Making plans to get back in business

[mold maker]

All our praying seem to be successful.
So glad to hear of your continued improvement. Like others have said, don't push it too fast or hard.
I'm sure the mental improvement will help with the physical.
Give that #1 a pat on the back for a job well done. (its never finished) Guiding two boys through the teen years is a thankless job, that many men can't successfully accomplish.
Helping/learning will be great mind relaxation from his home duties, and a real moral booster for you.

[Catshooter]

That is excellent news Keith. #1 should count his lucky stars, I would be.

I'd like a spare RCBS Lubrisizer H&I nut. Which I imagine could be done on a CNC lathe. When you're ready, of course.


Cat

[Bill*]

wonderful to hear you're getting better, I think of you when I see the hammer on the toolrack (still unused, seriously. just can't bring myself to use it, it's too nice and I still have a "beater" to use)

[Just Duke]

My physical condition is still improving. I can now use crutches to get out to the shop, where I have a nice tractor-seat stool to sit on and a wooden box to prop my foot up on. I can't stand for long (I have to stand on one leg) and I can't lift, carry, or run anything. But I can instruct other people on what to do.

My #1 nephew has expressed a lot of interest in working in a shop. His father, my BIL, was a machinist and millwright all his working life, and #1 remembers going in to the shops with his dad on weekends to use the equipment. He served a hitch in the navy, getting several technical certifications, and after getting out and working off and on for a fab shop and then doing printer maintenance service he became a full time stay at home dad. His wife, an intelligent and gracious woman, has a well paying job that is commensurate with her intellectual capabilities, degree, and experience, so they didn't need extra income. Now his oldest son is going to college next fall and his youngest will be a sophomore in high school. (I enormously respect him for raising his two sons properly - he has coached various teams they have been on, volunteered for school related duties, and so on. His kids are GOOD kids.)

#1 came over Friday for about four hours and helped me clean up the shop, clean out the cut off saw and change out the (nasty and rancid) cutting fluid, and do the same to the CNC lathe. (I apologized to him about having to clean out the cutting fluid tanks, and he looked at me and said that he'd been cleaning up a bathroom after two male children for the last 18 years and this was nothing! Love the realistic attitude!)

A mutual friend wanted me to make some very simple parts - it's a job I've done before and I have all the CNC codes, tools, etc. so it's just a matter of setting up the lathe tools and running the parts. First we cut off the 12' the aluminum bar stock into 4' pieces. Then I showed him how to touch off the tools and operate the control panel to do basic operations. We got the first piece done before we quit. (I was exhausted and he had to pick up his youngest from Driver's Ed class.)

#1 was tickled pink to run his first part. He wants to work with me. I want to work with him and train him. He doesn't want to work full time, and I can deal with that. (I don't want to work full time after I retire in another year either.) I want to bring him along carefully over the next month or so, and barring a health setback I plan to start offering some of my casting related items beginning about June 1. At first it will be CNC lathe produced items that don't require personal attention, such as the blank Lyman/RCBS sizing dies I offered last Fall, and the blank Saeco type dies I have the codes and tooling for. The last thing to resume production will be custom cut stuff such as nose punches and push through sizers.

Until I can make the stuff myself my order delivery time will increase. #1 only wants to work 2-3 days a week, so he might work Mondays and Thursdays for example, and run up whatever has been ordered in the previous three or four days. I could ship on Tuesdays and Fridays. We will work this out.

#1 is a great guy to be around and we had a ball Friday. Getting out of the house, into the shop and being around another guy was extremely good for my psychology and attitude. He is going to come back next week and once we get the lathe running properly he is going to help me set up my casting equipment. I have five new molds I've accumulated and never used yet, so I can sit in the shop and cast while #1 runs the lathe. I will be there to help and give advice but I won't be hovering around.

I'm looking forward now with more optimism than I've had in a long time.

I think you still have my number. Give me a jingle if you get bored.

[Hardcast416taylor]

Don Rickles was on the Late Show with Letterman last night. He just went thru a bad time with a flesh eating bacteria on his leg. He said if they hadn`t stopped it in time they would have taken the lower leg to the knee and then he would have been a 1st mate to Johnny Depp in his next pirate movie! Glad there is a light at the end of the tunnel, and that light isn`t a train!Robert

[Echo]

Great post, Perf. I'm really glad to see you up & at'em.