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I really can't say I have any need for one, but last night I ordered this[^] rather nice unit. It's not only a TIG welder, but also handles regular stick welding, and includes a plasma cutter to boot. I already have a MIG/ wire welder, and an oxy-acetylene kit, so I should now be set to weld or cut most anything.
Since I bailed out of my job working for an idiot, I've been having a blast. I've got my machine shop set up, and frankly, I'm having trouble finding the time to study gunsmithing because of all the machining work I've been doing. There are a lot of creative people out there who have great ideas, but lack the tools or skills to fabricate their ideas. I'm filling that niche, and it's fun.
I lied about having no need for a TIG welder; every lesson I take in the gunsmithing course refers to using a TIG welder to modify a part without destroying its heat treatment. Most other methods of joining metals (other than screws) involves heating areas outside of the area of repair above the critical temperature, resulting in a change in the internal structure of the steel. TIG welding is so precise and efficient that it rarely affects adjacent metal parts, but it is also considered one of the hardest skills to learn. Obviously, given that challenge, I had to buy one to learn the technique.
A word of advice from an old fart - If you hate what you're doing, quit, and do what you love. Work will come to you unexpectedly. I never thought that anyone would call me for machining service; there are model shops on the 'net for that. But folks who know me, who have dealt with me before and liked the experience, are responding to my new capabilities in a totally unexpected way.
That's my two pence worth for the day, since I see that it's been a slow day here...
Will Rogers never met me.
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I wished to answer but I'm at a loss for words. When I'll have the money I'll enroll to a gunsmithing course too (I need an official state exam to be called an armourer). I also love that kind of works, despite having next to nigh manual ability and no training whatsoever.
You have every ounce of my respect. 
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP. -- TNCaver
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Thank you, sir (or madam, as may be). I encourage you to check out American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI), as they offer outstanding courses for a reasonable price, none of which require you to quit your job and move to a place you probably won't like in order to attend class.
Manual ability is a thing learned, not inherited. You can learn it, even though your parents failed to teach you the fundamentals. I was lucky, in that I had a Dad who taught me that there is nothing I can't make for myself, and a grandfather who proved it and showed me how. Other than Electronics engineering, there is nothing I know that I didn't teach myself by buying the correct tool and a book about using it. One of my former employers used to introduce me to people as "jack of all trades, master of most of them." That's a heck of an endorsement, but quite honestly, it's true. There is nothing that you can't learn; you just have to decide that it's time to learn it, and make it a priority in your life.
Regardless of one's political leaning on gun control, gunsmithing is a profession that will probably always be in demand. It's all about precision design and execution, and I've always loved a well made machine that just works when you ask it to perform. The gunsmithing trade is all about making fine machines that are not performing to the highest level of their potential into well-tuned machines that work perfectly every time. That's a beautiful thing... 
Will Rogers never met me.
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Roger Wright wrote: Thank you, sir
Correct, I'm male.
Roger Wright wrote: I encourage you to check out American Gunsmithing Institute (AGI)
Thanks, it's just some thousand of miles from anywhere in Italy  also I have to follow certain specific courses to get the State abilitation.
Roger Wright wrote: Regardless of one's political leaning on gun control
"I have a very strict policy about gun control: if there is a gun around I want to be the one controlling it".
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP. -- TNCaver
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den2k88 wrote: "I have a very strict policy about gun control: if there is a gun around I want to be the one controlling it".
I completely agree! 
The AGI courses are all on DVDs, and they cover all designs in far greater detail than most manufacturer's armorers' courses. Even if your country requires specific courses to get a license, odds are good that the information you get from an AGI course will be far more useful than any state approved instruction. If you want to learn the minimum required to get the license, take the approved courses; if you want to be truly expert, take the AGI courses.
Have fun, whichever course you take. And do it sooner, rather than later in your life. The sooner you start doing what you love to do, the longer you get to do it.
Will Rogers never met me.
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Wow thank you a lot for the advices!
GCS d--- s-/++ a- C++++ U+++ P- L- E-- W++ N++ o+ K- w+++ O? M-- V? PS+ PE- Y+ PGP t++ 5? X R++ tv-- b+ DI+++ D++ G e++>+++ h--- ++>+++ y+++* Weapons extension: ma- k++ F+2 X
If you think 'goto' is evil, try writing an Assembly program without JMP. -- TNCaver
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Nice one!
It's never worth staying in a job you hate: you spend a third of your time asleep, a third at work, and the other third commuting / eating / trying to wind down from a horrible job. It's not worth it...
Really glad to hear you are both doing something you enjoy, and learning new stuff! 
Bad command or file name. Bad, bad command! Sit! Stay! Staaaay...
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Roger Wright wrote: If you hate what you're doing, quit, and do what you love.
So true.. 
But more often than not, people don't know what they love..! Not sure if I am generalizing too much, but I don't hate my job, but I don't know what I love as work...  Hope some day I will have my 'aha..' moment
Thanks,
Milind
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glad you're enjoying yourself finally
jealous about the TIG welder, although a decent bandsaw, planer/thicknesser, laser cutter (wood) would probably be more at the top of my wishlist right now
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I've always had woodworking tools, though I haven't really taken the time to get into it as much as I'd like to. I just last week had cause to get out my block plane and try to remember how to use it. It worked out okay, but I could use some practice...
I always had access to woodworking tools growing up, as that was one of my dad's hobbies. Before he died he tried desperately to get me interested in wood carving, but it never took root. Perhaps another stage in life I'll encounter one day will be a compulsion to carve small wooden artifacts that no one will want. We'll see.
For me, having the ability to whittle steel into a desired shape has always been a much desired skill, but never in my life could I afford to purchase the tools needed to learn it. Now I have those tools, and what I'm going to do with them has yet to be decided. But I definitely plan to have fun with it.
By the way, I was at Home Depot tonight, and they have a nice 9" Ryobi bandsaw at a fairly decent price. Check it out. And if you really want to have some fun at a fair price, get to know Grizzly.com. That's where I'm getting most of my metal-working tools, and the quality is excellent, despite the low prices. The range of woodworking tools they carry is far larger than their assortment of metalworking equipment, so you should have a delightful time visiting, over and over again...
Will Rogers never met me.
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Roger Wright wrote: If you hate what you're doing, quit, and do what you love. Work will come to you unexpectedly.
Ikigai[^]
Marc
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Good luck in your new venture.
I quit my IT job many years ago and started a construction company and people said I was crazy. (Well I am but that's another story) I didn't get rich but I loved the work and the freedom.
New version: WinHeist Version 2.2.2 Beta I told my psychiatrist that I was hearing voices in my head. He said you don't have a psychiatrist!
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Heh - I've just bought 2 (count em, 2) HP 1741A storage oscilloscopes (analog storage). And I'm waiting on delivery of an HP 1725A analog scope, due next week. Both 1741's work. Total cost for all three? $171 including shipping.
As of right now I have no use whatsoever for even one oscilloscope, let alone three. I just wanted to own something that cool. It helps that I used, in a previous life, to repair these exact models back in 1980 when I worked for Hewlett Packard Australia.
I suppose it's time to shell out some bucks and buy some analog bits and pieces (op amps and such like) and have a play!
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So it's my birthday today and this week I started a new job too.
It's always a bit anxiety provoking being in a new environment with new people as well as being the noob - however the people are kind, the environment is the same set of offices I was in before my last job and they probably would not have hired me if they did not think that I could do the work(they said that they were very impressed with the exercise I did for them as part of the interview process).
After posting about leaving my last job, in the soapbox, I was out of work for around five weeks before finding my current job. This time I have learnt and want to apply the lesson - I work to live not live to work.
[edit] - thank you all for your kind words and encouragement, it's really nice to have such positive messages from the great people of CodeProject
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
modified 12-May-16 15:08pm.
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"There are two ways of constructing a software design: One way is to make it so simple that there are obviously no deficiencies, and the other way is to make it so complicated that there are no obvious deficiencies. The first method is far more difficult." - C.A.R. Hoare
Home | LinkedIn | Google+ | Twitter
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Congrats on both accounts.
I'm also having a new job since almost a month back.
Totally new environment, not very hard but it's just so much to learn.
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ConCongrats! ![Jig | [Dance]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/jig.gif) and a lot of ![Beer | [beer]](https://codeproject.global.ssl.fastly.net/script/Forums/Images/beer.gif) of course!
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Happy Birthday and good luck with your new job!
Have a or more.
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Nice. I always like starting a new job. Besides creating new relationships from scratch, you're normally on your toes and ambitious. A very exciting thing, a new job!
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OK, so a birthday equates to: "I'm getting OLD!", and a new job equates to "I wasn't good enough at my last job!", so could you spend a moment to clarify what exactly it is we're supposed to be celebrating?
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Nope, sorry but it means my last job wasn't good enough for me.
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The first wiords that come to mind are: "Been there, done that".
Good luck with the new people.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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"I wasn't good enough at my last job!" - far from it, new management made decisions that necessitated me working evenings, weekends and holidays because they simply were unable to listen to any advice I gave.
“That which can be asserted without evidence, can be dismissed without evidence.”
― Christopher Hitchens
modified 12-May-16 2:30am.
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I have similar experience.
At my new job I have a boss that's better than me at what I'm doing, a very unusual situation for me. And quite scary to be honest.
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