Educational Career Training School

Some folks go to machinist school for career training. Other folks go to machinist school because they like to make things. Sometimes women go to machinist school because the trade is male dominated. (Either they want to meet guys or to show folks they can do what the guys do.) Other people go to machinist school because their parents say "Either move out or go to school." (They figure machinist school is an easier or more fun education than accounting.)
At least once, a hispanic political activist went to machinist school in hopes of finding discrimination against hispanics. (Instead he learned a trade!) Others go to machinist school because of a free opportunity - they got a scholarship, they got laid off at work and the unemployment office is sending them to school, they are in some kind of disadvantaged (disabled, minority, etc) status that receives educational benefits, or maybe they are using veterans educational benefits. Another group is the offspring of machinists, going to school to follow the trade of their ancestors. If you want to learn to be a machinist (person that makes things using machine tools) you might go to a machinist school.

Winter??? 30 degrees ........

Degrees can be pretty confusing. A circle can be divided, sort of like a pie, into pieces. If the circle is divided into 360 pieces, the pie is said to be divided into 360 degrees.
Why would this be?
Some folks say it is because of donuts. Donuts are round - they are circular.
Donuts are round circles cooked in hot oil.
The oil is heated to 360 degrees fahrenheit. Thus to keep people from being confused about angular degrees and fahrenheit degrees, donuts have both kinds of degrees equal to each other.
When you stop to think about it, 360 degrees is 30 degrees a month.
That brings up the question, "What is 30 degrees?"
For the answer, you'll need a yardstick (a ruler that is 36 inches looooooonnnnnng).
You will also need a piece of tape or some other nondestructive method to place a mark on the wall.
Step one: from the floor, measure vertically up the wall .... place a piece or tape 18 inches up from the floor.
Step two: lay the yardstick on the floor, perpendicular to (sticking straight out from) the wall.
Step three: the end of the yardsitck against the wall ..... slide it up the wall to the tape/mark
(note: the other end of the yardstick will drag across the floor toward the wall)
Step 4: Announce with glee,"Look everybody, I have invented the 30 degree angle!!!! The yardstick is at a 30 degree angle to the floor. A hotwheels car, driving up the yardstick, would be ascending a 30 degree inclined plane .......... Shazaam, Shazaam, Shazaam!"

The 30 degree angle is a marvelous angle. Now for the test .....
What if you didn't have a yardstick! How far would you have to measure up the wall to make a 30 degree angle if you only had a 12 inch ruler? (ans. 6 inches)
What if you had a 2 foot ruler? (ans. 1 foot)
Can you make a general rule for how far to measure up the wall to create a 30 degree angle?
............. "Half the length of the ruler", you say? Wow! That's right!
What if you took off your belt and found it to be 32 inches long. What if you stretched it from the floor to a point 16 inches up the wall. What if the belt was the same color as automobile tires?
(ans. you'd have a 30 degree blackbelt ..... you'd be a marshall art guy like Matt Dillon)

When people ask, "How do I learn to be a machinist?" ......... tell 'em, "Well, for one thing, you'd better learn how to make a 30 degree angle AND how hot to heat oil to make donuts."

Model Making Involves Machining

Yet another machining activity is making scale models of actual machines.
The "For More Info" Link to Machine Shop Wizard of the World is one such individual.

For Chevy fans, here's one to please:
http://www.moyermade.com/chevyV8.html

Click the picture at the bottom of the link to see the Chevy 327 model engine run.

The Heart of the Machinist School

Here's a link to Grit In the Gears ......
He's got a twisted heart.
See it live ..... (pronounced with a long I or short i?) ....

http://gritinthegears.blogspot.com/2008/11/heart-gears.html

While people say, "To be a machinist, your heart has to be in it," in truth, it is considered good practice to keep organs and body parts out of the machinery.

Machinist School Textbook

To download a great machinist school text about forging and the engine lathe see the following link:

http://books.google.com/books?id=iD5IAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA193&lpg=PA193&dq=lathe+cross+slide+thread+stop&source=web&ots=OBgpj8JkSs&sig=S95bUOsIZ8x3sHWSFRGnPoVcPcQ&hl=en&sa=X&oi=book_result&resnum=7&ct=result#PPP1,M1

Machine Tool Operation - Part I - The Lathe Bench Work and Work at the Forge by Henry D. Burghardt is a 1919 text whose copyright has expired and is now available as a free digitized download from Google.

Maybe this IS planet Earth ..... maybe we ARE all in this together .... maybe sharing knowledge IS OK .....

Micrometer - Mike for Short

To learn to be a machinist, one has to learn about the tools of the trade. One of the tools is a micrometer. The micrometer is used to measure distance. The distance is determined in small increments, parts of an inch ..... smaller than half an inch .... smaller than 1/4 of an inch .... smaller than 1/8 of an inch ..... smaller than 1/16 of an inch .......
The micrometer measures in increments of 1/1,000 of an inch (about half the thickness of a human hair).
I showed my little sister a micrometer. "Charlotte, look at the micrometer," I said.
I could tell by the astonishment in her face that she was impressed.
Then she exclaimed,"Nuh-uh ..... no way! That's not YOUR crometer. That's Daddy's crometer!"