Member postings for Neil Wyatt

You need to open an imaging programe, go to File --> New from Clipboard.

Then save as a JPEG.

Photo frames... why is a photo frame of any given size more expensive than an android tablet?

Neil

That's a good question.

My experience is that 12V halogen bulbs swap well with 12V LED ones.

'Current' driver misled me for a moment as I thought you had a 'constant current' power supply which would overwhelm LEDs at Halogen currents!

Neil

Welcome Peter!

Neil

Ah memories of the best arcade game ever

It stole lots of my student beer money! Yes, I did manage to destroy the Death Star at least once!

Neil

Hi folks,

I will be attending the Exhibition on Friday 14th. I'm travelling up from South Wales, so I may not be there until mid-morning.

I plan to stay for most of the day, though I do need to get back in good time for an evening event.

Please don't be shy about saying hello, despite the lockdowns I still bear a passing resemblance to my 'Ed's Bench' photo!

Regards

Neil

I've changed it to a repeat of the email link above. It's useful for me to keep track of requests and gives people the opportunity to ask questions.

I've had lots of responses to the post above, which is good news.

Neil

Some people do.

But I get lots of questions, so the guide tries to address these. Also, some things make articles difficult to edit; for example I can get articles with a few dozen photos, but no captions, and no indications of where they go in the text. Or articles that describe a device, but forget to explain exactly what does or include a useful photo of what it looks like.

Then there are all the issues of sending files I can't view or transferring them in ways that lock me out from downloading them. Then there are things like avoiding lots of complicated formatting and making sure photos have sufficient resolution. Also that pictures aren't edited or manipulated in ways that make them difficult to use.

Naturally, people like an indication of when their article will appear and what they might be paid, how and when as well.

Plus, the pack hopefully has some encouragement for new authors by explaining what the key requirements are in a simple summary document - and reassuring them that things like dyslexia or English as a second language are not barriers to contributing.

Neil

A new author pack with the new (much simpler) Mortons paperwork and refined advice for submissions is now available and has (hopefully) been sent to everyone who requested one.

If you would like to receive one, or have asked and it hasn't arrived for some reason, please email me using this link:

REQUEST MEW AUTHOR PACK

Aside from the new forms and payment arrangements, most of the changes are minor.

I hope to receive many requests, and many great artilcles as a result!

Many thanks,

Neil

Editor, MEW

Thanks for the feedback folks,

I have had several emails and some useful contributions, as will be seen. As well as more feedback on content. It IS being read and digested!

With workshop photos, I won't include an address and only a locality IF the person wants me to.

Neil

Hi Derek,

I haven't seen it ... it may have gone to my old email address which is now inaccessible.

Try sending to [email protected]

Thanks

Neil

Strictly back gear is built into the headstock and uses gears not belts and pulleys. You can use a seperate shaft and pulleys to achieve a similar result.

Neil

I'm pleased to say that contributions for Scribe a Line and Readers' Ads continue to be healthy. In fact, I had to include three whole pages of reader letters in the last issue!

We also had a good response to the English Wheel give-away.

But there are some things that seem not to be attracting a lot of interest from readers.

I have only had a small response to the Stevenson Trophy - has no one made any interesting tooling in the last couple of years? There's still a week to get an entry in.

No-one has sent in a photograph of their workshop, with or without themselves in shot! I have modest prizes to give away and no-one to give them to. It would be great to have some well composed and lit shots to feature, and hopefully some would be good enough to use on the cover.

I'm running short of readers tips, I know we have to limit prizes to UK readers for practical reasons, but I see so many good suggestions and ideas on the forum. I only need a handful of photos (or just one good one) and a paragraph of description, and you could win a decent voucher to spend.

It seems that, on the whole, readers are reluctant to enter these simple competitions, despite readily submitting letters and photos for Scribe a Line, for example.

It would really help me to get some feedback on why this is? Reply to this thread or by email if you prefer.

And of course if anyone wants to enter these competitions, please do!

Thanks,

Neil

[email protected]

I make regular use of another forum, and pay £20 a year as a 'supporter' - this also gives me the right to place classified adverts, which I haven't ever done. I also get 'supporter' on my avatar FWIW.

It's voluntary and not the same as a 'paywall'.

There is already a 'paywall' here as I mentioned in my previous post. The digital archives are behind it (for digital subscribers) as are some articles, accessible to all subscribers (print and digital).

The forum can't ever be really free - someone has to pay for it!

Aside from the limited advertising, it comes out of magazine sales income, the benefit being attracting and helping retain readers and subscribers, the argument for keeping access 'free'.

Neil

I don't think anyone's thoughts on this are advance enough to be clear about specific plans.

Something that will need to be looked at is what goes behind any paywall; my feeling is it is likely to be another, more flexible, way of presenting the digital editions. Essentially it becomes a new, more convenient (for some), way of accessing the content digitally and as such hopefully encourages readers to maintain or switch to a digital subscription.

It makes sense to keep the forum free, from a business perspective the forum is about building our audience as well as supporting existing readers and subscribers. (One exception - discussion of content behind the paywall might end up limited to those who can access the content, for the obvious reason you are likely to link content and discussion on the same page.)

If so, I believe it's probable that any 'paywall' content is part of a digital subscription, so no-one has to pay extra for it. In essence, it's no different from the digital archive which is behind a paywall. There is already a small amount of 'subscriber only' content that both digital and paper subscribers can access by entering their subs numbers.

The difference a more structured paywall could do is allow non-subscribers to buy access to a single article or issue or perhaps for a period of time.

Neil

P.S. comments above about deleting threads - no one is perfect, but decisions have to be made, often quickly. The moderators do a sterling job of keeping all sorts of rubbish of the forum from dodgy accounts to all sorts of spam messages. If you encounter the odd mistake, please remember the huge effort put in by the moderators to keep the forum an orderly and civilised place for discussion, all of whom are volunteers.

Mortons plan to upgrade the forum software. I'm not sure people will be able yo buy specific changes though!

Feel free to share your ideas for desairable changes, but they may get more notice with a more specific thread title.

Neil

I was half expecting to read "... and when I regained consciousness the sleeve had popped out!"

I have a TItanic II, rarely used in anger, but yes easy to use.

Neil

No, it's like low temperature gas welding, the weld pool definitely eats into the work. Overdo it and you will eat a hole right through it. Very different to sodlering but quite fun.

Neil

Find your local council-run MOT centre. They have NO financial interest in finding faults.

Neil

The problem was sourcing PDFs of older issues.

The recent issues are digitally generated PDFs from the proofs, the older issues have to be scanned with the limitations of that process, especially when dealing with thirty year old magazines.

Neil

Hi Lee,

The option is here as the rightmost tab.

www.classicmagazines.co.uk/subscription/MEW

Neil