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.
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