(800) 853-2651
SHOP NOW

Lost mechanical arts

N

notjustair

Well-known Member
Last night I had a minute so I adjusted the brakes on the '35 Chevy grain truck. I use it to chore when I feed square bales and the pedal was starting to get low. I was thinking about how so few people there are probably left that know how to work on mechanical brakes with their adjustable rods, cables, and centralizers. It's a lost art. And not necessarily an easy one, either.

Most of the guys here wouldn't be afraid to tear into the carburetor off of their grain truck, but in the "real world" that's a pretty lost art as well. When I ran gas school buses I had to learn the two and four barrel carburetors because at the switchover to diesel no heavy mechanic shops were training kids on how to work on them. I had a bus inspected and worked on once and he told me that they did the best they could with the carb/emissions adjustments but no one really knew them anymore. And this was a good shop! I limped it home and promptly tore into the four barrel on it. With all that emissions junk I had never seen anything so "new" with that many pieces. I didn't stop until it ran like new (with a lot less parts on it) and it still ran that way when it was retired.

I wonder what kinds of things will be lost when we are gone. Grandpas '35 has always been in the family. When I'm gone it goes to my niece. She's really going to be in trouble - she won't know anything about a carburetor OR those mechanical brakes (not to mention points and adjusting timing with a dial distributor). I told my brother there was going to have to be an apprenticeship program for the old thing. At my farm sale there better be lots of other guys like me. There are still lots of things around here that require some special skills to upkeep. And some are actually worth upkeeping!

Brakes, ignition, carburetors. There's got to be others I missing.
 
Nothing new. This has been going on for thousands of years. I don't know how to form an arrow head from stone or harness a team of horses. The magic of the internet allows me to watch you tube videos and learn if I want to. There are videos of just about any subject you can think of and more being made every day. The internet is probably more stable than a building full of books that can burn down. So the knowledge being captured in videos is probably long lived for generations to come. The beauty of the internet is you can find information so fast and from sitting at home. I don't have to go to 10 libraries and find books on what I am interested in. My thoughts anyway.
 
My first car was a '47 Chevy P/U, hotwater 6, babbit bearing oil burner, 3 on the tree, to date me. Required the brakes to be adjusted about once a week and never could get them balanced out so that it didn't pull one way or the other. Always into it to fix this and that.

My current truck, assumed to be the last vehicle of the type to be purchased in my lifetime is a 2011 Silverado. When I purchased it I resolved myself to the fact that I will not be maintaining it.

It will be celebrating it's 7th birthday this April and it has been back to the dealer annually.....for vehicle inspection. Nothing to fix. Service shop is empty at the dealership! Used to be full every time I went by there. That's the way it ought to be.
 
I run a manufacturing plant and it's amazing to me how many young folks have no mechanical skills. Either spoiled by their parents or let down by the educational systems who chop the "industrial arts" programs from the budgets it's clear that these folks can't appreciate the satisfaction of working with their hands. I have had college students who couldn't cut the grass with a riding lawnmower.

Even our CNC operator struggles with using a Bridgeport mill at times because it's a hand operated machine. Getting speeds and feeds dialed in by feel and watching the chips roll off is a challenge. Our society is now enslaved to electronic devices that are largely disposable so today repairs are actually replacements.

Mechanical reasoning and hands on work as a whole seems to be on the endangered list.
 
I have to admit I couldn't read a tape measure yesterday. Hanging pictures for my wife I had one 2 inches lower than the other ones. No idea how that happened. If I had been using a laser measure with digital display I probably would have done it right the first time.
 
Videos are nice and you can learn from them. But nothing can replace a person that knows. When I was 11 my dad turned me over to an ex German pow. Stayed here after the war. I cleaned and sorted parts for two years before either one would let me do simple repairs. The german was very strict about keeping things clean. My dad taught me to never give up and learn from mistakes. I was 15 when I rebuilt my first engine. Proud day when that thing fired up.
 
At the factory we had college grads who couldn't read a tape! We had a 'crash coarse' to teach them.
 
I would be comfortable doing all that. I grew up doing those kinds of things. I really despise all this new junk. It want be around long.
That is why my tractors I use are from 66 years old to 76 years old.
Richard in NW SC
 
We still repair and adjust mechanical brakes on tractors,not a lot of difference than your 35 and we rebuilt 2 carburetors this past week. A 4 BBL from an International MV404( anyone remember those ?) and a little Motorcraft from a 2300 CC Ford industrial engine from a Sewer Jetter. Not real easy to find a kit for a lot of carbs. any more and they are pricey when you do. You are correct, these kinds of things are a dying art and I stay at odds with our school board all the time. Their vocational education program is a joke. They don't have any hands on programs any more that lets the kids hands get dirty. It's all about pushing buttons.
 
Learning has more to do with the desire to learn and being interested than anything else. Good teachers make it easier but you can learn from bad teachers or videos if you really want to. I think the thing that good teachers do is expose you to information in a way that makes it interesting. That sets the sparks off in the student and they become interested.
 
Great. My story doesn't have a happy ending. When I was about that age or a year or two older, a neighbor had a 1951 Merc. flathead V8 that needed an engine overhaul. 2 or 3 of us convinced him that we could do the job. We did but put it together DRY!!!!! Figured the oil pump would take care of oiling; and having done valve jobs and all, my first complete overhaul.

Lived on a gravel road and the plan was to get it out and pushed up to speed, shifter in 1st, pop the clutch and she should start right up, which is what we did on engines that didn't want to start (but not having been just "overhauled"). The tires were locked up tight and all we did was make ruts in the gravel.

In short, he had to hire somebody to tear it back down, replace the damaged parts and put it together with the proper lube during assembly. The owner was our friend and he didn't bash us much about it. He had a good job, was living at home with parents and had adequate income to blow it off.
 
i mensioned the same thing this fall when i was looking for a carb kit for grain truck with 4v holley carb. the young parts man said " what is that used for?" when i asked about a carb kit.
same with points... how do you set them? seams everyone is scared of a magneto also.
wait till the driverless cars come out, no one will be able to drive this old stuff!
 
About 8 out of 40 engineering and engineering technology students can recognize a hacksaw. They are in my classes,I start from zero. What a change from even 15 years ago. Jim
 
A good friend of mine runs an manufacturing business. He has over 100 employees. He says his biggest problem is finding people with the skills he needs in his business. HE says you get mechanical engineers that can not do anything other than generate a computer drawing. They do not have a clue if what they design will actually work or if it can be manufactured. Then his hardest employee to find is a person that can take a "new" design and actually assemble it completely in a good working order. His factory makes a lot of gear box style of things. So setting back lash and preloads are very important. His top men are getting in to their early seventies. They like their job and still want to work. HE has been looking for their replacements for over 4 years. He has tried to train current employee and just is not having much luck. He says he gets too many educated idiots. LOL Lots of fancy degrees with papers from various colleges about how smart they are but have trouble fill their water glass. ( His words not mine)

One of the things he says he can't hire done is his machine rebuilds and maintenance. They do most of it internally. He has a lot of mills and lathes that are HUGE manual machines. The newer CNC stuff takes too much setup time for his type of work where you maybe only making 2-10 of the parts. He has one fellow that scraped the ways on the machines when they rebuild them. That fellow comes in and does that when they need it done. He just turned eighty this year. His skill is dead with about anyone younger than 50-60.
 

As a nod to many of y'alls skills and to Mr. Duane's comments, if you posses skills that fewer and fewer have, try and make a video, or an instructional tutorial.

Your video or other tutorial on how to do something may be watched / read hundreds of years from now. It will memorialize you a bit and preserve more knowledge/skills into the future.

George
 
Instead of complaining about somebody keeping the 35' going, show your niece what needs to be done while you are still around to show her.
 
NOTHING should be lost when we are gone! What is the point in a society that does not learn from the past and keep the knowledge for the future...even if they archive it. I love this thread. So many good replies. But not this one:

"Very true my boy. Some thing go buy the wayside as there is no need for them."

No need for them? Really? Anyone who thinks the Internet and computers and modern technology in general are going to save your life if or when the real disaster strikes is seriously deluded. You will be looking to the guy who can make a basic machine run and adjust it properly so you can have at least some comforts in your life. But to get off the soapbox...

Several years ago my 1976 Chevy PU died at the pump at Fowlerville Farms. No problem, sez I, there is a Chevy dealer across the freeway with all the tools and knowledge I need. No can do, sez they...that truck has a carburetor...we have no one here who knows how to fix it. I got that truck running all by myself with nothing more than a hammer. Dang starter was stuck. Pulled it off and had it looked at when I got home.
 
Hello notjustair,

How about basket making, and file use to flatten warped gasket surfaces for a good seal?

Guido
 
Yes you do have to want to learn. I made my share of mistakes had to do many things over again. Had to pass many inspections to move on. But I learned. I give both of them the credit for it cranking the first time. Because they made me do it the correct way. I have made my share of mistakes. But I retired at 58 (health). Still do what I can. Mostly helping others.
 
(quoted from post at 09:16:25 01/28/18) A good friend of mine runs an manufacturing business. He has over 100 employees. He says his biggest problem is finding people with the skills he needs in his business. HE says you get mechanical engineers that can not do anything other than generate a computer drawing. They do not have a clue if what they design will actually work or if it can be manufactured. Then his hardest employee to find is a person that can take a "new" design and actually assemble it completely in a good working order. His factory makes a lot of gear box style of things. So setting back lash and preloads are very important. His top men are getting in to their early seventies. They like their job and still want to work. HE has been looking for their replacements for over 4 years. He has tried to train current employee and just is not having much luck. He says he gets too many educated idiots. LOL Lots of fancy degrees with papers from various colleges about how smart they are but have trouble fill their water glass. ( His words not mine)

One of the things he says he can't hire done is his machine rebuilds and maintenance. They do most of it internally. He has a lot of mills and lathes that are HUGE manual machines. The newer CNC stuff takes too much setup time for his type of work where you maybe only making 2-10 of the parts. He has one fellow that scraped the ways on the machines when they rebuild them. That fellow comes in and does that when they need it done. He just turned eighty this year. His skill is dead with about anyone younger than 50-60.
Click to expand...
JD. this is just my observation and opinion but your friend needs to set up a mentoring or apprentice ship program at work, that 80 year old fellow that scrapes the ways on those machines should have a younger person working right with him learning those skills, and yes I know, just try and find that young person that wants to learn those skills, but what several shops in our area are doing is looking for kids raised on the farm, or their dads had a construction business, kids raised with a wrench in their hands, know how to work with their hands, know what a tape measure, a level and square are for and how to use them. the comment above about schools shutting down shop classes is one of the root causes of the dilema we find ourselves in. yes techknowledgy is great, computors make our world so much easier to go out and get answers we want in an instant, but a computor can't build a new house, machine a new part for a piece of older equipment, someone still has to get their hands dirty, JD. next time your talking to your friend with the manufacturing plant suggest to him a really good place to go looking for skilled employees, is the military. they teach every skill out there, forget the colledges and universitys, he needs people that have discipline, a strong work ethic, KNOW WHAT THIER HANDS ARE FOR, theres only a handful of places that teach that today, the farm, the family business, the military. for example one place I know of has punted their wanna be security firms and hired ex M.P.s, their breakins and thefts have gone way down. next time your talking to your friend JD. drop that suggestion in his ear. there are good employees out there JD. he's just looking in the wrong place.
 
The major part of the problem is that demand for those arts is what is actually being lost. Mechanical brakes disappeared from new cars eighty years ago in the late 1930s (that's three generations ago), from new tractors fifty years ago in the late 1960's (that's two generations ago). Today if anyone wants to work on older technology like mechanical brakes, points ignitions, carburetors, etc. there are still plenty of resources available to find out how to do it.

A smaller part of the problem is very few people are willing to pay someone else for those lost arts. Most Do-It-Yourselfers working on a hobby are more inclined to take the time to read up on a procedure as a labor of love rather than pay someone else $40/HR under the table or $100/HR shop rate. In other words, for a young person who needs to make a living there is no money in learning the lost arts.
 
I hear a lot of gripes about not being able to find skilled people. The long and the short of it is these places that "can't find anyone decent" don't want to pay a living wage for the work they want. Sorry, if I could make $10 an hour stocking shelves at Walmart, or risking life and limb in a hard environmet for that same $10, what do you think I would choose. I have always applied my self and worked hard in the auto repair trade. I spent 11 years in GM dealers and worked to earn my World Class Technician status. There were only 1500 people in the US recognized as WCT at the time. I quit the dealer gig because I was tired of having to fight the dealer and GM to get paid a decent wage for my tool and education investment. I used my skills and tools to start my own shop and earn what I should be for my skill level and tool investment. I occasionally get cold calls from dealers looking for talent, and frankly, they are insulting. I make them talk pay upfront so we aren't wasting each other's time. Not one of them has been willing to pay more than I made in 2002. I tell them they are offering 2002 wages, and that's their problem.
 
Agreed, Duane. It's part of progress. Sadly, much knowledge has been lost for whatever reasons. Those of you who enjoy history might want to Google the Library of Alexandria. But I digress.

I'm a history buff as well as an engineer. Even in my short lifetime I've seen once valuable skills lost to the passage of time. I remember my Father, also an engineer, speaking of the same.

Like you, I cannot create an arrowhead or spear point from flint, nor can I harness or drive a team. Such skills are no longer required, though the loss of such is saddening.

Soon, I will loose a close friend. He is about 20 years older than I am and is the only man that I know that could pour and fit babbit bearings. He also knows more than anyone I have known about wood, forestry and woodworking. I've watched him build Model T depot hack bodies from trees.

How many of us could maintain, or even operate, the triple expansion steam engines that powered the Titanic, or the Blucher at Dogger Banks?

The atlatl is considered one of mankind's greatest inventions, right up there with the wheel. No one knows how many millennia civilization would have been delayed had it not been invented in Paleolithic times, yet today, few even know what it is. Carburetors, hydraulic brakes, alternators, etc., pale in comparison.

The wheel turns.

Dean
 
A fellow went to work for a major corporation. Several weeks into his job, he discovered he had made an error which cost the company millions. He fixed the problem, then packed his belongings, then went in to the boss, reported what had happened and what he had done ending by saying "I guess it's time to fire me."
Boss replied, "Fire you? I just spent millions training you."

What have we really lost? Kids today are just as dumb as the ones my dad dealt with and also as dumb as the ones my grandfather tried to teach. If a hundred years from now, a field full of old tractors still exists, some one will have the curiosity to try making one of them run. While here in the U.S.A. technology rules the moment, in other places, Ford 8Ns are replacing oxen. Oxen are still used in other places, and in the deepest places, they are yet to be discovered.
If some crazy were to explode an atomic device, we might very well lose the technology of computers and GPS. Then Third world countries will have a leg up for a little time. The problem isn't that skills are lost, it's that demand is strongest for other areas. If the ratio of carbs to fuel injection is 1000:1, we need a thousand fuel injection techs for every carb master. It is just as hard to find folks with mastery of the newest skills.
 
Well I think that everything you do from now on you should make a video and put it on youtube.
That will be the only way for the newer generation to learn because they live on their phones so maybe when one of your equipment problems comes up they will find out how to fix it on their phone.
 
Your post has some merit. There is a local car dealership here that will start their techs out at slightly over $10/hour. And you have to have about $25K in tools that you supply also. Their promise is that your wage will significantly escalate soon. I've heard the techs say that the "soon" never happens. BTW, this dealership almost has a complete turnover every two years.
 
I posted this before, but about two years ago I took my '98 Ford Ranger in for new tires to a major discount chain store. My truck has a manual transmission. I did all the paperwork and looked out into the bay to see about 5-6 kids working there. (Okay, that might be pushing it, but they were pretty young) I asked one of them if anybody there knew how to drive a manual transmission. He said: "Yea, we have Igor drive in all the stick-shifts." He pointed at Igor who looked like he was about 80 years old. Hopefully Igor never quits.
On the same topic, we have cars that park themselves and cars (and semi trucks) that will soon be driverless. We truly are dumbing down our next generation. I live in a rural area and in the last year I've probably stopped a half a dozen times to help a kid change a flat tire...because they couldn't.
 
I agree, Sprint. I was in tool & die. Most places want the skill without the pay scale and aren't willing to train employees. Two or three times a year the Cleveland paper runs an article about the shortage of skilled machinists. Yet most of the public schools have abandoned their industrial arts and stress college and computer skills. Just like the trades, college isn't for everyone.
 
(quoted from post at 08:03:52 01/28/18) I run a manufacturing plant and it's amazing to me how many young folks have no mechanical skills. Either spoiled by their parents or let down by the educational systems who chop the "industrial arts" programs from the budgets it's clear that these folks can't appreciate the satisfaction of working with their hands. I have had college students who couldn't cut the grass with a riding lawnmower.

Even our CNC operator struggles with using a Bridgeport mill at times because it's a hand operated machine. Getting speeds and feeds dialed in by feel and watching the chips roll off is a challenge. Our society is now enslaved to electronic devices that are largely disposable so today repairs are actually replacements.

Mechanical reasoning and hands on work as a whole seems to be on the endangered list.
Click to expand...
bob some of the best machinists in the world are out there riding around on American aircraft carriers, working in aircraft maintenance hangers, tearing apart and repairing tanks, humv's, helicopters on army bases all over the world! they have discipline, the best work education and first aid training in the world, they know what their hands are for and how to use them. they have all the basic knowledge you need, getting them up to speed on your equipment and what your manufacturing plant do's would an easy transition for them. there are also head hunter firms out there with direct access to these people. your tax dollars paid to train these people bob wouldn't it be nice to get some of that money back in the form of a highly skilled worker? john.
 
If you want to hire and retain people with skills and experience, you have to pay them what they are worth. If you want to hire people at low wages, you have to train them and watch them leave.
 
(quoted from post at 11:43:30 01/28/18) If you want to hire and retain people with skills and experience, you have to pay them what they are worth. If you want to hire people at low wages, you have to train them and watch them leave.
Click to expand...
AMEN ss55
 
(quoted from post at 10:03:52 01/28/18)
Even our CNC operator struggles with using a Bridgeport mill at times because it's a hand operated machine. Getting speeds and feeds dialed in by feel and watching the chips roll off is a challenge.
Click to expand...

I had never really thought about that. I've only really ever used a bridgeport or drill press and know how to control the speed by the chips, I wouldn't have a clue to what feed rate to put in g code.
 
ss55 His average wage is over $65K. In just six months you can easily be at $20 plus an hour so low wages is not the trouble.
 
It's a good thing that mankind refused to live in the past and had a desire to move forward with new and different technologies and skills. Otherwise, we'd still be living in fear of falling off the edge of the Earth when out for a boat ride.
 
Those mechanical brakes also need to be equalized. My dads model A Fords are the same. If you have slop in the pins and bushings you really have a party.
 
For skilled machinists $65K including overtime would have been good wages about 25-30 years ago. I realize that wages are depressed in many rural areas, but 65K won't attract experienced talent to uproot a family. That might attract a a new tech school graduate that has strong family ties to the area, but they will need a year or two of training to bring them up to full speed in any specialized industry.
 
Lets back up a few generations from those mechanical arts; how many can train and drive oxen? The next generation will learn the arts they need to survive.
 

I would almost bet 9 out of 10 mechanics don't know how to properly repair the brakes on a 2005 chevy as far as that goes. Properly may not be the right word let's say take the time to properly repair and take pride in your work.
 
Are you sure we don't have to be afraid if that anymore.
I read a guy named Mike Hughes is going to launch himself in a rocket Feb 3rd to prove the earth is not round.
 
I have never read a "Tape Measure".
Sounds like it might be a good book.
I'll see if I can find it at Amazon on my phone for my Kindle.
Have they made it into a Movie yet.
I could watch it on laptop with Netflix.
 
Others missing... how to babbit a bearing. How to oxy-acteylene weld ( I learned how in college, never used it again), how to stick weld. How to repair a generator or starter or electric motor. How to read a wiring diagram.

But my generation never learned how to hew a log, hitch a team. Had one college classmate who could rope a calf, I never had a chance to learn.

Technology marches on though, and either we learn new stuff, or we go the way of the dinosaur.
 
I heard something about that ..... I await his findings !!! I'm sure he'll notice the sun travelling around the Earth at the same time.
 
When I was a teenager I helped a friend replace a synchronizer in a 48 ford. We had it apart about a month before he bought the parts. We fought with it a hour or so trying to line the gears in place to bolt it together. We went to eat supper and my dad asked if we finished it. I told him we were ready to put it back in the car. He asked if we put all the parts back in and I thought about a lock ring on the main shaft that we left off. I said it will be ok, it can't come off. He told me if Henry Ford hadn't thought it needed to be there he wouldn't have put it. He made us tear it back down but it went a little faster the second time. My 13 year old grandson likes to work on stuff. I tell him to try to find where the trouble is before tearing stuff apart. If it ain't firing, you don't need to take the tires off . But he is learning. Tommy
 
Lest we not forget, there has to be somebody that is (hopefully) knowledgeable about whatever you are looking up on YouTube or Google to post the "instructions" in the first place.
Having said that, there is a good reason that many skills are vanishing. Lack of demand. So, if one becomes a skilled machinist, where does that person find a job that will pay him enough to live on? Nobody is willing to pay a skilled worker to sit and wait for his skills to be needed. How does one survive in the meantime?
Let's say a guy opens a carburetor repair shop or another specialty shop specializing in some "lost" skill. How does he make a living in the meantime? How many folks will be coming around for carburetor work?
People that are really proficient at their skills learn that from a lot of experience. The less demand there are for a particular skill set, the less likely you will find a really proficient repairmen for your particular need.
So, while some skills are dying out, there is not enough demand to keep them alive.
 
(quoted from post at 14:38:26 01/28/18) Others missing... how to babbit a bearing. How to oxy-acteylene weld ( I learned how in college, never used it again), how to stick weld. .
Click to expand...

Stick welding is all I know but I'm hoping to learn Mig and buy a welder too. Carburetor skills might not be needed too much longer as the new fuel renders them inoperable. I hope not in my lifetime as I'm still running mostly carbureted engines.
 
(quoted from post at 18:36:27 01/28/18)
(quoted from post at 14:38:26 01/28/18) Others missing... how to babbit a bearing. How to oxy-acteylene weld ( I learned how in college, never used it again), how to stick weld. .
Click to expand...

Stick welding is all I know but I'm hoping to learn Mig and buy a welder too. Carburetor skills might not be needed too much longer as the new fuel renders them inoperable. I hope not in my lifetime as I'm still running mostly carbureted engines.
Click to expand...
when your shopping for a mig welder rusty look for a millermatic 200 or 250, you will have to pay up for them, people who own one are loath to sell them, you can dial them down to weld cigarette paper or up to weld 1" plate. nearly every body shop in Canada has one or more in it. if you buy a new one from a miller dealer make them put on a flow meter (has 1 pressure guage with a glass tube and ball in it) NOT a set of guages like a torch has. you set the regulater to run about 40 to 50 cfm, gives you good coverage and no porosity in your welds.
 
when your shopping for a mig welder rusty look for a millermatic 200 or 250, you will have to pay up for them,[/quote]
Thanks. Always good to hear advice and experience on these things before buying. As you might guess, I want one that can weld old car bodies without burning holes in them. The arc I'm using is very hard to get a decent weld without burning through. And I've had lots of practice with it.
 
My daughter is a Chem engineer, I'm an EE. She invited mom and I over for turkey day with - ulterior motives. She wanted help building a shed in the back yard. Not one of those shed-in-a-box types, the hand built kind.

We did some sketches, made a BOM, went down to Lowe's and got what we needed(mostly). I showed her all the steps, what kind of fasteners to use, and where to use them. How to cut on the line, or leave the line depending on where you measured from. We started picking up 2x4s and she was just grabbing them without looking for truing. We made small trusses, I showed her how to check the strain, put the nail plates on, etc.

It was a great job. She still uses the power tools, and can pickup just about any kind of job when shown once. Sadly, she makes big, big money at P66.
 

As someone else pointed out, those skills are no longer important or really needed. If old junk is your hobby you will learn to do these things, otherwise no one will care.
 
(quoted from post at 19:56:42 01/28/18) when your shopping for a mig welder rusty look for a millermatic 200 or 250, you will have to pay up for them,
Click to expand...
Thanks. Always good to hear advice and experience on these things before buying. As you might guess, I want one that can weld old car bodies without burning holes in them. The arc I'm using is very hard to get a decent weld without burning through. And I've had lots of practice with it.[/quote]rusty when I'm welding car bodys or thin metal I use a method I call stich and go, after you get your piece in place just hit the trigger and as soon as the arc is established let go, you should have left a spot weld about the size of the end of a pencil, move to another corner repeat, until you have the piece firmly spot welded in place, move back to where you started do a couple of more spot welds, move back to the other side a couple of more spots, using this method you keep the heat input in any area to a minimum and your new piece and the will not warp or pull. (an old timer body man showed me how) takes more time, more patience but a lot nicer finished job. you will be surprised at what you can do with a mig rusty compared to a stick machine, you can jump a 1/2" gap, or weld a half inch plate with ease, one of the senses you will be using with a mig more than a stick machine is your ears, you want to hear a nice bacon frying sound, no spitting, poping, you want the wire feeding smoothly not stabbing into the puddle. once you've got that mig and you dialed in your old stick welder will be gathering a lot of dust. keep your mig gun as straight as you can from the machine to the work, it's a lot easier on the wire feed motor and your drive wheels, and at least once a year pull the covers off the machine and blow all the metal grinding dust out, that gets in there while your welding. another tip while your welding rusty is to pay close attention to the colour of the puddle, especially on thin metal, if you stay to long in one place you will see the puddle turn from red to orange to white, if the puddle has got to white your a micro second from blowing through and making a hole that you will have to let cool right down, and go back and refill with the stich and go method. order .035 wire and drive wheels and tips or if your just doing thin metal .030 is good. john.
 

I can rebuild and tune a carburetor, the engine for my street cruiser has 3 two barrel carbs.
Mechanical brakes, hydraulic brakes ,air brakes are not a problem.
I've done a fair bit of work on industrial hydraulics and industrial electric.
I know nothing about making or posting a tube video.
 
(quoted from post at 18:54:23 01/28/18) And Lindsey Publications went out of business.
Click to expand...

Mike, I found a lot of the Lindsay type books through this seller- http://stores.ebay.com/THE-GUN-AND-GEARHEAD-BOOKSTORE?_trksid=p2047675.l2563
 
(quoted from post at 14:31:28 01/28/18) I hear a lot of gripes about not being able to find skilled people. The long and the short of it is these places that "can't find anyone decent" don't want to pay a living wage for the work they want. Sorry, if I could make $10 an hour stocking shelves at Walmart, or risking life and limb in a hard environmet for that same $10, what do you think I would choose. I have always applied my self and worked hard in the auto repair trade. I spent 11 years in GM dealers and worked to earn my World Class Technician status. There were only 1500 people in the US recognized as WCT at the time. I quit the dealer gig because I was tired of having to fight the dealer and GM to get paid a decent wage for my tool and education investment. I used my skills and tools to start my own shop and earn what I should be for my skill level and tool investment. I occasionally get cold calls from dealers looking for talent, and frankly, they are insulting. I make them talk pay upfront so we aren't wasting each other's time. Not one of them has been willing to pay more than I made in 2002. I tell them they are offering 2002 wages, and that's their problem.
Click to expand...

2 sides to that argument. First part is defining a "living wage". That isn't easy, but it seems to always be a lot more than what most working folks estimate when someone complaining about low wages get's talking. 2nd part is that a lot of people, skilled people included, put a lot more value on their worth than the consumer is willing to pay. Finding a balance point isn't easy at all, never has been, never will be.
 
My problem with the whole deal is that most people like to complain that such-and-such is becoming a lost art, but they never make any effort to TEACH it to anyone.

Instead they'd rather complain about young people because they were not born with the knowledge on how to adjust the brakes in an old truck for example.

That's the thing most people forget, that at some point along the way someone TAUGHT them how to do whatever it is they're complaining about becoming lost.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Similar threads

M
Cleaning carburetors
Replies
16
Views
533
showcrop
showcrop
S
  • Question
4440 Lost Hydraulics
Replies
5
Views
455
Shaggy97
S
D
Case Ingersoll 226 . Any fans of this tractor on the site ?
Replies
13
Views
703
1946 BN IHC
1
W
4253 Massey FWD not engaging
Replies
0
Views
101
wheat straw
W
H
Neighbor lost his machine shed.
Replies
8
Views
2K
J.Wondergem
J.Wondergem
Tractor Parts Tractor Manuals

We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today.

Copyright © 1997-2024 Yesterday's Tractor Co.

All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.

Yesterday's Tractors - Antique Tractor Headquarters
Website Accessibility Policy

Back
Top