What skills do you want to learn?

Dent repair. Just whacking it with a hammer from the back side isn't really repairing.

Proficient welding. Owning a MIG welder just makes you dangerous.

Picking winning lottery numbers.

Chair caning........JK

Welding. Patience. Kindness. Love. Joy. Peace. Forgiveness........

Everything I need to know to finish the next project...and the one after that...

The main reason I do and build things is to learn something different, the gas turbine, the automatic can crusher, steam engines, auto body work, archery, hydroponics, drilling a well, drywall, concrete forming, plumbing and on and on. Every project requires a different skill and learning those skills is most of the fun. Especially when it actually works.

Oy! After this weekend I decided I want to learn to fly! I know it's two steps forward and one step back, but this weekend was very frustrating.

I hear good things about a sport called Bowling .....

understanding women

I would like to learn how to make lots and lots of money.

Welding (well I learned the basics but I haven't used it in a while). CNC programming (kinda learned that with Surfcam). Upholstery work.

curtis73 wrote: getting Alyssa Milano to go down on me.

It has to be getting more and more attainable every year, no?

Welding and basic machining.

Grtechguy wrote: understanding women

Give it up. Here's the #1 woman rule to remember: if a guy ever figures out the rules, they immediately change. Might as well try to catch fish piss.

car-fabricating stuff I want to learn:
oxyacetylene welding
tig welding
aluminum welding
proper use of shrinker/stretcher
planishing hammer
shrinker/stretcher use
body work
electrical work general mechanic stuff
troubleshooting/diagnosis (so I know what general mechanical stuff to do)

Car-fabricating stuff I want to improve at:
fitting a work piece (good fit, proper angles, etc.) before welding
welding upside down
welding vertically
bead roller
english wheel
using a shot bag and wooden mallet to shape metal
hammer forming
woodworking (enough to to make a metal shaping buck)

car driving stuff I want to learn:
heel and toe
left foot braking

car driving stuff I want to improve:
looking ahead
keeping my foot on the floor

JoeyM wrote: car driving stuff I want to improve: looking ahead keeping my foot on the floor

That sim-rig I built helps a LOT with this. While there is no real g-loads or feeling from seat, the sound and feedback though the wheel helps drive home the concept . . . the in-game telemetry helps too

I want to learn how to make objects explode using only the power of my mind.

1. How to stop Alyssa Milano from going down on me. (enough already!)
2. HAHO jumps
3. MMA/UFC style fighting
4. Being more realistic

pinchvalve wrote: 1. How to stop Alyssa Milano from going down on me. (enough already!) 2. HALO jumps 3. MMA/UFC style fighting 4. Being more realistic

FTFY

Salanis wrote: I want to learn how to make objects explode using only the power of my mind.

I will subscribe to your blog... no wait, just send it telepathically

fasted58 wrote:

Salanis wrote: I want to learn how to make objects explode using only the power of my mind.

I will subscribe to your blog... no wait, just send it telepathically

You fool! You will be killed!

I'll jump on the welding bandwagon. I learned how to stick weld and gas weld when I was in my 20's but have never had any experienc with MIG or TIG.

Painting would be another thing. I can and have done the body work stuff but never got around to learning how to spray paint a car.

I want to learn how to do badass matte painting and concept art. Like this:

I used to doodle all the time when I was a kid but I've barely picked up a pencil in the last 15 years, and every time I do I get too frustrated with my own lack of skill to finish. Maybe I'll sign up for some illustration classes when I have a permanent address again.

Curmudgeon wrote:

Grtechguy wrote: understanding women

Give it up. Here's the #1 woman rule to remember: if a guy ever figures out the rules, they immediately change. Might as well try to catch fish piss.

Fish don't pee. They excrete excess ammonia through their gills. Hope that helped.

hotrodlarry wrote: heel/toe

That's easy, assuming your car does not have brutally inconvenient pedal placement. Just practice it during your normal daily driving, at least when traffic is not heavy. It took me about 2 weeks of doing that to become second nature.

Top 3

1. Read/Speak German
2. Replace TB/seals on my Miata, basically be able to fix everything on it
3. Android/IOS development

Note: It is not my intent to sound self aggrandizing -The desire to be skilled at as many things as possible has been main focus for much of my life, and I've been generally successful.

• The majority of what I can do has been learned through necessity. Commit to something with the belief that completion to the absolute best of your ability is the only possible outcome, and do whatever it takes to get it done.

• Find a way to buy whatever tools are necessary. If there's any one thing that accelerated the learning curve it was access to tools. 10 years ago I started with a 7" Atlas lathe - welding gear had already progressed from an Eastwood 110v buzz box to a used 140 amp Daytona MIG. At present I've got a full machine and fab shop at home and can make essentially anything.

I've done about 5 things that lead directly to building my skills.

• Racing motorcycles. In the mid-90s I managed to swap a nice mountain bike for a road race motorcycle. The bike was a 2 year old leftover from the bike shop where I worked, and I was able to put it on my "tab". The race bike was pretty much obsolete, but it was a race bike, and it got me started. I'd already been working on my own cars and bikes for years, but race prep, fabrication, and that race work can only be done perfectly was a great education. I did about 4 seasons and went from backmarker to consistent podium finisher.

• Renovated an old, very messed up house. This one was the game changer for me and my wife. We'd been looking in the DC area for a couple years, and in 2000 bought the absolute worst house in the best zip code. It needed everything, and I did it. After 10 years of renovation and maintenance we sold this house for 2.4 times what we'd bought it for and moved to our dream house - a big mid-century rambler w/ a huge garage and basement and a space for a dedicated machine shop, and banked money on the deal. In the process I learned carpentry, drywall, plastering, masonry, plumbing, electrical, HVAC, drainage, roofing...essentially everything you'd pay anyone to do for you.

• Restored a basket case car. I bought a 1962 Austin-Healey Sprite that filled a roll back wrecker with car and pallets of parts. In the process I learned to form sheet metal, to weld, then to weld well, stretching, shrinking, making panels fit, getting a body really straight. How to prepare for paint, how to paint, sand, polish. Most of all I learned how to manage a 3 year project with a million pieces and how to produce work that is uniform and consistent in it's execution.

• Changed career, then again, then back. There's nothing like a huge opportunity for which you're solely responsible for own success to spur the motivation to learn. I moved from an unhappy 4 years at a motorcycle dealership, managing their parts and accessory department and in vehicle sales to a position building out a large automated biotech process pipeline - along the way I learned 2D CAD, enough about the biology and chemistry to converse w/ scientists about their objectives, and the myriad systems involving motion control, servos/steppers, pneumatics, imaging/optics/photonics, leasers/filters/focusing, plumbing/piping/hardware, and peripheral instruments involved in mass spectrometry. When they folded I was was working at a similar place for another 4 years leading an instrument design project, then as an industrial designer combining what I'd learned w/ my art degree, then as a designer of photovoltaic panel mounting structures. I recently went back to biotech doing lab automation and instrumentation at NIH. The only way I got ahead was to keep my eyes open to every opportunity, and to learn everything I could. Starting a major project in 2002 I lobbied for adopting 3D CAD, and have been a SolidWorks user since - I've had products featured at the SolidWorks World user conference, and in a user case study on their website.

• Setting up shop. This has required a significant commitment of time and resources. I've spent the 15 years or so it's taken to get to where I am in the pursuit of deals and horsetrading stuff for machinery, tools and tooling. Getting to the place where I've got shop space to put it all, and the means to jump a deals (Like $10k for an entire machine shop complete plus a couple grand for riggers to move it) has been a long, hard process. You've got to be willing to prioritize the time. Living in a house where you've got multiple construction projects as well as running machine and fab shops, a race effort, and a gaggle of cars is a full time job, on top of your full time job. I watch a little TV w/ my wife while we're eating, but that's about it. My race car won't be ready for the June MARRS race, so I'm aiming for UTCC - But the new bathroom will be Fine Homebuilding Magazine material, so I've got that going for me...

So - I read everyone's posts and thought - aside from the Alyssa Milano part - I can machine, weld w/ TIG, MIG, stick and gas, beat sheet metal, paint, fabricate, and hold an SCCA National license. I teach people how to drive around a couple race tracks. How is it that I've figured it out, and is there anything I can say that could make a meaningful difference in the GRM community learning this stuff?

If you happen to be in the DC metro area I'd be pleased to advise or impart the basics regarding the stuff I've been fortunate enough to have been afforded the opportunity to learn. Shoot me a line and I'll impart what I can.

Perhaps there's a place for a GRM knowledge base/mentorship network?

In reply to motomoron:

Man, If I lived in your area I'd be sweeping your shop floor in the evening for the opportunity to apprentice!

I wanna learn to weld
Fabricate with steel and aluminum
Proper paint & body work
Expert at Krav Maga
3rd degree blackbelt in Ninjitsu
Business accounting and proper setup of distributor network
Construction

I think that's about it...