MEW, ME, RCM&E and Model Boats under new ownership.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Hopefully, the new owners will continue to support the hobby through it's magazines, and through Shows (Which under present conditions are very thin on the ground, regretted by many hobbyists and the traders who supply them )

But to survive the titles have to turn a profit, by some means.

The hobby needs to take notice of, explore, and promote the new technologies as that come along, but also to nurture the older techniques..

For some, an old machine is their entry point into the hobby, either through choice to refurbish, or through economic choice or necessity, so should not be ignored.

Without model engineering, and the preservation movement in general, many skills will be lost, so that heritage will be lost for ever.

There is room for all preferences, so that they need to be encouraged. Let us hope that the new owners fully support the hobby..

Howard

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, I think CNC and 3D printing probably should have a bigger presents in both ME and MEW, but not everyone is interested in one or the other or both. So there needs to be a balance without one or the other or conventional methods being dominate, and if this doesn't happen, the magazines may loose as many or even more sales as they gain. I believe one or two hobby electronics magazines started to put more and more computer related construction and less practical everyday construction in their magazines and lost sales and eventually disappeared from the shelves. It is always hard to judge what the balance really is in long running magazines, but there needs to be enough content for those that have a very limited budget for machines and tools, let alone materials. I do admire CNC and 3D printing techniques, but I've no desire to learn how to use them and I'm quite happy to keep twiddling knobs etc.

Call me a luddite if you will, but I'm not in the slightest bothered if you do.

Regards Nick.

[Howard LewisParticipant @howardlewis46836]

Horse for courses!

What i do does not call, as yet, for CNC or 3D Printing, but there are others for whom such techniques are preferred.

So there needs to be a balance between the Bluers and scrapers, knob twiddlers and the keyboard bashers

There is a place in the hobby formany sorts, witness the range of activities supported by those who post on here.

Howard.

Edited By Howard Lewis on 05/04/2022 11:44:01

[Roderick JenkinsParticipant @roderickjenkins93242]

Posted by JasonB on 05/04/2022 10:04:18.

Who knows we may even get a change of forum software that will allow for attachments of things like .stp and .stl files, combine that with authors running a concurrent thread on the forum as the likes of Luker and I do then no need to waste a page of the mag with boring code, just load it to the forum.

Always assuming that Mortons wish to continue supporting the forum…

Do any of their existing magazines have associated forums?

Rod

[Bob WorsleyParticipant @bobworsley31976]

Been reading lots of ME's from the 1930's onward. And they are still relevant and useful, the 2.1/2" King in 1932, which the drawings for can be bought from Percival Marshall. Who? This is the problem of CNC and 3D printing etc that in a few years they will be irrelevant due to software changes etc, look at your computer!

I might be in a minority of one but I have no interest at all in computer machining at home, I want to be able to make the item now and in 20 years.

As for people writing, ha, I posted a missive on boilers, only just out of hospital for burns after the flaming I got. I certainly won't bother trying again!

[derek hall 1Participant @derekhall1]

I think the reason is why I am more aligned with the post that Nicholas made is that there seems to be an awful amount of CAD software to buy and hours spent learning how to use it (and more heated discussions on which is the best), what electronics are needed? how to convert manual machines to CAM etc.

And the issue with all the above is that it all goes out of date so quickly, software needs updates sometimes you have to pay for it, electronics goes faulty and are virtually impossible to repair and replacement bits are unavailable or not made any more.

So while I seem like a luddite I will continue to be a "manual" machinist but I would like a DRO on my Emco mill sometimes….

I use laptops and computers at work, I have had enough of them by the end of the day!

Horses for courses though and all that!

Regards to all

Derek

[SamsarandaParticipant @samsaranda]

I am with you Bob, I like the hands on approach machining parts the old fashioned way, I can programme a CNC as in a past life I used to write the programmes for inspecting our company’s products on a CNC Co-ordinate measuring machine. I also think that purchasing hobby CNC machines takes a considerable financial investment over and above that required for manual machines, at this time I can find other uses for the extra money that a CNC would consume in its purchase. Here’s hoping that Morton’s keep the magazines as they are, there is a good mix which seems to please most readers. Dave W

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

But the 3D designs of today can still be used to make 2D paper drawings that are no different from ones 90yrs old (should be better actually) and could still be read in another 90years. Up to the individual how they want to make what's on the drawings, I tend to treat each part separately and use what method best suits me.

[David-Clark 1Participant @david-clark1]

Hi Jason

I spent a considerable time making old Nimrod aircraft parts. There were no drawings, they took a part from a plane and put it through a CMM and the drawing never left the electronic stage. I spent about a fortnight milling about 30 bits of aluminium which were all surfaced to fit the matching parts. I came in one night shift and found then day shift had machined the perfectly profiled faces flat with a fly cutter.

All my hard work ruined. The point is that the original components probably were flat but after 30 years on a plane they were all different shapes from the stresses of being flown in a plane. What I could never figure out was why did some MOD tw*t decide to build new 30 year old aircraft using stressed components from 30 year old planes. A short while later, I heard that they had let a JCB loose on the planes to destroy them.

Another waste of taxpayers money.

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 05/04/2022 16:23:08

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Posted by Roderick Jenkins on 05/04/2022 14:24:54:

Posted by JasonB on 05/04/2022 10:04:18.

Who knows we may even get a change of forum software that will allow for attachments of things like .stp and .stl files, combine that with authors running a concurrent thread on the forum as the likes of Luker and I do then no need to waste a page of the mag with boring code, just load it to the forum.

Always assuming that Mortons wish to continue supporting the forum…

Do any of their existing magazines have associated forums?

Rod

I don't think they do Rod but speaking with Neil the other week they seem keen on carrying on with a forum.

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

I've moves some of the more CAD/CAM specific posts to a new thread so this one does not drift too much

[SillyOldDufferModerator @sillyoldduffer]

I wonder if the move was inspired by analysing the interests shown on the forum. In addition to the mother lode of steam enthusiasts, the Forum has car and motorbike restorers, radio amateurs, computer programmers, photographers, professional machinists, astronomers, historic gun and machine-tool enthusiasts, plus retired engineers, scientists and techies of all types. Avionics to X-rays – you name it, someone on here knows.

Before I knew what Model Engineering was about, I assumed the mag specialised in duffers riding puffers. It was only after a tool mentioned on the cover caught my eye that I bought a copy and discovered the magazine covers a lot more than toy trains. (No disrespect. All toy trains are magic and steam locos are sex on rails, woof, woof. )

Later I discovered MEW, which I think is the best practical home metalworking magazine available. Again it covers much more than 'Model Engineering' might imply to an outsider.

I suspect Mortons Media's readers are the sort of people who would buy ME and MEW if they knew what Model Engineering really is: a smidgen of cross advertising across the group could attract new readers. And as Mortons Media don't seem to have embraced the internet yet, that too is an opportunity for their other titles.

Bet this is all covered in Percival Marshall's 1898 Business Plan!

Dave

[Ady1Participant @ady1]

Good luck to all at ME/MEW with future developments

I'm wondering if the new owners are going to put all the back issues of the ME online, there's some serious leveraging of the business possible if they do that

Edited By Ady1 on 05/04/2022 18:50:49

[Tim StevensParticipant @timstevens64731]

As a regular contributor to Motorcycle Sport, when it was a Tee production, I await developments with interest. And so does my wife, who was the MCS editor's secretary and girl-friday for several interesting years up to 1980.

Regards, Tim

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

Posted by John McNamara on 05/04/2022 04:37:19:

Hi All
A quick ramble from a grey haired machinist.

A spring clean in the UK with a new broom, maybe a good thing, Model engineering or as I prefer to call it DIY Home shop machining is changing. Like it or not Automation is coming. While there will always be traditional hand guided precision toolmaker level machine work. CNC Automation is here to stay.

I have always wondered why ME and MEW focussed so heavily on Hand work. There must be a balance. The magazines need to increase their readership in order to prosper. MEW needs to change. They must embrace new technology. CNC Machining, CNC Plasma cutting, 3D printing, CNC routing . Essential for the up and coming around 30 something younger readers.

Once you get over the shock of new tech you will find that all the hand skills learnt over a lifetime are not lost at all, they are needed to run that new fangled CNC widget. You are still dealing with different materials, cutting tools, feeds and speeds etc.

Before I press the send button on this and no doubt ruffle many feathers, a bit, but not, like the new duckling as painted in Alfred Noyes poem, please take the time to consider where our special hobby is heading?

Tn this case the duck needs to survive just like the magazines. Change is a good thing if it is balanced.

Regards
John

PS:
A while back I posted in the MEW forum under "DIY Epoxy Frame based CNC mill" Regrettably not finished due to life's pressures, I will get back to it as soon as my new home workshop shed is built. Waiting on the council approval, fingers crossed it is soon.

This thread alone has had over 62,000 views on this forum and counting. 62K views shows there is genuine interest in CNC from this forums viewers in this sort of machine build.

Hi John,

The answer seems to be that those who are most interested in these more modern technologies prefer, as you do, to blog their builds and ideas online, rather than write them up for magazines.

I can only publish the content I get, although I do encourage people to write on certain topics if I can.

So the answer is – back to you, if that's the sort of content you'd like to see, write and submit some articles, and it might encourage others to follow suit!

Neil

[David-Clark 1Participant @david-clark1]

So Neil

What sort of articles are you looking for?

[KWILParticipant @kwil]

Could still be called MEW, My Engineering Workshop a magazine for all aspects of home workshop use.

[David-Clark 1Participant @david-clark1]

Hi KWIL

We went through the renaming exercise about 12 years ago. Every name we came up with conflicted with one of the American titles so we left it alone.

[Neil WyattModerator @neilwyatt]

It's not clear what Mortons' plans are for the forum, aside from the fact they appreciate how important it is and want it to continue.

They have different systems, and it will take a while for things to adapt.

As for content, we have featured more and more new technology – Mark Noel and Mike Cox's recent articles both used 3D printing where in the past other approaches would have been used.

I would really like to see offers of articles on a wider range of subjects including (in no particular order):

Anodising

Spark erosion

Laser/water jet cut parts

Using small CNC machines (e.g. engravers) as light CNC mills.

Advanced CNC (e.g. 5-axis machining).

Plasma cutter (long overdue, never been covered as far as I can see).

More articles on incorporating pre-built modules and parts into builds.

More on developments with adhesives, resins, retainers, abrasives etc.

Modern fixings.

Advances in 3D printing like SLA and sintering.

Other useful things – like using a vinyl cutter to produce decals or sublimation printing.

More ideas on electronics (we've done DRO, VFD, ELS/dividing to death, let have some new ideas!)

Other advances – there's loads of new and better PPE out there and younger people are more likely to use it.

Using engineering skills to support other hobbies – we had an interesting one about working with abalone/mother of pearl last month. More on approaches to making parts for car/bike restoration, model boats/aircraft, musical instruments, meteorology, astronomy, measuring instruments etc. etc.

I have an idea for making anti-vibration feet for my hifi turntable using turned aluminium cups and silicone sealer, for example, something like that could find other applications.

Plus, still happy to get content on 'traditional' approaches.

For example, I think the situation for getting castings done has greatly improved, I would like to have an article that covers the whole process from concept through pattern making and getting castings made by a foundry through to machining them.

Neil

[JasonBModerator @jasonb]

Might be able to do something about the last one as have some fag packet sketches or old engravings taken to completed model. Would be working up the design in CAD, pattern making with CNC and traditional machining though depending on timing may also be CNC machining. Outsourced casting though.

Could call it ME Workshop, as in "just going out to me workshop"

[David-Clark 1Participant @david-clark1]

JasonB, that sounds interesting.

[Nicholas FarrParticipant @nicholasfarr14254]

Hi, for MEW, the Model could be replaced and it could be called Miscellaneous Engineers' Workshop, but perhaps that's to many letters.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 06/04/2022 11:03:45

[Nick WheelerParticipant @nickwheeler]

Neil,

YES to all of those things from me.

I buy MEW for the workshop part, not 'model engineer.' Which means techniques, design criteria and decisions, new equipment, old equipment used in new ways are always more interesting than yet another Myford polishing series.

My suggestion would be to prefix every entry in your topic list above with Things you need to know when ordering/buying/designing(delete as appropriate) for a series of one or two page articles. A worked example of laser cut side plates for a locomotive frame would be equally applicable for the suspension brackets for my proposed hot-rod chassis.

[Peter G. ShawParticipant @peterg-shaw75338]

A bit like Nick above, I want to be able to twiddle knobs and create something, effectively by hand. I am not interested in CNC, CAM etc, and only interested in CAD in so much as it enables me to produce readable drawings. The idea of using Gcode, or whatever, on a computer, to tell a tool which way to move absolutely does not appeal. I have done a small amount of computer programming, found that I can do it – and promptly lost interest. Yet, using my machines to shape a piece of metal still absorbs my interest, probably because I still can't do it to a high enough standard.

In a similar manner, in the mid '70's,I taught myself basic transistor circuit design in order to achieve something I had been tasked to do. Back then I was using + & -50V supplies, something which 5V TTL wasn't happy with (can't think why!). Today, those selfsame circuits would have been created by a dedicated integrated circuit, a black box with many legs and little or no information about what was inside. Now OK, probably a better design that what I could do, but where is the interest? At least my transistor designs were easy to understand and easy to repair.

A few years later, my then manager authorised me to buy the Sinclair Mk14 kit so that I could learn how microcomputers worked. A simple system, with a limited set of machine code commands, but it gave me a basic understanding of how computers worked. And indeed, I learned how to interconnect the system to the outside world, although I never actually did so. But the point was that I understood how to do it.

And there lies an important point. I suspect that there are a lot of people like me who want to know how the thing works, not just "do this" and it will work. And this is why I think that a basic, low level, magazine which covers the techniques of using machine tools, and how to use them is a necessity. Otherwise, and this to an extent is already happening, we will be heading down a path where only a select few will know how things work: everyone else will just use it.

As an example of this, I will finish by relating another aspect of my life. Back in the early '70's I attended an adult recreation class and learnt how B&W televisions worked. Quite simple really, basically just an extension to AM radios. But the came along colour TV. Actually, it was already here, but the internal works started to get a bit more complicated, eg the use of Lecher lines for tuning purposes. Plus stereo sound. And what of today? Multiplexes combining a number of channels onto one carrier frequency and using fancy techniques to extract the information. Really, I don't know how it now works. And so we have the situation when 50 years ago I, and anyone else could reasonably easily understand how TV works, but not today.

Whether or not MEW is due for a change I cannot say, but I do think that there is, and will always be, a need for basic level information.

Regards,

Peter G. Shaw

[David-Clark 1Participant @david-clark1]

Hi Peter

i built one of the first Sinclair MK14. Great fun. I had to send it back to Sinclair because it was faulty. Turns out the rims were faulty.

Then I learnt to program it. Then I upgraded to a proper color computer. Been programming ever since, how I got into CMC.

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