"pyotr filipivich" wrote in message
...
"Jim Wilkins" on Mon, 22 Sep 2014 09:52:19
-0400 typed in rec.crafts.metalworking the following:

The electronic and mechanical engineers at that and several other
places I've worked knew little of each others' discipline

Not just the EE & ME. I learned machining. When I was tasked
with making some fenders for a friends walker - of course the first
thing I though of was "get a block of aluminum, and mill it ...".

Sigh, the whole "if all you know is the hammer, everything is a
nail."


At my first job after the Army I told them I'd like to work my way up
to engineer, so they ran me through all the departments to learn the
intricacies of custom machine design and fabrication. I'd learned
mechanical drawing in jr high and Statics and the properties of metals
in college, which were big helps. I didn't actually operate a
Bridgeport, TIG welder or press brake but I learned what they can and
can't do. I did drill and tap a lot of holes and learn to bend sheet
metal accurately on a manual brake.
-jsw