Scooterotica

Anyone based in the South East who is a trained or competent lathe operator willing to have a muppet hang around, observe them working and probably annoy them with a thousand questions whilst they are trying to work

preferably evenings or weekends

plus points, can make tea well, house trained and has basic working knowledge already on a lathe

bad points, asks far too many questions and sucks knowledge in like a sponge

back in the 80,s i enroled in night classes at my old school,they had a fully equiped workshop,
4 myford lathes,milling machines etc....it was great.
and cheap.
and there was also always an expert on hand .
the classes were always busy and popular,mostly older chaps building /making their own steam engines as i remember.
i used to go every year for quite a few years and fully took advantage of it to help my scooter business
even the costs of materials used were subsidised/cheap
i did loads of head skimming/re profiling...top and tailing of barrells,fork extending,etc etc
anyway,i dont know if this sort of thing is now available or not ...but may well be worth checking out dave.....

Lathe opperators are a dying breed all computerised cnc these days

wish the part time or evening courses were still available

did an arc welding course over 15 years ago and had a great time and can still arc weld today

merton college down our way is known for its motorcycle workshop courses but they are all full time now to help people to become working mechanics which is fair enough

sean brady scooters wrote:back in the 80,s i enroled in night classes at my old school,they had a fully equiped workshop,
4 myford lathes,milling machines etc....it was great.
and cheap.
and there was also always an expert on hand .
the classes were always busy and popular,mostly older chaps building /making their own steam engines as i remember.
i used to go every year for quite a few years and fully took advantage of it to help my scooter business
even the costs of materials used were subsidised/cheap
i did loads of head skimming/re profiling...top and tailing of barrells,fork extending,etc etc
anyway,i dont know if this sort of thing is now available or not ...but may well be worth checking out dave.....

There's less and less of that kind of stuff nowadays. I did a paintwork course (or part of it) before I left London, enjoyed that.
Did a basic welding course at York a few years ago, that was good too. Will probably look for something when the kids are a bit older.
Unfortunately they've just closed down the 2 local branches of the nearest colleges.

thats a shame.......
theres no wonder that old skills are dying out.........
i also served my time as a panel beater...luckily for me at that time there was still a lot of older chaps around to teach the skills...such as how to use the old "english wheel",lead loading,and general panel beating skills...
all this too has just about gone now,as modern bodyshops just "replace" instead of" repair"
modern so called "panel beaters" are more like "fitters" nowadays
A few years ago ,i interviewed a lad for a job here as a panel beater ....he had all the latest qualifications etc so i started him on...
his first job was to re skin a door,but he could,nt do it........i was gobsmacked..!
turns out he was never tought how,cos modern bodyshops would rather just sell a new door.
thats progress for you i suppose...

sean brady scooters wrote:thats a shame.......
theres no wonder that old skills are dying out.........
i also served my time as a panel beater...luckily for me at that time there was still a lot of older chaps around to teach the skills...such as how to use the old "english wheel",lead loading,and general panel beating skills...
all this too has just about gone now,as modern bodyshops just "replace" instead of" repair"
modern so called "panel beaters" are more like "fitters" nowadays
A few years ago ,i interviewed a lad for a job here as a panel beater ....he had all the latest qualifications etc so i started him on...
his first job was to re skin a door,but he could,nt do it........i was gobsmacked..!
turns out he was never tought how,cos modern bodyshops would rather just sell a new door.
thats progress for you i suppose...

Its cheaper to replace than repair as mechanic once told me(Lazy Ba*****ds)

Sorry David to hijack but must agree Sean its a crying shame so many skills are being lost nowadays, Im finding more and more there just isnt the time served joiners to employ these days and have had to de-skill many projects and buy in pre-made items from specalists at a price..Hope you get sorted David.

David

Do you have a model engineering club locally? There must be a wealth of knowledge waiting to be tapped there, especially if you happen to offer a few hours on your lathe to someone in exchange for "observe them working and probably annoy them with a thousand questions whilst they are trying to work".

I always knew I'd become a dying breed.......... rides an antique scooter and once upon a time knew how to operate a centre lathe, milling machine, shaper....



Cheers,

Nigel

Nigel Good idea

ta, keep them coming