While working in the machine shop in the basement of his Onset home, Milan Jetmar had an idea. A lifelong designer, the 83-year-old decided to start a business creating custom-made tools.

“My first invention was when I was 14," Jetmar recalled. "I made a hot plate for my mother.”

Jetmar credits both innate skill and a European education in engineering for his uncanny mechanical ability. He immigrated to the United States from Czechoslovakia in 1956, and though he's getting older, he still has the dexterity to do very delicate work.

“In Europe, if you want to be an engineer, you have to spend time in a machine shop,” he explained. This combination of sharpening his mind for design and doing hands-on work in mechanics was the best way to learn, according to Jetmar.

Upstairs in his office is a drafting machine with which Jetmar designs his original tools, or figures out ways to improve existing tools. He has a knack for figuring out how things can be made to function better, and has the skills and training to bring his designs to fruition.

“Right now, people are doing cutting [of metal] with a bandsaw, but a bandsaw has too many problems,” Jetmar explained. He has redesigned a bandsaw, a drill press, and a number of other tools.

“I can design a machine to fit the customer’s specifications,” Jetmar said.

The drafting machine was built by him as well. In fact, it’s difficult to take two steps through Jetmar's home without passing something he has built.

In the 1950s, Jetmar purchased a Grundig AM/FM shortwave radio, which eventually broke. He took it apart, rebuilt it, and now it sits in his living room, fully functional. It still has the old analog tuning dials, and looks like something one might find at an antique shop.

“This will never break,” Jetmar said confidently.

Jetmar is eager to get his custom tools company off the ground. If you need a tool designed or repaired, contact Jetmar at 508-273-7057 or milanjetmar@msn.com.