Member postings for Ian Skeldon 2

Hi again Ken,

I thought what would I do if I had your skills and abilities and wanted to earn just a little extra without working full time. I think I would put together a concise covering letter and then go and visit local engineering companies offering to look at customers requesting small runs or one off jobs that were impractical for the engineering company to do. I would also look at local garages of the none franchised type and let them know what I could do for them, I would also consider checking out cycle shops etc and offer some customer bespoked work etc. I would follow it up every few months and maybe take examples of smaller items that have been made/repaired/modified.

Best wishes and good luck,

Ian

Hi Ken,

I for one would possibly use your services if I needed such help and dependant on where you were located and how much you would charge. However what you are actualy asking for, boils down to free advertising, it really is that basic, and so the organisers of the website and magazine are completely right to decline your suggestion.

Maybe a better solution would be to follow the advice of contacting people who are asking for advice or a particular service and state that you feel that you could assist or produce x, y or z at an estimated cost of £whatever.

Please don't be offended by my posting, I am sure you are a very capable engineer, but the business of running teh mag and website is a very different matter.

Best wishes for 2018,

Ian

Thanks Alan, for some reason I just assumed that the photos were embedded into the post and I couldn't see them, all made clear now.

Why can't I see any image(s)?

Edited By Ian Skeldon 2 on 07/12/2017 20:05:09

Ahhh thank you Dave, might give it a go before paying for MOI 3D.

Hi, fusion 360 free? the best I could achieve was a free trial, can anyone post a link for the free package or explain how its obtained?

Thanks,

Ian

Good point Muzzer, IIRC when I wuz a lad (long, long time ago) we were told in most instances think of CI as hard wearing but brittle and easy to break, you can take away as much as you like but you can't put anything back.

Had a nightmare with Herpes on several occasions and now won't buy anything unless it's being deleivered by PF or DPD, although as I said, DPD have dropped the quality of service in my area a lot and wouldn't be first choice. I had to make a return to ARC recently as an item I received was not as good as it should have been, it wasn't expensive but ARC quickly refunded my money and the postage I paid to return the item, top service.

Hi,

Just thought I would share an update on the subject from my POV.

It would seem that a change in events has now favoured Parcelforce. Recent parcels being delivered by DPD are proving almost impossible to get hold of. They have reduced the pick up options available to me by about 600% leaving just one local option. The only option now for collecting my parcels is open between 09:00 and 18:00 making it totaly useless for such a purpose. So a complete turn around in quality of service has taken place as at least the local post office is available outside of usual office hours.

I would have to be really struggling to get hold of something now to choose a supplier NOT using Parcelforce.

That's NOT how you make iced tea !

Thanks David, job done.

Mods how do I ignore posts from Rockets, he's getting on my tits now.

Just to offer some sort of balance, just over twelve months ago I went to the model engineering show at Stratford, I looked over the offerings from Warco and I was generally ignored, I walked across to Chester and had all my questions answered, I checked over their machines and was happy to order a DB10 Super. Since that time it has performed very well, accuracy is very good. Sure I have re-set the gibs, adjusted a few bits and fitted a larger QCTP, I use a ER32 collet chuck and have achieved very good results.

The machine is not without a concern, please note I said a concern, not a fault or an issue. The concern is that the gears used for screw cutting are not completely concentric on their shaft, I imagine using them for screw cutting could throw up a problem as the gear selector is a rigid arm and idler gear. I have no connection with Chester other than buying the lathe from Chester and being happy with it and I fully understand that some others have bought machines that they are not happy with. I decided to buy Chinese after lots of searching unearthed mainly well worn, noisy, neglegted and over priced used british machinery.

Edited By Ian Skeldon 2 on 21/11/2017 20:32:19

Sorry to hear of your issues Ady, the general advice on the forum is bang on, you will always have a sub-standard machine even if you bodge it so that it stops chattering. If you take the individual parts and have thne re-ground then fair enough, BUT, you shouldn't have to. I belive the phrase "misrepresentation" applies here, they sold you a machine quoting various facts and figures to show it had been tested and was working to those tolerances, so you are fully entitled to walk away and let them have it back.

I wish I lived in the same world as SOD and Mick B, ban guns instantly, then we will all be safe, phew good thinking chaps, it never occured to me that criminals are far too stupid to import them illegaly, or have them made illegaly or use other devices like explosives, vehicles, chemicals oh yeah knives, nearly forgot them.

So I am with you all the way, but just to be sure we should also ban any sharp instruments, any use of engineering equipment such as lathes, mills etc in case the're used to make weapons and what about 3d printing, I bet the people owning them are printing off undetectable guns as I type, better ban them as well, now if we could also get rid of the internet and mobile phones we can stop criminals communicating and buying all the things we just banned.

Ahhhh safe at last

Edited By Ian Skeldon 2 on 19/11/2017 20:24:44

Actually I am pretty sure knives were equally up there with the intention of killing when invented, probably animals for food, and probably flint tied to a branch in it's very early stage of conception. As pointed out earlier although guns were undoubtedly invented to kill they have also become popular for sporting activities. I don't recall hearing or reading that any crime has been commited by way of a sporting target rifle being used, possibly because it would be virtually useless in such a scenario. Out of interest, I happen to own several bows, two or three of which would do far more harm to anything or anyone than any of my target air rifles, yet there are very little laws governing the buying and using of the bows and certainly no licensing. If all guns were banned maybe the odd lunatic who legally owns a gun would be filtered out, but the law abiding people would still be at risk from the criminals who have a tendancy to not register their weapon or apply for a licence.

When I bought my Lathe (Chester DB10 ) I also bought a verticle slide, the angles of the mounting plate and the casting of the main body don't match, hence the gib strip, is at least 6mm X 8mm in an attempt to take up the error, but even that has different angles ground on it. If I had produced that as an apprentice I would never have been allowed to completed my first year. An ordinary angle plate with a mounting kit would have proved better quality and a better choice.

Hi Martin (Blowlamp),

Yes I am using the trial version of MOI 3d, it's fantastic, I find it quicker to learn and use than fusion and it isn't slow in use and hasn't hung like fusion did. I am pretty sure I will buy it as I am already using it to produce small components and saving them in STL format, no need to export or anything.

The only negative is that there doesn't appear to be a lot of instruction or tutorial information out there, just one chap on youtube.

Hi Neil,

Thanks for that, at least I know that the factory 3d printer will come with Cura already packaged, hopefully I will find any help with using it on here (if needed).

A point that seems to have been missed is that although a gun or knives or even vehicles can be used in a way that can kill or maim, however other than genuine car accidents which can and do happen, the acts of violence are generally undertaken by people who are criminally inclined. As far as I am aware, in this country, very few killings have been commited by a person actually classed as the legal owner of the gun possibly the same senario for the car. Knives and Acid are easy to hide away and easy to get hold of but it would be pretty damned impractical to suddenly ban all guns, all knives, all cars and the use of acids and alkalies, instead there should be much tougher sentences and prisons should be there to punish, deter and segregate the offenders. Then the criminals might thinks twice before embarking in criminal activity, if they do go on to commit an offence lock em up, who's going to miss em.

Hi,

Well with thanks to a suggestion by blowlamp in a different thread I am managing to produce cad drawings and convert them to 'stl' files ok. I sent a couple to a friend who then reported back that they printed off just fine. So all fired up with enthusiasm I started to look at just what 3d printer would best suit my needs, £800 is well more than I need to spend to produce the bits I want and so the factory3d kit looks ideal. However I have no seen that I will probably need some slicing software such as cura or simplicity.

As I am fast approaching old age and all the techno phobia that comes with it I doubt I have the willpower to learn yet more software or the funds to buy it, is it not possible to buy a 3d printer at a sensible price (no more than £400 in my case) that can accept a stl file that I have created and just print it, or am I missing something here?

Thanks,

Ian

Edited By Ian Skeldon 2 on 14/11/2017 21:57:05