MEW for Beginners

[Colin Jacobs 1Participant @colinjacobs1]

Having more time on my hands and have the resources and workshop to
start Model Engineering I purchased MEW in the hope that this would help
beginners like me learn about the basic skills and tips needed for a
Model Engineers Workshop. Instead I find and baffling extension of Model
Engineer.

I would love to read a magazine for beginners, and workshop hints and
tips or at least a few pages on a Model Engineers Foundation Course.

Perhaps a list of engineers in each county who would be prepared to offer their services to beginners. ( I have contacted one who lives nearby.)

I wont be put off by MEW but could we return to the older format which I
see from Ebay bought magazines was far better inclined to beginners
than it is now?.

 

[Colin Jacobs 1Participant @colinjacobs1]

Lets go back to the old days

[David Clark 13Participant @davidclark13]

Hi There

The problem is twofold.

First I can only publish articles that I receive.

Secondly, many readers have read all the early MEWs through to the latest ones and are no longer beginners.

 

However, I will try to sort out a beginners series for the near future.

regards David

[Colin Jacobs 1Participant @colinjacobs1]

So as a writer myself could I write a beginners blog? What happens to the beginners now? Where do they get the knowledge from?

[Gray62Participant @gray62]

Maybe it would be helpful if everyone who contributes to this site if they created a public profile and as a minimum gave some indication as to which part of the country they reside in.

I have made contact with a number of members in my local area but I am sure there are many more.

Creating a public profile does not ‘expose’ any more than you are willing to reveal however, it does give an insight into who you are and where you are, both geographically and in your ME experience.

 

regards

 

CB ( East Hampshire)

[Dinosaur EngineerParticipant @dinosaurengineer]

The only real way of learning the basic skills is to have someone show you and then learn from your mistakes. If you’ve never had any experience of machining or fitting then one of the best ways to start would be to take a GSCE in metalwork or equivalent at a local college/school with a qualified instructor. It is possible to learn some things from books & magazines but the practical skills can only be learnt actually performing the basic operations.

[AlasdairMParticipant @alasdairm]

Hi Colin,

 

In case you have not seen them, as a fellow-beginner I find the MIT videos extremely helpful – link to them is:

 

http://techtv.mit.edu/search?q=machine+shop

 

All the best, Alasdair

Edited By AlasdairM on 22/02/2011 08:04:23

[John Somers 2Participant @johnsomers2]

Hi Coiln

 

One resource that is designed to assist beginners can be found at

http://start-model-engineering.co.uk/

 

the site now includes the MIT videos referred to by Alasdair.

 

John

Edited By John Somers 1 on 22/02/2011 09:25:10

[John CoatesParticipant @johncoates48577]

Posted by Colin Jacobs 1 on 21/02/2011 20:19:12:
What happens to the beginners now? Where do they get the knowledge from?

 

Aha! At last a question I am qualified to answer! Bought lathe in Sept 2009 then mill in Jan 2010 and began cutting metal in May 2010.

 

Joined local ME society but it is centred around running trains or traction engines not model engineering but has introduced me to a couple of people who will help me out. So that hasn’t helped me much but it is an interesting way of spending one evening a month. I can’t help out at the track because they do it every Tuesday (when I’m at work).

 

Books – bought loads of these: Sparey, the Workshop Practice series, both George Thomas ones. Very good to give you a grounding but lacking a bit in basic technique and advice which is where this forum has helped fill in the spaces.

 

Magazine – MEW since issue 160. Sometimes it has articles of little relevance to me (CNC, 3D), sometimes they are over my head but I find now when I go back and read them, being a little more practised, they make sense and I understand the principle or the method. Overall the majority are enjoyable to read or offer items to make that I can see adapting to my lathe or mill.

 

Online resources – other than asking questions on forums (mainly this one now) I have not watched video tutorials

 

Hands on – building on all the above, you can’t beat getting your hands dirty. My work is not pretty but it is functional. I make mistakes, sometimes costly ones. But I am enjoying it and every little step leads on to the next stage. My accuracy is getting better so things now fit, my finishing is getting better so they look prettier. So far I have made tools or adapters to get tools working. Next are bits to adapt bits off different motorcycles onto my mororcycles. Best thing I did alongside learning the ME skills is convert both lathe and mill to 3 phase for variable speed control. All of a sudden my cutting and finishing improved because I was not trying to do different operations at the same speed.

 

Oh and I am having a lot of fun at the same time

 

John

[The Merry MillerParticipant @themerrymiller]

I must concur with CoalBurner in respect of members profiles.

 

As a minimum, it would be nice to have the member’s name, county and the town or city.

 

We don’t really need the life history of the member, we manage, eventually, to extract that info from the posts that they submit.

 

I personally would love to know if there were members of the model engineering fraternity in my locality that I could make contact with!

 

I suppose there could always be an ulterior motive for not including these details , the mind boggles at what some of the motives could be.

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

Interesting request from Colin because I do not consider myself to be particularly knowledgable in engineering, or anything else for that matter especially since my expertise at work has now been totally superceded by modern digital systems.

 

But anyway, moving on from something slightly off topic…

 

I have a local friend who has recently taken up Model Engineering. He, being a retired chemical engineer, is reasonably intelligent, but appears to know even less than I did when I first started some 16 or so years ago. As a result, I am having to show and explain quite a lot of basic material.

 

I have also been contacted via another forum by a gentleman who has obtained the same lathe as myself. Again, I am having to explain via emails certain things as we go along. To be fair, this last person is mainly asking questions about the lathe, not the procedures involved, but the first person, is also asking about procedures.

 

I have taken the liberty of recommending certain book to these people. I say liberty because I am aware that one writers style may suit one person but does not necessarily suit another, however the recommendations do appear to have been generally well received.

 

With that in mind, and as someone who has had to learn by reading and experimenting, I would recommend as a starter book, “Using the Small Lathe” by L C Mason. My friend describes this book as being written by someone writing for the amateur. It is an old book, but nevertheless the techniques and ideas are still valid and don’t go into the same details as do Bradley, Sparey and Thomas. All three writers assume that you already know something about the subject.

 

For further reading I would certainly recommend any of the books by Tubal Cain. I find that I can always understand what he is saying, although remembering it is something else entirely.

For general engineering, The Peter Wright book, “Model Engineering. A Foundation Course” is quite good.

As I always do, I would strongly recommend applying to the local library in the first instance as this way you can discover whether or not the books are suitable for your needs.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Peter G. Shaw

 

ps.

For anyone with queries about the Warco 220 lathe, I am always willing to explain what I know by email – use the personal message system.

 

I actually live near Cockermouth in West Cumbria, and whilst I know there are other much more highly skilled Model Engineers around I would be willing to offer limited assistance to anyone starting. I say limited because I do not have much knowledge, but what I do have, I am quite willing to share. First contact via the personal messaging system please.

 

 

[John CoatesParticipant @johncoates48577]

In the forum on Homeworkshop.org they have a similar thread but they have got mired in issues of health and safety and liability of being sued if the trainee (for want of a better word) injures (either at home by themselves or at the premises of the model engineer providing the tuition) themself whilst following the tuition or practices of the teacher

 

What a selfish, litigious, damned unfriendly society we must now live in !

 

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Hi Colin,

 

I have an interesting Boxford lathe book. This was given with each machine purchased by schools. I inherited mine when a local school sold off all of it’s manual Boxfords. It goes a long way to showing what procedures are possible and has lots of useful tips on most types of turning and on setting up the lathe, how to apply very small, accurate cuts etc.

 

While I realise that you may not have a Boxford lathe most information is generic to lathework and so is useful to all turners. whatever their machines. If you would like a copy on CD please send a private message and I will gladly forward one.

 

Best regards

 

Terry

Edited By Terryd on 22/02/2011 16:34:46

[Colin Jacobs 1Participant @colinjacobs1]

Sadly my local ME club was unsuitable as I just sat there and nobody really wanted to know me. It was not my thing at all.

 

Nothing practical went on just men playing with trains and steam engines. I felt a bit out of my depth and not really one of the gang so I silently left

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

Terry,

 

Is this book the “Know Your Lathe” book. Because if it is, I’d forgotten I have it, and yes it does have some generic information in it. Again, it is probably available via the library service which I think is where I first found it.

 

Regards,

 

Peter

[magpieParticipant @magpie]

Hi Colin

It did’nt take you long to find out what the clubs are all about did it.

And then they wonder why the hobbie is dying !!!!!!!!

Cheers Derek

[Colin Jacobs 1Participant @colinjacobs1]

yes no lathe (HSE put a stop to that) Not at all welcoming to beginners and rather aloof.

 

 

[WALLACEParticipant @wallace]

When I first got my lathe, I spent a happy few hours playing around with feeds, depth of cuts, how far things could be sticking out of the chuck etc. Broke a few tools in the process, but did learn an awfull lot. Obviously, youll need to try this with a bit of common sense – no 1″ cuts on a square lump of high tensile steel at 2000 rpm . . .But you can usually get an idea when a lathe’s complaining by the sound – and sight (eg blue swarf !) – it makes.

 

There was a very good series in MEW by Harold Hall a few years ago covering all aspects of starting to use a lathe – maybe he could be persuaded to reprint it all in a Workshop Series book ?

 

But I do feel a bit for David – I gurantee the moment he starts on a similar series, he’ll be accused of dumbing down and repeating old articles . . . .

 

W

 

(Lincolnshire)

[Bill StarlingParticipant @billstarling10428]

Dear Colin,

Just seen your request. Not strictly what you asked but, as a recent complete beginner, I must give a very strong recommendation for the SMEE training courses. (See http://www.sm-ee.co.uk) They are held in London so it means a long day out, but should be possible by train from Beccles. (End of advert!)

Good luck,

Bill. (Norfolk)

[TerrydParticipant @terryd72465]

Hi Peter,

 

That’s exactly the book I was referring to, and one of the best basic books available. Simple text and no waffling (unlike some of the postings here ),

 

Best regards

 

Terry

[KWILParticipant @kwil]

Colin, It is not the HSE, it must be the Club where you visited. Malden & District SME where I am a Member has the most extensive workshop imaginable. It is open to all Members and guidance is available for those who need it. I must confess that it is only the surface grinder I have a need to use as I have most machines at home.

Edited By KWIL on 23/02/2011 09:20:29

[Gordon WParticipant @gordonw]

Colin- the only advice I can give, as an engineer by trade, but brand new to modelmaking is to just start. Get a mixed pack of mild steel rounds from one of the sellers on ebay, start making something simple. Suggest something like a die-holder. Start with shallow cuts and work up, soon find the limits. Well you get the general idea. PS, I don’t like clubs either, most seem to act like private meetings between old mates.

[John CoatesParticipant @johncoates48577]

Posted by Gordon W on 23/02/2011 10:05:33:

PS, I don’t like clubs either, most seem to act like private meetings between old mates.

Mine seems to be an opportunity to settle old scores in public! They really are quite nasty when it comes to competition for officer posts. I just sit back and watch the carefully worded jibes and counter jibes about who is or isn’t qualified to do some job or the other. There are always vacant positions at the end of the day but I think that’s because of an “I won’t work with HIM” attitude once the senior positions have been filled (if vacant). I’d love to help but they do all the work on the track on a Tuesday morning and I’m a nipper by comparison (46) and still at work five days a week. They’re mainly retired off the steelworks. Nice bunch of grumpy old men nevertheless. I have volunteered for the New Carriages Refurbishment Project Team in the hope I can use the lathe or mill together with my motorcycle maintenance skills but they seem to have been measuring and CAD’ing for the past three months since the matter was raised so it’s obviously not progressing very fast. Next meeting next Wednesday so I’ll see where things are at then!

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

Thanks Terry.

 

I think probably the reason I had forgotten about it is that it is a photocopy onto A4 paper, ie two pages at a time on each side and so has to be held in landscape fashion which does make it rather difficult to hold. Hence does not get read as often as perhaps it should.

 

Regards,

Peter

[John Somers 2Participant @johnsomers2]

I subscribe to the methods put forward by Gordon and Wallace. I was approaching 70 when I purchased my first lathe and had no practical engineering experience. I taught myself by cautious trial and error.

I recall struggling on my first attempt mainly due to the fact I was rotating the chuck in the wrong direction ! I got the hang of things after a few days and have progressed from there. Clearly there is a need for extreme caution guided by large dollops of common sense. I still look in awe at the standard of finish and accuracy achieved by others but at the same time am pleased with the progress made. After a few weeks I was fortunate in finding a mentor who helped me greatly with technique nevertheless my basic machining abilities were largely self taught.

Whilst I certainly do not feel qualified or indeed capable of proving intensive training I am more than happy to show beginners the basics of lathe and mill work, though they enter my workshop completely at their own risk ! Don’t come crying to me if you cut your finger.

Should anyone within reasonable distance of the Wetherby area wish to take advantage of my offer then send me a pm thro the site with a bit of info on your interest in model engineering and I will see if I can help.

John
author of http://start-model-engineering.co.uk

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