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  1. #1
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    Default The future of metal work in the community

    Hi all,

    I don't usually promote videos in this forum, but the following data may be of interest to members in this particular case.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4-F6e-fxScM

    The viewer response globally has been pretty positive.

    I hope you enjoy it.

    Cheers Rob
    The worst that can happen is you will fail.
    But at least you tried.



  2. #2
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    G,day Rob,
    It is an interesting question indeed. The young ones are our future.
    The young people we get involved in metal working today are the technicians and trades people of tomorrow. While there are young people involved in our industry are they always the brightest and best?

    It is not a put down but a fair question. The education for students in the NON tertiary sector needs to improve dramatically if western nations are to keep pace with Asian industrial development. We need fewer people with arts degrees and more who can make things.

    Looking at from the perspective of young people taking up a trade based calling, I think the kids are more interested in taking up the technical stuff electronics and programming and the like. Perhaps the more hands on aspects of metal working do not attract them.

    Not so many grow up being dads side kick when projects is undertaken at home.

    For the most part ,many don't have the experience provided by working side by side with a parent to give them a basic grounding even in safety ,hand and power tools and just how to tackle a problem

    Lots of them ,I know ,only drive an automatic car and many of them can't change a flat tire. School is no help either as their tech teachers increasingly are trained from teachers college and not one of the trades.

    Mind you it is not a criticism but rather how I see just how things are.

    Grahame

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by Grahame Collins View Post
    G,day Rob,
    It is an interesting question indeed. The young ones are our future.
    Grahame
    Hi Grahame,

    I was looking at the data more as a hobby/interest in the community, but I see your point.

    I would be interested to see the age data of forum members for similar groupings.

    I sometimes get the feeling that forums are dominated by older guys, a sort of club, not wishing to be negative, and the age spread may not be a true indication of where metal work as a hobby/community interest is actually headed.

    The data in the video is not skewed and is a good sized sample, so I think it is a pretty good indicator of the "health" of the subject/interest.

    The comments section of the video makes for interesting reading.

    It's a good discussion point/indicator regardless, which I thought members may be surprised to see.

    Cheers Rob
    The worst that can happen is you will fail.
    But at least you tried.



  4. #4
    BobL is offline Member: Blue and white apron brigade
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    Some interesting data there but somehow I doubt this translates to any real long term major employment prospects. As the poster of the video says, most likely it reflects the low cost and availability of metal working machinery for home use.

    Quote Originally Posted by Grahame Collins View Post
    It is not a put down but a fair question. The education for students in the NON tertiary sector needs to improve dramatically if western nations are to keep pace with Asian industrial development. We need fewer people with arts degrees and more who can make things.
    With the increasing use of robots, CNC, 3D printing and manufacturers outside Australia continuing to undercut us price wise, being able to employ many thousands of metal workers to make something that can be exported and turn a profit, a metal work only qual may still be about as useful as and arts degree. It's not about just being able to make millions of a common widget X, it's about making widgets that are in demand and no one else is making so innovation and design is critical and the widget makers will need to be nimble and come up with a new widget in short order. All these things are really hard to teach and learn so don't suit or attract many people.

    Looking at from the perspective of young people taking up a trade based calling, I think the kids are more interested in taking up the technical stuff electronics and programming and the like. Perhaps the more hands on aspects of metal working do not attract them.
    Nothing wrong with them doing electronics and programming - sooner or later they have to apply these to a real world situation and that needs hardware and material knowledge etc. Most of the "hands on" stuff my young bloke has picked up come via this direction and he's slowly learning that the "old ways" and the "old man" still have their uses. He has rebuilt/upgraded 2 ,3D printers mainly by sourcing pre-made parts but has also made a few pieces himself. His first port of call for doing projects is Youtube or forums that he frequents, but he has also been messaging and emailing me to find out how to do the little bits of metal work etc. Recently, without any reference to me, he made a basic telescope style mount out of PVC - not for a telescope but for a Wifi snooping antennae for his legal hacking day job.

    Although I regularly criticise technologies like 3D printing etc, sooner or later these technologies will dominate manufacturing and then old school metal work will become even less relevant to the economy. Like the numbers of home sewers and knitters there will always be plenty of hands on metal workers around especially in sheds and small workshops but my guess is that within 20 years they will be about as common and relevant to the economy as blacksmiths.

  5. #5
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    18-24 would be to busy chasing the girls...and if they have caught one doing what they have been told to do

  6. #6
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    One of the biggest problems IMO is awareness of and exposure to trades in schools; we can't expect there to be much of an industry left in 20+ years if the kids who would be working in it don't know anything about it. When I tell people I'm an apprentice fitter and turner, the response from anyone under the age of 40 is usually a blank stare and a "Huh?"

    When I was going through high school 15 years ago, the general vibe I got was that trades were the alternative for the kids who weren't academically inclined. While there was, and always will be, an element of truth to that attitude, we also need the smart kids; the future of manufacturing here is not mass production of simple parts that can be run by semi-skilled operators who load machines, press go and keep an eye on tool wear, it's in relatively low volume, complex parts with tight tolerances and multiple setups.

    Titans of CNC is doing a huge push for exposure to CNC machining in high schools in the US with an incredible amount of free resources available online as well as partnering with local high schools to give kids machine time in state-of-the-art facilities, we need similar programs here to try to generate interest in machining.

  7. #7
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    Hi Guys,

    Kids today seem to be only interested in being glued to their smart phone doing what ever they find to do on them. It amazes me that more aren’t killed wondering into the road without any attempt to look to see if there is any traffic. A young girl was killed recently doing just that, more interested in the phone than watching where she was going.
    Best Regards:
    Baron J.

  8. #8
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    Quote Originally Posted by BaronJ View Post
    Hi Guys,

    Kids today seem to be only interested in being glued to their smart phone doing what ever they find to do on them..
    Not just the kids. Drive past any bus stop and see who is glued to their mobile. It's also interesting to see how mobile device use (phones, tablets etc) have now equaled and even passed PC use for the internet (from my statistics).

    We live in a mobile society.

    The age group data I posted shows that the metal work interest is still there, and it's NOT just an old codgers game, despite what many seem to suggest/like to think in postings.

    To suggest that only ex professional metal workers post to and look at forums /videos on the subject is also well wide of the mark

    Just because the Oz metal work industry is going down the tube compared to last century, doesn't mean that community interest is not there in an unrelated form (hobby, model making, leisure etc).

    Cheers Rob
    The worst that can happen is you will fail.
    But at least you tried.



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