O/T I was so much older then!

[Matthew]

Add me to the 1975 list, may 21.

[Vector]

Hahahaha,,thats so amazing. 11-18-55 for me. Great age difference's and nice to see so many my age. Seven others, so far. And, yes, the new generation is coming on strong!!! Woohoo!

 

gcode

Scott Bond

Lynnz

MetalMarvels

Philcott

Jim Whipple

Motty

Vector (myself)

 

All born in the 50's

 

Cheers

Vector

[Zero]

DAMN! Andris has me beat by a few months .11/28/77 here, which gives me the pleasure of having Thanksgiving dinner every few years for my b-day. Looks like I'm the youngest so far...someone has to be younger..

 

Hmm...same age, same state..jeez even our member # is pretty close. Where in Ct. are you located Andris?

 

[ 02-03-2003, 01:40 PM: Message edited by: Zero ]

[L Hanft]

I was just old enought to get draftd during the height of our conflict in Vietnam 1968, remembering that the "ideal" draft age was 18. I remember the day I registered for the draft, back in the old county draft board days..... way before the lotery...... anyway the day I registered with the draft board I was #5 on the list. I ask what that meant.... (stupid, sheltered, unworldly farm lad). They said it would be 1-6 weeks before I would be drafted! Thought about becoming Canadian, but felt it was my obligation to serve. In retrospect, those that moved to Canada got the better deal. During the Regan years he cut college financial aid for all veterans..... down to zero.... automatically disquallified... removed vetrans preference for federal jobs, and smiled as he gave us the finger. This left a lasting impression. The situation has only improved slightly, the VA is waiting for most of us that were sprayed with agent orange to dye off before accepting responsibility. If they were honest now the country couldn't afford the expense.....don't know how many times I have felt "Doing the right thing by serving my country" has screwed me. I used to quip that I had been killed in Nam.... just waiting around to dye! Sorry for the soap box whine..... some days things just get to me.

[SLJ]

Guess Jan. '53 makes me 3rd oldest. With all the kids here I'm starting to feel it!

Steve

[kathy]

Same vintage as you Jack - Feb 1956

 

Kathy

[McRae]

There are a few folks here form the BG era - "Before Gates"... Thanks to him, we don't have to poke holes in cards anymore!

[Scott Bond]

I'm extending Vector's list

All born in the 50's, count yourself in.

 

gcode

Scott Bond (myself)

Lynnz

MetalMarvels

Philcott

Jim Whipple

Motty

Vector

Kathy

SLJ Steve

L hanft.

Jack

RandyN

Brian Ulrick

 

Ageing is not for Sissy's

 

[ 02-03-2003, 05:22 PM: Message edited by: Scott Bond ]

[RandyN]

3/57, its nice to be a youngster.

[L Hanft]

Hey Steve.... mine is 2-'50. Hope that doesn't make me the eldest. Been thinking about retirement a lot more lately!

[Brian Ulrick]

Oh well ! 1946

[Toolfab]

Its nice to see a topic like this were everyone gets involved. Jack for starting it. With thousands of members, and 25% posting regularly it is cool to see all the names that lurk around for knowledge, because that is what it is all about!

 

to the forum

[MetalMarvels]

quote:

---

There are a few folks here form the BG era - "Before Gates"... Thanks to him, we don't have to poke holes in cards anymore!

---

LMAO - Remember it well.... 1-1/2 decks of those blasted IBM punchcards - tripped and shall we say there was a goodly breeze blowing! Punchcards all over the place - never recovered about 1/8 of em. Funny now - wasn't at the time.

 

My 1st Personal Computer was an IMSAI 8080 with 16 switches on the front panel to bootstrap the program with. Ahhhh - the good old days.

[limitless creativity]

12/60 here. feeling the aches and pains more each yr

 

Mike

[Mike-T]

Oct/63.. Wow, been machining 1/2 of my life already !!

[LastCat]

1955 Here,,add me to that list Mr Bond.

 

 

LC

[beav700]

7-17-74. Didn't know there were so many older guys in here. Most guys that I work with that are over 50 won't even touch a computer.

[LastCat]

Hehehe

 

I know what ya mean. Some people can pick it up, some have a harder time. I was playing with cars back when I was 16. And took them apart and back together again, and driving them all over the place. Some people just have a knack for it.

 

My first computer was a Commodore 128, back in 1985. We used to copy the Basic programs out of the back of the magazines, line by line. And end up with some, low quality game. It was funny, now that I think about it.

 

Machinig was a second choice. I started in College as a Mech. Engineer, in 87. Got offered a job as a CNC Machinist. "What?, I ain't no machinist!" I figured, well ok, just until I finish getting my degree. Here I am, 15yrs later. And 1,000 upon 1,000 of parts later. Still at it.

 

Much better than the begining. My own office, computer, MC9. Lead Man, 4 CNC mills. "What am I doing?". Sometimes I wonder what it would have been like, to have a cleaner job, with women!! I tell ya, about every shop I have been it, its the same people. Some you can trust, rude, dirty, stinking rednecks. Arogant hose heads, drug addicts, alcholics. Then once in a while, you find a few really cool people to shoot the breeze with and laugh it up all day.

 

CNC Machining isn't really a choice job, if ya think about it. We make things with tolerance's as close as +/- .0005 all day long. Can you imagine a carpenter holding those tol.? Hey, you scrapped that wall, its off by .010. Tear it down and start over. And make sure you write up a scrap report too! Or a Lawyer, Doctor, Scientist, a Cook.? Hey those eggs are way out of tolerance. "Hey wait, we can save them, I'll scramble them for the this next order".

 

We are annoymous. We don't put our names on our parts. One looks like the other. No one pats ya on the back. You get cut, bruised, and some loose limbs (all 10 still attached). Then you have to look at Ernie in the morning, ugh, dude wear a mask. Place smells, and the coolant on a monday morning, argh. The people you have to work for, want you to turn a pumpking into a NY steak dinner, and have it done by lunch. We scramble about poor drawings, "Hey, is that a 5 or a 3 ?" Sometimes I wonder, at 47, is it time to make a change, find a easier going job, something with some life. How about selling Ferrari's or making guitars, or flying all over the world, taking pictures.

 

Isnt there more to it than this? There has to be an alternative. Please tell me..Please!! Ok, as I head back to the office, and work on this tooling plate, get the parts, saw, cut sand, machine, sand again, tear down, set back up, call up tool, ......yadda yadda yadda...Can you guys relate? Or is it just me?

 

Cheers

LC

[Jack Mitchell]

Lastcat and all,

 

I can certainly relate to all of this and then some.

To tell you the truth, if I were to do it all over again – I would never have entered this trade; sometimes I just feel that the guy pumping the gas has a better angle on life than I do.

Seriously, I would have done very well to have been an electrician or a plumber; All you need is about 20K, a used van, a journeyman’s ticket, and presto – you have the ability to earn 100~200K without investing a lifetime of savings into equipment, tools, education, and the like.

 

Not that I regret what I do, I thrive on the math, it’s what enticed me in the first place.

I truly enjoy working with my hands and look upon something I built with a tremendous amount of pride and satisfaction; funny thing is I actually failed two grades then end up teaching my very nemesis (Math) among other things.

 

I really had no idea of the extremes in all of our ages, I can only hope that I too will be learned and very useful when I’m into my late 60S or early 70’s; I just doesn’t seem like a very realistic goal for me to plan on retiring. The only thing that I wish I can hold onto, outside of my loving family, is that childish sense of humour that I do indeed possess.

 

As Gcode mentioned “My wife pretends to be interested when I get all wound up about MC V10 or something, but I know she's just being polite”; I read this to my wife and she really related that statement.

 

Andrews mention “It looks like V10 will have to be in a larger font to facilitate you older guys.” - Doesn’t really seem all that bad of an idea; I’m having a tough time getting used to the bifocals.

 

Still nothing from James Meyette? - Please tear yourself away from Mori and talk to us, or are you too busy with the Krispy Kreams or the plight of the midnight oil.

 

Have a good night guys, Regards, Jack

[Fig sign]

I feel old only when it comes to music .In my time it was good old hard rock that`s what I loved and love today.

You know - Led Zeppelin,Deep Purple ,Nazareth ,Slade,Queen,Def Leppard and so .

So last week the friend`s son came to my house

and I was having fun listening my favourite the Deep Purple`s

"Masters and Slaves" and this young fellow said:

" How can you listen this old guitar crap? "

 

[ 02-04-2003, 06:46 AM: Message edited by: plasttav ]

[Elad]

I always was in Jazz music.

I play an Ibanez Artstar guitar.a very nice guitar if you're in jazz music.

 

But i'm also love rock music.

Pink Floyd are the best for me.

[Guy Arseneault]

12/31/64

 

Guy

[chris m]

Jeez, Last Cat; you and Jack really bummed me out there for a minute! I have heard many people in this trade in their 40's and 50's say things like "...if I could start over I wouldn't get into this trade..." or "...if I leave here I wouldn't go back into the machine shop business..." and I still don't understand it.

 

Perhaps I'm still too new to the business as I've only been doing it for 8 years or so, but I just don't know of anything I'd rather do for a living that cut, bend, weld, stamp, draw, or machine stuff. I get a lot of satisfaction out of making something from the simplest of building blocks and being able to see tangible proof of what I've accomplished. As some of you have said, this was not my first choice for a career, in fact I didn't even think about it (even though my uncle was a toolmaker for many years) until I got out of the Marine Corps and had very grim employment prospects. Now that I do it, I love it. People always think that other careers are much easier or more financially rewarding, but do you really want to clear clogged drains all day or freeze your a** off on a construction site in winter, or push paperwork?

 

No thanks

 

C

[mikee]

Jan '56 for me

Been machining since '74

 

Mike

[Oppiz]

7/20/64

Been in the trade since High school. Programming for 10 yrs. Using MC 1 year.