Learn Machining From An Old School Metal Master

In the depths of YouTube there are still some jewels to be found. [Keith Fenner] is one of them. [Keith] owns Turn Wright Machine Works in Cape Cod, MA. From his small shop, He works on everything from sailboats to heavy equipment.

[Keith] describes himself as “An artist, and a jobber, 36 years in the trade”. We think he could add teacher to that list, as we’ve learned quite a bit about machining from his Youtube channel.

One of the interesting things about [Keith] is his delivery on camera. He makes the viewer feel like an apprentice machinist working alongside him. Rather than carefully setup shots with graphics, [Keith] narrates as he works paying jobs. He also has no problem showing us his mistakes – and recovery from them, as well as his victories.

The main tools at Turn Wright are the lathe and mill, but [Keith] isn’t old fashioned by any means. He has a complete PlasmaCAM setup and isn’t afraid to do a little computer work.

Most of [Keith’s] projects are broken up into several videos. One of our favorites is “So you broke it off in your hole”. In this series [Keith] shows what it takes to get a broken screw extractor (or EZ Out) out of a large diesel turbo. Get a feeling for what [Keith] has to offer with his “Day in the LIfe” video after the break.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oG7Sv99gqQ4

24 thoughts on “Learn Machining From An Old School Metal Master

  1. Hah, I saw the picture and thought “wait, I know that face!” Keith is a cool guy, and he always has something interesting to work on. Definitely a good channel to watch… not just for machining but for the fabrication, which I think is a skill set that a lot of people miss out on.

    1. This! :) Before I saw the caption and text I knew what it was going to be.. Great videos, turns out I used to live within a couple miles of him.. Hope to stop by one of these days.

      And thanks guys for the other channels to watch! I can already see the hours of not getting anything done to come!

    1. Hi Mr. Aptly Named, the jump/break refers to the point where the story stops on the front page and continues on another one. It has a long history in newspaper media, where people often don’t notice or bother to continue reading the rest of the story, and the same applies here. It’s definitely not “the stupidest thing to say in a blog.”

  2. Have a look at this channel: svseeker
    A guy building 22m boat of steel, also built submarines.
    CNC cutting and milling, welding, casting, and great general design and how to tips.
    Interesting to watch even if you never touched steel.

  3. Great stuff. I see rich veins of contentfor Hack a Day (HaD) to mine here. To paraphrase, a problem that publishers have faced since Gutenberg: ‘content is King, bring me content, but make it inexpensive content.’ HaD wants traffic, and content like we see here such people and topics provides good return on a publisher’s investment. HaD can hire part time students or tech dilettantes or tech groupies to find, research, and write the content. There are probably good opportunities for free lancers too.

    On another note, my father was a tool and die marker. He passed and never saw YouTube or the self education revolution in hacking that we are enjoying today. He would not have immediately understood the phrase, but he was seriously concerned about the way we were loosing ‘tribal knowledge’ in machining technology, welding, etc. Seeing this thread would have brought tears to his eyes.

  4. I’ve been subscribed to Keith for sometime. He really does have a way of drawing you into the project with him. He’s a good guy and is self-depracating and funny (lip action optional). A class act.

  5. The guy next door to me would love this website. He is an old fella, from the old school machining background. He is currently making parts for a local steam engine group. Will bring him over and show him your video ahahahahaaa he will most likely go back and watch it on his ipad !!

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