I have the advantage of being involved in manufacturing since I was very young. When my friends were outside playing I was most often working with and for my father. OK, so maybe it's a disadvantage.
My dad had a pretty good machine shop and I was running machines like drill presses and lathes before I was out of grade school. I was running a Bridgeport milling machine and inspecting my own work using a vernier caliper, the one with lines, not a dial or digital model.
The majority of the work I did was mechanical engraving which my dad offered and he taught me how. Later I learned how to do limited photographic work in a darkroom for the purpose of making silk screens using a process camera. It was in one of our garages and was big enough to be a car.
My dad invented the thermal wire stripper when I was young and I helped him make the parts required. Of course the easiest to work with was the plastic or phenolic. Those parts were the ones to isolate the electrical components. It was then I learned that you can apply electric voltage to nichrome wire to heat it. It turned red hot. To me it was direct short but it surprisingly didn't blow the house fuses. There was an adjustable transformer to control and limit the amount of electricity that was applied to the nichrome elements.
He taught me how to do some drafting to make drawings though he later hired a patent draftsman to make his drawings for the invention application.
After working for him I went out and found a job in precision sheet metal, man I loved that trade! I learned and progressed quickly and became very talented and respected. I had many great teachers in those 'old guys'. For many years I had multiple open job offers. I haven't filled out a job application in more than 25 years though I changed jobs 6 times.
I had a knack for talking to engineers and draftsman, I spoke their language and they taught me as I taught them. As time progressed I learned CAD.
Isn't this a fantastic time we live in!
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