Retirement gifts

Leo Voisine

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Location
East Freeetown, Massachusetts
I recently finished a couple of retirement gifts for a couple of guys at work.

We modified the indicators so they could see through. The indicators are 3-3/4 diameter and are .0001 graduation with 1" of travel. They are around $200 in manufacturing cost for the indicators.

I made a clear acrylic back and the indicators can be see from both sides.

One gift is a humidor - no I did not make the box.

The other is a Army Major, so I needed to get something military.

Greg Before.jpg
Humidor top. This was before I started cutting into it. I took the picture and used it as a "material" pic in Aspire

Greg After-1.jpg
Greg is Scottish and proud of it. I just HAD to find a Gaelic font for him.





Greg After-2.jpgGreg After-3.jpg

All the letters are made of Corian and inlayed into the humidor.
The indicator is embedded so it is visible from the inside.
The indicator is fully functional.



Bill-1.jpg

Bill is a retired Army Major, and quite proud of his military background.



Bill-2.jpgBill-3.jpg

Same with the indicator - viewable from both sides.

Also Corian and inlayed

I made a french cleat to hang the plaque.

I will eventually get a couple of youtube videos up.

This is where I used a 1mm end mill on the Corian
 

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Holy crow Leo. That's some work and I put money on a bet that those guys retiring represent one heck of a great deal of skill leaving the workforce.
Please for the sake of my sanity tell me there are younger guys behind them capable and able to take their place.

I am fascinated by the way you have been so casual and modest about "just needing to get some retirement gifts done"

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Holy crow Leo. That's some work and I put money on a bet that those guys retiring represent one heck of a great deal of skill leaving the workforce.
Please for the sake of my sanity tell me there are younger guys behind them capable and able to take their place.

I am fascinated by the way you have been so casual and modest about "just needing to get some retirement gifts done"

Sent from my SGH-I337M using Tapatalk

Greg was our last standing expert on the indicator manufacturing. That is what he was doing for 41 years. He knew every stinkin tiny piece in there. If you have even looked inside an indicator or have any idea how they work - just think in terms of "Rolex" - fine swiss watch. We see mechanisms like clocks made of wood online and they fascinate us. Those thinks are as crude as something made with a hatchet in comparison. Getting an indicator down to "calibrating" to read within 50 millionths is no small task. It does not just "happen". Also, Federal is a top notch indicator that eclipses Starrett and Mitutoyo. It is one of the best in the world. Greg is the "last". Taking his place, well "me" to a major degree. There is also a new engineer we hired. He is in his mid 30's energetic, and very smart. He's a "shop rat", as I call those of us that get our hands dirty and make the factory work. Not a suit and tie kinda guy. Our new guy has been with us for about 8 months.

Bill is the last standing expert on our "special" gaging manufacturing. For 37 years that guy has "carried" the ability of our company to be able to build the custom special gage building. I could not even begin to explain what that means. Covering for him is one guy that has 30+ years in the factory and another guy in his early 30's that has been with us for about 5 years. Both are very capable and very smart. The 30 year veteran is not really an engineer but knows how the factory works. He plans to retire within the next 5 years.
 
Oh boy i would not want to be making retirement gifts for guys with that skill. :rofl: They going to look at every blemish , only joking. ;) They will love them with all their heart. Better than the proverbial "gold watch" and a handshake.
 
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