Hello All,
My name is Dale from Rochester, NY. I'm a recently retired Senior Mechanical Designer with 40+ years working for Kodak and ITT Exelis. Yea I know, one of the PIA's who make life difficult for the machinists! To be honest, I liked spending time in the shop watching and learning. It helped being in R&D where schedules weren't as critical ;)
I started right out of SUNY Alfred doing drawing changes and details on the 'ol drafting board. CAD came along right about the time I was promoted to designer and was glad of it! It's SO much easier evolving designs on a computer than on paper! Most of my CAD experience was with Unigraphics but ITT was a ProEngineer/Creo Elements company so our division made that transition about 3 years ago. To be honest, each has their strengths and faults. Like any tool, as you learn how to use it you adapt.
My home shop has evolved from,95% woodworking 5% hacksaw and file, to mostly metalworking. I have a gear head, round column mill drill from Harbor Freight. It was the biggest machine I could get downstairs in my basement. Bridgeport style mills were out of the question. I'm on my second mini lathe, the most current is a 7x16 from MicroMark. They are both equipped with DRO's that I've grown to appreciate.
Anyway, now that I'm retired I will have more time to lurk the online forms and learn! Thanks for allowing me to join.
