I missed the Staff meeting, but the Memos showed that Gunner Asch
wrote on Mon, 15 Sep 2008 14:34:01 -0700
in rec.crafts.metalworking :
On Mon, 15 Sep 2008 12:53:49 -0500, "Lloyd E. Sponenburgh"
lloydspinsidemindspring.com wrote:

I have a casual acquaintance who I respect for one of his areas of
expertice. Besides that knowlege, he claims to have been "a machinist
for decades". He's of retirement age now.

Recently, he instructed a raw-beginner HSM on how to turn long tapers
using the compound and frequent re-chucking, and using a file for
dressing up the jaggies. When I suggested turning between centers and
offsetting the tailstock, he bristled, saying that it was
"impossible" to ever get the tailstock back on center again.

Later he made a comment to another fellow allowing that "owning a
lathe and a mill would only be a dream for me."

Can I presume this guy is NOT "a machinist"? G

Or is it possible that production-floor machine _operators_ call
themselves that?

Ayup..sounds like a Boeing "Machinist" who came in to one of my
clients looking for a job as a Bridgeport machinist.

He didnt have a clue how to do anything other than the same 3-5 parts
he ran for his entire carreer at Boeing.

I just hired on at a new job, and yoikes! this isn't like the last
place! I mean holding a thousand tolerance? Well, strip my gears and
call me shiftless, I'm in like a porch climber! "Now this is
machining" and yeepers, am I "scared"!
But the guy training me started out by saying "When you get the
paperwork, ask yourself 'how is this job going to bite me in the ass.'
Not 'can' but 'How'." I learned that TiN coated taps run oversize.
Taught him what "theoretical thread depth" means (all that expensive
technical schooling finally was useful. Finally.)
I'm 'loving' it, I've half a block shorter commute, and a ten cent
raise. I can live with this.
--
pyotr filipivich
"I had just been through hell and must have looked like death warmed
over walking into the saloon, because when I asked the bartender
whether they served zombies he said, ‘Sure, what'll you have?'"
from I Hear America Swinging by Peter DeVries