equally split - we both specifically would have separate responsibilities so it wasn't all dumped on me (as previous).
That lasted 3 months, by which time it was very clear all he wanted to do was gram and run mills.
So i wrote the QA manual and got us ISO9001 (just the 2 of us) developed the Customers, ordered material, did the planning, running around to platers and painters, did the assy of parts and deliveries, quotes, IT, invoices, learnt how and wrote the website and all accounts etc etc....then  one day in the second year, my mate Nick walked in and LoLLed at Bus partner "proving a prog" with the Z 4" high and he said "you have good customers paying you to cut air - what are you trying to achieve"....and he then took me aside and educated me on what we should be doing.
So.... I then joined eWC in 2006 and met you guys and I'll forever be in your debt    and got questioning and purchased NCPlot and set about learning See and See, as I had only covered it for 1x year during apprenticeship and it had bored me senseless.
One thing led to another and I'd get home late, sometimes have dinner in front of the PC and be reading everything I could to learn Mcam upto midnight and within 2 years I'd be doing all the gramming too, except for simple 3ax parts - he'd do them.
By then (2008) we were bursting in 850 square ft - 2x 850mm 1x 660mm X axis machines, 1x Robodrill, 1x Prototrak mill and 1x Prototrak lathe and a Siemens lathe. All new and bought outright (cept Robo which was 3 years old but had only been used for 1x year).
Up on the Mezz floor was the office and inspection with CMM and profile projector etc.
We'd work 6 days a week and night shift when needed and money in the bank = new purchase with no debt.
Then came the 2008 crash....and orders dropped 20% so i knocked on more doors and watched all bar 2 large local companies massively shrink or just dissapear.... we had no debt LoL.
A couple of years later next door became available so we grabbed it and put a hole in the wall and filled that too.
Ultimately 11 CNCs (7x verts 4ax 15/10k RPM + 2x Siemens lathes + 2x Prototraks) in 1750 square ft and tier 1 prime contractor to CW, Ametek, Ultra, DRS and 25% of the business Tier 2 to sub sea and telecoms. Design, (lots) Prod Eng and Prototypes, Production and Assy.
Notable achievements - making ice & snow detection metalwork for every Sikorsky and Pilot/Co pilot cockpit trackerball enclosure for every MH60, blackbox for spaceX, parts for steerable drilling head for oil and gas. So we made things that went in the sea bed, layed on the sea bed, went to space and all in between.
5 of us....
I certainly couldn't have done it without my wife - i took her on in 2009 and she ran the office creating all the paperwork, do all the driving and would sweet talk customers etc and prepare the accounts for me to check before submitting.
Then in 2017 i had 3x Docs in 9 months tell me to stop or it'll kill me....and the 3rd (my) doc rammed it into me. So i had to sell my baby, but it let me walk away immediately.
So we went to Spain!
And i continued doing some contracting at my timescales which let me gently wind down and it took me 5 years to get over selling, although i still occasionally wake in a cold sweat thinking of today's deliveries....Funnily enough, it took me same time to get over leaving the black box company.
But Spain has let me fall back in love with mountain bikes....well, electric ones
Writing this, it all seems a blink of an eye, but I'm currently sat on my arse back in the Uk having organised and just had my sister's funeral, so plenty of reminiscing has happened.
Dad had asked a while ago but again the other day what age airframes I'd worked on and memory says earliest was Canberra (1949) making bellows (pitot static primary) and newest is Tempest (current 5th gen) - mech design electronics enclosure - so that = 76 years and with "modern flight" at 1903 = 122 years total. So involvement is well over half of total flight years which makes me feel old. Wish I had photos of it all but I luckily have a good memory....

[Incogneeto]

Who is Thee Newbeeee....
It all started 58 years ago and from 8 years old i was fascinated with my Grandad's Myford ML7 lathe....worked with Dad (I'm the son of a carpenter ) and uncle's in school holidays from 10 so got the self employed bug early.
Could have had pro soccer trials but Dad said get a trade, so a craft/toolmaking apprenticeship at a black box company it was.
Halfway through apprenticeship went into the modelshop and luckily the company went public so had to split into multi companies to grow, which gave me the golden opportunity to run the modelshop at 20 and then get into the DO, which i then was handed the reigns at 23, "responsible for all mechanical aspects of the company".
At 30 a new tech director arrived and proved one man can't make a company, but can break it, so i left disillusioned from the best job I ever could have had and bought into a mates off road motorbike dealership (I had been doing British Championship Enduros) selling MotoTM bikes.
During this time i split with my partner which was fraught times for our 2x girls, and i was sub CADding for a couple of other people in the evening....
Within 2 months a director from the old co asked me to continue design work as a subby, and it all got bigger and prototypes led to leaving the shop and starting an Eng company with another mate....who then after 18 months said he didn't want to do it anymore.... so, disillusioned again i went to work for a Customer (tier 1 Goodrich GE Shorts) as Tech Manager and 1st job was upgrade the company.
So DLog and not-so-Smartcam was out and 3x seats of Mcam V8 and 2x seats of Inventor were purchased and all was smooth but we were always trading as insolvent.
If we had a good month the boy (owner's son) would go buy a Hitachi and put us further in debt....in the evening I was still CADding for a customer or two....
Then by chance on a boys night out met my wife to be...luckily as she's been a rock.

Back to work....After 5 years i had decided my apprenticeship on how not to run a business was complete, so it was time again to have another go at being a manufacturer, nagged on by the CNC milling manager....so i agreed on the proviso that all business "things" were equally split - we both specifically would have separate responsibilities so it wasn't all dumped on me (as previous).
That lasted 3 months, by which time it was very clear all he wanted to do was gram and run mills.
So i wrote the QA manual and got us ISO9001 (just the 2 of us) developed the Customers, ordered material, did the planning, running around to platers and painters, did the assy of parts and deliveries, quotes, IT, invoices, learnt how and wrote the website and all accounts etc etc....then  one day in the second year, my mate Nick walked in and LoLLed at Bus partner "proving a prog" with the Z 4" high and he said "you have good customers paying you to cut air - what are you trying to achieve"....and he then took me aside and educated me on what we should be doing.
So.... I then joined eWC in 2006 and met you guys and I'll forever be in your debt    and got questioning and purchased NCPlot and set about learning See and See, as I had only covered it for 1x year during apprenticeship and it had bored me senseless.
One thing led to another and I'd get home late, sometimes have dinner in front of the PC and be reading everything I could to learn Mcam upto midnight and within 2 years I'd be doing all the gramming too, except for simple 3ax parts - he'd do them.
By then (2008) we were bursting in 850 square ft - 2x 850mm 1x 660mm X axis machines, 1x Robodrill, 1x Prototrak mill and 1x Prototrak lathe and a Siemens lathe. All new and bought outright (cept Robo which was 3 years old but had only been used for 1x year).
Up on the Mezz floor was the office and inspection with CMM and profile projector etc.
We'd work 6 days a week and night shift when needed and money in the bank = new purchase with no debt.
Then came the 2008 crash....and orders dropped 20% so i knocked on more doors and watched all bar 2 large local companies massively shrink or just dissapear.... we had no debt LoL.
A couple of years later next door became available so we grabbed it and put a hole in the wall and filled that too.
Ultimately 11 CNCs (7x verts 4ax 15/10k RPM + 2x Siemens lathes + 2x Prototraks) in 1750 square ft and tier 1 prime contractor to CW, Ametek, Ultra, DRS and 25% of the business Tier 2 to sub sea and telecoms. Design, (lots) Prod Eng and Prototypes, Production and Assy.
Notable achievements - making ice & snow detection metalwork for every Sikorsky and Pilot/Co pilot cockpit trackerball enclosure for every MH60, blackbox for spaceX, parts for steerable drilling head for oil and gas. So we made things that went in the sea bed, layed on the sea bed, went to space and all in between.
5 of us....
I certainly couldn't have done it without my wife - i took her on in 2009 and she ran the office creating all the paperwork, do all the driving and would sweet talk customers etc and prepare the accounts for me to check before submitting.
Then in 2017 i had 3x Docs in 9 months tell me to stop or it'll kill me....and the 3rd (my) doc rammed it into me. So i had to sell my baby, but it let me walk away immediately.
So we went to Spain!
And i continued doing some contracting at my timescales which let me gently wind down and it took me 5 years to get over selling, although i still occasionally wake in a cold sweat thinking of today's deliveries....Funnily enough, it took me same time to get over leaving the black box company.
But Spain has let me fall back in love with mountain bikes....well, electric ones
Writing this, it all seems a blink of an eye, but I'm currently sat on my arse back in the Uk having organised and just had my sister's funeral, so plenty of reminiscing has happened.
Dad had asked a while ago but again the other day what age airframes I'd worked on and memory says earliest was Canberra (1949) making bellows (pitot static primary) and newest is Tempest (current 5th gen) - mech design electronics enclosure - so that = 76 years and with "modern flight" at 1903 = 122 years total. So involvement is well over half of total flight years which makes me feel old. Wish I had photos of it all but I luckily have a good memory....

TLDR...


LOL!!

I'm gonna have to read it 3 times to absorb it all.

Thanks for sharing.

[Newbeeee™]

TLDR...


LOL!!

I'm gonna have to read it 3 times to absorb it all.

Thanks for sharing.

Just sat finally chilling and thinking....10bucks says you fall asleep before the end

[Incogneeto]

Just sat finally chilling and thinking....10bucks says you fall asleep before the end

No, No, No.

I read it all and loved it.

Just yanking your chain.

You are right I would have the best Night Partying with you.

[Incogneeto]

      

[Brad St]

Who is Thee Newbeeee....
worked with Dad (I'm the son of a carpenter )

Dude, this is what I love about this place besides the help =)
Same here, Dad was a General contractor, Law enforcement and genuine Jack of all trades. He'd give me sooooo much chit when we were building. "What's the matter boy, tolerance on that board too tight"....

He was a craftsman whether it was with metal or wood. He could make anything run (and then make it go faster). Me on the other hand I needed the machines to do what he could.

[SuperHoneyBadger]

He was a craftsman whether it was with metal or wood. He could make anything run (and then make it go faster). Me on the other hand I needed the machines to do what he could.

My dad was essentially useless with anything more than a screwdriver, but I had 2 mentors for a long time who were shit hot carpenters and machinists in their day. Building houses with a 3 man team, making custom machine tools, inventing processes to make things that others said were impossible. I am thankful everyday for the technical know how and practical skills I gained from those men.

I'll never forget a story (I heard 70 times minimum) about making Ti compressor blades for the P&W PT6:

Late 50s, the man told engineering to plot out the surface of the top and bottom of the blades with depth coordinates in a .050" grid on X+Y, but make it 5x larger than the actual blade so the points hit on a 1/4" grid. They were baffled as to why this machinist was asking them to do extra work, and initially said it couldn't be calculated. Somehow he got them to do it, and drilled down into a wax blank to the z depths of each point, adding red ink to the bottom on each hole. Then he shaped the blank into an essentially flawless 5:1 scale model of the blades and using a Dekel pantograph mill he customized to have 2 rotation axes and made the 1:1. From the story, they let him do what he needed to after that for future projects.

The love of the game at that time of innovation and without computers or even scientific calculators is astounding.

[Newbeeee™]

My first memory of practical geometry was my ol chap building a roof extension.
He looked over and selected some straight 3 x 2 lengths of baton and laid them on the garage floor (because it was flat).
Then he measured and cut/fixed a 3ft x 4ft x 5ft square out of it.

[mowens]

Part of my original 8 week programming class included descriptive geometry since we had to make a detailed sketch, to scale, of our part in 3 views, then label all of the geometry.