Posted by Rick Kerbow on | Comments Off on How the Toolmaker Apprentice Program has Changed in 50 Years
This article is the second installment of three articles about Toolmaker Apprenticeships. In the first article, we discussed the basic structure, time, requirements, and expected outcome from an individual’s journey through an apprenticeship. In this post, we’re taking a deeper look at how a Toolmaker Apprenticeship has changed since the 1970s.
What has changed?
To learn what has changed since Apprenticeship programs in the 1970s, we talked with Ronald Joseph and Robert Tiller, both long time journeymen in the Tool & Die trade. Though we spoke with each of them at separate times, they agreed on what has changed and what has stayed the same.
The training – When Ronald Joseph began his apprenticeship program, he went to school one day each week. Every Monday, he and his fellow apprentices would get two hours of class time and then three hours of shop time, learning the very basics of the machines and tools. Today, when the “kids” start right out of high school, it’s all OTJ – on the job training.
The tools – When Ronald Joseph started, they made their tools by hand using a file. “They sure don’t do that anymore!”, said Ronald.
The maintenance – One of the first thing that both Ronald and Robert Tiller learned when they started was how to sharpen – by hand using a pedestal grinder – the tool bit. Today’s tools are coated, and are designed to last longer.
The technology – Back in the 1970s and 1980s, when a customer would provide a drawing, a toolmaker had to make the decision, based on experience only, the best way to make a part. Today, the drawings are all electronic, and computer software can quickly determine the best methods and materials to use.
The machines – From CNC machines to Electric Wire Cutting Machines, the speed and accuracy of how things get built on the shop room floor are very different today than they were 30, 40, or 50 years ago.
What’s still the same?
Despite all the advances in technology that allow experienced toolmakers to do things better and faster, some things haven’t changed. Both Robert and Ronald believe these things won’t change.
Time – It still takes 4 to 5 years for an apprentice to learn all the tools, machines, safety precautions, materials, speeds & feeds before that apprentice can turn a block of steel into a die to make a part.
Safety first! – The machines are bigger, faster, more powerful, and therefore even more dangerous than they were 50 years ago. The first rule of being a Toolmaker Apprentice was safety first back then, and it’s safety first today.
Math – The fact that a toolmaker has to know trigonometry will baffle a lot of people, but the math never changes.
Much has changed, and much has stayed the same in a Toolmaker’s Apprentice world. Evan still retains more than a dozen Toolmakers and a constant flow of apprentices to learn and eventually lead the operation at Evans.
In the next and final article on Toolmaker Apprenticeships, we will meet each of the Apprentices employed at Evans Tool & Die.
Posted by Rick Kerbow on | Comments Off on The Modern Day Toolmaker Apprentice Program
In this three part series, we examine the age old approach to job training called the apprenticeship. Through interviews with Toolmakers, Master Toolmakers, current and recent apprentices, we discover what it means to be a Toolmaker Apprentice today and what has changed in the last generation of Toolmakers.
What is an Apprenticeship?
Wikipedia provides a solid definition of “apprenticeship”: An apprenticeship is a system of training a new generation of practitioners of a trade or profession with on-the-job training and often some accompanying study (classroom work and reading). Apprenticeship also enables practitioners to gain a license to practice in a regulated profession.
This definition fits well with what we learned from our conversations with six Evans employees. As we will discuss later in this article, the requirements of an Apprentice changed significantly since the 1970s. However, the approach remains the same. An apprenticeship program trains and educates someone with little or no experience into a professional at the trade.
What qualifications are required to become a Toolmaker Apprentice?
Generally speaking, there are no strict requirements for becoming a Toolmaker Apprentice. The candidate must be old enough to work full time job in their state. Aside from that, our conversations revealed some interesting answers.
Dick Ankeny, Shop Supervisor, started in High School. Ankeny’s Junior and Senior years in High School included machine shop classes that got him interested in machining and toolmaking. Ankeny offered the following as “what it takes” to be an apprentice, as opposed to any hard requirements:
Solid math skills – “trigonometry plays a big role in building tools and dies”
A desire to do this trade – “you’ll know within about 6 months if this is for you.”
A desire to create new things – “you start with a block of steel.”
How long is an apprenticeship to be a Toolmaker?
A new Toolmaker Apprentice should expect to be an Apprentice for about five years. It may be more or less than that, but with that expectation in mind, the Apprentice will be in the correct mindset to learn a great deal of skills and information in the early part of their career.
What does a Toolmaker Apprentice learn?
Starting on Day One of an Apprenticeship, the new Apprentice should expect to be in 100% learning mode. The Apprentice will learn most of the following items fairly quickly.
How to read a blueprint – the blueprint is the engineer’s drawing of what the part should look like.
How to square a block – The Apprentice must put a raw piece of steel in the mill, and get it square down to the thousandths of an inch according to the dimensions on the blueprint.
Drilling & Tapping – generally, how to use the most basic machines.
“Speeds & feeds” for lathe and mill – the speed at which the lathe and miller are operating and how fast one feeds in the steel into the lathe or mill. One can gain such knowledge through experience.
Leave .002” grind stock on the block – this requirement comes from the fact that, after the steel is heat treated, you still need some room on the block to make adjustments.
Heat buildup – When Start grinding, you must monitor heat buildup because the metal can warp if it gets too hot
How fast one catches on to each concept determines the Apprentice’s progress. The number one rule, lesson, and learning point for any Apprentice is safety first.
In the next installment of this series, we will compare and contrast the Apprenticeship experiences of a Toolmaker who completed his Apprenticeship 30 years ago and a Toolmaker who completed his Apprenticeship within the past 12 months.
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