Quote:
Originally Posted by Saltheart
I did piece work on a lathe for summer and winter vacations in college (United Steel Workers Union) . probably 20 weeks a year total. Some jobs took some skill and were fun. Some were just cranking pieces in and out mindlessly. Worst job was these long ID bores on wire spools. With the big flanges on the ends of the wire spools , you have to open and close the chuck about 8 inches in each direction. You spent more time cranking the chuck wrench than you did cutting steel. I had to do about 30 an hour to make top money so you were cranking like hell all day. compare that to truing up the stamped center holes on big 4 foot dieameter spool ends. the lathe had about a 6 foot swing and it was a 4 jaw. The pieces were so big I had to load them into the chuck using and overhead chain fall. With the 4 jaw you had to true everything up each piece. The rate on that was 4 per hour and 6/hr was the top bonus rate. All this work had to be fairly precise and the finished wire spools were high speed balanced just like when you get new tires. The balance weights were tacked on with a tiny welder.
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wow you make it sound so interesting
