13 months ago, I came across this craaaaazy guy on YouTube talking all this craaaaazy machining stuff and promoting the trade like a man possessed. I was looking for a way to help young people get exposure and a cursory knowledge of things we all once learned in shop class. (I’m a semi-retired manufacturing engineer.) So I jumped into the Academy with both feet and signed on to be an Academy Small Group Host. In my case, this meant buying machine tools, setting up a shop from scratch, and then taking myself through the Academy. (Some would say this is all just a fancy way of convincing the wife I should spend $150k on some cool toys. Either way, she agreed. :D)
Today the first leg of my journey ends with the completion of the 10M. It took a lot to get here:
- Creating the aforementioned shop
- Typing 100+ pages of notes
- 125” of 1x2 aluminum bar stock (most becoming scrap a.k.a. “what I learned today…”)
- Half a dozen broken taps (sort of my fault, but not completely)
- One set of soft jaws
- 32 hours of runtime on the DEM4000
- 100’s of hours watching videos, taking notes, programming, and re-programming toolpaths
- Dozens of Messenger convos with Nicole Spittler and other Titans of CNC team members patiently helping me with my noob questions
It has not been easy and was not quick. But those who take the journey will find incredible fulfillment along the way. Thank you, Titan and your team of true professionals, for creating this fantastic educational opportunity for all of us!
Onward to the Rocket Series! 
