A new class for MEX

"Sounds good provided they aren't all CNC and £D printing which is where much of the future inovaton is most likely."

Good grief!

What ho Sir John,

An excellent and welcome idea, but no more than is expected from a real tool user who has and uses his little grey cells to great effect,. If there is a minor problemette with the idea it would be that seeing a lovely bit if shiny metal innovation on a table, even when accompanied with a description, says absolutely nothing to the average stick-in-the-mud old fogey about its use. Granted there a few who will see and understand straight away, but to many the only way to show an innovation's benefit (if no benefit it would be a solution in search of a problem) would be to see it in use. Speaking from experience of demonstrating at shows, taking for example a tangential tool holder, many paid absolutely no interest in it till it was shown to work and work well, then they got interested and asked for plans and info. Perhaps any bit of innovation should be accompanied with a you-tube type video, instead of a paper description, to show the the great unthinking masses (T firmly in C) its use.

As for the presentation cup/award for the JohnS Challenge, why not have a competition for the design. Oh maybe not, you would need a cup for that design and then a design for that etc etc.

chriStephens, (also a John Stephens' son )