"Bob La Londe"Â wrote in message news:104n19f$ga5q$2@dont-email.me...That brings back memories, I started machining on a South Bend lathe
On 7/9/2025 5:24 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:
Before tax and other fees:
A 1TB micro SD card weighs about 0.5 grams and costs about $100.Â
That is $2834 dollars per ounce.
A new F250 FX4 Regular Cab weighs about 6148 pounds and costs $50,000
collars. THAT IS ONLY ABOUT 51 CENTS PER OUNCE.
Musings in reply:
In 10 years the truck will still have value. It might even have higher value if it turns out to be one of the "desirable" year/models.
The Micro SD card will be worthless having been replaced with ZB micro
dots.
---------------------------------------------
Some of my backup hard drives cost <$25 per Terabyte on sale. New
solar panels cost $0.70 to $1.00 per Watt, and LiFePO4 batteries are
below $2.50 per Watt-hour, finally making off-grid living economical
if they live up to their promised lifespan, my "45W" HF panels didn't.
$250 for 5000 discharges of 1 KW each is $0.05 per KWH, lead-acid
storage is at best over $0.20/KWH like grid power.
For many decades before mandates and electronics a car cost around
$1-$2 per pound, essentially the cost of raw material plus profit
because mass production was so efficient. A fighter jet cost $1000 per
pound, which amounts to transmuting aluminum into gold. Oil averaged
half an ounce of gold per barrel from 1950 to 1970.
This laptop model cost up to $1900 when new in 2010, In 2017 I paid
$15 for it plus the cost of a new hard drive, battery and more memory.
My latest new-to-me laptop from 2019(?) with Win 11 cost $70, and was
over ten times that new.
I'm glad I found my lathe in the early 90's for $1200, look at them now: https://www.ebay.com/itm/236095172642
That's a lot for a machine tool that has been economically obsolete
for many decades. I saw an older Haas go for $10,000 at the auction
where I got my plasma cutter for $300.
"David Billington"Â wrote in message news:104oi4e$t596$1@dont-email.me...
That brings back memories, I started machining on a South Bend lathe
like that in Junior high when I was about 12 in the mid 1970s. Do they
still allow kids to do that these days or are they too worried about
them injuring themselves, I still have all my thumbs and fingers and
none have needed to be reattached.
----------------------------
AFAIK most/all of the school machine shops have been auctioned off and
the space repurposed for 'more relevant' training. I went to some of the auctions and my lathe is from a trade school. There are still hands-on courses in auto mechanics, welding and woodworking that I know of or
have attended in adult night classes. We learned how to use big sharp
knives in cooking class, and I surprised my sister last Thanksgiving by knowing how to mince an onion to her satisfaction.
The Jr High I attended had only a wood shop where the instructor's
preference was to teach us to maintain and use hand tools to power tool precision. A friend's father was building a wooden sailboat and mine was restoring our old house so we had good reason to learn. I use it for on-
site timber framing without electricity other than a solar-charged
drill. A 400 Lb beam won't go to the saw, the saw must come to it,
sometimes on a ladder.
At a different Senior High the auto shop was the dumping ground for delinquents and I avoided it, instead I learned vehicle maintenance in
the Army, the motor pool and the crafts shop garage, since I was on call
for repairs to critical digital communications equipment and had to be
able to drop whatever else I was doing.
None of my fingers have been sewn back on, but I do have three teeth
screwed to the jaw. The jaw bone was originally too thin so the oral
surgeon grafted on ground bone from cadavers, hopefully fresh. It merges
in the way a break repairs itself. They wouldn't grant my request for a square jaw like Superman. I can now deny responsibility for anything
that comes out of my zombie mouth, or that I write here.
On 7/10/2025 10:21 AM, Jim Wilkins wrote:
"David Billington" wrote in message news:104oi4e$t596$1@dont-email.me...
That brings back memories, I started machining on a South Bend lathe
like that in Junior high when I was about 12 in the mid 1970s. Do they
still allow kids to do that these days or are they too worried about
them injuring themselves, I still have all my thumbs and fingers and
none have needed to be reattached.
----------------------------
AFAIK most/all of the school machine shops have been auctioned off and
the space repurposed for 'more relevant' training. I went to some of the
auctions and my lathe is from a trade school. There are still hands-on
courses in auto mechanics, welding and woodworking that I know of or
have attended in adult night classes. We learned how to use big sharp
knives in cooking class, and I surprised my sister last Thanksgiving by
knowing how to mince an onion to her satisfaction.
The Jr High I attended had only a wood shop where the instructor's
preference was to teach us to maintain and use hand tools to power tool
precision. A friend's father was building a wooden sailboat and mine was
restoring our old house so we had good reason to learn. I use it for on-
site timber framing without electricity other than a solar-charged
drill. A 400 Lb beam won't go to the saw, the saw must come to it,
sometimes on a ladder.
At a different Senior High the auto shop was the dumping ground for
delinquents and I avoided it, instead I learned vehicle maintenance in
the Army, the motor pool and the crafts shop garage, since I was on call
for repairs to critical digital communications equipment and had to be
able to drop whatever else I was doing.
None of my fingers have been sewn back on, but I do have three teeth
screwed to the jaw. The jaw bone was originally too thin so the oral
surgeon grafted on ground bone from cadavers, hopefully fresh. It merges
in the way a break repairs itself. They wouldn't grant my request for a
square jaw like Superman. I can now deny responsibility for anything
that comes out of my zombie mouth, or that I write here.
When my son was in high school there was only welding and autoBack in 1972 when I started teaching it seamed the attitude was
mechanics. He setup and maintained their CNC plasma table while he was >there, and for a year after he graduated he would go back and help out.
The local community college sold off all their machine tools and bought
more welding equipment many years ago. but a few years ago a buddy of
mine got them back into machining, and they have some equipment again >including an old industrial size lathe I'd love to own. The Community >college shares some lab space with the university, and they own one of
the three HAAS CNC Super Mini mills in the room. The University owns
the other two and a TL1 CNC lathe along with a couple benches full of
HAAS CNC simulators.
When my buddy was setting things up there he felt me out about teaching
CNC machining, but it just didn't pay enough. I probably couldn't teach
it cold, but if motivated I can still learn fast enough to keep ahead of
the students who can't teach themselves.
--
Bob La Londe
CNC Molds N Stuff
"David Billington"Â wrote in message news:104oi4e$t596$1@dont-email.me...
That brings back memories, I started machining on a South Bend lathe
like that in Junior high when I was about 12 in the mid 1970s. Do they
still allow kids to do that these days or are they too worried about
them injuring themselves, I still have all my thumbs and fingers and
none have needed to be reattached.
----------------------------
AFAIK most/all of the school machine shops have been auctioned off and
the space repurposed for 'more relevant' training. I went to some of
the auctions and my lathe is from a trade school. There are still
hands-on courses in auto mechanics, welding and woodworking that I
know of or have attended in adult night classes. We learned how to use
big sharp knives in cooking class, and I surprised my sister last Thanksgiving by knowing how to mince an onion to her satisfaction.
The Jr High I attended had only a wood shop where the instructor's
preference was to teach us to maintain and use hand tools to power
tool precision. A friend's father was building a wooden sailboat and
mine was restoring our old house so we had good reason to learn. I use
it for on-site timber framing without electricity other than a
solar-charged drill. A 400 Lb beam won't go to the saw, the saw must
come to it, sometimes on a ladder.
At a different Senior High the auto shop was the dumping ground for delinquents and I avoided it, instead I learned vehicle maintenance in
the Army, the motor pool and the crafts shop garage, since I was on
call for repairs to critical digital communications equipment and had
to be able to drop whatever else I was doing.
None of my fingers have been sewn back on, but I do have three teeth
screwed to the jaw. The jaw bone was originally too thin so the oral
surgeon grafted on ground bone from cadavers, hopefully fresh. It
merges in the way a break repairs itself. They wouldn't grant my
request for a square jaw like Superman. I can now deny responsibility
for anything that comes out of my zombie mouth, or that I write here.
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