A Lathe as a Lasting Gift
Posted by TheScene on November 20, 2008
Terry McQuinn wanted an automatic lathe for the holidays. She thought it was the coolest thing. Her dad worked at a pump parts factory and she had seen the machines in action. This wasn’t all that practical, however, since Terry was only 8 years old. Most kids her age wanted doll houses or a make believe kitchen, but multi spindle machines? John was happy that is daughter was interested in what he did, but there was no way he could afford to buy such a machine for personal use. Sure, the girl was crafty with paper, but it didn’t make sense. Was she going to start crafting her own wood and metal parts? What if she got too good at it, then he’d have to by her a CNC to go along with it!
So, instead of blowing all his retirement funds on a multispindle that would never be used, John opted for something else. He would take her into the factory and demonstrate for her how hard it was to operate such a machine. So the next day he took Terry to work and they looked at the hardest project of all that John had ever seen - a revolutionary screw-bolt fastener for a pump compressor. It had taken months to get it remotely right. John figured he may as well get some administrative work done, which lasted till morning. Then he went to find his daughter, and the screw-bolt fastener had been completed. Nobody else was there but…