Clubs shrinking, exhibitions disapearing, poor magazine articles

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

OK, I’ll make a guess at £15 each (for 10 off)

Ian P

[larry phelan 1Participant @larryphelan1]

I seem to remember reading about a man and his young son trying to join a Model Engineering Club, many moons ago, who were given the cold shoulder when it emerged that they were not interested in building steam locos. Not everyone is interested in those things, and clubs need to cop on if they hope to survive.

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Does anybody else want to make a stab at answering Jason’s question?

 https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/topic/clubs-shrinking-exhibitions-disapearing-poor-magazine-articles/#post-707278

Ian P

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

I don’t have a 3D printer, not because I disagree with them, but because I wouldn’t have a clue how to set it up and use it. Someone will tell me it’s all on utube, but I find that extremely unhelpful, it goes at the speed it wants to and the presenters often use a different version of English to the version I use, and start off assuming I understand the jargon, which I don’t. Anyone know of a good book on the subject (you know, one of those paper jobs that you can read at your own pace and turn 6back and to)? Perhaps a series in MEW?

[duncan webster 1]

On duncan webster 1 Said:

Anyone know of a good book on the subject (you know, one of those paper jobs that you can read at your own pace and turn 6back and to)?

You could ask Neil Wyatt – he may know of one.   🙂

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

Perhaps there should be a tab on this site showing links to all ME clubs. As a new link is found, it could be added but not made public before approved by moderators ??  links could be sorted by post / zip code and country.

Bob

[Speedy Builder5Participant @speedybuilder5]

The following link is for an old 7 1/4″ loco club that had to move and build new track supported by the local council. Future developments will include a third rail to include 5″ gauge models.

https://le-petit-train-garonnais.fr/le-circuit-2

 

[Ian P]

On Ian P Said:

Does anybody else want to make a stab at answering Jason’s question?

 https://www.model-engineer.co.uk/forums/topic/clubs-shrinking-exhibitions-disapearing-poor-magazine-articles/#post-707278

Ian P

.

Not really, Ian …

I became painfully aware that Jason and I live in different Universes when he mentioned a CAD time of less than 5 minutes.

MichaelG.

[Michael Gilligan]

On Michael Gilligan Said

Not really, Ian …

I became painfully aware that Jason and I live in different Universes when he mentioned a CAD time of less than 5 minutes.

MichaelG.

Feel sorry for Jason, he is very lonely in his universe 🙂

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Which was kind of my point for the whole reply, to dismiss the belief that new tech may be slow “who wants to spend (Or pay for) two hours on a keyboard, to cut metal for ten minutes?”

Maybe more articles about CAD, CAM, etc will also help enlighten people.

Though having done CAD work for people I can conform there are those out there willing to pay so maybe I should let them think it takes longer than it does if charging by the hour.

Yesterdays effort, maybe 10mins CAD as I was fiddling about to get the “look” and testing the movement on the whole assembly. 20mins to machine 15mins of which I was doing something else anyway, could have been machined in less than 5mins run time on a faster CNC.

Lets face it if you are designing from scratch rather than using 50yr old plans then you are going to be doing the CAD or drawing anyway and with the errors in published designs it’s not a bad idea to redraw anyway and alter for cuttent material sizes etc at the same time.

[Chris CrewParticipant @chriscrew66644]

Has anyone got any information on ‘Harrogate’ this year? Is anything going to happen or has it been indefinitely postponed? We usually have some idea of the dates by now but I have not heard or seen anything mentioned as yet for 2024.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

Just a thought, there are model engineering magazines in other countries, some of them English speaking. Does anyone at Mortons trawl through to see if any of the articles could be reprinted in UK.

[Russell EberhardtParticipant @russelleberhardt48058]

Just another thought – ME exhibitions are shrinking and most visitors are of the older generation.  How to attract youngsters to replace us in the future?  How about someone holding an exhibition encompassing a wider range of modelling and perhaps “making” or whatever it is called.  Who could put on such a show successfully?  Well, Mortons publish model boat and aircraft magazines alongside ME and MEW.  They also publish motorbike and car tittles.  They organise a lot of big exhibitions and other events so have the experience to be able to organise a modelling exhibition to attract the younger generation and get them interested.

Do Mortons read this forum?

Russell

[JasonB]

On JasonB Said:

Maybe more articles about CAD, CAM, etc will also help enlighten people.

Might even be enough there for a new magazine title!

Russell

[Russell Eberhardt]

On Russell Eberhardt Said:

… How about someone holding an exhibition encompassing a wider range of modelling and perhaps “making” or whatever it is called.  …

Russell

Makers Central Exhibition – 18 – 19 May 2024, NEC Birmingham

John

[JourneymanParticipant @journeyman]

CAD User  magazine might fit the bill.

John

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

In answer to Duncan’s post I’ve seen articles in the German MiM that have also been in ME. The publisher also does quite a few “special” issues, there have been ones on CNC, 3D printing, etc.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Well it took me about 6 minutes and not dimensioned. So I’m only half way to Jason’s universe.

[JasonB]

On JasonB Said:

Lets face it if you are designing from scratch rather than using 50yr old plans then you are going to be doing the CAD or drawing anyway and with the errors in published designs it’s not a bad idea to redraw anyway and alter for cuttent material sizes etc at the same time.

Absolutely, a few times recently I’ve been lazy and used original drawings to make a part and swiftly regretted the extra time and effort spent trying to translate them on the fly to modern units and techniques. For anything but the simplest part, it’s much quicker to redraw (2D, or from 3D model) than to fool around with fractional Freedom Units.

….

With regard to MEW, I thought the latest issue (336) was pretty good – in particular Graham Meek’s boring and facing head, and the modified GHT Universal Pillar Tool are things I might actually build.

Something I used enjoy in the early versions of the magazine were the “Old Gits’ Tales” of how things were done in days of yore – entertaining, and sometimes useful, tales of ingenuity, with the odd hair-raising misadventure to add a bit of excitement. I suppose that most of that sort of thing has migrated to this forum though.

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