MEW, ME, RCM&E and Model Boats under new ownership.

I think the idea there is to use the cachet of the Model Engineer name on the Workshop magazine.Being that they just paid a lot of money (presumeably!) for the ME name, they probably will want to continue to capitalise on that name. They could have started their own Workshop or Homeshop or Back Shed Heroes magazine without having to pay to buy the name. But you never know. Certainly will be watching developments with interest.

As restoring old machine tools such as Myfords etc is a growing hobby, with weekend scraping workshops etc becoming popular, I wonder if there will be scope for a Classic Workshop Machinery magazine?

Yes, no doubt put off by a page full of G-code to do something that would take a couple of minutes on a manual machine, certainly put me off the idea. However now I have seen the light and can happily produce parts on my CNC without even writing a single line of G-code maybe it is time to show others that modern CAM does a lot of the work for you these days.

Who knows we may even get a change of forum software that will allow for attachments of things like .stp and .stl files, combine that with authors running a concurrent thread on the forum as the likes of Luker and I do then no need to waste a page of the mag with boring code, just load it to the forum.

In a similar vein it would be nice to get more threads running to go with articles that can contain additional info and photos rather than bulk out what's in the mag with things like large photos of padlocks and hinges which I seem to remember went down as well as 4 pages of car restoration in MEW300 . Also allows subscribers to raise queries about articles in the mag and encourages discusion.

Replies to many posts above.

Yes, I have offered a series about a new Myford Ml19 lathe to Model Engineer. It will start off with setting up the lathe and obtaining tooling. Mostly purchased but some home made.

The reason it is an Ml10 is because that is what I purchased. I was very lucky to find a brand new one on EBay at a bargain price. (£1,000.) I will probably spend another £500 tooling it up. Life is to short to spend making tools although I do enjoy it.

It would probably have cost as much to buy and tool up a Chinese lathe but I would have ended up with an inferior machine.

For Model Engineer articles I hope to design and build steam engines, hit and miss gas engines, 16mm Garden railway locomotives, rolling stock and other typical Model Engineer projects.

The title of the magazine is Model Engineer, not Model Steam Locomotives.

When Model Engineers’ Workshop started, most of the tool making articles were dropped from Model Engineer and put into Workshop.

Workshop covers all sorts of workshop activities including CNC and CAD CAM. Some long term readers my remember John Pace’s CNC cutter grinder which was game changing at the time but we don’t really need another version. The same with CNC machines and 3D printed. We only need one definitive design for each type.

Where Workshop should be concentrating is on programming and design of things to make. Also, machining methods, speeds and feeds need to be covered because you cannot do CNC machining without work holding, and other knowledge.

The big problem is getting people to write articles instead of complaining about the quality of articles that are being published. This is true for both magazines.

Yes it would be nice to get a bit more variation in subject matter in ME rather than the large proportion given over to Locos. Plus more new designs rather than repeating the same old subjects from the same old designs and castings.

And as you say keep the workshop subjects for the workshop mag rather than the mix ME has gone back to.

I suppose you could also say we only need one setting up a lathe, rear tool post, VFD, etc article too. But there are quite a few options for the would be CNC owner from articles about tuning up the basic 3040 routers, building gantry type router or ATC spindle equiped machines through converting manual mills and updating older CNC with upto date electronics not to mention buying new or building from scratch such as John Mc

Hopefully, the new owners will continue to support the hobby through it's magazines, and through Shows (Which under present conditions are very thin on the ground, regretted by many hobbyists and the traders who supply them )

But to survive the titles have to turn a profit, by some means.

The hobby needs to take notice of, explore, and promote the new technologies as that come along, but also to nurture the older techniques..

For some, an old machine is their entry point into the hobby, either through choice to refurbish, or through economic choice or necessity, so should not be ignored.

Without model engineering, and the preservation movement in general, many skills will be lost, so that heritage will be lost for ever.

There is room for all preferences, so that they need to be encouraged. Let us hope that the new owners fully support the hobby..

Howard

Hi, I think CNC and 3D printing probably should have a bigger presents in both ME and MEW, but not everyone is interested in one or the other or both. So there needs to be a balance without one or the other or conventional methods being dominate, and if this doesn't happen, the magazines may loose as many or even more sales as they gain. I believe one or two hobby electronics magazines started to put more and more computer related construction and less practical everyday construction in their magazines and lost sales and eventually disappeared from the shelves. It is always hard to judge what the balance really is in long running magazines, but there needs to be enough content for those that have a very limited budget for machines and tools, let alone materials. I do admire CNC and 3D printing techniques, but I've no desire to learn how to use them and I'm quite happy to keep twiddling knobs etc.

Call me a luddite if you will, but I'm not in the slightest bothered if you do.

Regards Nick.

Horse for courses!

What i do does not call, as yet, for CNC or 3D Printing, but there are others for whom such techniques are preferred.

So there needs to be a balance between the Bluers and scrapers, knob twiddlers and the keyboard bashers

There is a place in the hobby formany sorts, witness the range of activities supported by those who post on here.

Howard.

Edited By Howard Lewis on 05/04/2022 11:44:01

Always assuming that Mortons wish to continue supporting the forum...

Do any of their existing magazines have associated forums?

Rod

Been reading lots of ME's from the 1930's onward. And they are still relevant and useful, the 2.1/2" King in 1932, which the drawings for can be bought from Percival Marshall. Who? This is the problem of CNC and 3D printing etc that in a few years they will be irrelevant due to software changes etc, look at your computer!

I might be in a minority of one but I have no interest at all in computer machining at home, I want to be able to make the item now and in 20 years.

As for people writing, ha, I posted a missive on boilers, only just out of hospital for burns after the flaming I got. I certainly won't bother trying again!

I think the reason is why I am more aligned with the post that Nicholas made is that there seems to be an awful amount of CAD software to buy and hours spent learning how to use it (and more heated discussions on which is the best), what electronics are needed? how to convert manual machines to CAM etc.

And the issue with all the above is that it all goes out of date so quickly, software needs updates sometimes you have to pay for it, electronics goes faulty and are virtually impossible to repair and replacement bits are unavailable or not made any more.

So while I seem like a luddite I will continue to be a "manual" machinist but I would like a DRO on my Emco mill sometimes....

I use laptops and computers at work, I have had enough of them by the end of the day!

Horses for courses though and all that!

Regards to all

Derek

I am with you Bob, I like the hands on approach machining parts the old fashioned way, I can programme a CNC as in a past life I used to write the programmes for inspecting our company’s products on a CNC Co-ordinate measuring machine. I also think that purchasing hobby CNC machines takes a considerable financial investment over and above that required for manual machines, at this time I can find other uses for the extra money that a CNC would consume in its purchase. Here’s hoping that Morton’s keep the magazines as they are, there is a good mix which seems to please most readers. Dave W

But the 3D designs of today can still be used to make 2D paper drawings that are no different from ones 90yrs old (should be better actually) and could still be read in another 90years. Up to the individual how they want to make what's on the drawings, I tend to treat each part separately and use what method best suits me.

Hi Jason

I spent a considerable time making old Nimrod aircraft parts. There were no drawings, they took a part from a plane and put it through a CMM and the drawing never left the electronic stage. I spent about a fortnight milling about 30 bits of aluminium which were all surfaced to fit the matching parts. I came in one night shift and found then day shift had machined the perfectly profiled faces flat with a fly cutter.

All my hard work ruined. The point is that the original components probably were flat but after 30 years on a plane they were all different shapes from the stresses of being flown in a plane. What I could never figure out was why did some MOD tw*t decide to build new 30 year old aircraft using stressed components from 30 year old planes. A short while later, I heard that they had let a JCB loose on the planes to destroy them.

Another waste of taxpayers money.

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 05/04/2022 16:23:08

I don't think they do Rod but speaking with Neil the other week they seem keen on carrying on with a forum.

I've moves some of the more CAD/CAM specific posts to a new thread so this one does not drift too much

I wonder if the move was inspired by analysing the interests shown on the forum. In addition to the mother lode of steam enthusiasts, the Forum has car and motorbike restorers, radio amateurs, computer programmers, photographers, professional machinists, astronomers, historic gun and machine-tool enthusiasts, plus retired engineers, scientists and techies of all types. Avionics to X-rays - you name it, someone on here knows.

Before I knew what Model Engineering was about, I assumed the mag specialised in duffers riding puffers. It was only after a tool mentioned on the cover caught my eye that I bought a copy and discovered the magazine covers a lot more than toy trains. (No disrespect. All toy trains are magic and steam locos are sex on rails, woof, woof. )

Later I discovered MEW, which I think is the best practical home metalworking magazine available. Again it covers much more than 'Model Engineering' might imply to an outsider.

I suspect Mortons Media's readers are the sort of people who would buy ME and MEW if they knew what Model Engineering really is: a smidgen of cross advertising across the group could attract new readers. And as Mortons Media don't seem to have embraced the internet yet, that too is an opportunity for their other titles.

Bet this is all covered in Percival Marshall's 1898 Business Plan!

Dave

Good luck to all at ME/MEW with future developments

I'm wondering if the new owners are going to put all the back issues of the ME online, there's some serious leveraging of the business possible if they do that

Edited By Ady1 on 05/04/2022 18:50:49

As a regular contributor to Motorcycle Sport, when it was a Tee production, I await developments with interest. And so does my wife, who was the MCS editor's secretary and girl-friday for several interesting years up to 1980.

Regards, Tim

Hi John,

The answer seems to be that those who are most interested in these more modern technologies prefer, as you do, to blog their builds and ideas online, rather than write them up for magazines.

I can only publish the content I get, although I do encourage people to write on certain topics if I can.

So the answer is - back to you, if that's the sort of content you'd like to see, write and submit some articles, and it might encourage others to follow suit!

Neil

So Neil

What sort of articles are you looking for?