What This Blog Is Really All About

Ok, so I never really had a corporate job (except for a short, but very interesting, stint as a trading floor runner at the Chicago Board of Trade). What I'm trying to say here is that, at middle age, I've decided to become a kind of independent shop engineer. The desired skill set includes metal working (welding, machining and metal shaping), mechanics (automotive, motorcycle, small engine, hydraulics, and small to medium sized equipment), composites (fiberglass, carbon fiber, kevlar and plastic resins) and assorted techniques related to wood working, auto body repair and painting, etc.. I've dabbled in this stuff since the tender age of 10 when I tried to modify my bicycle by adding a lawnmower engine. Since then I've been a I've wrenched on my personal vehicles, including my 25 year old Toyota 4x4, which has undergone an engine transplant, transmission upgrade, fuel injection conversion and a repaint without ever actually seeing the inside of a real repair shop in the 20 years that I've owned it. I've also built trailers, shop machines and a fiberglass camper for a pickup.

Now that I'm in my 40's I've finally decided to get serious about what has been an enjoyable hobby. Here's my plan.

1. The other day I abruptly decided that my welding skills had come as far as they were going to without some professional help. So, I enrolled in the welding program at the local community college. I'm presently studying TIG and "stick" welding.
2. My math skills are not very well developed. If I am serious about being an engineer I'm going to have to study algebra, geometry, trigonometry and calculus. I think this is an area where the internet has everything I need to teach myself without formal courses.
   
3. The Massachusetts Institute of Technology's (MIT) OpenCourseWare program has free access to mechanical engineering courses. Utah State University also has OpenCourseWare resources for engineering and math. Using these and other resources (online and not) I think I can put together a decent curriculum to achieve my goal.
   
4. There are good home study video courses on machining with the metal lathe and milling machine. The American Gunsmithing Institute has a series that covers the lathe, the milling machine and general machine shop support equipment. Some of those DVDs can also be rented from SmartFlix.com (lathe, milling) If I can find a deal on a lathe I would like to go the self-teaching route. If not, a slightly more distant technical college in my area has machining courses.

This is what I am going to blog about. I hope readers will join me in creating a community of self-learning men and women shop engineers.