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Old Pharts Club
- Thread starter The Cromwell
- Start date
Sounds like the (almost) perfect day....Evening Robert, inspects, and any other old phart who's on early tonight.
Had a pretty good day too Robert. Slept in this morning, took the pooch for a vaping dog walk, short shift at work, did a couple of errands and I'm done for the night. Yay
If the work (part) was eliminated, you'd be shining.....
I tried hard to get my freakin' log splitter running. It got all the way up to 60 degrees today (lots of snow melt), so temp wasn't an issue. New gas, topped off the oil and hydraulic fluid. Wouldn't start. Pulled the spark plug and it is perfectly clean and sparking. No go. A neighbor came over because maybe he could pull the rope better than me. Nope. Spray ether in the carb and it acted like it was gonna start, but it was firing only on the ether, so obviously the carb is not letting gas in. Guess tomorrow will be a day to tear that apart. So I brought the remainder of the already split wood into the house, then mulled the forecast (severe weather warning). Seems we're gonna have a blizzard Friday. Back down to 20 degrees for a high, winds up to 50 mph, and snow accumulation as much as 18". We don't need this shit! I have one week of hay left and there is no grass in the pastures and now even that is gonna get covered up for some time to come. DAMN!!!
Hang in there Rich.
Good lord, unreal....that shit just won't leave you alone...!
Sounds a bit like my work history Draconigena, only you got into it a bit earlier than I did
In the early 90's I was working for Honeywell as a tool maker. We had a couple of small CNC EDM's and a CNC retrofit Bridgeport milling machine which I taught myself to use. Most of the guys wouldn't go near them, but they fascinated me. Once I got good at it I helped a few of the others get into them after they saw the light
Then I moved to tool design which was split between drafting boards and a Computer Vision CAD system on Motorola mainframe running their flavor of Unix on terminals. Spent a few months on a board just to get to know how to properly drive a pencil and then on to the CV system. Don't know if you're familiar with them, but it was wireframe only and it was really slow. Sucked big time!
About 6 months later we got our first Pro Engineer license on I think a HP Unix workstation. I think it was ver 7 or 8. ProE became the Honeywell standard for mechanical CAD from then on and I think it still is today. That was the breakthrough for us designers because you could finally beat a drafting board in speed to get a drawing out and then you also had all the other benefits of having a solid model to use for other things.
It was a great ride, got to do a lot of computer training and did a lot of design work. Suited me just fine
Sounds like the (almost) perfect day....
If the work (part) was eliminated, you'd be shining.....
I hear ya inspects, but at (almost) 61 I'm still too young to not be working. I vegetate way too much when I don't have things I have to be doing and I like being more active. My arthritis also expects it or it really lets me know about it!
Almost 64 here.
And yep I have to listen to my body to minimize the payment for doing things.
And yep I have to listen to my body to minimize the payment for doing things.
I got into Tektronix via the back door. I was a field electrician for a small company that made motor controls for sawmills, and Tek didn't really see my value through the employment office, even though I was also a design draftsman/junior engineer. My neighbor worked in mechanicals and got me an interview with his boss, so I started at Tek as a CNC drill operator (10 heads drilling circuit boards) on graveyard shift, then moved to a drafting/illustrator position as soon as one opened up.
Yeah, I loved CAD because it was much faster than the pencil (I still have a dozen Dietzgens around here I use for doodling now) and reworking the drawing was just a matter of moving the part and letting the connections fix themselves. Then a programmer made a new way to let the computer do most all that work and I wrote his destruction manual (he was in the same CAD development group I was in), so they made me the teacher for that too. That program was called PIRATE (Placed Interactively Routed Automatically Totally Etched or something like that), then the Portland Business Journal sent a reporter out to interview me because they heard I was teaching a program for Pirates (journalists always manage to make silly mistakes). Anyway, I sent my typed copy and artwork to another group at Tek to typeset and print and their manager asked me to come to work for her as a senior writer/editor (hey, don't ya have to start at the bottom? Guess not.) and it wasn't long before I moved up to Publications Manager at an experimental division in Redmond, then Engineering Services Manager, then Government Contracts Programs Manager, etc., etc., ad nauseum....That was the breakthrough for us designers because you could finally beat a drafting board in speed to get a drawing out and then you also had all the other benefits of having a solid model to use for other things.
It was a great ride, got to do a lot of computer training and did a lot of design work. Suited me just fine
Anyway, I truly wish I could go back in time and still be doing all that stuff..
If you're referring to AutoCAD, I have experience with Albatross, formerly known as ppmodeller. I still have a bunch of 3D programs on my external hard drive, if I ever get back into that.
AutoCAD is something for home computers and smaller businesses. I have used it for architectural drafting (and still have an old copy around here somewhere), but what Ryedan and I were talking about was big business CAD programs run on mainframe computers.
I can say that the 3D modelling programs I have, have been somewhat profitable for me when virtual worlds were a thing. I could create content faster and better than others out there.
As far as business CAD, I don't think I have a clue about it. But then, I have always been a quick learner. Heck, I taught myself to stick weld in one day.
As far as business CAD, I don't think I have a clue about it. But then, I have always been a quick learner. Heck, I taught myself to stick weld in one day.
As long as you have an aptitude for CAD programs, it is merely a matter of learning the area in which you intend to use the program. I mean, the programs are relatively easy once you figure out the rules, but if you are going to use it to design circuit boards, you have to understand circuit board design, then the program merely makes your job easier. The 4081 I talked about at the beginning of this subject discussion might be right up your alley (though that computer is hopelessly outdated now). I taught schematic drafting and circuit board design on that, but the automobile manufacturers who bought our system not only did drafting, but also 3D modelling.
I failed computer programming class in high school. We had to create programs for Apple. Yet, I could hack my Windows XP computer I had, well enough to manually remove a virus. I loved that thing, until I fried the motherboard. Before frying it, I had replaced the power supply twice, and upgraded it as far as it could be. I just pushed it too hard.
I built my own computer for Windoze 98SE from scratch. I am still using XP here at home because I want nothing to do with Windoze10. Believe it or not, I still have a fully functional Macintosh Performa 550 (the first one with factory CD drive). Of course, at only 33MHz, you'll grow a beard before it decides to refresh itself. I think we all had a lot more patience back when this old crap was marketable.
On my Windows8, I turned off autoupdate, purely because I hate Winblows10. It stops me from using most of my software. If anything happens to it, I have a Windows7 desktop in the shed. When my Winblows10 laptop was hooked up, I could never use it. It seems to think it's only purpose is to update, because that's all it ever does. I left it on for a week, and it never stopped getting updates.
Windows 10 is complete garbage....I think the next will be a Mac.
I agree with you, Dale, as long as I can (and did) defeat all the factory automatic functions. I like to do my own thinking and at no time will I ever agree that the programmer knows more about what I want to do than I do. Which, for the same reason, is why I hate all the new cars. I don't want those sumbitches telling me when to stop or change lanes.
Winblows10 is what happens when microshaft decides we cannot be trusted to use the products they produce.
I'm with you there too....!
Microshit, FaceBitch, and Googall are companies that would like to rule the world, and you shall do it their way or not at all.
Yep, they have taken "Privacy" to new heights...!
I could work on just about everything on older vehicles, with the exception of the engine and transmission.
My '74 Chebby pick'em Up truck has enough room under the hood for a ballroom dance. My '04 Furd, I open the hood and wonder where the engine is under all that shit.
Indeed, but I have to admit....haven't had a single problem with my ford truck, which is pushing 200K miles, knock on plastic.
The '91 Toyota Previa was a piece of work. You had to lift the van and drop the engine to do anything on it. Damn thing was under the driver's seat.
Come to think of it, if I want to sit on top of an engine again, I'll buy another motorcycle.
I was (looking) at new Toyota trucks a few weeks ago....good lord, they cost more than my house did.
Just about every new vehicle on the market costs more than we did for this house.
Yeah, I have to concede that. The 74 Chev truck has a V8 with a 4bbl carb and the 04 Ford truck is a V8 with fuel injection. The Chevy has 360,000 miles on it and the only reason it sits in the back unused is that is uses 16.5 inch rims/tires that are almost impossible to find now (they are all flat), and to buy new wheels and tires (18") would cost a minimum of $1000 and the vehicle is only worth a couple hundred today (max). The Ford has almost 200,000 miles and the only repair I have done is new alternator, battery, and window riser.
Only things I've replaced is windshields, usually every year....Oh..and spark plugs-coils. Keep all the fluids maintained, it's been a really good truck (2006) crew cab 4x4
Kudos Draconigena, sounds like you've done really well for yourself my friend
I feel the same way. I still have a legal student copy of ProE 2001 I got from a course I went to that use for my own projects at home. It's my way of staying in the game. It runs just fine in the XP emulator of Win 7, but I think that's the last OS I'm going to be able to run it on. Might have to keep this computer alive just for that program!
My 2004 Ford is only an extended cab F150 FX4. I never have the extra passengers that need the crew cab, just some occasional junk in that little jump seat back there.
I have the seat folded down, the same position I put it in when I drove it off the ford lot.My 2004 Ford is only an extended cab F150 FX4. I never have the extra passengers that need the crew cab, just some occasional junk in that little jump seat back there.
That sounds like fun Sarah. I've been exposed to it very lightly, but never had a reason to delve deeper into it.
As Draconigena said (paraphrased hugely here
), once you have a good understanding of one 3D system you've got the basics down and the rest fall into place fairly easily. I think it just comes down to using the new system a lot and getting to know the new concepts and best practices.
I eventually ended up as an Engineering Manager at another company, then got my ass totally disabled, so I have been out of work for nearly 18 years (assuming you don't count chasing cows as employment). There's a huge difference between high tech and a hobby farm, so I think you understand why I miss it.Kudos Draconigena, sounds like you've done really well for yourself my friend
I still like to play with the old programs too, though living in the middle of nowhere doesn't exactly lend itself to marketing any of those skills. I keep my old Mac just because it is the only thing around here that will still run an antique 3D Illustrator program I acquired about 20 years back, not that I really need it, but every once in awhile I like a reminder.
Honestly, I don't remember any computer programming courses in high school. Of course, that could just be 'cause I'm an old phart
This was back when Apple had the McIntosh operating system. We were tied into the school's computer system.Honestly, I don't remember any computer programming courses in high school. Of course, that could just be 'cause I'm an old phart
There wasn't when I was in school....old phartz tooHonestly, I don't remember any computer programming courses in high school. Of course, that could just be 'cause I'm an old phart
I designed a "computer" before there were any (1967 - hey, even calculators were new - we still used slide rules). I got the parts in electronics class and made the "computer" for math class (I was a student teacher). I called it SAMDIAC for Subtracting Adding Multiplying Dividing Integrated Analog Computer and it really was no more than three potentiometers, a few resistors and a balance meter. Basically, it was an electronic slide rule.Honestly, I don't remember any computer programming courses in high school. Of course, that could just be 'cause I'm an old phart
Come to think of it, a simple laptop computer is capable of much more, than the computer the school had, which took up an entire room. And, remember those floppy discs? That's what we were supposed to write our crap onto. After every assignment, the teacher erased them.
Sarah, I just Googled it and I think the first Mac OS came out in 1983. I was a bit past high school then
Please correct me if I got that wrong
It was late 1982, when I had that class. First semester of my junior year of high school. I graduated in 1984.Sarah, I just Googled it and I think the first Mac OS came out in 1983. I was a bit past high school then
Please correct me if I got that wrong
I think my Casio calculator watch has more compute power than the big boxes we first started with.
I think you are right. I went to a computer Expo in San Francisco in 1983 and Mac was just coming out to replace the Apple Lisa (Mac forerunner).Sarah, I just Googled it and I think the first Mac OS came out in 1983. I was a bit past high school then