I'm 72 years old this June. I've worked as a Journey level Tool and Die/ Moldmaker for over 50 years. I owned a CNC prototype shop for 30 years. I just gave all my tools and my last two machines to a guy I apprenticed 20 years ago. I have parts that were made on my tooling on both Voyager 1 and 2. I've got parts on the moon. It's been a good life. This trade allowed me to raise three children and send them to school.
Jim, thank you for your commitment to the trade and to those that follow. However, I am saddened by the fact that this country is losing its edge and the skilled men needed to keep it running. Few will ever know even the smell of a tool shop let alone the feel of a truly precision machine or tool. Oh the thought of a brand new Hardinge lathe or a Moore jig borer built back in the 60's. All the best to you and yours!
Congrats Jim our country is lacking in people with good hands. I am an aircraft mechanic and since all of our machinists retired I sort of inherited the job, I soet of apprenticed for 20 years but I would never call myself a machinist, I'm a mechanic that can work a few machines
I was an apprentice mold maker in the mid '70's. I worked with some very talented men, and it was a great time in my life. I told them when I started that I was a sponge, and their knowledge was my water. They loved that. I miss those days and those men. I still have my Gerstner toolbox and you can see that same oak toolbox throughout this video. That toolbox was given to me by Red Rowen when he retired. It was in great shape then and still is. He left it full of precision tools and gauges. He saved me maybe $4,000. Red is gone now, but I always think of him when I open my Gerstner box. Thanks, buddy!
Great story. I also inherited my Dad’s machine tools, micrometers and other gauges; makers like Keuffel and Esser. He was an old school T and D man after the War. Retired ’72. Worked first for Consolidated, (later Con Vultee) and then Convair in San Diego. I still remember the “open houses” Convair would have for the families. I recall the hydraulic and gravity “drop hammers” and their amazing racket. These were the pre CNC days of course. It was mainly done by hand measurements, w/ very fine calibrations on superb machines. Good memories.
I wonder how many thousands of these memories there are? I inherited my Gerstner from my dad. Still using it today, and will pass it on to my son. I served my apprenticeship in 1980/84, just as the t & d industry was computerizing. It's sad to see how our trade has been dismantled by the men in power.
My late husband was a Tool and Die maker. 45 years in the business. I was and will always be so proud of him. We never hired anyone to fix things at home. He did it. Interesting to watch this film. All those terms of the trade I had heard for 34 years of marriage. Thank you for this.
There are quite probably many pieces of machinery that still function today because of parts he made! As tool & die makers / machinists, I feel like we get to touch the entire world through the parts and tools we design, produce and handle. I can only assume your husband left behind a _huge_ mechanical legacy, as, I am sure, a human one. RIP :)
That was my dad, served his country during the Korean war, came out and got a education in manufacturing, started working in the Die Casting business, started a big family with car and home, and provided for us all even after his passing due to leukemia in 07, I think they don't build them like that anymore.
It's interesting to hear politicians talk about bringing manufacturing back to America. What they don't understand is that it takes six years for a person to become a proficient tool and die maker. Without tool and die makers, we cannot regain our place in the global market. Still, we send kids off to universities who have no business being there. We need more tradesmen (and women) to make our country run!
Agreed...we don't put as much value on the skilled trades as other nations do, despite the fact that somebody in the trades who's good at what they do can make a ton of money and never lack for work. It's a situation that really needs to change...
Most of those jobs and the factories they are in are now run by computers. They change the drill bits and grinding wheels by robot and use lasers to make measurements. They don't requre insurance, retirement, vacation or sick days. They work 24 hours a day without a break and never file a complaint.
@@danielebrparish4271 It's the same process as back in the day: When you do enough of something it becomes worthwhile to invent a machine to do it for you. We don't need as many people running drill presses or peering at micrometers these days. But the descendants of the old school T&D makers need to do most of what their predecessors did and build robots too. I used to know a woman in robot development; it's a busy field these days.
100% agree. I don't think anyone should graduate HS without at least 2 sem. of 'shop'. We really don't need millions of kids going into debt to get a degree in 'mar. comm.' or other useless twaddle.
@@danielebrparish4271 I work on those machines, and I tend laugh at the "robot doesn't require sick days" because they do, and it's even more expensive than a person. I love my robots, but the one thing a robot can't do understand if a process is good or not. The tolerances might be within one ten thousandths, but it doesn't mean it's made right.
@@GIwillo He's not wrong, and neither are you. As a maker of 32 years and a direct victim of NAFTA, this country gave away a whole generation of skill building and knowledge in this field, and all the ancillary businesses that supported tool and die just went away. Manufacturing was like 65 % gdp back in the day, more. We were the best in making almost everything. Now? 20 years till we restart making our own microchips again. Huge security problem. Greed and globalization destroyed who we were.
I was a tool and die maker just out of high school in 1983, small shop and the lead man's name was Jake. Seven years later, we named our first son Jake. Good times back in those days, running conventional equipment and only had one CNC machine. Learned how important tolerances and precision were and carried that throughout my life. I now have 37 yrs at a major aerospace company and have been in Manufacturing R&D for the last 29 yrs. I couldn't have gotten to where I am today without learning the trade from ole Jake and the rest of the crew there.
During HS and just after, I worked in a couple of shops around that time as well. I'd love to have a manually operated Bridgeport milling machine. Something about it.
My first Machining job was working for Raytheon as a machine operator with no experience,, turning Parts for guided missiles on a small production lathe, in 1952. As I gained experience I became a jig and fixture maker and eventually on to Tool and Die. That was the hard way for sure. I ended up working in 6 Die shops in my life. I learned something new in every shop. You never stop learning in the machining trade.. I retired in 1999 as a Tool and Die Shop supervisor. I find you never learn to relax after the trade. I still work to way too tight tolerances in my work shop out back even with wood.😉 I was given a 9" South Bend Lathe for free. I made fixtures to accommodate some small milling jobs. I'm 88 now and still can't give up. LOL
This actually brought tears to my eyes as it reminds me so much of my Dad. He was a tool and die maker for over 40 years for a local tool and die shop that made equipment for the heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration industry. He was incredibly skilled and the best tool and die maker at his company and was their go-to for solving complex problems with dies. The company did business worldwide, and because of that, he got to travel all over the world to set up new equipment and train customers how to use it. He is 85 now and long retired. What he did was of so much value back then and provided for our family. So proud of him. Thank you Dad for giving us a good life because of your skills and talent!
Im 82 and served a 5 year apprenticeship as a jig and toolmaker in UK in the 1950s. People are amazed at how I can fix things! My life long hobby has been model engineering with 7 passenger hauling steam locomotives to my name. I have taught my Cambodian step daughter to change door locks, change fuzes, fix leaky pipes etc.
I have a niece that was interested in what I did from a young age, always asking what my tools did. She's still a very good machinist, but she didn't choose Tool and Die. Smarter, she became a locksmith and a very good one.
54 year old Toolmaker here, I was in at the beginning of CNC and I was able to code also. But before we did all that I was taught all the origional stuff. I was taught how the use files and a hacksaw over a whole week!. After learning all the rest (Lathe/mills etc) went on to Metallurgy and design. My apprenticeship was at a Perfex Works, producing punched sheet metal products. The UK factory has gone now and the tooling and machines sold to another company, the site is now a housing estate. I now live in Australia and have worked on some of the largest machinery used in Iron Ore mining, including stackers, reclaimers, conveyors, crushers and rail/locos. I still code as a hobby and build small robots for fun, fly home built autonomous balsa model planes.
One year younger but my shop was all old heads. I heard all this stuff from people that the old guys wouldn't teach you stuff, wrong. They wanted to teach but you had to show them something. I'm guessing from the file comment you made a T slot cleaner first thing. Then T handles, 123 blocks, and proper training. When they passed on a design role with a lot of computer stuff they put my name forward, and I will never forget the confidence that gave me. These guys were trusting me to design the die and they would help make and set it. I actually miss when I learned more per day than I did then, but I still try to learn (or remember) one thing a day. Without old Masters, like us, training apprentices, this trade will die. However, got 2 new ones last year and they both look good, so there is that. edit: I showed them the compound sine vise the other day and got glass stares
I am a young tool and die machinist who also handles our shop’s fabrication work. It is a line of work that needs many more interested young people involved in it to continue to drive innovation and keep our standards in manufacturing.
Is the field declining population wise? And how has automation affected the industry, has it reduced the minimum threshold of craftsmanship required to make high precision products? Or has it increased the amount of technical expertise required to be a competent journeyman?
@@forrestking9372 As a whole there seems to be a need for younger guys in the skilled trades. On the topic of training; high volume production machine shops, the barrier seems to be lower with the use of CNC machining. But in an environment where I am handling tool and die work, one off repair parts, reverse engineering, and fabrication, manual machining is much more practical for most of our work. It simply is not work the programming time and setup to run it on CNC. So we have to have all of the manual machining skills in addition to CNC operation for milling, sinker and wire EDM, and waterjet cutting at my shop.
@@1978garfield CNC takes soo much time to program and setup. We only use it for high volume production jobs, and for tolling that would be nearly impossible to manually mill due to odd profiles that would be time consuming to do by hand. CNC milling, waterjet, and EDM are useful assets to what we do. But still, most of our work is manual machining and fabrication.
My dad was the son of a Swedish immigrant tool and die maker. Dad told me many, many years ago about the gauge blocks whose surfaces were so precise that they would literally stick together. Our country really lost a lot by deindustrializing. I got to see the very tail end demise of much of our manufacturing prowess when I started as an engineer in 1980. I hope we get that back someday. GREAT video!
My grandfathers were tool and die people from Sweden as well. My father followed in their footsteps, and my mom was in industrial supply sales. I, too, saw the downfall of manufacturing in the Midwest starting in the 70's in the upper Midwest. I went into EE and started writing firmware for industrial controls, then biomedical and into RTOS. My background from the machine tool world has been priceless over the years.
@@stanbrown915 I've done that with sharpening stones. Using 8000 grit and 10000 grit with water. Dang near impossible to undo that without damaging either one. That is now on my 'do not do' list.
This is my business in 2023. While we build brand new tooling for new parts, some of the stamping dies we run probably date back to the 50s. Everyone these days looks up to CNC machining and 3D printing, but if you need millions of parts in a reasonable time, stamping is hard to beat.
It all comes to numbers. If you need one or a few parts which are no longer in production anymore, CNC or 3D is the way to go. Actually armed forces use portable workshops with 3D machines to manufacture spare parts when they are on mission. It is a big difference whether one can replace a broken part with a 3D print or have to fly in a spare part from another continent.
@cpm1003 do you make press brake tooling? Im after a 2-stage hinge tool. Not sure if you’re able to help, but if so, let’s get in touch. Im currently improvising my own 🙄
It's always been this way since the stamping turrets came out combined with break presses. They can make numerous different things, but hard tooling wins in numbers.
My 1st wife's family were all tool and die makers for General Motors. They each worked over 40 years in the trade. Her father was a tool room welder, one of her uncles was a group leader and the other ended up being superintendent of the tool room. None of their children wanted anything to do with the skilled trades and I am the only one who did. My Journeyman's card is as a Plant Utilities Engineer and I have been in the trades for close to 50 years myself. I have some of their tools and a couple of great wooden tool boxes to keep them in. I try to get young people interested in the skilled trades and help them in any way possible to make them into good reliable tradesmen. This is the only way to keep the trades alive...
My grandad also tool and die maker for GM is whole career, all graveyard shift. He had amazing tools at home that I as a child could barely decipher what they did. When he retired they brought him back to train the next generation
One more comment from this humble tool and die maker.. after watching this I’m keenly aware of the education I got from my dad who taught me nine years and the experiences I enjoyed the last 43 years doing exactly what is seen in this video. I was trained in the same way and to the same degree as these individuals. So we’re my guys.. I’m proud to have accomplished this in my life and I have my apprentice journeyman ti also thank for sharing the experience. I’m Blessed to still do this for my occupation. They don’t appreciate us in the machine tool industry anymore.. they just open and close doors and push buttons a lot. That’s fine but I’ll take this any day.
I’m a Mechanical Engineer. I graduated college in 86. I rely on men like this to produce the things that I and my team design. The men who produce these things are true craftsmen.
My grand uncle Jack used his WW2 GI Bill benefits to get a BSME, followed by an MS in metallurgy. He worked his way to being one of the top 10 tool and die designers in New England.
I started my formal apprenticeship at Premier Tool Works in 1979 through the Tool and Die institute. The owner at that time Carl Gutman paid for my education. Thank you Carl and Winifred Gutman for all you did for me!! Master Tool Makers like Jan Wayne Barkdoll, Francis Stols, Alfred Milek, Walter Dizerwa were incredible men to work with. In my career I was able to serve three apprenticeships. Machinist, Tool and Die maker and plastic injection mold maker. I want to encourage any young person reading this to seriously consider becoming a tool maker! With great joy I can say .... It has and still has had a profound effect on my life, my wife's life and my children's lives. Being a Toolmaker is truly one of the greatest gifts God has ever given to me.
I worked in the Tooling shop as Jig & Fixture builder for McDonald Douglas Aircraft during the 60's. We built production tools for the DC 10 and various missile/space systems. I personally worked on the engine (third stage) test stand for the Saturn Five launch vehicle, it was enormous. So I contributed in some small way to the flights to the moon. I spent the early years of my working life there as a young apprentice.
@@bingosunnoon9341 Yes, I was in the Jig n Fixture shop (Dept 632) ... I was 18 when I became an apprentice. All the journeymen had been there since before WW 2. I loved my time there. I went back some years ago to find it all gone and an a/c museum there. So many memories 1966/1969.
My husband has been a tool and die maker for 3O years and I wish kids today were taught more about how important they are!!! I think kids think things come from the store but it was a tool and die maker who made this happen!!!! #weneedmoretradespeople. Like the man said…”so many things wouldn’t exist without a tool and die maker”. Let’s all band together to get kids all over north American to take tool and die!!!! Please 🇨🇦 🇺🇸
In America public schools used to have metal shop, wood shop and auto shop. Those classes were invaluable to not just toolmakers but set up all students for a life familiar with tools and their function. There is an intentional effort to create low education and low wages; with people too tired, distracted, and divided to fight for what we have lost.
Unfortunately, if a kid doesn’t have his/her fix of social media on a mobile device, they won’t do anything. They’re addicted and preparing to be socialist slaves. Teach YOUR kids is the best you can do. Even then they may walk away.
My Dad emigrated to the US with my mum in '65. He got a job as a tool and die designer for GM. I popped out in 66 so I missed England winning the world cup. I was living in the US and doing high school in the early 80"s There were no apprenticeships to be found. We we're going to move back to the UK and my dad's mate said about apprenticeships at Rolls Royce but by the time I got back, they had dried up. I ended up doing architecture but the more I see manufacturing videos, the more I think I missed my calling. I like doing things with my hands. When I first got into architecture it was all hand draughting but then came the computer and I've been driving a mouse ever since.
HA! I LONG for the days of mylars, sepias, ammonia and a 30' layout on a wall with people looking and pointing to details to a group instead of looking at a small (Chinese) monitor.
The 19th Amendment was our downfall. It brought us complacency after WWII and eventually spawned the hippy generation responsible for much of our ills.
I work in a small time tool and die shop run by my uncle. I’m working my way to learning the trade from him and another well experienced tradesman. Super cool video!
It's amazing what we had, and trying to get custom parts now, it's also amazing how much we've lost in the last few decades. I have enormous respect for those that create jigs, dyes, and tools! I wish we still had prevalent apprenticeships and journeyman work, but it seems pretty hard to find good ones these days.
We've lost so much in this country. Being a tool and die maker or a master millwright or any of a number of other jobs used to be a respected field, and as noted in the film, you had job security. Much of that has either gone with the idea of skilled labor or is done in other countries where more traditional values still hold sway. If we could just get it into the heads of the younger people that working with your head and hands is still a good way to make a living! Welders, plumbers, machinists, tool and die makers, pattern makers. Instead they want a cushy office job, or no job at all and let the taxpayer support them! Bah! The ramblings of an old man I suppose.
My Dad started as a Tool & Die maker at Buick in Flint also. He went into engineering and then went up through different management positions. He was finally the Master Mechanic in the stamping plant (12). He was very proud of reaching that position. I am also a Tool maker (40 years) and have my dad's Gerstner tool box and all his tools that he used. Some of my tools were purchased by my dad from retiring toolmakers in the early Sixties. Some of my tools are close to a hundred years old. Still work great! 75 percent of what's in my Tool box is older than me. I'm proud of my dad's and my career. My Dad and I still work on projects together and still use our training and engineering abilities to build some cool things.
I work at a small manufacturing company, we make precision machined components for industry. Most of our output comes from a pair of automated CNC mills, but all the processes require custom-built jigs and fixtures that are designed in-house and fabricated by our machine shop. So even though the parts we make are going into things like satellites, they still rely on someone who knows how to run a milling machine, lathe, drill press, etc.
Retired now and I miss the trade, worked 50 years as a tool & die maker. Watched from filing dies to wire edm. The computerized machines took it away from America to lower paid workers with less bench skill, but you cannot stop progress. Cheaper cost products but improved quality. These are the good old days, right now.
I am part of the last generation that worked in the old manufacturing industry. Did apprenticeship ( 1980 ) with a buddy at United Shoe Manufacturing corporation ( USMC ). A once powerful and great manufacturing Corp. that allowed me to see what it was like. My fellow graduates went to different machining department's. I went to piece work on a vertical and horizontal Cincinnati mill that had 20 machines. Others went to large and small plainers, 4 spindle drill press, cutter and drill sharpening, lathe, turret lathe, and tool and dy shop. A once busy 3 shift factory with its own foundry but now 1 shift. I then worked for GE in Lynn MASS leaving as an R 25 CNC horz boring mill operator. In 87 there were layoffs and I resigned before they started. I worked in the gear plant in Lynn MASS. All the machines were manual and for large parts needing overhead cranes with crews to position and remove parts. The GEAR plant is now a vacant lot and the once proud employer of 20k employees in 3 divisions has 3,5k and 1 division. I at least had an opportunity to work in factories before our politicians sold us out
As someone who has had some amature metal working experience, I realized years ago that tool & die makers are incredibly talented in their abilities to create incredibly precise dies that result in perfectly formed stampings; so precise, that the stampings can be used to check the straightness & accuracy of other parts.
I spent 44 years in the manufacturing industry. I started out as a milling machine machinist, then N/C (Numerical Control) Programmer, Designer, and finally a cutting tool designer & process specification writer for a couple of aerospace companies. Starting out with learning how to work with my hands laid the foundation for my career, and even in retirement, I still call upon those traits learned, truly not so long ago.
@@1978garfield N/C started out using punched tape in binary code. When computers started coming into play, you wrote the source code in APT - Automatic Programmed Tool language, similar to the old FORTRAN style of language. You created your geometry using specific terms, then create tool path to drive the cutting tool, whether it be on a milling machine or lathe. The code would then be run through a post processor which created the specific XYZ coordinates, preparatory functions - G Codes, and auxiliary/miscellaneous functions - M Codes. CNC - Computer/Computerized Numerical Control had logic built into the machine controller module that recognizes G/M codes as well as XYZ coordinates. It does the post processing for you in a way.
@@danielneuenschwander7381 Thank you for sharing your experiences. I'm a clock and watchmaker (born 1. march 1989, 2006 to 2009 watchmakerschool in Hamburg, north Germany, worked 1 year 2014 in the repairs department of Audemars-Piguet, Switzerland) If it's allowed to say - I think NC / CNC started the decline of our trades. Computers are making people lazy and stupid ESPECIALLY the smartphone (I call them smarties fans or german: smarties-fön. Fön = fan. German for telephon is written telefon...) Today, even 2006 to 2009 during my apprenticeship in Hamburg, there a nearly NO one who are able to grind simple chisels EVEN with a high class grinder with scales... (like the Deckel ones). Terrifiying. CNC machinists are also lost if you ask for angles of an good HSS chisel to work on silversteel for a normal lathe... I think we must become humans again and go back to the technics of 1955 with more refinement. Cordial greetings! Géréon (I'm living now in the frenchspeaking area of switzerland, lake geneva, the side where the river "Rhône" enters the lake... Independant watchmaker, but more into fine scale modell building and tin plate toys. watches are ~"boring" xD and the customers are too arrogant)
Machines were run off paper punch tape, that were created on a teletype machine. Typed in from the programer's notes. No stored memory in those machines. (the 'C' (computer) in CNC)
@@stratostatic Thanks! I had actually seen footage of those machines. I didn't know if there was a box full of vacuum tubes the size of 2 side by side refrigerators someplace that was the computer. Good to learn it was analog.
Great documentary. I apprenticed in 1966 in the U.K. It's a no forgiveness trade, work or loose, become a man amongst rough situations & deadlines. I made 75% of my own daily work tools when no-one saw. Emigrated to Canada in 1974. Now that's an "icy" country in the trade. Mostly based on contract terms.Fired on the spot! Anyway, loved my trade despite the summers unbelievable high heat & humid conditions, dripping over the machines. Got perfect as the years moved on. The machinary & approaches became outdated rapidly as time equalled money. Last job before retirement was developing twin prototype fans for Porsche. Now that's pride. Ended up teaching R & D Prototype programming with great pride. Retired in 2000. Shockingly at the end the once quality dies, fixtures & tools were made cheaply offshore using a disposable attitude for cost savings.
My uncle' used to be a tool and Die maker in the 70s he worked long and hard he made a lot of money doing pieces work you have to be on the ball to this type of work
Served my time in the early 90s and loved everything about it. From what I've read here I'm not the only one who loved this work and was passionate about it, and lament the loss of our past and unfortunately dying trade.
I ran dies, mainly progressive, some draw dies. Presses from 90 ton to 600 ton, for a tool and die company for 18.5 years, the quality of workmanship of the die makers was so impressive to me. These men were awesome. Quality in every detail! It's an art, i enjoyed every minute running those dies! Thanks to all those that continue to provide such quality work!
Love these old documentaries. I grew up with them in class rooms in 50s and 60s. America was a very different place in those times. Thank you for this.
I was one of the last people to meet with William Grede who was the head of Grede Foundry located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His wife and daughter were with me when I met him in his private suite at a nursing home located in Brookfield, Wisconsin. It was a Friday afternoon when we went to see Mr. Grede. He died the following Sunday afternoon in June, 1989. When I attended his funeral there were roughly 3,000 people who were there in Wauwatosa in attendance. It was an impressive funeral and I was honored to be there. America at its finest. As we spoke that Friday afternoon, Mr. Grede was confined to a wheelchair and was tapping his cane on the foot pedestal of the wheelchair. He lost his ability to speak but it looked as though he was indicating the wheelchair could have been made better. Remarkable. All the way to the end.
@@je862 No, I wasn't an employee of the nursing home. Because of my related work I was invited by his daughter to see Mr. Grede. America does not produce men like this anymore.
@@je862 No, I wasn't an employee of the nursing home. Because of my related work I was invited by his daughter to see Mr. Grede. America does not produce men like this anymore. Grede Foundaries is still in business but they have diversified obviously.
@@je862 You're welcome. These men of that caliber are non-existent. America is not producing men like this anymore. When I met William Grede he was in his wheelchair and he was tapping the foot rest with his cane. Because of his age and health condition he lost his speech but his wife and daughter told me he was trying to convey to us how to make the wheelchair foot rest better.
The Navy jet at 7:27 is a North American FJ-1 Fury. Note that the image is reversed. The "S" tail code is for Carrier Air Group 5 (CVG-5), squadron VF-5A. The jet engine being installed, and detailed at 7:38, is an Allison J35-A-2 turbojet.
Ive been doing centerless grinding,surface grinding, and form grinding for 24 years, damn good trade to work in,no student loan debt either,you earn as you learn
As I come to the end of my life, I can look back on a successful career as a Tool and Die Maker for Caterpillar Tractor Co. and the Boeing Aircraft Co. I was an apprentice at Caterpillar in 1964 after service in the Navy and I retired medically from Boeing in 2009. I was fortunate not only to have worked in this field but also the other Tool and Die Makers I worked with fortified my knowledge and experience in general tool making and later in CNC machining. It was a good life and a great opportunity to add to the products America produced.
My father was a mechanical engineer who designed machinery that produced the first flexible circuits back in the late 60's 70's. So many nights at the dinner table I would hear the conversations between him and my mother about his day at work, which included many stories of the miracles the local tool and die shops would perform to get his machines into production. You could tell he had so much respect for those guys, he always talked highly of them.
He wasn't the guy that made the flexible printed circuits Ford used in the 70's was he? If so I want to ask him why the left turn signal on my 76 F100 glowed anytime the headlights were on.
@@1978garfield . . lol . . . no, he designed the machines that manufactured the hard boards and flexible circuits that other companies purchased to produce their circuit designs. AT&T used to buy a lot of his machines to produce their circuitry.
Spent my entire 35 year career as a manufacturing engineer in the automotive industry working with Tool and Die makers. Always had the utmost respect for them.
My father was a tool and die maker and a mold designer. Our government sold out the tool and die industry in the early 1970's. They not only ruined their markets by allowing cheaper overseas companies to come in, they literally starved them out of business by giving defense contracts to offshore companies. We are now seeing the results of our own governments greed and malfeasance as a third generation of American kids is graduating into the work world with no manufacturing skills or even basic knowledge of mechanical or electronic devices.
It wasn't "government" that sold you out, it was corporate greed. It always amazes me that people blame government for all our problems when government is simply the people we elect into office. The problem with a democracy is, there's no one to blame. We have the economy we deserve the people in power we deserve and the quality of life we deserve.
@ do you live in America? If so, you are confused about the difference between a Democracy and a constitutional republic. The corporate influence in Government is not tied to democracy but rather with the purchasing of power and the disconnect from representative government. Feel free to blame the corporate elite for trying to influence events in their favor. But, the government is complicit in sale of influence and the destruction of our economy and freedoms.
I belonged to the NTMA through my apprenticeship and as a journeyman shop owner till 1990 when I left because they wanted us local shop owners to get on a plane and fly to China and share our knowledge with them.. I said no way until they stop being a Communist Society.. I watched most of the Mold shops dwindle and die away over the next few years.. because they taught em how to compete with us. They were building $45k molds for $16k .. stupid. My tool and die shop made it till 2016 when I finally closed it and went to work for one of my customers. I’m still there today.. 7 years later.. I’m 67.. I though the NTMA made a fatal error in judgment.. I think I was right.
That was likely one of the final blows for domestically produced stamping dies, but the industry was failing long before that. NCR cash registers Had many thousands of stamped parts each one requiring a progressive die, not to mention all the support equipment, the modern cash register has a few injection molded parts and a bunch of electronics and that's just 1 example.
Thank you for another great video rescue As stated, America's strength has been it's ability to take raw materials and build useful things from it. We shipped all these jobs overseas. Why? Because of greed , we are no longer the strong country we used to be.
I'm glad I had my apprenticeship with such talented men. Sadly most are now retired and it's up to me to pass along all their knowledge I received and the knowledge they received and so on
Back in 1980 I got my hand severely injured in a small punch press. The safety mechanism failed. Without getting into unpleasant detail, it did give Shands Teaching Institute at USF to use my hand as the first one to give them the opportunity to perfect a procedure. As such my hand is in their orthopedic text book. It has helped future patients. Thank you for posting what the American Dream used to look like.
I am from Russia, from St. Petersburg. I work on grinding machines. I was an apprentice to a craftsman who was over 75 years old, more than 55 of which he worked in the manufacture of tools and dies. He gave me his knowledge and experience. That's why I enjoyed watching this perfectly shot movie. Thanks!
Always cool to see some of these old videos. My grandfather had a little tool and die shop in his basement, when he died my Dad got all the tools. I'm also a Mech Engineer and may end up inheriting those tools someday. Of course my Dad and I are mechanical engineers, so we're pretty much hacks in regards to tool and die making. But we at least have appreciation for the skill-sets and do our part to encourage younger generations to get their hands dirty. I'm hoping to get my kids into the local tech school when they're old enough.
My father served in the navy during the Korean war and upon discharge went to L.A. Trade Tech for Tool and Die making on the G.I.Bill after he got his first job at L.A. Die Casting and because of both his training and leadership skills climbed the ladder and became a shop foreman and then Manager at the machining and assembly division, he put in fifty years until illness caused him to retire.
I got all the way through high school without knowing what a tool and die maker even was. And this was true of many other interesting blue collar professions as well. This was a major flaw of the education system in my day.
If I had it to do all over again, I'm not sure I would have chosen any other field. Although I always thought millwrights had a cool job, but I only saw master millwrights and still have no idea what their apprenticeship is like.
A huge thank you to everyone who left a comment. Perusing through the comments brought me a lot of joy and memories of my 40 year career in aerospace manufacturing.
I used to watch these as a kid around 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning PBS used to run stuff like this all the time which was great because it taught me a lot
When I graduated highschool in 1996 our career counselor told me I would be a bum if I did jobs like this and that I need to go to college and learn computer programming because there is this thing called the Internet that was starting up and if I get in now I will be set for life. That wasn't true and now we have a shortage of people who can do this kind of technical work. Thank you public education.
Exactly. I graduated in 2004, and most of my teachers pushed college degree w/ a desk job. Only ones who pushed trades were the teachers in the vocational school.
There are already too many people doing computer programming. (...said the Comp Sci major...) Trust me, the world doesn't need more half-assed programming; we've already got plenty. If you can make a living building useful things, go for it.
Your counselor was right. Ronald Reagan destroyed the industry. It is a crummy job now. A world famous employer where I live pays tool makers 15 dollars an hour now for tools that mold shoes and other consumer products. I won't say the name but it rhymes with Mikey.
I spent much of my career marketing the tools and materials for Southwest US style jewelry. Much of what was needed in any given piece of personal adornment could be had, at one time, from items produced in factories. My company's highest-paid (hourly) person was a tool-and-die maker. He drew plans out on the white paper bag left over from his order at a Blake's Lotaburger. Chalk on the concrete floor was another medium for his great art. He truly lived in the real world and in the moment. Miss you, Jake!!!
Nature can be wonderful if we treated fair. I was once one of those machine shop owners that made tooling for the labs here in New Mexico . I have a machine shop right now that’s for sale full of precision instrument and machines .All in perfect condition and under power. I’m 83 years old now and I worked in the industry since I was 18 served an apprenticeship went to junior college graduated and opened my own shop I had a wonderful Life ,that I can be proud of . It was a fun experience.
One of the better videos on You Tube. I took a 6 week machine shop class in my mid 40's. I wasn't going to become a machinist, but I had always been interested in how mills and lathes worked. I really enjoyed the class.
I was an apprentice when i was getting startes at 17yrs old. 49 now and have had a wonderful career as a machinist. Ive done things such as tool grinding and making, manual mills of all sizes, manual lathes of all sizes, cnc lathe and mills, programming and supervisory positions. Love it, i like going to work every day!
I have 57 yrs as a tool&die &mold maker when I walked into my first shop I had never seen one but I instantly knew I could make some things in there I've done aerospace automotive just about anything you can think of you never quit learning but sense industry went offshore tool&die has basically died CNC has replaced alot if we don't bring it back we won't be the nation we were. All us old guys will be gone soon there will be no one to teach
computers make people stupid and lazy... a lot of the work show here is lost knowlegde. Today a CNC guy can't grind a simply chisel even with a pricise tool grinder (with scales so no free hand) cordial greetings from a north german (Hannover, Hamburg, Kiel) independant clock and watchmaker, living now close to the lake geneva, french speaking switzerland.
I was trained by an old German machinist that was there when the allies were bombing the hell out of Germany's manufacturing plants. He had some interesting stores... He sure put me on track to become a first rate machinist.
I'm a machinist in a job shop, mostly manual but run an old ProtoTrak milling machine here and there. C'mon I know what you're saying but CNC has a lot of pros, undeniably so. Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. Ideally machinists should know all there is to know & there's a lot to learn, a great machinist will pursue a well rounded education, toolmakers included. These days in the US that's how you get paid, and boy is it a criminally underpaid trade. That being said, if you want to avoid CNC then go right ahead, someone else will learn and get paid more than you. And make no mistake, I am not referring to CNC operators.
My husband, dad and grandfather are/were tool and die makers. My dad ran his own shop and my grandfather worked for Ford. My husband now works for Nissan. It’s definitely a dying trade yet an extremely important one.
i really enjoyed this video by remebering the profesion i had put in my govt. sevice aero copter industry, tool and dies fixures are like life line for the parts we manufacture today. now the technolgy is ahead for cnc,model based design, cad cam FMS etc., but the core area is the tool and die manufactred and the parts that are produced are awesome the degree of quality and acuracy making the way for easy interchageble to the finish parts in any assy. aspects. great video for the tool die makers who strived in this field including me thanks a lot .😄
Michael Moore explained the then development of the " rust belt " and deindustrialization of the North East auto manufactures. My husband showed me all manner of equipment being shipped to the far east to manufacture thing's to be sold to us and the world. Good for them ( mostly ) and abilities to make things non existent in the usa and few places to learn trades. Michael Moore warned us over 25 years ago. We made our collective beds.....
We reside not too far from The Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades in Media, Pennsylvania where they’ve cranked out some of the best machinists for over a century !
I run manuals in the fab shop i work at as well as welding/ fabricating i enjoy it. something about turning a peice of nothing into something is quite satisfying.
If americans could come back with these types of production like in the film house appliances it will easily beat china. I remember those old electric fans they are build like tanks.
the problem is, those fans cost a week's pay for most people. people actually want cheap stuff, not good stuff...we live in the age of the "consumer", not the citizen. 😔
@douglasharley2440 You're absolutely correct, modern consumers just want new things regardless of quality because they want the next new model or version as soon as it's available. Cultural pride in manufacturing is long gone
@@douglasharley2440 you nailed it down! QUALITY. The reason why my old home country (I'm living now in switzerland, lake geneva, francophone area of CH) Germany has survived so well WAS (past term) that we became the chinese of europe. High quality in cheap prices. Well put aside HQ, neither for chinese nor TODAY german made stuff. Since Merkel it's a dying country. Please forgive me but we are still under occcupaition of the US-Military so likely germany is the 51th. state of the USA... (please go - same for other countries your goverment messes around) Now under the leftist parties (greens and the SPD /communist party) it's over. True words from UK/Thatcher: The EU is going to work as long the germans are paying for it (black mail wise) SO now the EU is close to collapse NO MORE MONEY from Germoney... End. Cordial greetings form a north german (Hannover, Hamburg, Kiel) clock and watchmaker - Géréon
Today half the kids graduating High School cant fix a flat tire, cant jump start a car, cant siphon gas, cant assemble an IKEA table, cant change a faucet. But they can go to college, get a useless degree and be 100K in debt in 4 years.
We would be doing great if it only half of the kids today were as you describe , i believe its much higher than half. Kids have been brainwashed by the democrats to go to college and get useless degrees since at least the 70's . lets face it if you work with your hands your considered 2nd class in this country, and i speak from personal experience on that!!!!
So true . . . worse yet is they see no need to learn, instead they demand entry into any profession, without any knowledge of the demands of that profession. And College is not used for education but in order to make money.
@@lingcod91 I would agree. Universities should not provide useless degrees. Some kids should look into the trades, electrical plumbing, construction, instead of history anthropology degrees.
My dad learn the trade at Illinois Institute of Technolgy after World War II on the GI bill much of his training was in secret government projects. The only two he would talk about was what became the M39 Auto cannon used in the F100 Super Sabre and F5 Freedom fighter. The other project was a boosted rocket gun project for the F89 scorpion that lost out to the Mk 4 Folding-Fin Aerial Rocket due to being too accurate. It could put a burst into one meter at 1,000 Yards. After IIT he found work at Anchor coupling company making compression dies to attach coupling to hoses and later worked in the coupling prototype shop. All that with only upper half vision field in his left eye. He lost is right eye at age 12.
In those days, tool and die making and all the other industrial and construction trades training began in junior high school with mandatory wood and metal shop classes for boys. Industrial drawing was also part of the curricula. My 7th & 8th grade wood and metal shop classes, Mr. Bulecca and Mr. Edge, at Barron Ave. Jr. High School in Woodbridge, NJ in 1964 & 1965 were the best times in my school career.
Great explanation of the importance of the tool & die industry, many of the machines and methods have changed but the end purpose has not. Unfortunately many local tool & die associations and shops in the USA were more interested in keeping wages low than educating the next generation. Apprenticeships are a thing of the past; I graduated from vocational school in 1986 there were very few apprenticeships being offered then. In my toolmaking career the only option I had to advance was to find another shop willing to pay a little better, The work was great I cant imagine doing anything else, the jobs were not so great, in nearly 40 years I only had 2 employers I stayed with for more than 10 yrs. It is very difficult for me to recommend tool and die as a career choice for a young person to undertake.
After being rigorously trained as a tool and die maker for four years and an experience of 34 years thereafter I can very well relate to every word in this video. Thanks and blessings from India. A proud Tool & Die Maker trained at an institute more than 50 years old - ‘Tata Motors Training Division’ ❤❤
My Grandpa Hurd was a tool and die maker in the era of the 1920's up to the 1950's or so. Back in those days before advancements taken for granted today, he had skills that have gone out of the world. He once needed to take .020 off of a crankshaft journal. He didn't use a precision grinding machine, he did it with a file and a micrometer, if you can believe that. He had such a keen eye and steady hand, that he could sharpen tiny drills the size of carbueretor jets by hand
I worked in a foundry moving cast out of these huge ovens. If u got burned it just seared u immediate cooking. Gloves, steel toes boots, eyewear and a helmet. Nothing but your flannel shirt over a long underwear top in the summer. Being 19 in college doing this in the summer u learn to crush future semesters fer sure😮
Ray Leno said: "you recognise a true steam car guy with burned/lost eye browns" remembered me of your commmet ! Thanks! xD You has been (still are?) a hot guy!
The elegance, manners, dignity, basic intelligence etc. presented in this film makes our current society an absolute sham and disgrace. Sad how far we’ve fallen as a society.
I’m a 25 year old young lad really taking interest in manual machining, my father is a cnc operator but started out on old turret lathes and mills etc. I am working on setting up a small hobby machine shop for me and him and I have made a lathe from scraps laying around and currently trying to make a mill but it would be my dream to find used cheap old machines… really don’t have much money but I’d be willing to work for it to make my dad proud and give us something to spend time together.
I was never a tool and die maker, but I did a lot of maintenance on dies in both sheet metal and die casting shops. It was really satisfying to start with a block of metal and produce something with tight tolerances, and do the whole job myself, from million machine to lathe to grinder. Now, all the shops I worked in are long closed. Years ago, I found some of the old die cast part labels on boxes at Lowes - made in Mexico. Sad. It was a regular UN in that shop - white, black, Hispanic, Cambodian - we had them all. Now where can people like that work?
My dad was a tool & die repairman at Delco Products in Kettering, Ohio. Most of my mom's side of the family (Stites) also worked for GM or other tool shop in the Dayton area.
I grew up in my father’s toolmaking workshop. As an 8 year old I made my own Apollo rockets on the Colchester Student lathe. He never let me on the Cincinnati Bridgeport mill 😂
Two and a half decades after this film I became an apprentice with the British division of an Michigan machine tool company and working to the standards illustrated, if not perhaps higher again with the introduction some electronic inspection equipment. The standard was high in the approach and the motivation of the people. Today, it is rare to find, though we need such capability. It's hard for me to find a shop in my area that can work to an order of magnitude less tolerance than illustrated in the film. How do we manage? Well, I guess there are just enough... but this indicates that wealth is draining from our economies at grass roots level. I salute my colleagues of the past, both sides of the pond!
Another excellent film that might have been lost forever. Thank you Periscope Film!
I'm 72 years old this June. I've worked as a Journey level Tool and Die/ Moldmaker for over 50 years. I owned a CNC prototype shop for 30 years.
I just gave all my tools and my last two machines to a guy I apprenticed 20 years ago. I have parts that were made on my tooling on both Voyager 1 and 2. I've got parts on the moon. It's been a good life. This trade allowed me to raise three children and send them to school.
That is so cool that you have had that life, and have left a legacy. Very inspiring. Just think of your parts flying in space !
Hell yea Jim! 😎 it is one hell of a craft ain't it
Jim, thank you for your commitment to the trade and to those that follow. However, I am saddened by the fact that this country is losing its edge and the skilled men needed to keep it running. Few will ever know even the smell of a tool shop let alone the feel of a truly precision machine or tool. Oh the thought of a brand new Hardinge lathe or a Moore jig borer built back in the 60's.
All the best to you and yours!
Congrats Jim our country is lacking in people with good hands. I am an aircraft mechanic and since all of our machinists retired I sort of inherited the job, I soet of apprenticed for 20 years but I would never call myself a machinist, I'm a mechanic that can work a few machines
Nice.
I was an apprentice mold maker in the mid '70's. I worked with some very talented men, and it was a great time in my life. I told them when I started that I was a sponge, and their knowledge was my water. They loved that. I miss those days and those men. I still have my Gerstner toolbox and you can see that same oak toolbox throughout this video. That toolbox was given to me by Red Rowen when he retired. It was in great shape then and still is. He left it full of precision tools and gauges. He saved me maybe $4,000. Red is gone now, but I always think of him when I open my Gerstner box. Thanks, buddy!
Great story. I also inherited my Dad’s machine tools, micrometers and other gauges; makers like Keuffel and Esser. He was an old school T and D man after the War. Retired ’72. Worked first for Consolidated, (later Con Vultee) and then Convair in San Diego. I still remember the “open houses” Convair would have for the families. I recall the hydraulic and gravity “drop hammers” and their amazing racket. These were the pre CNC days of course. It was mainly done by hand measurements, w/ very fine calibrations on superb machines. Good memories.
Wonderful story, sad things and men of value have to passed on for this thing called progress.
Nice.
I started as a grub drill press kid with a K Mart cheap ass stand up.
I wonder how many thousands of these memories there are? I inherited my Gerstner from my dad. Still using it today, and will pass it on to my son. I served my apprenticeship in 1980/84, just as the t & d industry was computerizing. It's sad to see how our trade has been dismantled by the men in power.
My late husband was a Tool and Die maker. 45 years in the business. I was and will always be so proud of him. We never hired anyone to fix things at home. He did it. Interesting to watch this film. All those terms of the trade I had heard for 34 years of marriage. Thank you for this.
Bless you.
Along with the women who were in production, the women behind the scenes helped make our country great! Thank you...🇺🇸 😎👍☕
There are quite probably many pieces of machinery that still function today because of parts he made! As tool & die makers / machinists, I feel like we get to touch the entire world through the parts and tools we design, produce and handle. I can only assume your husband left behind a _huge_ mechanical legacy, as, I am sure, a human one. RIP :)
That was my dad, served his country during the Korean war, came out and got a education in manufacturing, started working in the Die Casting business, started a big family with car and home, and provided for us all even after his passing due to leukemia in 07, I think they don't build them like that anymore.
@@Pow3llMorgan Yes! God bless you sir 👍❤️
It's interesting to hear politicians talk about bringing manufacturing back to America. What they don't understand is that it takes six years for a person to become a proficient tool and die maker. Without tool and die makers, we cannot regain our place in the global market. Still, we send kids off to universities who have no business being there. We need more tradesmen (and women) to make our country run!
Agreed...we don't put as much value on the skilled trades as other nations do, despite the fact that somebody in the trades who's good at what they do can make a ton of money and never lack for work. It's a situation that really needs to change...
Most of those jobs and the factories they are in are now run by computers. They change the drill bits and grinding wheels by robot and use lasers to make measurements. They don't requre insurance, retirement, vacation or sick days. They work 24 hours a day without a break and never file a complaint.
@@danielebrparish4271 It's the same process as back in the day: When you do enough of something it becomes worthwhile to invent a machine to do it for you. We don't need as many people running drill presses or peering at micrometers these days. But the descendants of the old school T&D makers need to do most of what their predecessors did and build robots too. I used to know a woman in robot development; it's a busy field these days.
100% agree. I don't think anyone should graduate HS without at least 2 sem. of 'shop'.
We really don't need millions of kids going into debt to get a degree in 'mar. comm.' or other useless twaddle.
@@danielebrparish4271 I work on those machines, and I tend laugh at the "robot doesn't require sick days" because they do, and it's even more expensive than a person. I love my robots, but the one thing a robot can't do understand if a process is good or not. The tolerances might be within one ten thousandths, but it doesn't mean it's made right.
We as a society wouldn’t be anywhere near where we currently are without machinists, tool and die makers.
and the lack of appreciation for that fact is a big part of why our society is collapsing.
Label me a machinest.
@@GIwillo He's not wrong, and neither are you. As a maker of 32 years and a direct victim of NAFTA, this country gave away a whole generation of skill building and knowledge in this field, and all the ancillary businesses that supported tool and die just went away. Manufacturing was like 65 % gdp back in the day, more. We were the best in making almost everything. Now? 20 years till we restart making our own microchips again. Huge security problem. Greed and globalization destroyed who we were.
@@GIwillo How can you have a functional community without respect for and understanding of the engineering that makes our modern lifestyle possible?
And Cab Callaway..
I was a tool and die maker just out of high school in 1983, small shop and the lead man's name was Jake. Seven years later, we named our first son Jake. Good times back in those days, running conventional equipment and only had one CNC machine. Learned how important tolerances and precision were and carried that throughout my life. I now have 37 yrs at a major aerospace company and have been in Manufacturing R&D for the last 29 yrs. I couldn't have gotten to where I am today without learning the trade from ole Jake and the rest of the crew there.
During HS and just after, I worked in a couple of shops around that time as well. I'd love to have a manually operated Bridgeport milling machine. Something about it.
Good post! I went to tech school in the 1980's and both instructors had apprenticed in the 1940's.....those guys were sharp! Learned a lot from them.
In 1973 I started in aerospace mfg. Now retired, anything I work on gets an edge break or chamfer. I hate sharp edges!
Let’s hope someone named his son Roy!
My first Machining job was working for Raytheon as a machine operator with no experience,, turning Parts for guided missiles on a small production lathe, in 1952.
As I gained experience I became a jig and fixture maker and eventually on to Tool and Die. That was the hard way for sure.
I ended up working in 6 Die shops in my life. I learned something new in every shop.
You never stop learning in the machining trade.. I retired in 1999 as a Tool and Die Shop supervisor.
I find you never learn to relax after the trade. I still work to way too tight tolerances in my work shop out back even with wood.😉
I was given a 9" South Bend Lathe for free. I made fixtures to accommodate some small milling jobs. I'm 88 now and still can't give up. LOL
what was the brand of lathe in 1952? Was it brand new back then?
40 year tool and die maker. My kids always complain when working with me. They don't understand why things need to be so close.
You are an inspiration sir.
That's the perfectionist in us that will never leave 😅😅
This actually brought tears to my eyes as it reminds me so much of my Dad. He was a tool and die maker for over 40 years for a local tool and die shop that made equipment for the heating, air conditioning, and refrigeration industry. He was incredibly skilled and the best tool and die maker at his company and was their go-to for solving complex problems with dies. The company did business worldwide, and because of that, he got to travel all over the world to set up new equipment and train customers how to use it. He is 85 now and long retired. What he did was of so much value back then and provided for our family. So proud of him. Thank you Dad for giving us a good life because of your skills and talent!
Im 82 and served a 5 year apprenticeship as a jig and toolmaker in UK in the 1950s.
People are amazed at how I can fix things! My life long hobby has been model engineering with 7 passenger hauling steam locomotives to my name.
I have taught my Cambodian step daughter to change door locks, change fuzes, fix leaky pipes etc.
I have a niece that was interested in what I did from a young age, always asking what my tools did. She's still a very good machinist, but she didn't choose Tool and Die. Smarter, she became a locksmith and a very good one.
54 year old Toolmaker here, I was in at the beginning of CNC and I was able to code also. But before we did all that I was taught all the origional stuff. I was taught how the use files and a hacksaw over a whole week!. After learning all the rest (Lathe/mills etc) went on to Metallurgy and design.
My apprenticeship was at a Perfex Works, producing punched sheet metal products. The UK factory has gone now and the tooling and machines sold to another company, the site is now a housing estate. I now live in Australia and have worked on some of the largest machinery used in Iron Ore mining, including stackers, reclaimers, conveyors, crushers and rail/locos.
I still code as a hobby and build small robots for fun, fly home built autonomous balsa model planes.
One year younger but my shop was all old heads. I heard all this stuff from people that the old guys wouldn't teach you stuff, wrong. They wanted to teach but you had to show them something. I'm guessing from the file comment you made a T slot cleaner first thing. Then T handles, 123 blocks, and proper training. When they passed on a design role with a lot of computer stuff they put my name forward, and I will never forget the confidence that gave me. These guys were trusting me to design the die and they would help make and set it. I actually miss when I learned more per day than I did then, but I still try to learn (or remember) one thing a day. Without old Masters, like us, training apprentices, this trade will die. However, got 2 new ones last year and they both look good, so there is that. edit: I showed them the compound sine vise the other day and got glass stares
I am a young tool and die machinist who also handles our shop’s fabrication work. It is a line of work that needs many more interested young people involved in it to continue to drive innovation and keep our standards in manufacturing.
👍
Is the field declining population wise? And how has automation affected the industry, has it reduced the minimum threshold of craftsmanship required to make high precision products? Or has it increased the amount of technical expertise required to be a competent journeyman?
Do they still do this in the US?
If so I assume it is just programing a CNC?
@@forrestking9372 As a whole there seems to be a need for younger guys in the skilled trades. On the topic of training; high volume production machine shops, the barrier seems to be lower with the use of CNC machining. But in an environment where I am handling tool and die work, one off repair parts, reverse engineering, and fabrication, manual machining is much more practical for most of our work. It simply is not work the programming time and setup to run it on CNC. So we have to have all of the manual machining skills in addition to CNC operation for milling, sinker and wire EDM, and waterjet cutting at my shop.
@@1978garfield CNC takes soo much time to program and setup. We only use it for high volume production jobs, and for tolling that would be nearly impossible to manually mill due to odd profiles that would be time consuming to do by hand. CNC milling, waterjet, and EDM are useful assets to what we do. But still, most of our work is manual machining and fabrication.
My dad was the son of a Swedish immigrant tool and die maker. Dad told me many, many years ago about the gauge blocks whose surfaces were so precise that they would literally stick together. Our country really lost a lot by deindustrializing. I got to see the very tail end demise of much of our manufacturing prowess when I started as an engineer in 1980. I hope we get that back someday. GREAT video!
It's called "marrying", pushes out the air and creates a vacuum but the surfaces must be very smooth. They are really tuff to get apart
My grandfathers were tool and die people from Sweden as well. My father followed in their footsteps, and my mom was in industrial supply sales. I, too, saw the downfall of manufacturing in the Midwest starting in the 70's in the upper Midwest. I went into EE and started writing firmware for industrial controls, then biomedical and into RTOS. My background from the machine tool world has been priceless over the years.
Are you still in it, or retired?
@@stanbrown915 I've done that with sharpening stones. Using 8000 grit and 10000 grit with water. Dang near impossible to undo that without damaging either one. That is now on my 'do not do' list.
@@stanbrown915 usually "wringing"
This is my business in 2023. While we build brand new tooling for new parts, some of the stamping dies we run probably date back to the 50s. Everyone these days looks up to CNC machining and 3D printing, but if you need millions of parts in a reasonable time, stamping is hard to beat.
It all comes to numbers. If you need one or a few parts which are no longer in production anymore, CNC or 3D is the way to go. Actually armed forces use portable workshops with 3D machines to manufacture spare parts when they are on mission. It is a big difference whether one can replace a broken part with a 3D print or have to fly in a spare part from another continent.
@cpm1003 do you make press brake tooling? Im after a 2-stage hinge tool. Not sure if you’re able to help, but if so, let’s get in touch. Im currently improvising my own 🙄
It's always been this way since the stamping turrets came out combined with break presses. They can make numerous different things, but hard tooling wins in numbers.
My 1st wife's family were all tool and die makers for General Motors. They each worked over 40 years in the trade. Her father was a tool room welder, one of her uncles was a group leader and the other ended up being superintendent of the tool room.
None of their children wanted anything to do with the skilled trades and I am the only one who did. My Journeyman's card is as a Plant Utilities Engineer and I have been in the trades for close to 50 years myself. I have some of their tools and a couple of great wooden tool boxes to keep them in.
I try to get young people interested in the skilled trades and help them in any way possible to make them into good reliable tradesmen. This is the only way to keep the trades alive...
My grandad also tool and die maker for GM is whole career, all graveyard shift. He had amazing tools at home that I as a child could barely decipher what they did. When he retired they brought him back to train the next generation
I have my dad's wooden tool box. He was a tool & die repairman for Delco Products in Kettering, Ohio.
One more comment from this humble tool and die maker.. after watching this I’m keenly aware of the education I got from my dad who taught me nine years and the experiences I enjoyed the last 43 years doing exactly what is seen in this video. I was trained in the same way and to the same degree as these individuals. So we’re my guys.. I’m proud to have accomplished this in my life and I have my apprentice journeyman ti also thank for sharing the experience. I’m Blessed to still do this for my occupation. They don’t appreciate us in the machine tool industry anymore.. they just open and close doors and push buttons a lot. That’s fine but I’ll take this any day.
I’m a Mechanical Engineer. I graduated college in 86. I rely on men like this to produce the things that I and my team design. The men who produce these things are true craftsmen.
Thanks !
My grand uncle Jack used his WW2 GI Bill benefits to get a BSME, followed by an MS in metallurgy. He worked his way to being one of the top 10 tool and die designers in New England.
👍👍
Where might I ask? New England (RI) machinist here
@@Menthol_ballroom Uncle Jack worked most of his career for Brown Package Machinery in East Longmeadow, MA.
Periscope has put up so many great films that would never have been seen again...truly amazing work.
Many thanks! Glad you found us ... take a deep dive with us on Patreon.com/PeriscopeFilm
I started my formal apprenticeship at Premier Tool Works in 1979 through the Tool and Die institute. The owner at that time Carl Gutman paid for my education. Thank you Carl and Winifred Gutman for all you did for me!!
Master Tool Makers like Jan Wayne Barkdoll, Francis Stols, Alfred Milek, Walter Dizerwa were incredible men to work with.
In my career I was able to serve three apprenticeships.
Machinist, Tool and Die maker and plastic injection mold maker.
I want to encourage any young person reading this to seriously consider becoming a tool maker! With great joy I can say ....
It has and still has had a profound effect on my life, my wife's life and my children's lives.
Being a Toolmaker is truly one of the greatest gifts God has ever given to me.
Thanks for the awesome comment.
I worked in the Tooling shop as Jig & Fixture builder for McDonald Douglas Aircraft during the 60's. We built production tools for the DC 10 and various missile/space systems. I personally worked on the engine (third stage) test stand for the Saturn Five launch vehicle, it was enormous. So I contributed in some small way to the flights to the moon. I spent the early years of my working life there as a young apprentice.
I worked for McDonnell Aircraft in the sixties too. I worked in tooling in Building one. It was a good job
@@bingosunnoon9341 Yes, I was in the Jig n Fixture shop (Dept 632) ... I was 18 when I became an apprentice. All the journeymen had been there since before WW 2. I loved my time there. I went back some years ago to find it all gone and an a/c museum there. So many memories 1966/1969.
My husband has been a tool and die maker for 3O years and I wish kids today were taught more about how important they are!!! I think kids think things come from the store but it was a tool and die maker who made this happen!!!! #weneedmoretradespeople.
Like the man said…”so many things wouldn’t exist without a tool and die maker”. Let’s all band together to get kids all over north American to take tool and die!!!! Please 🇨🇦 🇺🇸
In America public schools used to have metal shop, wood shop and auto shop. Those classes were invaluable to not just toolmakers but set up all students for a life familiar with tools and their function. There is an intentional effort to create low education and low wages; with people too tired, distracted, and divided to fight for what we have lost.
Unfortunately, if a kid doesn’t have his/her fix of social media on a mobile device, they won’t do anything. They’re addicted and preparing to be socialist slaves. Teach YOUR kids is the best you can do. Even then they may walk away.
My Dad emigrated to the US with my mum in '65. He got a job as a tool and die designer for GM. I popped out in 66 so I missed England winning the world cup.
I was living in the US and doing high school in the early 80"s There were no apprenticeships to be found. We we're going to move back to the UK and my dad's mate said about apprenticeships at Rolls Royce but by the time I got back, they had dried up.
I ended up doing architecture but the more I see manufacturing videos, the more I think I missed my calling. I like doing things with my hands. When I first got into architecture it was all hand draughting but then came the computer and I've been driving a mouse ever since.
I"m your age.....it's never too late to start, if you have the resources.
HA! I LONG for the days of mylars, sepias, ammonia and a 30' layout on a wall with people looking and pointing to details to a group instead of looking at a small (Chinese) monitor.
Back in the days when America was strong and bold and actually made things. We've fallen so far since these days.
The 19th Amendment was our downfall. It brought us complacency after WWII and eventually spawned the hippy generation responsible for much of our ills.
I work in a small time tool and die shop run by my uncle. I’m working my way to learning the trade from him and another well experienced tradesman. Super cool video!
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It's amazing what we had, and trying to get custom parts now, it's also amazing how much we've lost in the last few decades. I have enormous respect for those that create jigs, dyes, and tools! I wish we still had prevalent apprenticeships and journeyman work, but it seems pretty hard to find good ones these days.
We've lost so much in this country. Being a tool and die maker or a master millwright or any of a number of other jobs used to be a respected field, and as noted in the film, you had job security. Much of that has either gone with the idea of skilled labor or is done in other countries where more traditional values still hold sway. If we could just get it into the heads of the younger people that working with your head and hands is still a good way to make a living! Welders, plumbers, machinists, tool and die makers, pattern makers. Instead they want a cushy office job, or no job at all and let the taxpayer support them! Bah! The ramblings of an old man I suppose.
Don't forget the man with an ax and saw that could build a House in the Forrest
My uncle was a tool and die maker for Buick in Flint. He taught me how to build racing engines. I miss him. RIP Larry Ehr
My Dad started as a Tool & Die maker at Buick in Flint also. He went into engineering and then went up through different management positions. He was finally the Master Mechanic in the stamping plant (12). He was very proud of reaching that position. I am also a Tool maker (40 years) and have my dad's Gerstner tool box and all his tools that he used. Some of my tools were purchased by my dad from retiring toolmakers in the early Sixties. Some of my tools are close to a hundred years old. Still work great! 75 percent of what's in my Tool box is older than me. I'm proud of my dad's and my career. My Dad and I still work on projects together and still use our training and engineering abilities to build some cool things.
I work at a small manufacturing company, we make precision machined components for industry. Most of our output comes from a pair of automated CNC mills, but all the processes require custom-built jigs and fixtures that are designed in-house and fabricated by our machine shop. So even though the parts we make are going into things like satellites, they still rely on someone who knows how to run a milling machine, lathe, drill press, etc.
Retired now and I miss the trade, worked 50 years as a tool & die maker. Watched from filing dies to wire edm. The computerized machines took it away from America to lower paid workers with less bench skill, but you cannot stop progress. Cheaper cost products but improved quality. These are the good old days, right now.
You still need people who can translate a design or prototype into a working tool
I am part of the last generation that worked in the old manufacturing industry. Did apprenticeship ( 1980 ) with a buddy at United Shoe Manufacturing corporation ( USMC ). A once powerful and great manufacturing Corp. that allowed me to see what it was like. My fellow graduates went to different machining department's. I went to piece work on a vertical and horizontal Cincinnati mill that had 20 machines. Others went to large and small plainers, 4 spindle drill press, cutter and drill sharpening, lathe, turret lathe, and tool and dy shop. A once busy 3 shift factory with its own foundry but now 1 shift. I then worked for GE in Lynn MASS leaving as an R 25 CNC horz boring mill operator. In 87 there were layoffs and I resigned before they started. I worked in the gear plant in Lynn MASS. All the machines were manual and for large parts needing overhead cranes with crews to position and remove parts. The GEAR plant is now a vacant lot and the once proud employer of 20k employees in 3 divisions has 3,5k and 1 division. I at least had an opportunity to work in factories before our politicians sold us out
As someone who has had some amature metal working experience, I realized years ago that tool & die makers are incredibly talented in their abilities to create incredibly precise dies that result in perfectly formed stampings; so precise, that the stampings can be used to check the straightness & accuracy of other parts.
I spent 44 years in the manufacturing industry. I started out as a milling machine machinist, then N/C (Numerical Control) Programmer, Designer, and finally a cutting tool designer & process specification writer for a couple of aerospace companies. Starting out with learning how to work with my hands laid the foundation for my career, and even in retirement, I still call upon those traits learned, truly not so long ago.
I had never realized that NC was a thing before CNC.
What was Numerical Control?
@@1978garfield N/C started out using punched tape in binary code. When computers started coming into play, you wrote the source code in APT - Automatic Programmed Tool language, similar to the old FORTRAN style of language. You created your geometry using specific terms, then create tool path to drive the cutting tool, whether it be on a milling machine or lathe. The code would then be run through a post processor which created the specific XYZ coordinates, preparatory functions - G Codes, and auxiliary/miscellaneous functions - M Codes. CNC - Computer/Computerized Numerical Control had logic built into the machine controller module that recognizes G/M codes as well as XYZ coordinates. It does the post processing for you in a way.
@@danielneuenschwander7381 Thank you for sharing your experiences. I'm a clock and watchmaker (born 1. march 1989, 2006 to 2009 watchmakerschool in Hamburg, north Germany, worked 1 year 2014 in the repairs department of Audemars-Piguet, Switzerland)
If it's allowed to say - I think NC / CNC started the decline of our trades.
Computers are making people lazy and stupid ESPECIALLY the smartphone (I call them smarties fans or german: smarties-fön. Fön = fan. German for telephon is written telefon...)
Today, even 2006 to 2009 during my apprenticeship in Hamburg, there a nearly NO one who are able to grind simple chisels EVEN with a high class grinder with scales... (like the Deckel ones).
Terrifiying.
CNC machinists are also lost if you ask for angles of an good HSS chisel to work on silversteel for a normal lathe...
I think we must become humans again and go back to the technics of 1955 with more refinement.
Cordial greetings!
Géréon (I'm living now in the frenchspeaking area of switzerland, lake geneva, the side where the river "Rhône" enters the lake... Independant watchmaker, but more into fine scale modell building and tin plate toys. watches are ~"boring" xD and the customers are too arrogant)
Machines were run off paper punch tape, that were created on a teletype machine. Typed in from the programer's notes. No stored memory in those machines. (the 'C' (computer) in CNC)
@@stratostatic Thanks!
I had actually seen footage of those machines.
I didn't know if there was a box full of vacuum tubes the size of 2 side by side refrigerators someplace that was the computer.
Good to learn it was analog.
Great documentary. I apprenticed in 1966 in the U.K. It's a no forgiveness trade, work or loose, become a man amongst rough situations & deadlines. I made 75% of my own daily work tools when no-one saw. Emigrated to Canada in 1974. Now that's an "icy" country in the trade. Mostly based on contract terms.Fired on the spot! Anyway, loved my trade despite the summers unbelievable high heat & humid conditions, dripping over the machines. Got perfect as the years moved on. The machinary & approaches became outdated rapidly as time equalled money. Last job before retirement was developing twin prototype fans for Porsche. Now that's pride. Ended up teaching R & D Prototype programming with great pride. Retired in 2000. Shockingly at the end the once quality dies, fixtures & tools were made cheaply offshore using a disposable attitude for cost savings.
dang, I wish our country still stood for this..
It should be brought back from China and India. Wealth is created by adding value to raw materials.
My uncle' used to be a tool and Die maker in the 70s he worked long and hard he made a lot of money doing pieces work you have to be on the ball to this type of work
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I have been a journeyman tool and die maker for almost 50 years it has served me well
Still another home run by Periscope Films! 👍 🇺🇸
Served my time in the early 90s and loved everything about it. From what I've read here I'm not the only one who loved this work and was passionate about it, and lament the loss of our past and unfortunately dying trade.
I am a retired " tool & die maker".
40 years on the job.
Loved every minute of it!!!
I ran dies, mainly progressive, some draw dies. Presses from 90 ton to 600 ton, for a tool and die company for 18.5 years, the quality of workmanship of the die makers was so impressive to me. These men were awesome. Quality in every detail! It's an art, i enjoyed every minute running those dies! Thanks to all those that continue to provide such quality work!
Love these old documentaries. I grew up with them in class rooms in 50s and 60s. America was a very different place in those times. Thank you for this.
I was one of the last people to meet with William Grede who was the head of Grede Foundry located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. His wife and daughter were with me when I met him in his private suite at a nursing home located in Brookfield, Wisconsin. It was a Friday afternoon when we went to see Mr. Grede. He died the following Sunday afternoon in June, 1989. When I attended his funeral there were roughly 3,000 people who were there in Wauwatosa in attendance. It was an impressive funeral and I was honored to be there. America at its finest. As we spoke that Friday afternoon, Mr. Grede was confined to a wheelchair and was tapping his cane on the foot pedestal of the wheelchair. He lost his ability to speak but it looked as though he was indicating the wheelchair could have been made better. Remarkable. All the way to the end.
You were an employee of the nursing home? Sounds like Mr Grede was a great guy! Is the foundry still in business?
@@je862 No, I wasn't an employee of the nursing home. Because of my related work I was invited by his daughter to see Mr. Grede. America does not produce men like this anymore.
@@je862 No, I wasn't an employee of the nursing home. Because of my related work I was invited by his daughter to see Mr. Grede. America does not produce men like this anymore. Grede Foundaries is still in business but they have diversified obviously.
@@hydrogreen1111 Gosh I sure miss folks of that generation. Thanks for your reply.
@@je862 You're welcome. These men of that caliber are non-existent. America is not producing men like this anymore. When I met William Grede he was in his wheelchair and he was tapping the foot rest with his cane. Because of his age and health condition he lost his speech but his wife and daughter told me he was trying to convey to us how to make the wheelchair foot rest better.
The Navy jet at 7:27 is a North American FJ-1 Fury. Note that the image is reversed. The "S" tail code is for Carrier Air Group 5 (CVG-5), squadron VF-5A. The jet engine being installed, and detailed at 7:38, is an Allison J35-A-2 turbojet.
A couple of F9F panthers at 7:46 also
Not Grumman Panthers, they're McDonnell F2H Banshees.
This is timely given Destin's, from Smarter Every Day, video on this. Really cool.
Ive been doing centerless grinding,surface grinding, and form grinding for 24 years, damn good trade to work in,no student loan debt either,you earn as you learn
As I come to the end of my life, I can look back on a successful career as a Tool and Die Maker for Caterpillar Tractor Co. and the Boeing Aircraft Co. I was an apprentice at Caterpillar in 1964 after service in the Navy and I retired medically from Boeing in 2009. I was fortunate not only to have worked in this field but also the other Tool and Die Makers I worked with fortified my knowledge and experience in general tool making and later in CNC machining. It was a good life and a great opportunity to add to the products America produced.
My father was a mechanical engineer who designed machinery that produced the first flexible circuits back in the late 60's 70's. So many nights at the dinner table I would hear the conversations between him and my mother about his day at work, which included many stories of the miracles the local tool and die shops would perform to get his machines into production. You could tell he had so much respect for those guys, he always talked highly of them.
He wasn't the guy that made the flexible printed circuits Ford used in the 70's was he?
If so I want to ask him why the left turn signal on my 76 F100 glowed anytime the headlights were on.
@@1978garfield . . lol . . . no, he designed the machines that manufactured the hard boards and flexible circuits that other companies purchased to produce their circuit designs. AT&T used to buy a lot of his machines to produce their circuitry.
Spent my entire 35 year career as a manufacturing engineer in the automotive industry working with Tool and Die makers. Always had the utmost respect for them.
My father was a tool and die maker and a mold designer. Our government sold out the tool and die industry in the early 1970's. They not only ruined their markets by allowing cheaper overseas companies to come in, they literally starved them out of business by giving defense contracts to offshore companies.
We are now seeing the results of our own governments greed and malfeasance as a third generation of American kids is graduating into the work world with no manufacturing skills or even basic knowledge of mechanical or electronic devices.
Im in manufacturing, and the lack of educational opportunities today is sickening. Wish it was like this.
It wasn't "government" that sold you out, it was corporate greed. It always amazes me that people blame government for all our problems when government is simply the people we elect into office. The problem with a democracy is, there's no one to blame. We have the economy we deserve the people in power we deserve and the quality of life we deserve.
@ do you live in America? If so, you are confused about the difference between a Democracy and a constitutional republic. The corporate influence in Government is not tied to democracy but rather with the purchasing of power and the disconnect from representative government. Feel free to blame the corporate elite for trying to influence events in their favor. But, the government is complicit in sale of influence and the destruction of our economy and freedoms.
I belonged to the NTMA through my apprenticeship and as a journeyman shop owner till 1990 when I left because they wanted us local shop owners to get on a plane and fly to China and share our knowledge with them.. I said no way until they stop being a Communist Society.. I watched most of the Mold shops dwindle and die away over the next few years.. because they taught em how to compete with us. They were building $45k molds for $16k .. stupid. My tool and die shop made it till 2016 when I finally closed it and went to work for one of my customers. I’m still there today.. 7 years later.. I’m 67.. I though the NTMA made a fatal error in judgment.. I think I was right.
That was likely one of the final blows for domestically produced stamping dies, but the industry was failing long before that. NCR cash registers Had many thousands of stamped parts each one requiring a progressive die, not to mention all the support equipment, the modern cash register has a few injection molded parts and a bunch of electronics and that's just 1 example.
Update!! I opened a Tool and Die Shop last March.. yep I’m 68 and “starting over”!! Lol..love it!
Thank you for another great video rescue
As stated, America's strength has been it's ability to take raw materials and build useful things from it. We shipped all these jobs overseas. Why? Because of greed , we are no longer the strong country we used to be.
Great video. I started in tool and die back in 2014 as an apprentice. Worked in a factory where they stamped truck seat frames.
I'm glad I had my apprenticeship with such talented men.
Sadly most are now retired and it's up to me to pass along all their knowledge I received and the knowledge they received and so on
Back in 1980 I got my hand severely injured in a small punch press. The safety mechanism failed. Without getting into unpleasant detail, it did give Shands Teaching Institute at USF to use my hand as the first one to give them the opportunity to perfect a procedure. As such my hand is in their orthopedic text book. It has helped future patients. Thank you for posting what the American Dream used to look like.
Thanks!
Thanks so much. Gifts like this help us preserve and present more rare films.
I am from Russia, from St. Petersburg. I work on grinding machines. I was an apprentice to a craftsman who was over 75 years old, more than 55 of which he worked in the manufacture of tools and dies. He gave me his knowledge and experience. That's why I enjoyed watching this perfectly shot movie. Thanks!
Always cool to see some of these old videos. My grandfather had a little tool and die shop in his basement, when he died my Dad got all the tools. I'm also a Mech Engineer and may end up inheriting those tools someday. Of course my Dad and I are mechanical engineers, so we're pretty much hacks in regards to tool and die making. But we at least have appreciation for the skill-sets and do our part to encourage younger generations to get their hands dirty. I'm hoping to get my kids into the local tech school when they're old enough.
Retired after over 40 years mostly in metal stamping. 4 years retired and I miss it.
My father served in the navy during the Korean war and upon discharge went to L.A. Trade Tech for Tool and Die making on the G.I.Bill after he got his first job at L.A. Die Casting and because of both his training and leadership skills climbed the ladder and became a shop foreman and then Manager at the machining and assembly division, he put in fifty years until illness caused him to retire.
Respect!
The content of this channel is gold.
I got all the way through high school without knowing what a tool and die maker even was. And this was true of many other interesting blue collar professions as well. This was a major flaw of the education system in my day.
If I had it to do all over again, I'm not sure I would have chosen any other field. Although I always thought millwrights had a cool job, but I only saw master millwrights and still have no idea what their apprenticeship is like.
A huge thank you to everyone who left a comment.
Perusing through the comments brought me a lot of joy and memories of my 40 year career in aerospace manufacturing.
I used to watch these as a kid around 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning PBS used to run stuff like this all the time which was great because it taught me a lot
When I graduated highschool in 1996 our career counselor told me I would be a bum if I did jobs like this and that I need to go to college and learn computer programming because there is this thing called the Internet that was starting up and if I get in now I will be set for life. That wasn't true and now we have a shortage of people who can do this kind of technical work. Thank you public education.
Exactly. I graduated in 2004, and most of my teachers pushed college degree w/ a desk job. Only ones who pushed trades were the teachers in the vocational school.
There are already too many people doing computer programming. (...said the Comp Sci major...) Trust me, the world doesn't need more half-assed programming; we've already got plenty. If you can make a living building useful things, go for it.
And now the same one's complain when they can't get a tradesmen to do the simplest of jobs, and these tradesmen are now able to name their price 😅😅
Your counselor was right. Ronald Reagan destroyed the industry. It is a crummy job now. A world famous employer where I live pays tool makers 15 dollars an hour now for tools that mold shoes and other consumer products. I won't say the name but it rhymes with Mikey.
If you studied computer programming in 1996 you WOULD HAVE been set for life. No so much anymore.
I spent much of my career marketing the tools and materials for Southwest US style jewelry. Much of what was needed in any given piece of personal adornment could be had, at one time, from items produced in factories. My company's highest-paid (hourly) person was a tool-and-die maker. He drew plans out on the white paper bag left over from his order at a Blake's Lotaburger. Chalk on the concrete floor was another medium for his great art. He truly lived in the real world and in the moment. Miss you, Jake!!!
Nature can be wonderful if we treated fair. I was once one of those machine shop owners that made tooling for the labs here in New Mexico . I have a machine shop right now that’s for sale full of precision instrument and machines .All in perfect condition and under power. I’m 83 years old now and I worked in the industry since I was 18 served an apprenticeship went to junior college graduated and opened my own shop I had a wonderful Life ,that I can be proud of . It was a fun experience.
I worked 8 years in the ford Dyno lab machine shop, learned so much. This video reminds me of lab so much
What years did you work there?
One of the better videos on You Tube. I took a 6 week machine shop class in my mid 40's. I wasn't going to become a machinist, but I had always been interested in how mills and lathes worked. I really enjoyed the class.
I was an apprentice when i was getting startes at 17yrs old. 49 now and have had a wonderful career as a machinist. Ive done things such as tool grinding and making, manual mills of all sizes, manual lathes of all sizes, cnc lathe and mills, programming and supervisory positions. Love it, i like going to work every day!
I have 57 yrs as a tool&die &mold maker when I walked into my first shop I had never seen one but I instantly knew I could make some things in there I've done aerospace automotive just about anything you can think of you never quit learning but sense industry went offshore tool&die has basically died CNC has replaced alot if we don't bring it back we won't be the nation we were. All us old guys will be gone soon there will be no one to teach
We have another world War ( which we are getting close ) we are screwed!
Inspiring generations later. Thank you so much!
I was trained by WW2 vets, brilliant guys. CNC seriously dumbed down the trade. I have a few years left, can't wait to get out.
Same here, steelworker Union
computers make people stupid and lazy... a lot of the work show here is lost knowlegde. Today a CNC guy can't grind a simply chisel even with a pricise tool grinder (with scales so no free hand) cordial greetings from a north german (Hannover, Hamburg, Kiel) independant clock and watchmaker, living now close to the lake geneva, french speaking switzerland.
I was trained by an old German machinist that was there when the allies were bombing the hell out of Germany's manufacturing plants. He had some interesting stores... He sure put me on track to become a first rate machinist.
I'm a machinist in a job shop, mostly manual but run an old ProtoTrak milling machine here and there. C'mon I know what you're saying but CNC has a lot of pros, undeniably so. Let's not throw the baby out with the bath water. Ideally machinists should know all there is to know & there's a lot to learn, a great machinist will pursue a well rounded education, toolmakers included. These days in the US that's how you get paid, and boy is it a criminally underpaid trade. That being said, if you want to avoid CNC then go right ahead, someone else will learn and get paid more than you. And make no mistake, I am not referring to CNC operators.
My husband, dad and grandfather are/were tool and die makers. My dad ran his own shop and my grandfather worked for Ford. My husband now works for Nissan. It’s definitely a dying trade yet an extremely important one.
i really enjoyed this video by remebering the profesion i had put in my govt. sevice aero copter industry, tool and dies fixures are like life line for the parts we manufacture today. now the technolgy is ahead for cnc,model based design, cad cam FMS etc., but the core area is the tool and die manufactred and the parts that are produced are awesome the degree of quality and acuracy making the way for easy interchageble to the finish parts in any assy. aspects. great video for the tool die makers who strived in this field including me thanks a lot .😄
Michael Moore explained the then development of the " rust belt " and deindustrialization of the North East auto manufactures. My husband showed me all manner of equipment being shipped to the far east to manufacture thing's to be sold to us and the world. Good for them ( mostly ) and abilities to make things non existent in the usa and few places to learn trades. Michael Moore warned us over 25 years ago. We made our collective beds.....
General Electric apprentice1971-1974. Provided a good career for35 years. Enjoyed making things with my hands.
My birth father Kenneth Anderson was T and D maker for Ekco in Chicago.. I always wondered exactly what he did. Thank you for this. Miss you Dad Ken.
Btw: i'm using my late husbands RUclips account. I am Teri Woolum LeFevers.
We reside not too far from The Williamson Free School of Mechanical Trades in Media, Pennsylvania where they’ve cranked out some of the best machinists for over a century !
I graduated from Williamson (machine shop) in 1982. That education has opened many door for me over the years.
"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic."
-Arthur C. Clarke
This is magic to me
I run manuals in the fab shop i work at as well as welding/ fabricating i enjoy it. something about turning a peice of nothing into something is quite satisfying.
If americans could come back with these types of production like in the film house appliances it will easily beat china. I remember those old electric fans they are build like tanks.
the problem is, those fans cost a week's pay for most people. people actually want cheap stuff, not good stuff...we live in the age of the "consumer", not the citizen. 😔
I see friends who stay broke with the mentality: "buy cheep, then replace it with another cheep one every year".💸💸.@@douglasharley2440
Buy American; the job it saves will be your own.
@douglasharley2440
You're absolutely correct, modern consumers just want new things regardless of quality because they want the next new model or version as soon as it's available.
Cultural pride in manufacturing is long gone
@@douglasharley2440 you nailed it down! QUALITY. The reason why my old home country (I'm living now in switzerland, lake geneva, francophone area of CH) Germany has survived so well WAS (past term) that we became the chinese of europe.
High quality in cheap prices. Well put aside HQ, neither for chinese nor TODAY german made stuff. Since Merkel it's a dying country.
Please forgive me but we are still under occcupaition of the US-Military so likely germany is the 51th. state of the USA... (please go - same for other countries your goverment messes around)
Now under the leftist parties (greens and the SPD /communist party) it's over.
True words from UK/Thatcher: The EU is going to work as long the germans are paying for it (black mail wise)
SO now the EU is close to collapse NO MORE MONEY from Germoney...
End.
Cordial greetings form a north german (Hannover, Hamburg, Kiel) clock and watchmaker -
Géréon
Today half the kids graduating High School cant fix a flat tire, cant jump start a car, cant siphon gas, cant assemble an IKEA table, cant change a faucet. But they can go to college, get a useless degree and be 100K in debt in 4 years.
We would be doing great if it only half of the kids today were as you describe , i believe its much higher than half.
Kids have been brainwashed by the democrats to go to college and get useless degrees since at least the 70's . lets face it if you work with your hands your considered 2nd class in this country, and i speak from personal experience on that!!!!
Based on some videos I’ve seen they can’t read an analog clock either
Yep and it's our, and our parents fault. We could demand they restore the trades to HS curriculums.
So true . . . worse yet is they see no need to learn, instead they demand entry into any profession, without any knowledge of the demands of that profession. And College is not used for education but in order to make money.
@@lingcod91 I would agree. Universities should not provide useless degrees.
Some kids should look into the trades, electrical plumbing, construction, instead of history anthropology degrees.
My dad learn the trade at Illinois Institute of Technolgy after World War II on the GI bill much of his training was in secret government projects. The only two he would talk about was what became the M39 Auto cannon used in the F100 Super Sabre and F5 Freedom fighter. The other project was a boosted rocket gun project for the F89 scorpion that lost out to the Mk 4 Folding-Fin Aerial Rocket due to being too accurate. It could put a burst into one meter at 1,000 Yards. After IIT he found work at Anchor coupling company making compression dies to attach coupling to hoses and later worked in the coupling prototype shop. All that with only upper half vision field in his left eye. He lost is right eye at age 12.
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12:03 Starrett Last Word indicator. They still make them.
In those days, tool and die making and all the other industrial and construction trades training began in junior high school with mandatory wood and metal shop classes for boys. Industrial drawing was also part of the curricula.
My 7th & 8th grade wood and metal shop classes, Mr. Bulecca and Mr. Edge, at Barron Ave. Jr. High School in Woodbridge, NJ in 1964 & 1965 were the best times in my school career.
Great explanation of the importance of the tool & die industry, many of the machines and methods have changed but the end purpose has not. Unfortunately many local tool & die associations and shops in the USA were more interested in keeping wages low than educating the next generation. Apprenticeships are a thing of the past; I graduated from vocational school in 1986 there were very few apprenticeships being offered then. In my toolmaking career the only option I had to advance was to find another shop willing to pay a little better, The work was great I cant imagine doing anything else, the jobs were not so great, in nearly 40 years I only had 2 employers I stayed with for more than 10 yrs. It is very difficult for me to recommend tool and die as a career choice for a young person to undertake.
After being rigorously trained as a tool and die maker for four years and an experience of 34 years thereafter I can very well relate to every word in this video. Thanks and blessings from India. A proud Tool & Die Maker trained at an institute more than 50 years old - ‘Tata Motors Training Division’ ❤❤
Thumbs up. A pleasure to watch. Sick of the overpriced Kachava ads.
My uncle was a tool and die maker at US Steel’s Gary Works
My Grandpa Hurd was a tool and die maker in the era of the 1920's up to the 1950's or so. Back in those days before advancements taken for granted today, he had skills that have gone out of the world. He once needed to take .020 off of a crankshaft journal. He didn't use a precision grinding machine, he did it with a file and a micrometer, if you can believe that. He had such a keen eye and steady hand, that he could sharpen tiny drills the size of carbueretor jets by hand
Retired machinist here, boy do I miss it!
I worked in a foundry moving cast out of these huge ovens. If u got burned it just seared u immediate cooking. Gloves, steel toes boots, eyewear and a helmet. Nothing but your flannel shirt over a long underwear top in the summer. Being 19 in college doing this in the summer u learn to crush future semesters fer sure😮
Ray Leno said: "you recognise a true steam car guy with burned/lost eye browns" remembered me of your commmet ! Thanks! xD You has been (still are?) a hot guy!
Magnificent job
💙🌍 Thanks 🌎
The elegance, manners, dignity, basic intelligence etc. presented in this film makes our current society an absolute sham and disgrace.
Sad how far we’ve fallen as a society.
I’m a 25 year old young lad really taking interest in manual machining, my father is a cnc operator but started out on old turret lathes and mills etc. I am working on setting up a small hobby machine shop for me and him and I have made a lathe from scraps laying around and currently trying to make a mill but it would be my dream to find used cheap old machines… really don’t have much money but I’d be willing to work for it to make my dad proud and give us something to spend time together.
I was never a tool and die maker, but I did a lot of maintenance on dies in both sheet metal and die casting shops. It was really satisfying to start with a block of metal and produce something with tight tolerances, and do the whole job myself, from million machine to lathe to grinder. Now, all the shops I worked in are long closed. Years ago, I found some of the old die cast part labels on boxes at Lowes - made in Mexico. Sad. It was a regular UN in that shop - white, black, Hispanic, Cambodian - we had them all. Now where can people like that work?
My dad was a tool & die repairman at Delco Products in Kettering, Ohio. Most of my mom's side of the family (Stites) also worked for GM or other tool shop in the Dayton area.
I grew up in my father’s toolmaking workshop. As an 8 year old I made my own Apollo rockets on the Colchester Student lathe. He never let me on the Cincinnati Bridgeport mill 😂
👍🙂
Cincinnati Bridgeport mill????
@@alro2434 I assume they meant Cincinnati vertical mill
@@Menthol_ballroom There are guys who use the term Bridgeport as a generic term for a vertical mill.
I wouldn't let an eight year old use one of the big boys either; those things are expensive.
Grew up in Wisconsin, close to Milwaukee, the machine shop of the world.
Two and a half decades after this film I became an apprentice with the British division of an Michigan machine tool company and working to the standards illustrated, if not perhaps higher again with the introduction some electronic inspection equipment. The standard was high in the approach and the motivation of the people. Today, it is rare to find, though we need such capability. It's hard for me to find a shop in my area that can work to an order of magnitude less tolerance than illustrated in the film. How do we manage? Well, I guess there are just enough... but this indicates that wealth is draining from our economies at grass roots level. I salute my colleagues of the past, both sides of the pond!