Not really surprised nobody has sent in a photograph of their workshop, it’s an open invitation to the local thieving scrotes to come and visit when you are out.

Personally I'll be all over it once I'm properly up and running. Though I doubt I'd be up for posting pics of my meagre workshop. Though I should hope eventually to have something to contribute regarding modularity for teeny weeny workshops.

Really enjoying MEW320… I've got to say, the Editors Bench hit me in the feels a bit. You absolutely can't please everybody all the time with every article, how could you possibly with such wide ranging skill sets and applications? The fact that anyone would have the temerity to have a whinge is a bit…off let's say, though I'd like to use something stronger and smellier!

As far as my opinion on the question of focus… All the things, as per usual! Although I would appreciate some more tool reviews. Particularly on the mods a lot of us have to do to make the best of an affordable price point. While I can appreciate the reticence to lose potential advertising revenue by delivering a bad review, I do think it's also important to let folk know when there comes a point that something is too cheaply made, to the point of being irredeemably so!

That's my tuppence anyway…

Jay

If you make the competition bits easy to use on the forum it might attract more interest

Old duffers like me don't use smartphones or even watch the TV much because of the amount of junk we are forced to deal with

(I record everything the night before if I fancy watching something, the adverts are horrific now)

Life is too short and interesting to jump through hoops if you can avoid them

Edited By Ady1 on 23/09/2022 17:14:02

Where did he suggest this?

I totally understand there are many who just want to get on a build an engine.

But I wonder sometimes how many new people taking up our "hobby" with no experience in metal bashing actually realise what it takes to finish even a small project?

There must be hundreds of unfinished projects gathering dust where the budding but inexperienced model engineer has bitten off more than they could chew.

I think making simple tools that will be used regularly such as a gauge to set the height of a lathe tool for example, can be completed fairly quickly without having to invest in expensive tooling. This gives the inexperienced person valuable skills, inexpensive to make and gives the opportunity for them to assess is model engineering for them?

I am fortunate to be apprenticeship trained and having several decades of experience but when I am in the middle of a build, i dont decry the need to stop the project to make a special clamp for example. I would sooner do this than buy ready made tooling that may need to be modified anyway.

For example, I am 2/3 the way through building a Quorn, i have had to stop the build to make all those ball handles. The balls needed to be created by a tool that i made to a published design in the ME many years ago…

Regards

Derek

.

Quite frankly .. Readers Tips would appear to be an economically-priced way for Chester to get a full-page advertisement in the magazine.

MichaelG.

.

Edit: Quoting from Neil’s opening post:

… but I see so many good suggestions and ideas on the forum.

Q.E.D. ?

Edited By Michael Gilligan on 24/09/2022 07:24:57

Hi, I haven't got anything to offer as I'm in the process of improving and sorting my garage, which is a bit ongoing. As far as the Stevenson Trophy is concerned, I like the idea of it, but I wouldn't want the responsibility of it's safe keeping if I was a winner. I've always been reluctant to even borrow simple tools or other things from others, just in case I lost it or busted it, and I'd rather buy anything that I need, even if I only needed it once, and maybe sell something else that I no longer needed to help pay for it, although I have hired things that are beyond my pay grade, but they have been machines that I've used during my working years and are not the easiest things to lose or bust.

Regards Nick.

To answer the original question I don't think my fixtures, tooling and setups would merit being a readers tip. And the voucher would be of no interest as there is nothing I need from the supplier.

In general I don't make tools. Which brings me on to the point made above about criticism of Far Eastern machine tools. I have the opposite, snide remarks about those who run ex-industrial machines. One attribute of ex-industrial machine tools is that they are designed to take accessories that are not available for Far Eastern machines, so there is less need to upgrade.

I have had a cover picture on MEW and have published articles about some of my machine tools and a tour of my workshop; article written and I think it was published. I have also written some technical articles for ME and MEW in the past and had discussed a number of other topics that would be suitable for articles. But I never got around to finishing the articles, partly due to work pressures and partly because I felt they were too technical.

No doubt a few people are put off by the forum and stop posting. Each forum has it's own ethos and sometimes it just doesn't gel. I've stopped posting on another ME forum as the ethos and subject matter didn't really fit. I also suspect that quite a few people appear simply because they want the answer to a specific question, or want to look at an advert, and have no intention of continuing to participate.

Andrew

My views for what they are worth,

As regards competitions I do not bother entering, I have never won anything in my life, including arguments. As regards an English wheel, well for one thing I do not have the work for one. For another it would take up a lot of workshop floor space for only occasional use. I know Sam Lovegrove has a hankering for one.

I certainly do not think it would be appropriate for me to enter the JS Cup for several reasons.

As regards showing my workshop off, that is covered by Ady.

Readers tips are often given in my writing, but like all advice it can either be taken, ignored, or pulled to pieces.

Regards

Gray,

Unlike Jason, and many others, (I am in awe of their abilities and what they produce. ) I am not really a Model Engineer.

Why?

I don't think that I am skilled enough to make models, so make tools.

Some are made to satisfy a particular need, a gadget to do a particular job, (Removing or fitting bearings, for instance ).

Others are because, "It seemed a good idea at the time" or "That might be useful" and the whim takes over.

Consequently, some products see regular use, others rarely, if ever., but there is satisfaction in having made them..

Other folk use their machining skills to support another hobby, model railways, restoring classic vehicles of all types.

Both camps can overlap, and one needs the other..

Sometimes a model maker needs a tool, or a fixture to do a job whilst making a model.

A screw modification fixture is a useful tool to have.

A tool and Cutter Grinder can make life a lot easier when machining parts for a model; so some make one and use it.

We all enjoy cutting metal, and gain satisfaction from the end product whatever it is.

M E W and this Forum provide meeting places where we can either help or learn from each other. In some cases, our range of skills expands..

In that way, our particular strand of our hobby survives.

It takes all sorts!

Howard

Neither am I, in at least two senses.

Andrew