What do you do for a living?

[J-Mech]

Originally Posted by CADplans

The frame of the gun that shot Lee Harvey Oswald was investment cast.

First of all.... Why do you know that? LOL. And second, I googled it.... Now I know what investment casting is....

[Maxwelhse]

I'm a Mechanical Engineer...

About 60% of my professional experience has been in design engineering for automotive (I've done work for just about every large OEM, and 3 years at Navistar on Medium Duty trucks and buses)... The other 40% has been in manufacturing engineering and project management (sucks).

[CCSuperMan]

Nuclear physics engineer here .

( I only machine parts and fix machinery for the extra money )

Actually I'm an old school machinist with a long background in manufacturing . Model making , prototype , manual , cnc etc .

Involved with the development of the grenade launcher , RPV ( drones ) that fly over unnoticed , the modern day pour spout on all liquid detergent bottles , many of Nasa's satelites , nuclear sub components .

I found fixing old stuff more satisfying than than watching a cnc machining center .

[sgirdham]

Originally Posted by cubfixer

I now teach high school. Been at it 14 years. I've retired from two other careers. 10 years as a petroleum engoineer and management in the oil fields and 15 years in water chemistry both as engineer and management. I have about 5 years left befire I can retire (again!).

I will say this to the younger set here on OCC: you never know what you will end up doing for the rest of your life, so pay attention to everything.

I am only 27, but I have lived my life with this same mentality because you never know what will happen. I started out going to Navy boot camp about 2 weeks after high school graduation. I signed up as a Machinery Repairman because I had already taken 3 years of machine trades in school. I was top of my class in "A" school and soon went to the USS Theodore Roosevelt CVN-71. I used manual lathes of all sizes, vertical mill, horizontal mill, VTL, Radial arm drill press. Towards the end of my 4 year mark we got approved for a HAAS lathe and small cnc bridgeport and I picked up on that pretty fast.

I was also the ship's locksmith and went to school near Lexington, KY for safe and vault certification and general locksmith.

After my contract ended...AKA I WAS FREEEE! I started going to college for electronic technologies.
During this time I worked doing landscaping, brick pavers, cut fire wood in the winter, bailed hay, carpentry, and any other cash paying job I could get my hands on.

For 8 months I was a plant manager at a small paint and powdercoat facility that had chain on edge lines to paint dampers and pulleys for automotive. During that time I did more "maintenance" and fixing old equipment than I did doing things a manager should be doing. I was a fool that agreed to a salary compared to my E-5 pay from the Navy, but working 70-80 hours a week on 40,000 was B.S....PLUS it was really putting a hurt on my school work because I was still going full time.

Now I repair ultrasound and CT scanners in hospitals all over the state of Michigan and I get to use my brain instead of ruin my body. One day I will have a small home machine shop to do my own projects.

That was long winded, and that was the short version!

[CADplans]

Originally Posted by J-Mech

First of all.... Why do you know that? LOL.

I was sourcing an investment casting for GE at the time, I toured the IC plant in New Hampshire.

Baskets full of castings, golf club heads, diesel injectors, etc,,,

We walked past one basket, and the plant manager said,

"That is the frame for the same gun that killed Lee Harvey Oswald, we made that one , also!"

[Grampie]

Im Retired, From a life of many jobs.
Paper Route
Dairy Farm
Bowling Alley
Bridge Painter
Highway Worker
U.S. Navy 4 years
Produce Truck Driver
Foundry Worker (Poured Iron Castings)
Heavy Construction Laborer
Building Trades Laborer
Rockwell International / Machine Operator
High School Janitor / Bus Driver (Self Loading Garbage Truck)
Heavy Equipment Operator/ Dozer, Loader
Garbage Truck Worker / Driver
Alot More I can't remember them all!
Now I Babysit my 3 grandsons, 2, 6, & 8 ( Best Duty I Ever Had! )

[EricR]

For the past 12 years I am a Oxygen fill Tech. I fill O2 for the welding and medical purpose. We fill around 8 to 10 thousand cylinders a month and it's making an old man out of me real quick, LOL.

[TheIHMan]

Just got done with my sophomore year in high school, besides school I restore cubs and tractors, (currently repainting a dodge truck), work for a local farmer, help my dad and uncles farm, restore tractors, and work on tractors and pulling tractors, and I am addicted to all things IH and have way too many custom IH projects to work on. A few of my IH customs that I have planned out for the next few years is 1. Put together my 1456 with a IH 549 V8 gas motor, 2. Buy and custom build me a IH party bus, (from a 80's IH S series school bus) which will have a 549 LP that I have, 3. Put together my 75 IH flatbed pickup with ?(IH) engine, 4 Put together my grandpa's 53 IH R-110 pickup that has a 345 IH V8 and 4wd scout axles, 5 Build a tandem Cub Cadet. Restoring tractors and working on the farm pays for my addiction.

[RR1862CC]

Long time diesel mechanic and retired truck driver. I am now head of maintenance and purchasing for a small school bus fleet. Dealing with 33 buses, drivers, and the schools can be hectic but it pays the bills. In my off time I repair just about anything with a small engine, rebuild garden tractors and muscle cars.

[dakemp]

Industrial electrician, work at a taconite mine in the processing facility. Been at it 17 years now. Recently made foreman --- not sure if i like the low-level management gig so far, kinda wish i was back on the floor with a Fluke in my hand...