The sneering detractors

A good mate said to me once about the carpers: 'Just ask them what they have made recently'

Usually works.

Sometime ago I posted a query about getting water up a hill to a hospital in a 3rd World country and was overwelmed by the thoughtfulness and helpfulness of the replies - over 50 of them!

Don't give up, there are a lot of good [people out there.

Mike

Hi all

I like this forum for the range of threads, questions and discussions which come up. There seem to be less idiots, personal detractors and ego trippers on here than most forums, and most users seem to be trying to learn or trying to assist or inform.

I am sometimes amused or amazed by the specialist expertise of some of the contributors. I can't think of an example at the moment but sometimes there is a question or situation which is a little unusual and various contributors have a go at answering or guessing from general engineering knowledge - and then someone comes along and really spells it out from what is clearly a deep and expert knowledge of just that particular field. It's like a sporting event where a "dark horse" just appears and laps the field. And we all learn a lot more about the subject.

And the ego trippers and general grousers, the thin-skinned and the (think they) know-it-alls just have to be ignored. If we don't rise to them perhaps thay will go away and play elsewhere.

Rod

It is a fair point that we sometimes get videos linked to that show poor machining practice.

What I find out about that one of Steve Jordan's is he spends some time saying how dangerous it is to machine a long workpiece without a steady and then proceeds to ignore his own advice, drilling and boring it out without any support.

I do think he probably wasn't pushing too hard, but a beginner might well set to work with higher speeds or deeper cuts and come to grief. So I think it was fair to draw attention to that point as the inexperienced do rely on such videos for guidance.

Neil

(I haven't made any videos of me doing such things, but I do write articles and books for beginners and try to instil some sense about safety without treating people like idiots).

... except every time they are quoted.

Edited By Bandersnatch on 22/05/2020 01:15:53

A while back, a guy who used to post on this site, wanted to buy something from me I was selling on ebay, he kept sending msgs asking to buy it at half the price listed, I refused, so he knew I also used this site, he sent a msg threw ebay basically saying he was going to stalk me, and posted threads on this site making subtle jabs at what I selling.

The guy was like maybe twice my age, probably late 60's, and was behaving like a childish troll because he couldn't get what he wanted, you just need to accept some people are unpleasant and were not lucky enough to have parents that taught them manners.

.

Well-said, Pete

That gets my vote as “Thought for the Day”

MichaelG.

Here's what I did recently, a completely new design of regulator based on fullsize rather than the drawings:

How about you Mike, what did you do?

Andrew

Have replaced a split pin(!) on my Kennedy saw frame with turned pin, then repaired it when crank fell off(!!), added a no volt release switch and microswitch to turn it off when the cut finishes. Then made a sort of horizontal drill fixture for a model boat I am building, re-arranged workshop, turned and fitted registers for my telescope (small cups fixed to patio for the legs) and started to learn Latin for the first time since school 50 years ago. Sorted out a glory-hole of bits.

Next?

Mike

Oh, and I forgot to say that I have also fitted a new geared motor drive to the traverser of my model railway (Sarum Road) ready for a now cancelled exhibition.

Mike

No pictures?

Andrew

Ok - some piccies:

New Kennedy pivot spindle

Kennedy micrswitch and actuating arm

(I use a large pet litter tray - previously unused(!) as a suds tray).

Drilling propshaft hole

Latin lesson

...TBC

and now for something completely different:

New traverser power on Sarum Road

Clearish work bench

Finally new vice jaws.

And, of course, finally, the gardening, DIY jobs and so on...

I like the workbench. I'm pretty sure that I had one like that once.

You should have reported him to a moderator, on face value that would have led to a ban.

Neil

Hi Daniel, well I'm a Farr out guy, pleeeeease! believe me.

Regards Nick.

Hi, plus one for both.

Regards Nick.

Andrew Johnston -

Fine work, it quality giving me a certain tinge of the green I've just painted my new workshop hoist frame.

Good to see that extra point of making a detail fitting true to original - though I am a bit puzzled by the bronze fitting in the middle. Whistle or simpling-valve control?

However, my point is that your engine reminds me of my examining a 3 or 4 -inch scale traction-engine at a major exhibition a few years ago. Some bloke alongside me complained to his mate, who agreed with him, that some detail was all wrong, etc. etc. Now, I was not familiar with the particular engine so would not have spotted that, and it was likely to a published design anyway.

Instead, what I did spot was a machine very much faithful to its original even if with the odd detail ' wrong '; and not in show-room condition but carrying the soot-lined chimney and patina of an engine clearly well-built, well-loved and well-used. Proof to me that the engine was well enough made to look right and work properly.

I did wonder what either of those critics had on display....

Thanks for the pictures; that's a fair range of activities, but you can keep the Latin! Whatever else I may be good at I have zero ability for languages.

Andrew

Neither; it's what I call a 'singling' button. It operates a valve that lets steam from the regulator pass directly to the low pressure valve chest. It's not a simpling valve as the valve is external to the cylinder and does not divert the HP exhaust to the chimney. But neither is it a starting valve as the engine is a single crank compound so both pistons are on dead centre at the same time. It allows the engine to operate as a single, but using the low pressure cylinder with high pressure steam. So in theory the engine should produce more torque.

I've got no time for rivet counters. On the plus side it seems like every engine that Burrell made is different so it's difficult to say what was original and what wasn't.

Andrew

I expect the traction’s engines running today are a bit like Triggers broom.

Mike