Prometheus wrote:
As I work for a small company, there isn't really that much pay
compared to the larger shops in the area- but the work is interesting,
the people who own the place are very decent to work with, and they
were willing to go along with the fringe benefit above. Nor is it
entirely limited to me- most employees enjoy the same freedom to make
product for personal use, provided it doesn't interfere with the
normal work, and they are in good graces with the powers that be. It
just happens that I hold one of the two positions that allows me the
free time do things like this on a semi-regular basis.
I can recall working for a small machine shop that was very much like
that. We called it "government work" and you were allowed free run of
the shop on your lunch 1/2 hr to do whatever metal work you might have
need of doing. I can recall making a cam for a Hobart mixer belonging to
a restaurant I frequented. When it broke, the cost to replace it was
outrageous and the part itself was little more than a bad casting (too
brittle) that had been machined. We didn't have any material like that
in our scrap pile so the cam went back as wear-hardening steel. Using
the pieces I had and some on-site measurements I gad taken, I
reconstructed the cam and milled it out over the course of about a week.
When I popped it in, it worked perfectly and I was never asked to pay
for my meal there again. Actually, I stopped going there for a while
because they would not let me pay and I thought that a meal or two was
more than compensation enough. They were struggling and I didn't want to
become a burden.
So ... lots of little shops allow 'gubmint work'. But not everyone is
willing to give up their lunch break to do it. Machine shop work can be
both stressful and difficult ... and the rest needed. But ... for a good
cause ... almost anything is possible.
Bill
--
Make yourself an honest man, and then you may be sure that there is one
rascal less in the world.
Thomas Carlyle (1795 - 1881)
http://nmwoodworks.com
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