The Blue Collar Project: August 13, 2016
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The Toolmaker’s Box, 252 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle
Every toolmaker's box tells you who he is before he says a word. This is the top of mine, an oak Gerstner. The center...
PODCAST: August 13, 2016
Written by Phil Kerner
Phil Kerner has over 40 years' experience as a tool & die / moldmaker as well as extensive experience in mold and fixture design, EDM, cutter grinding, and CNC machining.
August 13, 2016
For The Man Cave…
The Toolmaker’s Box, 520 Piece Jigsaw Puzzle
Every toolmaker's box tells you who he is before he says a word. This is the top of mine, an oak Gerstner. The center...
Kerner Tool & Die Company Shop Cap
My uncle Ed owned Kerner Tool and Die. My father Fritz ran it. The shop opened in Erie in 1944 and built die-casting...
Vintage Kerner Tool & Die Matchbook Mug, 11 oz
Every shop in the 1960s handed out matchbooks, and Kerner Tool & Die was no different. This one came out of a...
Machinist’s Decimal Equivalents Mug, 11 oz
About ten years ago somebody sent me an old shop decimal chart. It was ripped, faded, and about ready for the trash. I...
The Tool and Die Guy Shop Mug, 11 oz
I'm 66 years old, and I have never had a cup of coffee in my life. Not one. But I spent more than 40 years in...
Tool And Die Guy Shop Stamp Coasters, Set Of Four
Every print that ever crossed my bench had a stamp on it somewhere. FINAL. ENGINEERING ISSUE. Somebody's initials in a...
Starrett Shop Coasters, Set Of Four
These four pieces came straight out of my 1935 Starrett catalog, Number 25, Revised Edition, a book that's been...
Lufkin Shop Coasters, Set Of Four
Every piece in this set came off the pages of an actual 1947 Lufkin catalog, the kind that sat on a toolroom bench...
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The podcast was short and to the point. A pretty good start for the first one.
Phil,
It is not just working with your hands, it is visualizing 3D spaces and mathematics. In the CAD program where I took some courses, the biggest cause of student failure was poor math skills. Manufacturing and making things is the ability to see the finished product in your mind before you make it, to see the steps before you do them. It is a tremendously intellectual undertaking.
Robots: they are taking jobs, they are replacing machinists, GE, a company you mention replaced some 20 machine steps with 3D printing of what I believe was a jet engine fuel nozzle – met a Boeing engineer at the 2014 IMTS who told the story.
I appears integrating manufacturing through the internet of things is a huge game changer which again requires even more skills. The skill set is changing rapidly from an outsider’s perspective.
You are right on, manufacturing is very important; but the skill set to actually make something as compared to talking it is becoming very challenging to acquire.
Keep up the good work,
Dennis L.
I”m really getting tired of people whining about robots and the advances in technology that are ‘replacing’ machinists. Nonsense. They may be replacing machine ‘operators’ but machinists and tool makers are still in high demand. Maybe we should go back to overhead shafting and steam power plants. Technology advances and you either advance with it or go become a barista or cart roundup boy. The fact is that there are damn few REAL machinists and that is because in our infinite wisdom, we eliminated the apprentice program, we have eliminated trades in school and we have outsourced a lot of our work to foreign countries. It isn’t the ROBOTS that are killing us, it’s the people running this country who think that China can do it better. THAT is what will eventually kill us off. If you KNOW a young person who is interested and YOU have enough talent to pass on then DO It.