NAME> Jim Wilson POSTS TO RCM AS> Jim Wilson E-MAIL> jwilson@paragoncode.com WEB PAGE> http://www.paragoncode.com/jim.htm =============================================================== BIOGRAPHY =============================================================== I am a novice metalworker. So far, my metalwork has consisted primarily of making woodworking hand tools. Here are some examples: www.knight-toolworks.com/infill_planes.htm www.paragoncode.com/metalworking/fullchiselset.jpg Other than that, I've spent most of my shop time repairing and improving my tools , and making jigs, fixtures, and tooling for the shop and various odd jobs. I have [too] many interests. Besides metalworking, I devote considerable time to woodworking, electronics, astronomy, and chess. When I can, I also dabble in music (guitar and piano), radio control airplanes, and oil painting. My dad is a blacksmith: www.paw-paws-forge.com More? Visiting my wife's family in upstate New York a few years ago, I spied an Atlas 10" lathe collecting dust and rust in the corner of her brother's garage. I knew what a metalworking lathe was, but that was about it. Ray noticed me ogling it and gave it to me on the spot. He said he'd never even used it, and it took up too much space. I had no way to get it home right then, but I did do a little research on the machine, and started lurking in RCM. Almost a year later, his brother U-Haul'd the beast to Tucson on his way to San Francisco. I sent Ray $300 and patted myself on the back. That was my introduction to metalworking. The Atlas arrived in October 1999, and I started tearing it apart in March 2000. By April it had been disassembled to the last woodruff key, cleaned, stripped, repainted and reassembled. It had been a production lathe, and had seen some heavy [ab]use. It came with virtually no tooling, save a worn-out old three-jaw chuck. It needed a lot of parts. I had to replace the turret tailstock with a regular one, and locate a compound for it. I thought at the time I was "restoring" it, but really I was just fooling myself. It's an ok hobby lathe, but the ways and lead screws are quite worn. I imagined for a while that someday I'd scrape the bed and mating surfaces, and replace the lead screws and nuts. Now, I'm pretty sure I'll end up replacing the whole lathe instead. In November 2000, I started making parts for woodworkers' hand tools. Milling on that Atlas was tough, but I learned a lot! I managed to last through December, before I broke down and bought a 25-year-old Bridgeport vertical mill. It desperately needs some TLC, but so far I've been so busy making chips that I haven't had any time to tend to it. Things could be worse, eh? Even More?? Born Jan 4, 1962, somewhere near Middleton, Pennsylvania, USA. Carlisle, I think. My father was in the Army and we moved quite a bit. My parents met in college in Alaska, and we lived there a couple years before ending up in North Carolina when I was five or six. When I was 14, I entered a minor seminary (yep, thought I wanted to be a priest!), and stayed there for two years. Got a great education, but it wasn't meant to be. Joined the Air Force at 17 and fixed avionics sensors for four years (laser, IR, and low-light-level target designation and weapons guidance systems). My service brought me back to Alaska for two years -- well, sort of -- I was stationed in Anchorage. Think of Seattle, wetter, colder, and gloomier. Now, *Alaska* starts a little further north. My family is from all over the state, and I took the opportunity to do some serious visiting while I was there. It's beautiful country. My last tour of duty brought me to Tucson, Arizona, and I've been here ever since. I love the blue sky! We see sunshine about 350 days a year here. After I left the military, I did a 9-year stint with Hughes Aircraft Company -- in the Missile Systems Group, now Raytheon -- engineering missile test equipment and software. I met my wife, Mary Middleton, at Hughes in 1986. We married three years later. I have four children: Andrew (1979), Lisa (1980), Jessica (1982), and Tyler (1991). The first three are from a previous marriage. In 1992, I left Hughes to start a company doing market analysis software. We switched to producing geographic data after a year, and sold the company in 1998. I've been doing freelance software development ever since. That's all, folks!