Did you take shop class in jr./high school?

[Scott Douglas]

Originally Posted by 911 Rod

You had shop classes in junior high school? Before high school?
Shop classes didn't start until high school here.

Yes, and most of those junior high shops would put a lot of high school shops to shame back in the day.
Sadly I don't think they exist today, but I could be wrong. I'd like to think I am on that.

[masraum]

Originally Posted by MBAtarga

Two years of technical drawing and two years of wood shop. The wood shop had lousy quality hand tools. Until I got more involved in woodworking as a hobby (now for almost 40 years) - I had no idea how useful a wood plane can be!

< squinty eyes trying to figure out what you meant look >

planes made of wood


planes made of cast iron


or planes that are a little of both? (excepting #11)

[Rapewta]

Had woodshop in Jr high. Mechanical Drawing in High School. Both helped me with my
future. Woodshop taught me tool usage and safety. Mechanical drawing paid off later when I became a licensed contractor and was always making blueprints for electrical work.

Woodshop helped me cross over with a "mechanic's feel" that really helped for years building
new distribution and transmission substations for a utility company.

I don't know how important teaching young adults auto shop, woodshop or even home economics are today.

[Ayles]

Metal shop in 9th grade(1990). Hard to believe they let a bunch of kids operate the machinery we had. A mill, several lathes, drill presses, several different kinds of welding and a forge. Along with tons of metal stock to use.

I know the shop was gutted at some point while I was still in high school.

[asphaltgambler]

In Junior high where I lived there was no facility for any kind of "Industrial Arts". It was only when I was a Freshman in HS where they had wood / metal working 'shop' class. This was in 1977.......a year late for me but that is a whole 'nuther story.

The wood shop teacher was a peculiar guy, quiet and very 'odd' even to a teenager. The final exam was to design, draft materials list, cost and execute a project of our choosing. It was also subject to his prior approval. I was already a car guy making money on weekends / after school, working on other people's vehicles. I wanted a nice set of ramps that had a long incline for lowered cars. There was nothing available in those days like that, only short ramp cheap sheet steel units from say JC Whitney.

My girlfriend's dad at the time was an accomplished carpenter, owned his own small business. He had made a set from 2" X 12" pine that had ladder construction. I told him about my school project to be, but that I wanted a longer ramp for lowered cars. He gave me directions about structural integrity using precise cut angles, wood glue and to use counter sunk screws that would engage the adjoining wood install of nails.

Next Monday I present my project and he would not approve it. Said it was unsafe, the ladder strengthening vertical pieces would fall forward like Dominos..... I then stated that the key was the thickness / width and using construction glue with counter-sunk screws. He still didn't buy it. So, I said this is what I want to do, I know the design works I've seen it in use. It's light, cheap, and strong.

Conditions were put in place to prove it out, that it was safe, and very begrudgingly.....he let me do it. But he said if it failed, I would likely fail the course as well

Below is my caveman drawing of what it looked like




I built it, being careful about cutting / fitting exactly the angled boards so as to meet together. Once finished I painted them safety yellow. I was very proud of my 'craftsmanship'!

On test day, I brought my dad's '75 Caprice which I know weighed over 2-tons. When it came time, I did my dog-and-pony show for the class, pulled the Caprice up and on. No issues. I then backed it off slightly, still on bottom of ramps, went up a little quicker, then hit the brakes hard when on top. No failure

The teacher still would not approve it, said it was unsafe to use and I ended up with a "C-" and barely passed the course. Interesting note is I used those things constantly over the decade or so until when early versions of 'Race-Ramps" came out, which I bought. I gave the old ramps to someone, a friend I'm sure who continued to use them until I lost touch.

The huge lesson is: If you have an idea, prove it out. Don't let someone, especially with authority, tell you it won't work even before you start

[herr_oberst]

^ I would have triangulated the **** out of those. My dad made a pair pretty much like those, but he skinned the sides with 3/4 ply. You could've parked a bus on them, but they were mostly used for the Electra 225 to do oil changes.

[cockerpunk]

Originally Posted by asphaltgambler

In Junior high where I lived there was no facility for any kind of "Industrial Arts". It was only when I was a Freshman in HS where they had wood / metal working 'shop' class. This was in 1977.......a year late for me but that is a whole 'nuther story.

The wood shop teacher was a peculiar guy, quiet and very 'odd' even to a teenager. The final exam was to design, draft materials list, cost and execute a project of our choosing. It was also subject to his prior approval. I was already a car guy making money on weekends / after school, working on other people's vehicles. I wanted a nice set of ramps that had a long incline for lowered cars. There was nothing available in those days like that, only short ramp cheap sheet steel units from say JC Whitney.

My girlfriend's dad at the time was an accomplished carpenter, owned his own small business. He had made a set from 2" X 12" pine that had ladder construction. I told him about my school project to be, but that I wanted a longer ramp for lowered cars. He gave me directions about structural integrity using precise cut angles, wood glue and to use counter sunk screws that would engage the adjoining wood install of nails.

Next Monday I present my project and he would not approve it. Said it was unsafe, the ladder strengthening vertical pieces would fall forward like Dominos..... I then stated that the key was the thickness / width and using construction glue with counter-sunk screws. He still didn't buy it. So, I said this is what I want to do, I know the design works I've seen it in use. It's light, cheap, and strong.

Conditions were put in place to prove it out, that it was safe, and very begrudgingly.....he let me do it. But he said if it failed, I would likely fail the course as well

Below is my caveman drawing of what it looked like




I built it, being careful about cutting / fitting exactly the angled boards so as to meet together. Once finished I painted them safety yellow. I was very proud of my 'craftsmanship'!

On test day, I brought my dad's '75 Caprice which I know weighed over 2-tons. When it came time, I did my dog-and-pony show for the class, pulled the Caprice up and on. No issues. I then backed it off slightly, still on bottom of ramps, went up a little quicker, then hit the brakes hard when on top. No failure

The teacher still would not approve it, said it was unsafe to use and I ended up with a "C-" and barely passed the course. Interesting note is I used those things constantly over the decade or so until when early versions of 'Race-Ramps" came out, which I bought. I gave the old ramps to someone, a friend I'm sure who continued to use them until I lost touch.

The huge lesson is: If you have an idea, prove it out. Don't let someone, especially with authority, tell you it won't work even before you start

i mean thats not a great design. diagonally bracing at least the ending parking square there seems like basic safety upgrade. wood and wood glue, and a screw isnt strong enough alone. i wouldnt go under that car all im saying.

the other posters idea of plywooding the sides would do a similar thing and really help too.

i have a set of ramps, but i dont really like ramps in general. quick jack all the things.

[Scott Douglas]

C-clamp made in high school machine shop class. I think this is the one my sister made as mine is in a tool box I left up at my brother's place I believe.

[3rd_gear_Ted]

Wood shop
Metal shop
Auto shop
Electronics - BBROYGBVGW - bonus points for those who know the diddy for Resistor color codes.

Best part was Wednesday nights @ Orange County International Raceway time bracket racing

Today's classes would be - Composites Fab, CNC 3D printing & Cad Cam or Fluid Dynamics

[GH85Carrera]

Our high school did have a home economic class for the girls to learn to sew. There was nothing for the boys, unless you wanted to learn to sew.

No shop classes of any sort.

[908/930]

Yes, grade 7-8 they bussed us to another school with a small shop, wood plastics and some metal forming. In high school auto, metal, electronics and electrical. Worked part time for a machine shop while in school, and for a couple of years after, still have a metal lathe in the garage.

[matthewb0051]

I took shop in Jr High and drafting for 2 years in HS. My dad, being an engineer, thought I needed drafting.

Our HS even had welding. There were guys in my class that went directly from HS to big time welding jobs, one or two went to Newport News VA to the ship yards to welding jobs.

One of my very good friends took auto shop in HS. He was a jock/cool guy and very popular so he swore me to secrecy about him taking the class. He didn't want his reputation tarnished. He was working on his 1960s Mini in the class.

[rcooled]

I had an auto shop class in HS. Toward the end of the term, the instructor assigned me and a couple other guys to section the fuselage of an old Cessna he had in there (it was a big space). He wanted several feet cut out to make it easier to maneuver the plane around the shop (the wings had already been removed). We hacked on the thing for a couple of weeks and when we were done, the shortened fuselage was curved like a banana. Even though that plane was never meant to fly again, the instructor was pissed at the mess we'd made of it.

Upon returning to see my old HS many years later, it was sad to see that that the auto shop was gone and the space was being used for storage. A sign of the times...

One of the more useful classes I took in HS was typing. It's a skill that I've used almost every day since.

[stevej37]

Originally Posted by rcooled

One of the more useful classes I took in HS was typing. It's a skill that I've used almost every day since.

That's the truth for me also. It's a skill you never lose.

[flatbutt]

I can't over state how valuable mechanical drawing was for me. The ability to look at a 3D object and render it accurately on a 2D surface really changed how I understood the physical world.

[craigster59]

Wood Shop and Metal Shop.

In Wood Shop I made a wall plaque with a Raiders football helmet, a wall planter and a skateboard deck.

Metal Shop I made a flat head screwdriver with knurled handle, one of those "Barefoot" accelerator pedals, a belt buckle for my Grandfather, a sheet metal "Western Town" wall hanging for my Grandmother and a shyte ton of Kung Fu "throwing stars" out of sheet metal with the spot welder.

[matthewb0051]

When I think of auto shop this always comes to mind:

[Cajundaddy]

Wood shop in 7th grade- I came in with zero skill, the teacher was a drunk, and I left with zero skill.
Metal shop- Far more interesting to me
Electrical shop- Actually learned quite a bit about circuits, resistive loads, inductive loads.
Drafting- Learned to both create and understand mechanical drawings.

[asphaltgambler]

Originally Posted by 3rd_gear_Ted

Wood shop
Metal shop
Auto shop
Electronics - BBROYGBVGW - bonus points for those who know the diddy for Resistor color codes.

Best part was Wednesday nights @ Orange County International Raceway time bracket racing

Today's classes would be - Composites Fab, CNC 3D printing & Cad Cam or Fluid Dynamics

The color bands are read from left to right each value added to the next with gold band ( if equipped) being the tolerance value

[dw1]

Wood shop, metal shop & technical drawing/drafting.

I very strongly recommend taking classes like these if one has any interest in becoming an engineer or scientist. In fact, it helps determine if one has any aptitude in these areas.

Having some basic knowledge of machining & shop safety really helped when I got certified as a machinist to help in my biomedical engineering career. (Quite unusually, I got the machinist certification after a Masters in Engineering.) Of course, the drafting course really helped with understanding technical drawings, especially those with GD&T.