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mccrase5 karma

Where I grew up and went to high school about 10 years ago, the only vocational classes we had were wood shop, welding, automotive and drafting. It's really awesome to see machining still present in schools today.

Even though any serious CNC Machinist or programmer is likely to have a solid understanding in manual machining, is your school able to offer introductions into CNC after the tall foundation, or is the low availability of cheap equipment and limited access to funding generally a hindrance to providing detailed experience in CNC?

I wouldn't discount the huge importance of manual skills for a well* rounded individual, I'm just curious what you're able to enhance them with CNC-wise.

Edited for typo.

mccrase2 karma

Sorry, when I said drafting I meant CAD predominantly. When I was in high school, there was one semester of board drafting and 2 years of CAD, Intro to Drafting, Drafting I and Drafting II. Hopefully down the line, those are separate classes the school would be able to offer and not take up the students' machining time. You are definitely correct there is no direct board drafting going on anymore, but I would argue the foundation of it still holds merit.

Edit: Since this is an AMA, I'll pose another question. As an individual working in machining for the Aerospace industry, is there an easy way to find local opportunities to contribute to these types of programs? What sort of people do I need to look for and get in contact with?

mccrase2 karma

That's awesome! Thank you for the work you're doing. The machining industry as a whole needs some well prepared young people coming in. On the job training can go a long way for the right person in the right position, but it can also leave an operator trapped with no growth potential. From my personal experience, it might be drafting that goes the furthest in manufacturing these days. It teaches not only how to read a print, which everyone has to be able to do, but gives insight into how that part made its way onto the print to begin with. I strolled into machining ~8 years ago with only drafting experience and a hefty dose of mechanical aptitude and have grown the skills through jobs to design anything I could imagine and run it on any machine I can get my hands on. Drawing, I feel makes a huge difference, all the way down to the 2d wireframe!

Keep fighting the good fight! And keep those kids safe, of course.