''Who cares?'' I care...... I find this this video extremely interesting. Not only do I think the patterns and sales matrial is very fascinating. But it also carries a personal story of a superb working life. A life spend in dedication to teaching others. Other people that have surely, in some cases, used Mr Pete's teachings to make a living for themselves and their families. You Sir have actually made a significant contribution making the world better place, with less lawers, bankers and politicians out to trick you at every turn. That alone demands respect. Well done Mr Peterson. You have my respect for sure.
Boy o boy, talk about resurging memories. When I was a senior our class was severely divided into the guys that were there to learn and the f-offs. The f-offs won, the disruptions were so bad they shut our class down and sent everyone home the last couple months of the senior year, Endless bolt throwing fights,sabotage,ignorant deliberate interruptions. On and on, I still have bad dreams about it 40 years later. It is terrible when something you passionately believe in becomes a burdensome stone, all because of a handful of bad apples that spoil the entire barrel. I never lost the love for learning about mechanical things. As I said beforehand in previous comments, Tubalcain has been the longest running TH-cam channel for Me. Thank you Mr. Pete. I think you found the group of kids you always wanted to teach.
mrpete222 , 1979,1981 jr,sr I still regret taking that vocational education. It was awful my senior year. Following that I enlisted in the USAF. That was the best vocational education I ever had
In my high school in the 90's. Anybody could take industrial arts 1 and 2. After that you needed teacher permission to continue on with industrial arts 3 and 4. I don't have many regrets but I didn't take industrial arts 4 because I couldn't fit it into my schedule. That class would have maybe only been 5 people all making projects like this. 3 years later they built a new high school and the industrial arts program didn't get to move to the new building. I protested and was told there wasn't enough interest. If I only knew then what I know now about the great need for skilled employees around the country. Hundreds of thousands of jobs go unfilled every year because of a lack of qualified employee's.
A man who sparked a seed in the peoples imagination to allow creativity to flow, certainty as not wasted his time or effort. Thanks to yourself Lyle if one young person benefits from the videos, that’s a job well done.
''Who cares?'' I do! I'm 25, we didn't have machine shops at my school (barely had a buffing motor which was deemed too dangerous..) I find these videos fascinating. thank you!
I was an auto shop teacher for many years and I can relate to your (apparent) bitter/sweet memories of teaching. The small 5-10% of troubled kids often consumed 90% of my energy. Fortunately, the good kids made it all worthwhile. I retired early because the percentage of troubled kids was getting higher every decade, by the time I'd had enough they were about 30-40% so I quit it.
I knew a family of skinny guys like you. They are all millionaires now. Never watched TV. Had a pretty deep path worn in the yard out to the barn. This explains why you are so prolific on YT. Once you get used to 12 hour days it's hard to stop. And you are really good at what you do. Thank you for showing us a bit of the history and hard work that went into Peterson Products. Well done!
Thanks for the video. There are a huge number of people my age (71) that only stayed in school because of the shop teacher and the relationship that they had with him. Never sell yourself short, you guys probably keep more kids in school than you and your brother have ever realized. regards Bruce
We, your viewers care. I for one feel fortunate to have the opportunity to learn from you here on TH-cam. There was no shop program available to me in school. And without you, lots of us would have missed out completely. So thank you sir, very much. And we do indeed care.
Mr. Lyle, you touched the life of your students, i am a engineer teacher and sometimes shop teacher too, and i understand part of your problems, but this type of work, it's now like an art, because with the use and discard products, the making of the tools were down. You teach to thousands of students on internet like me, and i show your videos in my classroom, and your knowledge pass to another generation, you change the live and the world of your students 30 years ago and now. Who cares?, cares to me like other thousands of people that love watch your videos, thank you for all Mr. Lyle, and keep it the good work.
Mr. Pete, we sure do care! I cannot wait for the next video! 3D prints are the way to go. Consider it please. As another student in the 70’s, I lived the horrors of trying to learn when most did not. I’m making up for it now, and you are my teacher. Thank you for the time and effort to show us and tech us.
We learn by doing, Mr Pete! Not too many of us hobbyists have the opportunity to learn about metal casting and pattern making ... unless we have a reason to do so. My reasons are all associated with a railway restoration group that I belong to. I'm the "master caster". While I don't have the facilities to melt the metal, I do make the patterns, the sand cores, and then make sure that the patterns and sand cores will work before taking them to a commercial foundry. So many thanx for showing us what you did for all of those students many, many years ago. You never know what some of those students ended up doing when the graduated from school. Some of them may even have had a hand in designing and making the parts for the cars we drive or the machinery that runs our factories.
To be honest with you, the hard part is what you know how to do. Patternmaking, Cora boxes, that is what it's all about, and it takes a smart man to do that. Keep it up
Shame on those that don't care. Nice video showing a family's dedication to making education real and relevant to kids that might not be "fully engaged" in school. Thumbs Up! to you and your brother. My first year as an IA teacher we purchased a new McEnglevan forge. 37 years later that forge let out its last puff of heat, so we start year #38 with a brand new McEnglevan/MIFCO forge. Hopefully the foundry furnace will keep on chooching for a few more years. Thanks again.
That is quite a story. I did not know they were still in business. I had met Mr. Fred Cowles President of the company. He was a good man and very interested in education
You Sir have lived a life well spent! At my age I am at my happiest and most content out in my shop and it is because of men like you. I try to pay you back by having patience with young people and try to get them interested in a project or two. I pray one day they have as happy memories of it as I do.
Myself and appears to be alot of others do also. We care. If we didn't we wouldnt be here watching ur videos. When I was younger I had no desire to want to learn metal working but since I've gotten older I find myself interested I metal working. Thank you mr Pete for all the hard work u put into these videos. Wish I could have you as a shop teacher back in the day.
Mr Pete, please, we care or we wouldn't be watching your videos. I watch as many as I can from start to finish. Accept the fact that (most) people like you and want to hear your stories. Those with negative comments are like the disruptive students you used to have. They want to force their negativity on all that they do. I have worked in the aerospace industry with many like this. They are the vocal few, just remember, most of us are here to learn, listen to some life anecdotes and enjoy your company.
Thank you for commenting on watching. That was a very interesting slant that you had on the negative people. I never thought of it that way, but they are like the disruptors in the classroom
I went to a small rural high school in Georgia and we didn't have any kind of shop classes except for agriculture. I was always the kid that took his toys apart and developed into a gear head. I wish I could had a teacher like you because you have so much knowledge to share. I made my living with my hands and I am self taught in most everything I know. I am a far to middling machinist. I am only a few years younger than you and retired but I still have the desire to learn. If you think about it you now have a class of 186 K students who want to learn from your experience.
Very impressive! What a productive live you lead - it makes me ashamed of myself, procrastinating and watching TH-cam videos for hours on end in my fully equipped shed/workshop in which I have NEVER made one single completed metal-project!!!
Lyle, I made a couple of tools in metalwork, at high school, which I still have and use. My father made a scriber at school, using blacksmithing techniques, which I now have and use. When I was in trade school, for my apprenticeship, when we had finished the projects for the course (fitting & machining) our tech teacher would let us bring in our own projects, as he said that they were all part of our trade. I faced off a car head and lightened a fly wheel, using both the lathe and a verticle mill and rotary table. We even bored out an engine block, for the teacher. Thank you for this informative and nostalgic video. We never stop learning.
Well done Mr Pete. You remind me of my parents, my mom passed away 2 months ago still working at our family retail fishing store , my old man is still working there at the age of 89. You should be proud of all you have achieved. regards Tim South Africa
You were and remain a true teacher at heart and in mind. You remind me of a few of the teachers I had back in the day, few I did say, and teachers like you are what kids need today. You have the ability to keep ones attention especially if one is the least bit interested in what you are trying to teach. I am not that far behind you in age, but I still enjoy working in my shop and love watching your videos when I get a chance. Keep up the good work and keep making videos when you can. I wish I was computer literate enough to make some... lol
You should be proud of what you did and the scores of the kids you taught. Not all I'm sure went on to be machinists but I bet many did. I find it surprising that you are so down on your work, your patterns, and castings. You made a difference in people's lives and continue to do so. You are leaving a legacy. We should hand down that knowledge to the next generation or those that care to learn.
And many adults who did not have the opportunity to take advantage of shop class. Please be proud of yourself, your work and your efforts. You deserve to be. I appreciate your time and efforts in creating your videos.
Thank You, Mr. Pete for sharing the story of your products. What struck me was the nuance of all the operations the student would learn from each and the successive complexity and opportune the schools that bought them, to follow a well balanced curriculum in BIA. Personally I was also glad you shared one of the underlying disdains of your endeavors, that is the drafting. I had wondered for years now and makes sense as you like to _do the work_ and get so much from teaching and helping others as you have been all these years on YT. That is a legacy of epic proportion in my book and I for one am grateful to have been witness! ~PJ
Mr. Pete great video as always you inspire so many people to get out and do something in the shop and buy a lathe and a mill and teach ourselves how to learn a new skill ,with your videos and many others like you have helped so many people I truly thank you
What a great video. You were a smart driven man in your youth and you've grown into a wise entertaining man as you've aged. "Thanks for the memories" as Bob Hope would sing
Mr. Pete, Neat to see what you did in your past. We had aluminum casting as part of our machine shop classes in Phoenix in the mid 1960's. The shop building was turned into regular classrooms in the '80s.
Thank you very much for sharing the history of Peterson Products with us. You have said, "Who cares?" Those of us that are watching this video (and those who will watch in the years to come), along with the thousands of students who you have helped teach the industrial art of metal working (both directly and indirectly through the sales of your products)! It seems like you think nobody cares about this stuff any more, but I beg to differ. It seems like most school districts are getting rid of their industrial arts and I think that's terrible. You are _THE_ "TH-cam Shop Teacher" and we all appreciate it. Hopefully your TH-cam channel will always be here to help continue to teach students (both young and old). As for starting a company like this now, I think your only chance would be to retain the 3-D files and print the patterns yourself, then sell them instead of having to make plaster ones. Trying to sell the 3-D files would be really difficult because someone would eventually post them on the Internet. Sites like Thingiverse are great for distributing open source items so people can print them out at home, but I don't believe (at this time) they have the ability to allow users to sell their 3-D files. Heck, there are even companies that scrape open source sites like Thingiverse then sell the 3-D printed items at a profit, which goes against what the author has intended. It's a big mess.
Thanks for sneaking in one picture that showed what you looked like, as you would say; "back in my prime". Good shop teachers made such a difference. I got my first job, thanks to my shop teacher. Later I hired quite a few kids based on the recommendation of a shop teacher.
Another great Mr. Pete video but you are getting too negative. “Who cares?” Well, the people watching certainly do or we wouldn’t be watching so comments like that are like little jabs with a sharp stick. Remember one thing Mr. Pete. WE CARE.
+Wayne Crews - Yeah, I don't get it. I understand he may have had a few bad experiences but why he carries on about so much about them is beyond me. He had a long and great career, we all love the work he does and are possibly the ideal shop class he never actually had in person. I took everything I could in junior high and high school I could related to industrial arts. As an engineer now, those classes were invaluable. I can't stand it when Mr Pete talks about throwing out or destroying everything … something I never do. I go out of my way to give things away if I can't use them.
I couldn't thumbs this up enough, Mr. Pete is getting way down on himself. I couldn't possible explain how much I enjoy his videos. And I'm sure I would be in a different place in time if I would of had a shop teacher like him.
Yeah, he comes across as very bitter about it for some reason. This content is pretty interesting as I assume I'm not at all alone in being interested in learning some additional backstory to the people we watch and learn from.
I wouldn't call it bitter,but I think he is a modest man by nature. Whatever we call him, he's a genius in his field and I wish I could shake his hand at his upcoming Meet & Greet event.
I see why you are still going... You have always been a hard worker! Thank you for sharing. Some of my fondest memories of school was shop class. Now we don't have shop even at the High School level anymore. I'm sure you touched a lot of young lives in a positive way through your projects. Today there would not be much of a school market for your projects, but I would bet they would sell pretty good to hobby machinists looking for something useful to make. Another great peek into your teaching past, thank you for all the work you put into these videos!!!
I'm really glad you posted this video Mr. Pete. Some very interesting back-story on "America's Shop Teacher." It somehow does not surprise me that you were cranking out 12-hr days working on an entrepreneurial endeavor, way back when. I hope you have some good memories, because it looks like something to be proud of, to me.
I have a tremendous amount of respect to those men, and women, who have the skills to make their own tools. I hope to reach that level sometime soon. BTW, your subcribers care.
Once again you out done yourself. We made V-blocks, Angle Plates, Surface gages, Hammers with a three step screw driver that went in the handle, Vices, plus many other items that came along. We helped the Auto shop, made items for the school. You brought back memories for me. I still have a few items I made and I still use them. Thank you so much for what you done to educate people then and now. And yes WE CARE!
Thanks Mr Pete! Oh by the way I do care and find it interesting. I think I speak for many of us who began our lifelong careers in industrial arts, we could not have done that without teachers like you sir! Thanks so much, love your videos. Will in wash.
I found this video extremely interesting - as a middle and high school student in Spfld. Illinois in the early to late 70's we had all kinds of shop classes - even in Grant middle school here in spfld. Illinoi within our industrial arts classes we had what were called exploratory classes. Classes offered were in home construction where we built a scaled down home module learning all the fundamentals of home construction from foundation to roof. We also had small engine repair class, a rather good manufacturing class, drafting, electronics where we learned fundamentals and built solder kits of radios etc. and there was even a radio and television class where we learned radio and TV operation and even built a mock radio broadcast booth in the corner of our classroom, I still have a newspaper article showing a pic of us building the broadcast booth -- In Spfld. high school we had wood shop with lathes etc. and metal shop - the metal shop did do aluminum casting and some machining. There's also Vocational school with many classes like auto mechanics, auto body and many others. I still live near these schools but in both the middle and high school all those classes are gone now, I watched them take the shops air vent system out years ago and replace the shops with a new science wing thats proven to be of dubious value and now theyre wanting to tear the entire school down after spending milliions in upgrades including air conditioning which we did not have in the 70's - Illinois politics, go figure.
We had all of those beginning exploratory classes as well, and all the areas you mentioned. It's all gone all over the United States. It will never come back. Thanks for watching
Mr. Pete, I know you’ve heard it before and probably concur but it is a crying shame Industrial Arts are no longer offered in any high school. Many machinists got the bug for working metal in those classes and went on to Peoria or Decatur or Electric Wheel in Quincy to not only do a lifetime of working at a job they loved but make Cat and other manufacturers the great companies they became. Today, in this resurgent economy, where manufacturing is once again gaining ground, businesses are finding qualified operators and machinists extremely difficult to come by. I saw a Human Resource Director give an interview and he stated how difficult it was to find people who could pass a drug test and then show up for the second day of work! It’s really a shame. We all know a college education is good but college isn’t for everybody. There are those who have mechanical talent but no longer have the outlet at a young age to develop it. I know teachers face a lot of frustration, (my daughter is a high school art teacher, and a good one) but the dedication you and others like you are to be commended for sharing your knowledge to so many young lives. Dale in Decatur.
I wish I could say I made some of these projects back in the early 1980's but no such luck. Interesting and fun enjoyed immensely. Thanks Tubalcain. I would have been way to lucky to have a shop teacher like you.
Thank you for sharing some of your history. I really enjoyed watching and hearing your story. Now you have something that your descendants can see long after you are gone. As long as there is an Internet you will live forever! Thanks again!
My friend I grew up with went to the local public schools and I went to catholic schools from grade k-12. He had plastics, metal and wood classes in middle school I had none of those. I learned welding and fabricating in junior college. If I would have had his classes I would have had an earlier start in a field I worked as a carrier. Better late than never I guess. Thank you Mr. Pete for sharing and yes I am with the others I care too.
Thanks for the history lesson, as someone who was involved in teaching for over 30 years I was always trying to find ways to keep the interests of the students at the forefront. Yes it was a 16 hour a day endeavour to achieve the goal.
I watched this with great interest. My shop teacher must have been in contact with you, as we made several of your projects. My school was directly south of you in the same state. I only wish I would have kept my finished projects. I had the bench grinder, vise and c-clamp as well as several others. I took shop class as many hours of my four year high school career as I could. That is all I would have did if they would have let me....LOL Sadly as I got better, nicer tools, the homemade jobbers went the way of the yard sale.
I was in the same boat. We didn't have a machine shop but we did have wood shop and a technology class that was brand new to have in the mid 80s. That was the closest thing I got to a lathe which had a hopper, a robot arm and a tiny 4-6" cnc lathe that we could program the entire process to make a small factory turning out parts. I was in wood shop I - IV, then took IV again. final semester of my senior year they wouldn't let me take wood shop any more. So I had to go to the community college and take it there, which luckily was in my high school shop taught by my high school teacher. Now I have my own shop, built up mostly because of @MrPete222 It's like I have gone back to high school and am taking the machine shop classes I always wish we had.
You are a fascinating fellow, Lyle. Your knowledge invaluable, your industriousness, inspirational. Thank you for sharing this whole other realm of your history.
Thank you Lyle for posting this. I found your comments about the strength of aluminium for the press and clamps interesting. It has sparked an interest in me to try creating my own patterns and playing around with some designs to see if I can work out some of the short comings of using aluminium in such applications. I understand Fusion 360 also allows one to do modelling for stress, but I don't think my 360 skills are up to that....yet. I taught for several years at the college level and can appreciate your frustration with the lack of apparent maturity amongst students. Every year I fel the students were getting 'younger' and 'younger' even though the chronological ages were the same as previous years. Mark
I've done things that others used back in my youth, and I can see how it could get old, quick. I just kept thinking that if you could team up with a foundry to make them in cast iron, they would have been awesome projects. Thanks for sharing, even though it brings up some bad memories. --Moke--
We care, Mr. Pete. We really do. Great history lesson here. And PDFs and other electronic miracles are certainly nice to have access to, but they're also easy to steal. Better to maintain control of the product if you want to sell it. Once they're out on the interwebs in digital bits, the genie can't be put back in the bottle.
Mr Peterson We got your band sander patterns when I was in metals ll my senior year in 1975 our teacher allowed our class to cast the aluminum masters from the plaster ones your company provided, as we had a lot of practice with pouring out the molds from the metals l classes
Memory lane here, I’m 37 and in high school we used to cast aluminum and pour are own molds. I think we had the belt /disc sander as a project.( or similar) The belt sander used bushings and not bearings. Ate up lots of power from the motor, as I used a old dryer motor maybe 1/3 hp it was to small. I believe a drill press and band saw were also projects. I’d like to actually build some of those C clamps. And my ramble is over!!
mrpete222 Ya.lots of experience and a 2 year degree in machine shop operations. I own my own Sheldon lathe and millwrite mill . Always doing projects at home. I am a great tech on scraping. .00005 flat on 40 points per foot. My last job interview was for $16 a hour . Roanoke VA I am now working at a lawn scape place mowing For $15. Not my passion at all. I’m a die hard metal guy.. The first 10 years of my life I did auto collision work. Average 75k a year . What do you think on the current job situations/market? PS, I am much like you starting business ventures. I remake and sell Sheldon lathe way wipe felts.. made a steel rule die and stamp them out. Have probably sold 100 sets. Setting up shop for Colchester I’m all done ranting . I love your vids !
I am so glad you made this group of videos. We didn't have shop, as such, in my small high school, just some wood-working in connection with Farm-Ag. I would love to have the things that you all taught. The casting is a field that I never had ANY dealings with. I'm approx. your age now - so don't think I will get into the casting. I still enjoy metal lathe, drill press, etc. work as a hobby. I have benefited from EVERY video of yours which I have watched. Keep up the good work. Bob (Jacksonville, Florida)
Mr Peterson, it was quite interesting to finally hear about Peterson Products. It would be fun to see you make each of them again plus just to see the order of operations is entertaining and informative, even though some would be a duplicate of operations you might have done in other videos. You should expand on your drill bit and micrometer teaching aids as well as talk about how you made them and what they were made of. Thank you for all you do here on TH-cam for us. Sure, not everybody cares about what you have to say which is true of anybody that posts a video, article or opinion. But there are a number of people who do care and I will be checking back to see the view count. And if nothing else, you have a video journal that your great grandchildren can go back and watch some day after they ask their Mom "What was Great Grandpa Lyle like?" Can you imagine 50 years from now (or perhaps even now?) the surprise that junior high and high school students will have to learn that we actually did these "dangerous" things in school? I had an interesting conversation with a customer recently while at their home to make some repairs. We were discussing her son who recently graduated from college with a computer related degree. She mentioned that he took a blacksmithing class as an elective to fullfill his curriculum requirements in college She mentioned how dangerous that was. I said, because you are afraid he will like it so much that he will decide to open a shop and try to make a living at that instead? She said "No, what if he got burned from the hot flame?". I didnt say it, but was thinking that he wouldnt do that many more times after the first burn. Thinking of my own experiences of course. Not sure why you covered your face in the literature and photos as it is interesting to see how we change with age. Not faulting you for it as we all have our reasons for things we do. But rather to let you know, some of us would have been interested in seeing the younger face of the guy that brings so much pleasure to our lives now. I was surprised you didn't at least draw a stick figure head on one of the post it notes.
Hi. Mr Pete. It’s kind of sad that today’s kids don’t have a good shop class like we did in Burlington Wi. When I was in high school. We had a great shop. It’s also sad that you seem to have unhappy thoughts and memories of those times and Peterson products. I should think you would be very proud of that endeavor. You are a very unique person and i for one am better off for coming into contact with you.
Couple thoughts: 1) Another perk of having the source files is involving the students in a design-build-test exercise. Ask them to break it and then ask how they would make it better with minimum added cost. 2) If the idea of a foundry rattles the bean counters in the insurance department, might some kind of sintering oven work? There are 3D printing filaments with embedded metal particles specifically for sintering directly in an oven. 3) (edit - forgot) is there room to greatly improve the functionality of Aluminium-only castings with steel inserts, either pressed in after the fact or cast-in-place? Making inserts could be a neat short production run exercise. In 3d printing, I think they call these sorts of embedded higher-strength bits "vitamins". You pause the print at the right layer to insert them and it gets you closer to the functionality of a solid metal part.
Sorry I was being lazy about linking. Here's an example but they have copper and bronze too. shop.thevirtualfoundry.com/products/stainless-steel-316l?variant=12352928874579 These are not the same as filaments with embedded metal for aesthetic purposes. I imagine they could all be burnished to a bit of shine if you just wanted the look.
Great video. You should be very proud of what you accomplished. Metal shop was number ONE to me and yet I never encountered a lathe or milling machine in the 4 years that I took it from 1995 to 1999. I went to a very agricultural high school but all we had were welding projects. I built a tractor brush fork to be used in orchards. I consider myself a competent fabricator and have been teaching myself machining related things since 2004. I ended up skipping college and going straight into computer programming which has served me quite well. Imagine how different my life would have been if Mr. Pete were my teacher - i`d be another Adam Booth in a time where manual machining jobs are scarce. Thank you for everything you do on TH-cam.
I’m so disappointed that my school didn’t have a machine shop and or foundry! I did end up taking auto all four years and was very good at it. Well I now have my own machine shop that I built for hobby work all inspired by Mr. Pete!
We can blame the govy, and especially the EPA, for making China great again. I'd suspect that their school task masters use whips to train future SLAVES, to work in POLLUTING FACTORIES, AKA as the great EPA fail. But the air and water in the USA is a little bit cleaner?
I wish when I went to trade school (Saunders Trades & Technical High School Class of 77) I had you as one of my shop teacher. Even though I took up Automatic heating I would have love to stay after school to learn what I could from you. I love making steam engines sense I was 10 years old. (my father purchase a UNIMAT lathe but never used it) I tried my best to learn on my own, but crash and burn. But haven luck out by joining the US Navy and making friends with a Machine mate ( I was a electrician mate) I have learn some stuff from him. But By watching your videos I have now complete my forth running model steam engine (I am starting on my fifth, your spool valve vertical engine. Mr Toly was very nice and sent me the drawings in PDF. Thank you Mr. Toly for you quick reply and your excellent drawings) In my opinion ( I am just a amateur swarf maker) the students who had you as a teacher were very lucky. Please keep going with your videos to me the more background info you give the more knowledge we gain. Do not concern yourself about the naysayers it is their lost to not learn the history or the background of how things came to be.
Thank you very much for the nice comment. I'm glad you like my videos on my style. I wish I had had you in class. You have come along way making those engines. They are a good learning tool. Keep it up and keep watching thank you, Lyle
"We are a small school system, and cannot afford vocational classes" our schools are basically minimal state mandated curriculum classrooms, so that they can get state and federal funding and accreditation. BUT THEY HAVE COMPUTERS AND TABLETS, so kids can grow up to play GAMES in mom's basement.
What a great story of sharing, you should not hide your youth I am nearing the release of our first video current and the video of my machining youth from 1980 and I am not going to hide my face. We think you are one of the people that drove us to share our machine tool rebuilding and our making micro-machined parts from our home based machine shop. P.S. I am not as thin today as I was then either Mr. Pete.
I would think many people would pay to attend even a short course, & everyone would be there because they want to get the most from it. That's the class to be part of, unfortunately it seems there's nobody left to teach the young teachers! I for one love what you do Lyle, & your English sarcasm is perfect. Thank you for what you do, from across the pond.
Interesting. When I was in school we made block planes in our tech/shop class. Molding, casting, milling, drilling, heat treating a blade. Will be interested to see your drill press vise video!
i for one , are really enjoying these videos. what a lot of nice little machines. my dad built a tiny tablesaw in shop class and he still has it. i dont recall making any thing much. keep them coming, and maybe the print files for the vice might be nice an a few of us could make them as an appreciation video. just a thought.
No doubt selling the files would be the way to go today. 3-D printers are becoming fairly common now. A wonderful testament to your drive and ambition. I appreciate the tour! Thanks, Mr. Pete! :-)
Another memory jogging video. My shop didn’t do any machine work. We did automotive work. We used surplus military jeeps. Every piece taken apart. Body. Engine transmission. Electric. And learned how to repair /disassembled and reassembled plus the physics and engineering to each component. An allvolunteer class so all wanted to learn. It wasn’t until much later , I realize my shop teacher influenced my life like no other. I tell everyone the only 2 things in high school that I used was typing and shop. My hobby now is to disassemble stuff and see how technology has advanced how the computer and electronics has established a new paradigm. Thanks
Wow, those are very good projects for teaching, even if aluminum, it's not the metal but the process that teaches. :) My uncle was a retire colonel from the Pacific theater and he became a machine shop, electric and wood shop teacher. He retired from both the military and teaching as well. Thanks a lot for this video.
Lyle, I watched this video and the one before it intently and in entirety! I enjoyed them quite a bit. I am sure that you remember I too am a HS shop teacher. Coming up with projects was difficult when I started teaching way back in 1993. To the best of my knowledge most all these kit manufacturers were gone. When I was teaching at my 2nd school, the first job in my home state of Ohio. I discovered a Retco Alloy catalog. They sold lots of nice items including tool box kits and plastic screwdriver handle stock. Sadly Retco has gone the way of the dinosaur. We made a lot of these. unfortunately kids being kids, most had very little interest in keeping their projects. I would often find completed graded projects left behind in the shop or in other parts of the school. Very sad really. Even though I have over 20 years experience teaching metal shop and welding I have never worked at a school with a working foundry. Thanks and all the best! Mike
It's good to hear from the shop teacher. I ordered from that company for 35 years. They were very reliable. Yes, I would find discarded projects everywhere.many were left in the hall lockers
Wow Mr Pete, you jogged some "hidden memories" of the aluminium foundry we had at Thomas Jefferson Junior High School, Cleve OH, circa early 70's. I recall seeing the students in 9th grade [we are talking 15 year olds!] making some of the castings FROM DRAWINGS like in your your catalog. I wanted to take the "metal shop" course but it was eliminated. I had electrics & plastics in 8th grade in the same shop.
I bet you wish you would have had a large vacuum chamber to eliminate air bubbles! I really enjoyed this video, you should be proud of the everlasting impact you had on many a student. I still vote for the belt sander if you plan on making one of your old castings. I know you don’t have the pattern anymore but create new! Take a vote!!
''Who cares?'' I care...... I find this this video extremely interesting. Not only do I think the patterns and sales matrial is very fascinating. But it also carries a personal story of a superb working life. A life spend in dedication to teaching others. Other people that have surely, in some cases, used Mr Pete's teachings to make a living for themselves and their families. You Sir have actually made a significant contribution making the world better place, with less lawers, bankers and politicians out to trick you at every turn. That alone demands respect. Well done Mr Peterson. You have my respect for sure.
Thank you very much
Ealen75
This guy knows!!
I care!
Boy o boy, talk about resurging memories. When I was a senior our class was severely divided into the guys that were there to learn and the f-offs. The f-offs won, the disruptions were so bad they shut our class down and sent everyone home the last couple months of the senior year, Endless bolt throwing fights,sabotage,ignorant deliberate interruptions. On and on, I still have bad dreams about it 40 years later. It is terrible when something you passionately believe in becomes a burdensome stone, all because of a handful of bad apples that spoil the entire barrel. I never lost the love for learning about mechanical things. As I said beforehand in previous comments, Tubalcain has been the longest running TH-cam channel for Me.
Thank you Mr. Pete. I think you found the group of kids you always wanted to teach.
You just described my classes in the 70s-lol.
mrpete222 , 1979,1981 jr,sr I still regret taking that vocational education. It was awful my senior year. Following that I enlisted in the USAF. That was the best vocational education I ever had
In my high school in the 90's. Anybody could take industrial arts 1 and 2. After that you needed teacher permission to continue on with industrial arts 3 and 4. I don't have many regrets but I didn't take industrial arts 4 because I couldn't fit it into my schedule. That class would have maybe only been 5 people all making projects like this.
3 years later they built a new high school and the industrial arts program didn't get to move to the new building. I protested and was told there wasn't enough interest. If I only knew then what I know now about the great need for skilled employees around the country. Hundreds of thousands of jobs go unfilled every year because of a lack of qualified employee's.
...and "our jobs" moved to SE Asia.
Francis - That last line is pure poetry. What a joy it is to have Mr Pete in our lives.
A man who sparked a seed in the peoples imagination to allow creativity to flow, certainty as not wasted his time or effort.
Thanks to yourself Lyle if one young person benefits from the videos, that’s a job well done.
Thank you for a kind comment
''Who cares?'' I do! I'm 25, we didn't have machine shops at my school (barely had a buffing motor which was deemed too dangerous..) I find these videos fascinating. thank you!
I'd bet that they have shop classes in Europe with military like teachers. YES SIR!
umajunkcollector unsure what you mean..
At least in my time, European teachers did not take any BS from the pupils. YES, SIR was the standard answer.
Closest we got to a machine shop was cardboard and a glue gun 😥
That is sad
I was an auto shop teacher for many years and I can relate to your (apparent) bitter/sweet memories of teaching. The small 5-10% of troubled kids often consumed 90% of my energy. Fortunately, the good kids made it all worthwhile. I retired early because the percentage of troubled kids was getting higher every decade, by the time I'd had enough they were about 30-40% so I quit it.
Your statistics are highly accurate. Thank you
I knew a family of skinny guys like you. They are all millionaires now. Never watched TV. Had a pretty deep path worn in the yard out to the barn. This explains why you are so prolific on YT. Once you get used to 12 hour days it's hard to stop. And you are really good at what you do.
Thank you for showing us a bit of the history and hard work that went into Peterson Products. Well done!
Thank you for that analysis. I never thought of it that way, I just always work to constantly. And still pretty much do
Thanks for the video. There are a huge number of people my age (71) that only stayed in school because of the shop teacher and the relationship that they had with him. Never sell yourself short, you guys probably keep more kids in school than you and your brother have ever realized. regards Bruce
Thank you, I hope you are right
We, your viewers care. I for one feel fortunate to have the opportunity to learn from you here on TH-cam. There was no shop program available to me in school. And without you, lots of us would have missed out completely. So thank you sir, very much. And we do indeed care.
Thank you very much
Mr. Lyle, you touched the life of your students, i am a engineer teacher and sometimes shop teacher too, and i understand part of your problems, but this type of work, it's now like an art, because with the use and discard products, the making of the tools were down. You teach to thousands of students on internet like me, and i show your videos in my classroom, and your knowledge pass to another generation, you change the live and the world of your students 30 years ago and now. Who cares?, cares to me like other thousands of people that love watch your videos, thank you for all Mr. Lyle, and keep it the good work.
Thank you to a fellow teacher. I'm glad you're using my Videos. It is a noble profession.
Mr. Pete, we sure do care! I cannot wait for the next video! 3D prints are the way to go. Consider it please. As another student in the 70’s, I lived the horrors of trying to learn when most did not. I’m making up for it now, and you are my teacher. Thank you for the time and effort to show us and tech us.
Thanks
We learn by doing, Mr Pete! Not too many of us hobbyists have the opportunity to learn about metal casting and pattern making ... unless we have a reason to do so. My reasons are all associated with a railway restoration group that I belong to. I'm the "master caster". While I don't have the facilities to melt the metal, I do make the patterns, the sand cores, and then make sure that the patterns and sand cores will work before taking them to a commercial foundry.
So many thanx for showing us what you did for all of those students many, many years ago. You never know what some of those students ended up doing when the graduated from school. Some of them may even have had a hand in designing and making the parts for the cars we drive or the machinery that runs our factories.
To be honest with you, the hard part is what you know how to do. Patternmaking, Cora boxes, that is what it's all about, and it takes a smart man to do that. Keep it up
my favorite shop teacher and a history lesson !thanks Professor Peterson
Thanks
Shame on those that don't care. Nice video showing a family's dedication to making education real and relevant to kids that might not be "fully engaged" in school. Thumbs Up! to you and your brother. My first year as an IA teacher we purchased a new McEnglevan forge. 37 years later that forge let out its last puff of heat, so we start year #38 with a brand new McEnglevan/MIFCO forge. Hopefully the foundry furnace will keep on chooching for a few more years. Thanks again.
That is quite a story. I did not know they were still in business. I had met Mr. Fred Cowles President of the company. He was a good man and very interested in education
You Sir have lived a life well spent! At my age I am at my happiest and most content out in my shop and it is because of men like you. I try to pay you back by having patience with young people and try to get them interested in a project or two. I pray one day they have as happy memories of it as I do.
Thank you for a nice comment. Yes, if only more people would realize the happiness and contentment achieved by working with their Hands
Myself and appears to be alot of others do also. We care. If we didn't we wouldnt be here watching ur videos. When I was younger I had no desire to want to learn metal working but since I've gotten older I find myself interested I metal working. Thank you mr Pete for all the hard work u put into these videos. Wish I could have you as a shop teacher back in the day.
Thanks
Mr Pete, please, we care or we wouldn't be watching your videos. I watch as many as I can from start to finish. Accept the fact that (most) people like you and want to hear your stories. Those with negative comments are like the disruptive students you used to have. They want to force their negativity on all that they do. I have worked in the aerospace industry with many like this. They are the vocal few, just remember, most of us are here to learn, listen to some life anecdotes and enjoy your company.
Thank you for commenting on watching. That was a very interesting slant that you had on the negative people. I never thought of it that way, but they are like the disruptors in the classroom
I went to a small rural high school in Georgia and we didn't have any kind of shop classes except for agriculture. I was always the kid that took his toys apart and developed into a gear head. I wish I could had a teacher like you because you have so much knowledge to share. I made my living with my hands and I am self taught in most everything I know. I am a far to middling machinist. I am only a few years younger than you and retired but I still have the desire to learn. If you think about it you now have a class of 186 K students who want to learn from your experience.
You are proof that it is not needed in the schools, and you can learn it on your own. That is very commendable
Very impressive! What a productive live you lead - it makes me ashamed of myself, procrastinating and watching TH-cam videos for hours on end in my fully equipped shed/workshop in which I have NEVER made one single completed metal-project!!!
You know sometimes it's more fun to read about something, then it is to actually do it. LOL
Lyle, I made a couple of tools in metalwork, at high school, which I still have and use. My father made a scriber at school, using blacksmithing techniques, which I now have and use. When I was in trade school, for my apprenticeship, when we had finished the projects for the course (fitting & machining) our tech teacher would let us bring in our own projects, as he said that they were all part of our trade. I faced off a car head and lightened a fly wheel, using both the lathe and a verticle mill and rotary table. We even bored out an engine block, for the teacher. Thank you for this informative and nostalgic video. We never stop learning.
Thank you for watching, you had a good experience in high school
Well done Mr Pete. You remind me of my parents, my mom passed away 2 months ago still working at our family retail fishing store , my old man is still working there at the age of 89. You should be proud of all you have achieved. regards Tim South Africa
Thank you very much. It sounds like you had great parents
You were and remain a true teacher at heart and in mind. You remind me of a few of the teachers I had back in the day, few I did say, and teachers like you are what kids need today. You have the ability to keep ones attention especially if one is the least bit interested in what you are trying to teach. I am not that far behind you in age, but I still enjoy working in my shop and love watching your videos when I get a chance. Keep up the good work and keep making videos when you can. I wish I was computer literate enough to make some... lol
Thank you very much for the kind comments. You were very encouraging
I'm 49 and new to your Chanel but i thank we all watch because we care, keep up the great work.
Thank you for joining me. You have 900 videos to watch in order to catch up
And that what I'm doing too, and I do like you show, keep it up.
You should be proud of what you did and the scores of the kids you taught. Not all I'm sure went on to be machinists but I bet many did. I find it surprising that you are so down on your work, your patterns, and castings. You made a difference in people's lives and continue to do so. You are leaving a legacy. We should hand down that knowledge to the next generation or those that care to learn.
Thank you, I hope I did help some kids
And many adults who did not have the opportunity to take advantage of shop class. Please be proud of yourself, your work and your efforts. You deserve to be. I appreciate your time and efforts in creating your videos.
Thank You, Mr. Pete for sharing the story of your products. What struck me was the nuance of all the operations the student would learn from each and the successive complexity and opportune the schools that bought them, to follow a well balanced curriculum in BIA. Personally I was also glad you shared one of the underlying disdains of your endeavors, that is the drafting. I had wondered for years now and makes sense as you like to _do the work_ and get so much from teaching and helping others as you have been all these years on YT. That is a legacy of epic proportion in my book and I for one am grateful to have been witness! ~PJ
Thank you for watching and encouraging me. Now you know why I don't not like to draw
Mr. Pete great video as always you inspire so many people to get out and do something in the shop and buy a lathe and a mill and teach ourselves how to learn a new skill ,with your videos and many others like you have helped so many people I truly thank you
Thank you very much
An admirable undertaking. It took a lot of inventiveness and grit to start and run a business and have a regular job at the same time.
Thanks
I'm glad you made this video Mr. Pete. Thanks!
Thanks
What a great video. You were a smart driven man in your youth and you've grown into a wise entertaining man as you've aged. "Thanks for the memories" as Bob Hope would sing
Thank you very much
Wow Mr Pete you are my hero what a memory you must've given to your students
Thank you very much
I care Mr. Pete. You are a positive influence in many people's lives. Thank you for sharing such awesome content.
Thank you very much
"Who cares"
I do, I find your videos incredibly interesting. I would love to have had a shop teacher who draws me in as much as you do.
Thanks
Mr. Pete,
Neat to see what you did in your past. We had aluminum casting as part of our machine shop classes in Phoenix in the mid 1960's. The shop building was turned into regular classrooms in the '80s.
Yes, my machine shop or sold out from under me in 1988
Thank you very much for sharing the history of Peterson Products with us. You have said, "Who cares?" Those of us that are watching this video (and those who will watch in the years to come), along with the thousands of students who you have helped teach the industrial art of metal working (both directly and indirectly through the sales of your products)! It seems like you think nobody cares about this stuff any more, but I beg to differ. It seems like most school districts are getting rid of their industrial arts and I think that's terrible. You are _THE_ "TH-cam Shop Teacher" and we all appreciate it. Hopefully your TH-cam channel will always be here to help continue to teach students (both young and old).
As for starting a company like this now, I think your only chance would be to retain the 3-D files and print the patterns yourself, then sell them instead of having to make plaster ones. Trying to sell the 3-D files would be really difficult because someone would eventually post them on the Internet. Sites like Thingiverse are great for distributing open source items so people can print them out at home, but I don't believe (at this time) they have the ability to allow users to sell their 3-D files. Heck, there are even companies that scrape open source sites like Thingiverse then sell the 3-D printed items at a profit, which goes against what the author has intended. It's a big mess.
Thank you, that is an interesting idea
Thank you for your video Mr. Peterson.
👍
Thanks for sneaking in one picture that showed what you looked like, as you would say; "back in my prime". Good shop teachers made such a difference. I got my first job, thanks to my shop teacher. Later I hired quite a few kids based on the recommendation of a shop teacher.
Thank you
Another great Mr. Pete video but you are getting too negative.
“Who cares?”
Well, the people watching certainly do or we wouldn’t be watching so comments like that are like little jabs with a sharp stick.
Remember one thing Mr. Pete.
WE CARE.
+Wayne Crews - Yeah, I don't get it. I understand he may have had a few bad experiences but why he carries on about so much about them is beyond me. He had a long and great career, we all love the work he does and are possibly the ideal shop class he never actually had in person. I took everything I could in junior high and high school I could related to industrial arts. As an engineer now, those classes were invaluable. I can't stand it when Mr Pete talks about throwing out or destroying everything … something I never do. I go out of my way to give things away if I can't use them.
Yes Mr. Pete, WE care.
I couldn't thumbs this up enough, Mr. Pete is getting way down on himself. I couldn't possible explain how much I enjoy his videos. And I'm sure I would be in a different place in time if I would of had a shop teacher like him.
Yeah, he comes across as very bitter about it for some reason. This content is pretty interesting as I assume I'm not at all alone in being interested in learning some additional backstory to the people we watch and learn from.
I wouldn't call it bitter,but I think he is a modest man by nature. Whatever we call him, he's a genius in his field and I wish I could shake his hand at his upcoming Meet & Greet event.
I am 70 . My father inlaw had copies of several of your tool projects he made out of wood. They were all well made & worked good.
That is awesome, I never thought of making them out of wood
I see why you are still going... You have always been a hard worker! Thank you for sharing. Some of my fondest memories of school was shop class. Now we don't have shop even at the High School level anymore. I'm sure you touched a lot of young lives in a positive way through your projects. Today there would not be much of a school market for your projects, but I would bet they would sell pretty good to hobby machinists looking for something useful to make. Another great peek into your teaching past, thank you for all the work you put into these videos!!!
Thank you for watching and commenting
I'm really glad you posted this video Mr. Pete. Some very interesting back-story on "America's Shop Teacher." It somehow does not surprise me that you were cranking out 12-hr days working on an entrepreneurial endeavor, way back when. I hope you have some good memories, because it looks like something to be proud of, to me.
I didn't realize it, but I must of had a lot of energy years ago
I have a tremendous amount of respect to those men, and women, who have the skills to make their own tools. I hope to reach that level sometime soon. BTW, your subcribers care.
Thanks
thank you for all your hard work and trying to teach those kids
Thanks
Once again you out done yourself. We made V-blocks, Angle Plates, Surface gages, Hammers with a three step screw driver that went in the handle, Vices, plus many other items that came along. We helped the Auto shop, made items for the school. You brought back memories for me. I still have a few items I made and I still use them. Thank you so much for what you done to educate people then and now. And yes WE CARE!
Thank you for watching and it sounds like you had a good school shop experience
Thanks Mr Pete! Oh by the way I do care and find it interesting. I think I speak for many of us who began our lifelong careers in industrial arts, we could not have done that without teachers like you sir! Thanks so much, love your videos. Will in wash.
Thank you, I'm glad those classes were so influential for you
I found this video extremely interesting - as a middle and high school student in Spfld. Illinois in the early to late 70's we had all kinds of shop classes - even in Grant middle school here in spfld. Illinoi within our industrial arts classes we had what were called exploratory classes. Classes offered were in home construction where we built a scaled down home module learning all the fundamentals of home construction from foundation to roof. We also had small engine repair class, a rather good manufacturing class, drafting, electronics where we learned fundamentals and built solder kits of radios etc. and there was even a radio and television class where we learned radio and TV operation and even built a mock radio broadcast booth in the corner of our classroom, I still have a newspaper article showing a pic of us building the broadcast booth -- In Spfld. high school we had wood shop with lathes etc. and metal shop - the metal shop did do aluminum casting and some machining. There's also Vocational school with many classes like auto mechanics, auto body and many others. I still live near these schools but in both the middle and high school all those classes are gone now, I watched them take the shops air vent system out years ago and replace the shops with a new science wing thats proven to be of dubious value and now theyre wanting to tear the entire school down after spending milliions in upgrades including air conditioning which we did not have in the 70's - Illinois politics, go figure.
We had all of those beginning exploratory classes as well, and all the areas you mentioned. It's all gone all over the United States. It will never come back. Thanks for watching
Fantastic history, you have a admirer from Brazil now! Thanks for sharing with us
Mr. Pete,
I know you’ve heard it before and probably concur but it is a crying shame Industrial Arts are no longer offered in any high school. Many machinists got the bug for working metal in those classes and went on to Peoria or Decatur or Electric Wheel in Quincy to not only do a lifetime of working at a job they loved but make Cat and other manufacturers the great companies they became.
Today, in this resurgent economy, where manufacturing is once again gaining ground, businesses are finding qualified operators and machinists extremely difficult to come by. I saw a Human Resource Director give an interview and he stated how difficult it was to find people who could pass a drug test and then show up for the second day of work! It’s really a shame.
We all know a college education is good but college isn’t for everybody. There are those who have mechanical talent but no longer have the outlet at a young age to develop it.
I know teachers face a lot of frustration, (my daughter is a high school art teacher, and a good one) but the dedication you and others like you are to be commended for sharing your knowledge to so many young lives.
Dale in Decatur.
You are right people do not how know how to do anything, and won't show up for work sober
@@mrpete222 The country is going right down the TOILET!!!
Amazing Lyle! Great example of the American spirit and ingenuity.
Thanks
I wish I could say I made some of these projects back in the early 1980's but no such luck. Interesting and fun enjoyed immensely. Thanks Tubalcain.
I would have been way to lucky to have a shop teacher like you.
Thank you very much
Thank you for sharing some of your history. I really enjoyed watching and hearing your story. Now you have something that your descendants can see long after you are gone. As long as there is an Internet you will live forever! Thanks again!
Thanks
My friend I grew up with went to the local public schools and I went to catholic schools from grade k-12. He had plastics, metal and wood classes in middle school I had none of those. I learned welding and fabricating in junior college. If I would have had his classes I would have had an earlier start in a field I worked as a carrier. Better late than never I guess. Thank you Mr. Pete for sharing and yes I am with the others I care too.
Thank you for watching and commenting
Great video and thanks for sharing your knowledge! I always learn something new when watching your videos thanks again!
Thanks
This was really cool, always got little tidbits about your business and wanted to know more. Nice to see a whole video about it.
Thanks
Thanks for the history lesson, as someone who was involved in teaching for over 30 years I was always trying to find ways to keep the interests of the students at the forefront. Yes it was a 16 hour a day endeavour to achieve the goal.
It sounds like you were a devoted teacher
Very inspiring Mr . Pete. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks
I watched this with great interest. My shop teacher must have been in contact with you, as we made several of your projects. My school was directly south of you in the same state. I only wish I would have kept my finished projects. I had the bench grinder, vise and c-clamp as well as several others. I took shop class as many hours of my four year high school career as I could. That is all I would have did if they would have let me....LOL
Sadly as I got better, nicer tools, the homemade jobbers went the way of the yard sale.
Thank you, and don't feel bad about throwing the old projects away
I was in the same boat. We didn't have a machine shop but we did have wood shop and a technology class that was brand new to have in the mid 80s. That was the closest thing I got to a lathe which had a hopper, a robot arm and a tiny 4-6" cnc lathe that we could program the entire process to make a small factory turning out parts.
I was in wood shop I - IV, then took IV again. final semester of my senior year they wouldn't let me take wood shop any more. So I had to go to the community college and take it there, which luckily was in my high school shop taught by my high school teacher.
Now I have my own shop, built up mostly because of @MrPete222 It's like I have gone back to high school and am taking the machine shop classes I always wish we had.
...you can't save EVERYTHING!! That's why certain things become collectables.
You are a fascinating fellow, Lyle. Your knowledge invaluable, your industriousness, inspirational. Thank you for sharing this whole other realm of your history.
Thank you for the encouragement
Right back at ya :)
you are amazing. keep it up my son loves to watch these with me and he is only 3 and 3/4. A vast amount of knowledge i wish more would appreciate.
Thanks
Lyle, thank you for a wonderful stroll down memory lane.
Glad you liked it
Good morning thanks for all you have done.
Thanks
Good Sunday morning... Reminiscing & coffee with Mr. Pete....
Thanks
Thanks for the video Lyle, I find all your videos intertesting.
Thank you
I thank you for your contribution . I care.
Thanks
Thank you Lyle for posting this.
I found your comments about the strength of aluminium for the press and clamps interesting. It has sparked an interest in me to try creating my own patterns and playing around with some designs to see if I can work out some of the short comings of using aluminium in such applications. I understand Fusion 360 also allows one to do modelling for stress, but I don't think my 360 skills are up to that....yet.
I taught for several years at the college level and can appreciate your frustration with the lack of apparent maturity amongst students. Every year I fel the students were getting 'younger' and 'younger' even though the chronological ages were the same as previous years.
Mark
That would be an interesting experiment
Thank you for taking us on that walk down memory lane! Great video.
Thanks
That arbor press is outstanding!
Thanks
I've done things that others used back in my youth, and I can see how it could get old, quick.
I just kept thinking that if you could team up with a foundry to make them in cast iron, they would have been awesome projects.
Thanks for sharing, even though it brings up some bad memories.
--Moke--
I am retired
We care, Mr. Pete. We really do. Great history lesson here. And PDFs and other electronic miracles are certainly nice to have access to, but they're also easy to steal. Better to maintain control of the product if you want to sell it. Once they're out on the interwebs in digital bits, the genie can't be put back in the bottle.
Thank you for commenting
Mr Peterson We got your band sander patterns when I was in metals ll my senior year in 1975 our teacher allowed our class to cast the aluminum masters from the plaster ones your company provided, as we had a lot of practice with pouring out the molds from the metals l classes
Hello so awesome to hear from somebody that used my patterns. Thank you
Memory lane here,
I’m 37 and in high school we used to cast aluminum and pour are own molds.
I think we had the belt /disc sander as a project.( or similar)
The belt sander used bushings and not bearings. Ate up lots of power from the motor, as I used a old dryer motor maybe 1/3 hp it was to small.
I believe a drill press and band saw were also projects.
I’d like to actually build some of those C clamps.
And my ramble is over!!
Thank you, sounds like you had plenty of experience in the school shop
mrpete222
Ya.lots of experience and a 2 year degree in machine shop operations. I own my own Sheldon lathe and millwrite mill .
Always doing projects at home. I am a great tech on scraping. .00005 flat on 40 points per foot. My last job interview was for $16 a hour . Roanoke VA
I am now working at a lawn scape place mowing For $15.
Not my passion at all. I’m a die hard metal guy..
The first 10 years of my life I did auto collision work. Average 75k a year .
What do you think on the current job situations/market?
PS, I am much like you starting business ventures. I remake and sell Sheldon lathe way wipe felts.. made a steel rule die and stamp them out. Have probably sold 100 sets.
Setting up shop for Colchester
I’m all done ranting .
I love your vids !
I am so glad you made this group of videos. We didn't have shop, as such, in my small high school, just some wood-working in connection with Farm-Ag. I would love to have the things that you all taught. The casting is a field that I never had ANY dealings with. I'm approx. your age now - so don't think I will get into the casting. I still enjoy metal lathe, drill press, etc. work as a hobby. I have benefited from EVERY video of yours which I have watched. Keep up the good work. Bob (Jacksonville, Florida)
Thank you for commenting and watching
Mr Peterson, it was quite interesting to finally hear about Peterson Products. It would be fun to see you make each of them again plus just to see the order of operations is entertaining and informative, even though some would be a duplicate of operations you might have done in other videos. You should expand on your drill bit and micrometer teaching aids as well as talk about how you made them and what they were made of. Thank you for all you do here on TH-cam for us. Sure, not everybody cares about what you have to say which is true of anybody that posts a video, article or opinion. But there are a number of people who do care and I will be checking back to see the view count. And if nothing else, you have a video journal that your great grandchildren can go back and watch some day after they ask their Mom "What was Great Grandpa Lyle like?"
Can you imagine 50 years from now (or perhaps even now?) the surprise that junior high and high school students will have to learn that we actually did these "dangerous" things in school? I had an interesting conversation with a customer recently while at their home to make some repairs. We were discussing her son who recently graduated from college with a computer related degree. She mentioned that he took a blacksmithing class as an elective to fullfill his curriculum requirements in college She mentioned how dangerous that was. I said, because you are afraid he will like it so much that he will decide to open a shop and try to make a living at that instead? She said "No, what if he got burned from the hot flame?". I didnt say it, but was thinking that he wouldnt do that many more times after the first burn. Thinking of my own experiences of course.
Not sure why you covered your face in the literature and photos as it is interesting to see how we change with age. Not faulting you for it as we all have our reasons for things we do. But rather to let you know, some of us would have been interested in seeing the younger face of the guy that brings so much pleasure to our lives now. I was surprised you didn't at least draw a stick figure head on one of the post it notes.
Thank you very much for a long and a great comment. The days of the school shop are over for good
Hi. Mr Pete. It’s kind of sad that today’s kids don’t have a good shop class like we did in Burlington Wi. When I was in high school. We had a great shop. It’s also sad that you seem to have unhappy thoughts and memories of those times and Peterson products. I should think you would be very proud of that endeavor. You are a very unique person and i for one am better off for coming into contact with you.
Excellent Mr Pete!
Jim
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Great video, thanks for sharing some of your history. Great career - you must have made a huge difference to so many young people’s lives.
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Couple thoughts:
1) Another perk of having the source files is involving the students in a design-build-test exercise. Ask them to break it and then ask how they would make it better with minimum added cost.
2) If the idea of a foundry rattles the bean counters in the insurance department, might some kind of sintering oven work? There are 3D printing filaments with embedded metal particles specifically for sintering directly in an oven.
3) (edit - forgot) is there room to greatly improve the functionality of Aluminium-only castings with steel inserts, either pressed in after the fact or cast-in-place? Making inserts could be a neat short production run exercise. In 3d printing, I think they call these sorts of embedded higher-strength bits "vitamins". You pause the print at the right layer to insert them and it gets you closer to the functionality of a solid metal part.
I am not familiar with the metal filaments
Sorry I was being lazy about linking. Here's an example but they have copper and bronze too.
shop.thevirtualfoundry.com/products/stainless-steel-316l?variant=12352928874579
These are not the same as filaments with embedded metal for aesthetic purposes. I imagine they could all be burnished to a bit of shine if you just wanted the look.
Great video. You should be very proud of what you accomplished. Metal shop was number ONE to me and yet I never encountered a lathe or milling machine in the 4 years that I took it from 1995 to 1999. I went to a very agricultural high school but all we had were welding projects. I built a tractor brush fork to be used in orchards. I consider myself a competent fabricator and have been teaching myself machining related things since 2004. I ended up skipping college and going straight into computer programming which has served me quite well. Imagine how different my life would have been if Mr. Pete were my teacher - i`d be another Adam Booth in a time where manual machining jobs are scarce. Thank you for everything you do on TH-cam.
Thank you, it sounds like you had an interesting life
I’m so disappointed that my school didn’t have a machine shop and or foundry! I did end up taking auto all four years and was very good at it. Well I now have my own machine shop that I built for hobby work all inspired by Mr. Pete!
We can blame the govy, and especially the EPA, for making China great again. I'd suspect that their school task masters use whips to train future SLAVES, to work in POLLUTING FACTORIES, AKA as the great EPA fail. But the air and water in the USA is a little bit cleaner?
Why don't you go drink the water in FLINT, go ahead, blame the Chinese, etc.
That was too bad
I blame the corrupt democRATs, Flint is one example of EPA BS fail. Black factory slaves became Chinese factory slaves.
always a good help to start a business and get the grandkids running it
lol
If I don't already have enough stuff to find and collect. Now I need to start my search for Peterson Products. Thank you for the trip back in time.
lol
I wish when I went to trade school (Saunders Trades & Technical High School Class of 77) I had you as one of my shop teacher. Even though I took up Automatic heating I would have love to stay after school to learn what I could from you. I love making steam engines sense I was 10 years old. (my father purchase a UNIMAT lathe but never used it) I tried my best to learn on my own, but crash and burn. But haven luck out by joining the US Navy and making friends with a Machine mate ( I was a electrician mate) I have learn some stuff from him. But By watching your videos I have now complete my forth running model steam engine (I am starting on my fifth, your spool valve vertical engine. Mr Toly was very nice and sent me the drawings in PDF. Thank you Mr. Toly for you quick reply and your excellent drawings) In my opinion ( I am just a amateur swarf maker) the students who had you as a teacher were very lucky. Please keep going with your videos to me the more background info you give the more knowledge we gain. Do not concern yourself about the naysayers it is their lost to not learn the history or the background of how things came to be.
Thank you very much for the nice comment. I'm glad you like my videos on my style. I wish I had had you in class. You have come along way making those engines. They are a good learning tool. Keep it up and keep watching thank you, Lyle
I cares!
I appreciate the wealth of knowledge that is your existence!
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Good Memories ha Mr Peterson. Good to remember the old days. Good to see how things where done.
👍
"We are a small school system, and cannot afford vocational classes"
our schools are basically minimal state mandated curriculum classrooms, so that they can get state and federal funding and accreditation. BUT THEY HAVE COMPUTERS AND TABLETS, so kids can grow up to play GAMES in mom's basement.
Ouch
The public schools really down the TOILET when the federal government got involved- I haven't seen ANYTHING that they couldn't foul up!!!
What a great story of sharing, you should not hide your youth I am nearing the release of our first video current and the video of my machining youth from 1980 and I am not going to hide my face. We think you are one of the people that drove us to share our machine tool rebuilding and our making micro-machined parts from our home based machine shop. P.S. I am not as thin today as I was then either Mr. Pete.
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Thanks! Peterson Products is a catchy name. 😎 Good video Lyle. Interesting to know more details on what you did as a young man.
Steve Summers
Like McDonalds 🤭
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I would think many people would pay to attend even a short course, & everyone would be there because they want to get the most from it. That's the class to be part of, unfortunately it seems there's nobody left to teach the young teachers! I for one love what you do Lyle, & your English sarcasm is perfect. Thank you for what you do, from across the pond.
Thank you for watching
Interesting. When I was in school we made block planes in our tech/shop class. Molding, casting, milling, drilling, heat treating a blade. Will be interested to see your drill press vise video!
That sounds like a good project
Excellent...I enjoy watching your videos! Nice review as always...Thank you.
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i for one , are really enjoying these videos. what a lot of nice little machines. my dad built a tiny tablesaw in shop class and he still has it. i dont recall making any thing much. keep them coming, and maybe the print files for the vice might be nice an a few of us could make them as an appreciation video. just a thought.
Thanks Emma
My Jr. High "metal shop" teacher I suspect was an art teacher. I didn't learn much. Your video's are a fascinating view of what I should have learned.
That is too bad about your teacher
No doubt selling the files would be the way to go today. 3-D printers are becoming fairly common now. A wonderful testament to your drive and ambition. I appreciate the tour! Thanks, Mr. Pete! :-)
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Another memory jogging video. My shop didn’t do any machine work. We did automotive work. We used surplus military jeeps. Every piece taken apart. Body. Engine transmission. Electric. And learned how to repair /disassembled and reassembled plus the physics and engineering to each component. An allvolunteer class so all wanted to learn. It wasn’t until much later , I realize my shop teacher influenced my life like no other. I tell everyone the only 2 things in high school that I used was typing and shop. My hobby now is to disassemble stuff and see how technology has advanced how the computer and electronics has established a new paradigm. Thanks
I would have loved a class like that
Wow, those are very good projects for teaching, even if aluminum, it's not the metal but the process that teaches. :) My uncle was a retire colonel from the Pacific theater and he became a machine shop, electric and wood shop teacher. He retired from both the military and teaching as well. Thanks a lot for this video.
That's awesome you had a great uncle
Lyle,
I watched this video and the one before it intently and in entirety! I enjoyed them quite a bit. I am sure that you remember I too am a HS shop teacher. Coming up with projects was difficult when I started teaching way back in 1993. To the best of my knowledge most all these kit manufacturers were gone.
When I was teaching at my 2nd school, the first job in my home state of Ohio. I discovered a Retco Alloy catalog. They sold lots of nice items including tool box kits and plastic screwdriver handle stock. Sadly Retco has gone the way of the dinosaur. We made a lot of these. unfortunately kids being kids, most had very little interest in keeping their projects. I would often find completed graded projects left behind in the shop or in other parts of the school. Very sad really. Even though I have over 20 years experience teaching metal shop and welding I have never worked at a school with a working foundry.
Thanks and all the best!
Mike
It's good to hear from the shop teacher. I ordered from that company for 35 years. They were very reliable. Yes, I would find discarded projects everywhere.many were left in the hall lockers
Wow Mr Pete, you jogged some "hidden memories" of the aluminium foundry we had at Thomas Jefferson Junior High School, Cleve OH, circa early 70's. I recall seeing the students in 9th grade [we are talking 15 year olds!] making some of the castings FROM DRAWINGS like in your your catalog. I wanted to take the "metal shop" course but it was eliminated. I had electrics & plastics in 8th grade in the same shop.
Yes, it was amazing what a 15-year-old could do when you didn't have a blank it E blank cell phone
Love the video. I wish they were available for us to build today.
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This would have been great to do back in high school. I didn't get to do casting until I was in college and that was just an extremely simple project.
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This is hugely interesting to me. I just love this stuff.
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always a pleasure, thank you for sharing your knowledge. I sincerely hope you have grandchildren to pass your business on to :)
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I bet you wish you would have had a large vacuum chamber to eliminate air bubbles! I really enjoyed this video, you should be proud of the everlasting impact you had on many a student. I still vote for the belt sander if you plan on making one of your old castings. I know you don’t have the pattern anymore but create new! Take a vote!!
Thank you. Remember none of the old patterns exist