On 4 Jun 2005 11:15:54 -0700, jim rozen
wrote:

In article , williamhenry says...

just a few hours of careful teaching can make the difference between
somebody keeping at this hobby
and regretting ever buying that 9x20 mini lathe

So true. A close friend of mine moved recently, and sold off his
seneca falls lathe which was in pretty functional shape.
He said he really had no idea how to run it and it was just too
frustrating.

He needed to adjust the play in his motorcycle wheel bearings
which means making a spacer to set the preload. I did this for
him while he was watching, and you could see the wheels going
'round in his head - he was asking all the right questions.

It's no suprise given the amount of 'little fiddly stuff' that
machining requires that apprenticeship was the way it was
always taught. There's only so much that book learning can do
for this kind of skill.

Jim

I have to fix my Toy and was talking to an auto machine shop and they
said they don't have anybody that knows how to run their crank
grinders. I asked if they would sell them and got an immediate no.
They seemed receptive to train someone, wonder how much I could get
vs. how much it would be worth. Better give me someone that's bright
and can catch on real fast. The place is maybe 2 miles away so it
would be easy to drop by in the afternoon and crack the whip, I mean
show encouraging instructions.