Member postings for Neil Wyatt

It's an interesting point Carl raises, and not to be dismissed lightly.

Many readers of MEW will not realise that in many of the earlier issues much of the content was written by the editor, initially Stan Bray and then Harold Hall. I know Harold was quite open about this when looking retrospectively at his time as editor.

If your read old copies of ME, you'll find many articles by Edgar T. Westbury, Ned, Artificer and Kinimette. Many of these are stand alone articles - all written by the same man. Now ETW was an exceptional talent, but spoke in different 'voices' for slightly different audiences and areas of model engineering.

If there was a deception, it was only to try to give the impression of a larger band of regular contributors to the reader.

Tom Walshaw's use of a pen-name was probably to keep his hobby distinct from his professional writing.

I adopted the Stub Mandrel nickname for a simple reason. When I started using this forum, in the days of the all-powerful search engine, I wanted to keep my hobby separate from my professional work. I wanted to share my hobby with other hobbyists.

I won't pretend my writing is in the same league as these folks, but I do know that, from time to time, I may need to fill small gaps in the magazine. Is it deceit to keep these distinct from truly editorial content?

What I am more interested in is being able to remain actively engaged with this forum. I may not be the greatest expert, but I do try to help beginners where I can and be part of the general life of the forum. Having the two names would help clarify when I am speaking in an official capacity, and what is simply day to day participation as a fellow model engineer.

I could change the Stub Mandrel account to Neil Wyatt, which might have the confusing effect of making my past ramblings look like official policy. It would also break conversations as posts would reply to the 'invisible' Stub Mandrel. Or I could abandon poor Stub altogether, at least for the time of my tenure as editor.

If I do run parallel accounts, I would make sure that the profiles for both accounts made it clear who was whom (or which witch is which?)

It's not a subject I expected to raise much heat, but if anyone has strong feelings on this, please make them known.

I think the point about long versus short articles is completely separate from the name appended to them. I agree totally that each issue of MEW needs to offer interest and value to the casual reader, and this can't be of most of the content is long series. Equally, a monthly magazine does offer the chance to explore more complex subjects and provide regular readers with something to look forward to, through running connected articles.

Finding the balance is not an easy task as views range the whole spectrum. Trying to find the 'sweet spot' that satisfies the most (or annoys the fewest) readers will be one of my main challenges.

Neil

(Edited because I am going to look pretty daft if don't correct my own bad typing!)

Edited By Neil Wyatt on 11/02/2014 18:25:05

Hi Richard

Most of the regular advertisers sell versions of a small linisher with a 1" belt and 4" disk. It is often on offer. I have one and its very good.

If you look at THIS THREAD there's a good discussion of different types.

Neil

I'd like to start a thread discussing the best way of covering the field of 3-D printing in MEW. It's probably the most revolutionary of the 'new' technologies available to model engineers. Although it requires us to think in new ways, the basic principles are easily understood and my understanding is that it is not difficult for anyone familiar with CAD/CAM/CNC techniques to achieve results with it.

I'm aware that this is probably a rather short term debate. By 2020 I would not be surprised to see constructional series that included turned, milled and printed parts as a matter of course. But the next five years or so will see the further maturation of this technology,. and some of the things on offer now will turn out to be dead ends or a waste of money and effort. I'd like MEW to take a role in helping readers make the right choices, to know if it's right for them and to make sure they don't end up with expensive white elephants gathering dust in the workshop.

So, what are the questions you have on 3-D printing? What aspects of it are generally understood and what needs to be explained?

What sort of things might you use a 3-D printer for and what sort of articles would interest you?

What level of coverage should we give 3-D printing in MEW?

What are the popular machines 'out there' and which are the ones that offer most to home workshops? What sort of budget are people likely to invest in 3-D printers? Should we focus on the RepRap type machines or look at the next level up?

What sort of software do you use, and what would you recommend for the beginner?

So, over to you...

Neil

Thanks Peter,

I won't pretend you're suggesting I'm the same league as Tubal Cain As I recall he used Tom Walshaw for professional publications (e.g. about diesel engine design) and ornamental turning, and Tubal Cain for model engineering.

Neil

> WOULD YOU BUY A USED MYFORD FROM THIS MAN ??

John! I've just spent half an hour looking for the Myford in my workshop and I still can't find it.

Neil

Thanks to everyone for your good wishes.

You'll see that this is my first post in my own name.

I'm not sure whether poor old Stub Mandrel has a future. He may well post about day to day workshop activities and even write the odd article for MEW or ME, while I reserve this account for my 'official' postings, but Stub won't be hiding his true identity.

Neil