I picked up several older machine tools from a local tech school that was in the process of changing their focus to newer tech as well. Pennies on the dollar.
Knowing that the old iron is not generally found in industry today, I am in agreement that this change is necessary for training young people entering the workforce.
I am a casual acquaintance of an eighty something year old “machinist” of German descent who is perhaps one of the last keepers of the manual craft of using tool and die. His custom creations of the mind, hand, and micrometer are works of art. Yet he remains gainfully employed as an artisan of CAD and 3D printing. Better product is the result, but he wonders what might happen if world is somehow forced to resort to 1930’s technology to survive.
CNC machines were in shops in the ‘70s (tape writing required—not hard). When the machines started to get a little loose and sloppy from wear, they were used without the CNC control. The more things change,...
I will risk suggesting that even though traditional machinists are much needed in the industry, there is an even greater demand for machinists that can integrate the old with the new.
Not mentioned yet are the newer forms of machining such as wire EDM and plasma cutting and the non-traditional materials encountered today such as plastics, ceramics and exotic metals to name a few.
Perhaps the field would benefit with specialists that have excellent communication skills instead of the grumpy old guy running the same machine for 20 years. (That would be me!).