MEW 214

[Billy MillsParticipant @billymills]

Neil

Know what you mean about finding stuff in catalogs, Having used RS, Farnell and latterly CPC ( as a key a/c customer no less!) over a working lifetime I could find stuff quickly -associative memory as it is knowen. All three firms have very big websites that have been up for a long time but the indexing is absolutly terrible as is the level of engineering know how behind the cataloging- that makes their websites very hard work. RS file quartz crystals under "semiconductors" while Farnell don't know the difference between many semiconductor functions. But that is due to non-engineers compiling the data – not an intrinsic weakness of the medium.

However the paper catalogs have become very costly to produce, maintain and distribute once a year. The same data is the contents of the web shop window which people buy from directly, the paper stage has gone from the selling process. In the future we cannot expect paper catalogs to return, but we can at least suggest better ways of classifying items so that the ordering process is easier. When people run webshops their sales are proportional to the ease of using their site so there is a strong reason for improving the user experience, it will sink through eventually. It is also true that the more you use a particular site the better you find your way around as you remember waypoints and images- just like paper images.

Although a paper loving ancient, I do use the new media as much as I can as well. It also means that people with very specialised interests can reach like minded worldwide audiences as never before without the complexities and costs of paper publishing and distribution. Just as the web has changed the face of retail shopping ( and the High Street) so it is also to the domain of personal interests and communications, things are evolving – like it or not.

One other aspect of this is the emergence of "Maker Culture", the fusion of mechatronics and software, CNC and conventional/unconventional machining to make new stuff or play variations on existing ideas. There are now hoards of young people taking stuff apart to learn about making new stuff. Just like we did 4, 5 or 6 decades ago when we learnt our real engineering. Only now they can learn, share, program, publish and enjoy on a world wide basis at zero cost. I wished that we could all have done that when we were young.

Gray

Well I know what you mean about browsing paper, I love that. But you can do just the same- only over a very much larger library- through the screen. For example there was a bit about synthetic aperture radar in your backyard ( SAR can produce highly detailed images -almost photographic- by microwave methods) using surplus bits on Hack a Day. That lead me to a book about Radio Astronomy that I had never seen before which is now sitting on a hard drive -when I've time – then on to several other links that were very interesting to me that are now bookmarked. Electronic paper browsing but covering a wider range and thanks to the links -immediatly available on my screen- and dumpable onto paper if needed. One of my other interests is the technology and history of WW2. Through browsing a Finnish site I found a link to a Dutch site which linked to a museum of WW2 German electronics. Well I never expected to see the circuitry of German Radar's, it takes about a week to get updated on the whole story which includes the V's and the Magnetophon. So yes you can browse very nicely on the web and find stuff that was not on paper but is now.

Billy

Paid up subscriber to Paper.

[Geoff TheasbyParticipant @geofftheasby]

Billy, what's your radio astronomy book? I have an interest here, and prefer Radio Astronomy by John D Kraus, and Amateur Radio Astronomy by John Fielding, amongst others. I built a radio telescope in my garden using a redundant satellite tv dish.

Regards

Geoff

[John Stevenson 1Participant @johnstevenson1]

The worse things about the catalogues is the generic pictures shown.

connectors are the worse, you want one but have to order 10 and when they come they are bare shells, the pins are extra.

They must make a fortune off people buying items they have mis ordered because of the description and they know they won't return then as it's a fruitless cost exercise.

[Gone AwayParticipant @goneaway]

Posted by Billy Mills on 19/03/2014 21:20:05:

One other aspect of this is the emergence of "Maker Culture", the fusion of mechatronics and software, CNC and conventional/unconventional machining to make new stuff or play variations on existing ideas.

if that's your example of the benefits of online documentation, Billy, your brain must be wired a whole lot differently to mine. Typically the documentation for those things (e.g. RepRap) is contained in Wikis comprised of a massive tree of hypertext links spreading over half the internet.

At one point when I was looking at a 3D printer I found I had almost 30 browser tabs open and I'd managed to get hopelessly lost.

[BazyleParticipant @bazyle]

Just because it is in a book doesn't mean it's right. And it can be hoplessly out of date. I found an old encyclopedia from about 1950 showing a cutaway of an A4 loco with a nuclear reactor in it and the text "someday nuclear power may enable man to get to the moon".

Also recently on here there was a query about the thread on a camping gas cylinder. You won't find that in Zeus tables. So we should mix and match, using which ever affordable technology we have that is best for the job at the time.

[Gray62Participant @gray62]

Does anyone else feel that this thread has gone somewhat OT ?

Maybe it's time a moderator locked the thread ?

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

No more OT than many other threads, however just for the sake of it (and to save me trawling back through 5 pages) on the front cover of 214 is a mention of strengthening a RepRap. I read 214 when it came through the letterbox and have just flicked through it again but I dont see the article mentioned.

Am I just having another senior moment or is it yet to appear?

Ian P

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Ian, maybe it 's one of the new shorter articles with no padding that everone seems to want- blink and you will miss it.

It's actually the thread about using a 3D printer to make unique castings as the author does talk about making a stiffer machine. Rather confusing titles, I missed it first time around.

 

Could I also ask that we keep this thread to MEW 214 and the general future direction of ME that it had turned into rather than most of whats on this page.

Thanks, J

Edited By JasonB on 20/03/2014 18:55:07

[Ian PParticipant @ianp]

Now to get this topic back OT, Bazyle mentioned nuclear reactors in connection with getting to the moon.

In the 1950s I think, there was a very serious plan to build a nuclear powered vehicle to get into space. The idea was to create a timed series of nuclear explosions using bombs, underneath the strengthened base of the 'rocket' (only its not a rocket really) and these would propel the payload upward in a series of, presumably painful, jerks!

Pollution and radioactivity were taken into account but not thought to major obstacles.

Ian P

Edit…

Oops! I posted the above before I read Jason's post.

Edited By Ian Phillips on 20/03/2014 19:03:57

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