What has model/hobby engineering taught you? (other than the obvious of how to make stuff)

Hi, Bernard,

I totally agree with you that there are multiple ways to do things - but somehow it seems that no matter which way one chooses, someone will tell you its wrong, or otherwise criticize it - there are many threads on this forum alone to testify to that.

I have no problem with constructive criticism, either, but nowadays it always seems to be used to 'score a point' - better to keep quiet and enjoy what I do, I think.

+1

Drawbar MT4:
Something I learned from here is not to overtighten the drawbar on MT4 for your mill and then has to hammer it down to change out for another MT4 toolholder. So from this I went a step further and machined a handwheel innerside of an old circular saw about the size of a Singer Knitting machine handwheel, so I can press a socket in it, to hand tighten the drawbar with it, no spanner.

It works like a dream, no slip so far easy remova, just one tapl. I just remove the handwheel each time no problem.

I have learnt that, if you are patient and careful, willing to take advice and to do things again if they go wrong, you can achieve things way beyond what you thought you were capable of.

Neil

Interacting with folks on the internet is definitely an art.

Its a mixed bag for sure.

One has to become adept at filtering out the unnecessary items from the useful items, and doing so in a diplomatic fashion.

It has been a learning experience for me, and I have become much better at it than when I got on forums in 2011.

There are definitely the armchair folks on the internet who just throw out ideas somewhat without merit, and I am a bit guilty of that myself.

Looking back on 11 years of interacting on multiple model engine forums, there was the good, the bad and the ugly.

But overall, I learned a tremendous amount about model building, and backyard foundry work.

I highly value the knowlege base that is on this forum, and the information I have gotten from folks on this forum has been worth its weight in gold, in modeling terms.

So basically one has to learn to filter.

.

Edited By PatJ on 09/01/2023 22:40:08

Really appreciated many of these comments.

I've learned that Model Engineers often hold diametrically opposite views!

My version:

I learnt to openly share what I've been doing because someone will tell me :

a) that I've done it wrong, which helps me improve, or

b) complain that it is unsafe, showing I've failed one of my own design requirements, or

c) provide links to someone who did it all years before, which helps me to profit from the hard work of others.

I manage far better when my work receives brickbats and compliments.

Dave

Linus Pauling one of molecular biology’s giants along with his insights often used to utter the most outrageously incorrect ideas often at major conferences. His peers learned to benefit from these occasional wide of the mark statements by figuring out why what he said was wrong. So even when someone posts an erroneous notion take it seriously you could learn something.

regards Martin

The old adage 'Measure twice & cut once'. My exceedingly large scrap box tought me to measure twice, re-check the drawing, re calculate your dodgy maths, think if there's a better way to do it & if all avenues exhausted - measure again & only then cut.

I'm not the fastest worker as you probably guessed.