He Bought His First CNC at 17 — Now His Shop Is Booked Solid at 20 | 43
From The Impractical Machinists by Practical Machinist
February 17, 2026 · 1h 23m · Season 2 · Episode 43
About this episode
Michael, a 20-year-old machinist, shares his journey from high school to running a successful machine shop.
Michael is 20 years old and runs his own machine shop in Idaho. He bought his first CNC at 17 while still in high school, taught himself machining entirely through YouTube, and has never spent a dollar on advertising. In this episode, Michael shares how he went from building RC airplanes to hand-coding G-code on a vintage Swiss lathe, why he moved his entire shop from Tennessee to Idaho, and how he stays up until 4 AM when customers need parts delivered on time. We talk about his equipment (H...
People in this episode
Guest: Michael
Topics covered
- CNC machining
- self-taught skills
- entrepreneurship
- machine shop
- time management
Keywords
- CNC
- machining
- YouTube
- entrepreneur
- G-code
- machine shop
- Idaho
- Tennessee
Mentioned in this episode
Products: CNC, G-code, Swiss lathe
Places: Idaho, Tennessee
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