MEW 319 - Roofing A Shed??????

That's one minor reason I stopped writing artlcles, and also why I no longer post here about my traction engine build.

Andrew

The whole debate about the Model in Model Engineer's Workshop is moot. It is a commercial matter of branding. The new owners paid a lot of money for the right to use the Model Engineers Workshop name, largely due to its association with with Model Engineer and its 100+ year history, plus the more recent 30 years or more of history of MEW itself. Anyone could start up a magazine and call it "Workshop". But it does not bring with it the heritage and authority that translates into sales.

Oh, please don't use that as a reason not to write.

My point there was that the serials recounting projects being built, are not necessarily instructions on how to build them!

They show instead how the builders are proceeding; but they often suggest methods adaptable to overcoming related process problems in our own, possibly very different, projects.

Obviously though their main theme is showing us the builders' achievements - the model itself.

I wish you would though!

I find it odd that professional technique and equipment being used for 'Model Engineering' upsets some people, almost as if it's cheating. Surely not?

My workshop is the best I can manage for what I need to do, which is hobby-experimental. Doesn't worry me that others have more space, wonderful tools, bigger brains, more money, and far more skill. I'm in the game for fun and interest, not willy waving. (Please don't post photos of impressive appendages!)

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 19/08/2022 12:21:30

OMG I wish I could unsee that.

"My workshop is the best I can manage for what I need to do, which is hobby-experimental. Doesn't worry me that others have more space, wonderful tools, bigger brains, more money, and far more skill. I'm in the game for fun and interest"

My viewpoint exactly. We are all different, and constrained by our skills, time, interests, space, equipment and budget.

Consequently, articles need be cover a variety of subjects.

Personally, I am not inspired by CNC (Although it will produce results impossible to "Handle twirlers" ) and no longer into rebuilding cars, or machines, but there is always some information to be gained from such articles.

But overall, we always find something of interest, otherwise why would we buy, subscribe or submit articles?

And why would we be getting so hot under the collar about the content?

Not ALL articles will interest ALL the readers, ALL the time.

Maybe "Live and Let LIve" should be more often in our minds.

"If there is one thing that I can't stand, it is intolerance"!

Howard

I should like to see a little more 'chatty' content in articles. There are a lot of things I am never going to make but an article with plenty of 'asides' makes for an interesting read. When we start out we are hungry for everything we can get regarding how to do stuff but as we get more competent what others are doing and why becomes of greater interest. Solving problems in interesting ways with less than adequte equipment and even tales of disasters (we all get them) make an article into a good read. I am a George Thomas fan as I've said probably too many times before and one of the things I like about George was his way of explaining how and why he came to design and build a particular piece of kit. After reading a piece by George you feel you knew him a little better.

I know some are better at this than others but personal content to me makes a run of the mill article into a pleasent read. ME and MEW are or should be something of the club magazine not just a text book.

regards Martin

i have read the article and found it of use. A cost comparison of different ways of reroofing would be helpful. i have always refelted using heavy duty felt. But have seen others use corregated plastic coated "tin" , bitumen or plastic, often on top of the felt.
The editors can only include articles that people are prepared to write. The pool of engineers must be dwindling as a result of product being sent abroad. The subset with the ability to write interesting articles will be smaller, as will those with the time and willingness to do it. sadly a lot of knowledge will / has disappeared with them.

This thread has shown many shades of opinion reflecting the content of MEW. I am not into models but I do admire the skills shown by builders who are. My interest has settled into machine tools, the repair of, improvements to where appropriate and interesting solutions to engineering and handling problems that are not CNC related [a closed field to me]

That being so there are not many who write on such topics for the magazine, but that doesn't detract from it as a whole which should reflect the varied interests of the readership, provided by those who chose to tell us about them.

From time to time material will appear which may not appeal to all but I do not think it fair to attack such articles with the vitriol that started this thread. 

Brian

Edited By Brian Wood on 19/08/2022 14:10:19

The editors can only include articles that people are prepared to write.

These are commercial publications not club newsletters, so content (at least in part IMO) should be commissioned by the Editor or provided by staff writers & not wholely reliant on submissions as MEW appears to be now.

But IIRC from one of the previous discussions about this topic, Neil did say his budget didn't run to such luxuries as staff writers etc. so I wonder what the future holds for hobby publications if the paying customer base becomes consistantly unhappy with the content being submitted.

I do find the "if you don't like the content, write your own" attitude rather strange, though - why would I choose to buy a publication to read articles I have written myself ?

I have yet to see the shed roofing article that started this thread - the current MEW had not arrived on Readly as of yesterday evening.

Nigel B.

I’m a bit like other people here in that I’m not an engineer, merely a person with an interest in learning how to do things for myself – self-education by experimentation – and of doing it using a limited set of tooling. As part of this, I tend to spend my time learning how to best to use the tooling, and making, when necessary, additional bits of tooling. I’m not into CNC, 3D printing, or any of the other esoteric (esoteric to me, that is) production methods. There are a lot of techniques which can be used in a small amateur workshop that I haven’t tried, many of which I doubt that I will ever try due to old age and infirmity to say nothing of a lack of the extra tooling required to perform that task. But that doesn’t negate that fact that some of the articles do have some interest for me. Unfortunately, one current article reminds me of what is now a totally different life in a slowly dimming and long lost life!

Martin Kyte has struck a rather familiar note with me, and whilst I don’t know whether or not my articles, few though they may be, have met his requirements for “asides”, I have long considered that writing about problems, and how I overcame them was an essential part of what I was doing, indeed I have an article half written which is provisionally titled “Catastrophe Corner” just because if it could go wrong, then it did! It’s half written because I ran into a problem which diverted me onto something else so the original project is only half finished.

Nigel B,

But you only see one of your articles amongst many written by others. As intimated above, I have done a small number of articles, and it does give me a strange sense of frisson to see my name and an article of mine in print, especially as I make the proud "boast" of being someone who either dropped, or drastically failed any course/examination in any language, including English. Egotistic or what?

In general, I think MEW is ok as it is. Please leave the format well alone.

Cheers,

Peter G. Shaw

Edited to add an extra paragraph.

Edited By Peter G. Shaw on 19/08/2022 15:31:20

Of yes it does, even at club level, comments of “ his stuff should be good, he got a factory in his garden not a workshop”, so I will publicly apologise for running my own business for 25 years and when I closed it the big machinery went to auction and because the dealers in model engineering sized machines would only offer scrap value for quality tooling I kept it, one dealer in the south came in a transit and filled it with complete sets of 5c collets, dividing heads, good ones, made by Nikken height gauges about a dozen Abwood machine vices, Myford capstan unit and cut off slides etc, guess what they paid, £200, yep two hundred quid, so I kept the rest but I have now given up doing a few articles for club magazines and showing any work, I am far too professional and have too much equipment, I think it’s time I quit this hobby.

I wonder what the budget is to produce the magazine each month? I also wonder how much of that budget is spent on getting the magazine to a shop or direct to the subscriber. I think Neil has already said elsewhere that his job as editor isn't full time. The new owners might be dipping their collective toes in the water to see if the magazine is viable. No magazine, no website, no forum.

Maybe the message from all these posts is

"If you don't like whats in the magazine, submit articles that are better"

IF they are better, they will get published.

Very recently, there has been a request for articles, so now is your chance. to put things right..

In short, put your money where your mouth is..

Howard

Thankyou Howard

Considering we recently (before our dry spell) had someone who had a leaking and therefore wet shed roof who reading between the lines thought putting new felt over a wet roof would be OK. and fix his rust problem. The article was probably timely given the damage that will go un-noticed over the coming cold months.

Does anyone have any interest in the contents of the attached photo and perhaps hazard a guess as to the purpose of them?

Dave,

First thought, given my background would be an automotive flywheel (Ring gear, maximum inertia with minimum weight and some axial flexibility ) and the matching starter pinion.

Probably wildly out!

Going back to the original complaint,

What seems to have started it was Neil Wyatt moving house and finding a leaking roof. Having recently replaced the time expired felt with EPDM rubber on my small workshop, suggested this to Neil.

I found that giving the size of the roof, and specifying the siting of the edge trims, resulted in a next morning delivery of very adequate quantity of the material that was required.

I would have thought that keeping a workshop, or material store, weatherproof, and the means of so doing, would have been of interest to many model engineers.

Howard

I believe a previous editor set up a workshop adjacent to his own workshop to be able to take pictures for articles under his nom-de plume that didn't give the game away. It was a good way to have a 'contributor' who provided the right kind of article.

BTW re shed roof. Practice making the pig's ear photo 8 so it folds inside, much neater, and I suggest avoiding plastic roofing. I had it in my dormer window when I moved in and it stank of plastic in hot weather. Once the plasticisers had evaporated it shrank opening the joints and when squirrels scratched it it split. I replaced myself with regular 3 layer felt 20 years ago.

Edited By Bazyle on 19/08/2022 18:46:57

Makes you laugh really. So who would be these Staff writers. Really you would need someone who is a Model Engineer. Oh, that would be us then!!! and presumably they would get paid per article. Oh, that happens already doesn't it.

regards Martin

Just spotted this in the Forum Ad for the next Model Engineer:

Roger Curtis takes a ramble through the countryside and explains why perches, rods and chains are infinitely superior to metres and millimetres, and far better in tune with Mother Nature.

I shall have apoplexy when I read it. No problem, I shall sue for damages. Poor old Morton's have a Duty of Care to their customers...

Dave