Hello to all, I just recently ordered the Crossfire Pro and will be cutting with a Hypertherm 65 outfitted with a machine torch. I have been a welder for approx 23 years and have held various positions throughout the field to include CWI and CWE. I currently instruct new hire welders and robot operators in a factory setting and am looking to expand my skillsets with this new table. The end goal for myself is to bank enough funds to buy a small vacation cabin out west and have a rewarding retirement gig with this table!
This forum along with Langmuirs support seem to make sense for a successful venture into this field!
I had a dream to work and struggle all my way to middle management with crazy hours and crappy pay…to be ignored and under appreciated for all the long hours and short vacations…to finnally get to a point in life where I could retire on a pitiful pension and poor health…
I did it!!!
It is nice to reach a goal in life…even if it is not your goal…ask any ones wife…ahahahahaha…
Welcome Welder6131, I too had a goal in life. Retire when I hit 62, all bills payed off and money saved! Missed it by 6 months. Retired @ 62+6 months and all bills payed off and money saved. 52 years in work force including welding, press work, machine programming, supervisor, plant manager. Finished in Special tool design and implementation. Now wife works, I play and I do what ever I want when I want to sleep on the couch!
I don’t know how you guys do that. The medical insurance issues make me think I’ll be 65 before I retire. Even Obamacare in CT is stupidly expensive. Better to have an employer who pays most of the freight.
All this talk of retirement, bla…leads to nothing but divorce and/or obesity and maybe happiness.
Learning to run a CF and making money is semi retirement, I wonder how many guys already extended their life because of the CF, kept them from becoming stagnant and useless.
well…I retire on June1…I will be 55…20 years managing a Hospital gives me a small pension…I am just lucky my wife makes A LOT more than me and wants to keep working…I am so glad she agrees to keep me in the lifestyle she has gotten me used to…
she said…retire…but if your hobby starts costing us money then you will have to find work to top off the difference …
My wife says I’ll have no problem filling my time in retirement - lots of things I could do. Every time I make something she says it’s another thing I could make & sell in retirement - I just built a desk for my home office with live edge wood and structural piping and then had to make a couple of retro-steampunk lamps. She’s probably right but then I’d have to market, sell, ship, deal with cranky customers…sounds a lot like work
Mr. Welder6131, well my wife and I have an almost perfect relationship? I stay in the barn with my toys and she stays in the house. I go in the house to visit, eat, watch some TV and sleep. Life is good! I don’t have a real fancy setup like some of the guys here. I am tucked in behind a couple of tractors in the corner of the barn.
Jamesdhatch, It wasn’t easy! Save every penny, odd jobs, didn’t miss but about 3 of 4 days a year. Didn’t miss any time in the last 30 years. Started my 401K at about 30years with max input. Raised 5 children too! It got easier when the last one moved out about 25 years ago! But, (THEY ALWAYS COME BACK)
It’s not really the money for us. We have enough to last us the rest of our lives & the kids will be set when we die. We raised 4 kids and put them through college with no debt so they could start off with a clean slate and they’ve all worked hard ever since. They have no idea what they’ll get when we’re gone. We’re big on hard work & a little luck. No complaints from us and considering what some people have to look forward to, we don’t talk about it much.
But it is hard to shift from a focus on putting money away to not having a salary and living off the dividends. And the healthcare bogeyman is sitting out there - it was costing $18K/month to keep my father-in-law in a nice assisted living place when dementia finally made it impossible to let him stay on his own and he absolutely hated having someone in the condo with him 24hrs a day.
It’s a first world problem no doubt but it’s still one of those scary hurdles to jump in life.
Ha, yes unfortunatly my current hobby situation far exceeds my monthly income, so I find myself going back and forth between them to keep stuff interesting. My wife has been very supportive of this venture, so i am hoping I can pass this off as “Work” !
What a great goal to have!
I closed my neon shop when LED lights were first starting in the sign business (seen the writing on the wall). I went to Corporate America for a steady pay check & benefits. When I had the chance I took an early retirement @ 54. I joined a local Maker Space to stay busy & get up to speed on CNC Technology (that was also new technology in the sign shops as I was exiting). Now I have a laser machine, plasma machine & CNC router, to play with during my retirement. The grand kids will be old enough to help in a few more years. My goal is to share my knowledge & work shop with them, until they get to the point they are teaching me new things.
@NeonArmidillo
My five-year-old Grandson wants to learn to weld and I am happy to have the opportunity. I’m sure his Mom and Dad have greater expectations but it never hurts to have multiple skills.
BTW, are you anywhere near Bucyrus? I live on the West Coast but was born there.
I don’t have a real fancy setup like some of the guys here. I am tucked in behind a couple of tractors in the corner of the barn.