Machinists Corner
CF Veteran
Joined: Sep 2010
Posts: 2,844
Likes: 0
From: Warsaw, IN
Year: 2000,1990,1999
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
WOW! I just was doing some exploring and found this thread. I'm a retired toolmaker with about 50 years of experience building plastic injection molds. Most of our cavities were manually machined and/or ram EDM burned. The shop I retired from had just gotten a Haas CNC vertical mill, but the boss decided I was too old to bother teaching me. I'm basically an old Bridgeport guy with a lot of Cincinnati vertical mill time. I've made or modified lots of speed parts in my day, especially manifold adapters for carburetors.
I'd love to teach basic metalworking, but nobody cares anymore. I'd be perfect for the high school shop classes. I don't have any machines of my own and I get very frustrated using a hand drill and sawzall to do what would take me 10 minutes on a Bridgeport! The most sophisticated equipment I ever used was a DRO! OH...wait! Ram EDM, small 40 watt table-top machine.
There is one thing I'd like to make. That's a fixture for a floor jack to lift the front of a jeep by the D30 so it's balanced. If I ever get the time, I'll post a drawing.
I'd love to teach basic metalworking, but nobody cares anymore. I'd be perfect for the high school shop classes. I don't have any machines of my own and I get very frustrated using a hand drill and sawzall to do what would take me 10 minutes on a Bridgeport! The most sophisticated equipment I ever used was a DRO! OH...wait! Ram EDM, small 40 watt table-top machine.
There is one thing I'd like to make. That's a fixture for a floor jack to lift the front of a jeep by the D30 so it's balanced. If I ever get the time, I'll post a drawing.
Old fart with a wrench
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 14,398
Likes: 740
From: Manlius, east of Syracuse, NY
Year: 2000 XJ Sport & WJ Laredo
Model: Grand Cherokee (WJ)
Engine: 4.0L
Yeah, I have another of those lost arts. Lacing and truing spoked motorcycle wheels. Everything is mags now. I did enduros, motocross and flat track bikes.
CF Veteran
Joined: Feb 2013
Posts: 1,286
Likes: 2
From: Belton S.C.
Year: 1998
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
Exactly. It is near impossible for us to hire an experienced manual machinist. Everyone is CNC, I don't understand why the tech schools put such an emphasis on CNC. So you can run production machinery, what happens when you need a one off custom part or the CNC breaks how ya gonna fix it? No one has the ability to figure out how to make things using only a mill and lathe. CNC has it's uses but too many people call themselves machinist when actually they are button pushers. Personally I love the days when I get an oddball part and have to figure it out. I don'ts need no stinkin CNC haha.
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 616
Likes: 4
From: Vernon NJ
Year: 1998
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
Exactly. It is near impossible for us to hire an experienced manual machinist. Everyone is CNC, I don't understand why the tech schools put such an emphasis on CNC. So you can run production machinery, what happens when you need a one off custom part or the CNC breaks how ya gonna fix it? No one has the ability to figure out how to make things using only a mill and lathe. CNC has it's uses but too many people call themselves machinist when actually they are button pushers. Personally I love the days when I get an oddball part and have to figure it out. I don'ts need no stinkin CNC haha.
CF Veteran
Joined: Jul 2012
Posts: 3,132
Likes: 357
From: Andover, VT
Year: 1999
Model: Cherokee (XJ)
Engine: 4.0 L
I happen to be one of those young people with manual experience. I took machine shop class 6 times in high school, as well as welding a couple times.
I traveled from NH to Missouri with my hop teacher to compete in SkillsUSA which is a national competition. I placed 24th out of 48. Guess which two categories I got last in; g-code for a milled part and a turned part. I easily would've been top 10 had I known g-code better.
Went on to do some more manual work at community college but focused more on the design side. Now I'm a teacher's assistant at the university teaching students to run old bridgeports.
Unfortunately manual machining is quickly becoming much more of a hobby than an industry. It's just so easy to draw a part in cad, set up a machine, and hit go.
I miss running that old Bridgeport with no DRO. Standing on a stool to tighten the drawbar with a wrench. Moving the belt to change speeds..
I traveled from NH to Missouri with my hop teacher to compete in SkillsUSA which is a national competition. I placed 24th out of 48. Guess which two categories I got last in; g-code for a milled part and a turned part. I easily would've been top 10 had I known g-code better.
Went on to do some more manual work at community college but focused more on the design side. Now I'm a teacher's assistant at the university teaching students to run old bridgeports.
Unfortunately manual machining is quickly becoming much more of a hobby than an industry. It's just so easy to draw a part in cad, set up a machine, and hit go.
I miss running that old Bridgeport with no DRO. Standing on a stool to tighten the drawbar with a wrench. Moving the belt to change speeds..
CF Veteran
Joined: Jan 2013
Posts: 19,219
Likes: 45
From: west chester, pa
Year: 1999
Engine: 4.0
Squaring the pucks on the saw is fun. 
416 stainless steel The end product is this 
I love this saw. It have auto feed and would saw all day spitting out pieces without batting an eye.
416 stainless steel The end product is this 
I love this saw. It have auto feed and would saw all day spitting out pieces without batting an eye.
Old fart with a wrench
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 14,398
Likes: 740
From: Manlius, east of Syracuse, NY
Year: 2000 XJ Sport & WJ Laredo
Model: Grand Cherokee (WJ)
Engine: 4.0L
Right there with you guys. I would rather chuck some thing in the manual engine lathe and set up some thing on the bridge port. It is more fun that way. I bored out my throttle body on the engine lathe here at work. I remember running a 31" diameter disk on an engine lathe at one shop I worked at. That was awesome.
Last edited by dave1123; Jun 14, 2016 at 01:18 PM.
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 616
Likes: 4
From: Vernon NJ
Year: 1998
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
The disks I was machining were for a radar tower. I had to mount them with a crane to a custom made fixture on the lathe. Getting both sides flat and parallel with in .001 was fun, then putting grooves on both sides that were concentric to the center and to each other within .005 was interesting. Each one weighed about 60 pounds and were made from 11/16" think steel that I had to cut down to about 5/8". If that company had night time hours I would go back just to make those.
Old fart with a wrench
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 14,398
Likes: 740
From: Manlius, east of Syracuse, NY
Year: 2000 XJ Sport & WJ Laredo
Model: Grand Cherokee (WJ)
Engine: 4.0L
The disks I was machining were for a radar tower. I had to mount them with a crane to a custom made fixture on the lathe. Getting both sides flat and parallel with in .001 was fun, then putting grooves on both sides that were concentric to the center and to each other within .005 was interesting. Each one weighed about 60 pounds and were made from 11/16" think steel that I had to cut down to about 5/8". If that company had night time hours I would go back just to make those.
Last edited by dave1123; Jun 14, 2016 at 06:22 PM.
Senior Member
Joined: Nov 2013
Posts: 616
Likes: 4
From: Vernon NJ
Year: 1998
Model: Cherokee
Engine: 4.0
That is exactly what I was cutting. With the big whole and everything. There was a fixed ring and the rotating ring. Both had grooves that had to be concentric with each other once assembled. The grooves were for an electronics pack. These were for air traffic control radar systems. Once all of the turning and mill work was done they got copper plated and a black oxide coating.
Old fart with a wrench
Joined: Nov 2010
Posts: 14,398
Likes: 740
From: Manlius, east of Syracuse, NY
Year: 2000 XJ Sport & WJ Laredo
Model: Grand Cherokee (WJ)
Engine: 4.0L
Yeah, I live here in Syracuse where GE built a lot of radar stuff. They had large bedspring mobile antennas for the Army rotating constantly to see how long they lasted without problems. I think they were for anti-aircraft rocket launchers. They used a lot of local job shops for some of their parts. Unfortunately GE, Carrier, Chrysler, Bristol Mayers, Syracuse China, and GM's Fisher Guide Div. have all left this place and the economy sucks. No manufacturing jobs and fewer job shops. It makes me think about Detroit. About the only thing left here is plastic molding and Anaren Microwave. Even the Phillips broadband plant moved out.
OH....wait! The New Process/New Venture plant has folded. I wonder how many transfer cases are still in stock?
OH....wait! The New Process/New Venture plant has folded. I wonder how many transfer cases are still in stock?
Last edited by dave1123; Jun 16, 2016 at 05:27 AM.
