2017 Christmas Challenge

Neil was no doubt thinking of his fellow judge who has proper work on Monday so has had to make his decision this weekend.

No doubt Neil will be 'droning' on about it

"I consider judging to be 'work' so it can wait until Monday "

Lucky you! Some of us work all hours. Weekends, late nights, early mornings, Bank Holidays...

Geoff

Well, if it is a 'working hours' competition, I don't work at all any longer.

Not sure if that makes me the winner, or puts me last.

I can live with either

And the winner is... the person chosen by Jason and me!

In an act of gratuitous cruelty I'm going to sit on the result until a week friday, so it can appear simultaneously here and in MEW.

No amateurish Bake-Off style judging slips here!

Neil

I was just thinking 'Neil still hasn't announced the winner'

Lucky Bake-Off isn't powered by the candles entered, they'd never get anything baked!

And a further thought on those lines, I just realised maybe Dave was trying to design a gas free fan oven with his effort!

And the Winner is ... Rod Jenkins!

We thought that his candlesticks showed the greatest level of machining skill,and aesthetic beauty

Detailed coverage in MEW 262.

Rod has already received his workshop multimeter from Chester, which no doubt gave the game away to him...

Thanks to all and I hope you enjoyed the exercise.

Next time I'll allow more time for entries, perhaps make the rules even simpler, and maybe a ban on virtual entries (but that said we could do a design challenge!)

Neil

Hi, well done Rod. I agree with the judges decision, they are very good.

Hi Neil, yes I did enjoy the exercise, it was something different to think about and make from used parts of industry.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 24/11/2017 15:49:01

I had an enjoyable day making the candlesticks so many thanks to Neil for the challenge and to Chester for the prize - it will be very useful.

Rod

Well!

I am for one bitterly disappointed, it is clearly a judging fix, I had Dave (Silly Old Duffer's) Flambeaulox creation down as clear winner .

Joking aside, well done Rod

Well done, Rod! A worthy winner!

Geoff

Sadly we felt that the pie-dish rotor didn't quite demonstrate the same level of craftsmanship as the rest of the design.

The solution to Dave's problem will be well known to anyone who had a flame effect electric fire back in the day... a little raised bearing for the pin-point. But we don't want to be accused of favouritism by helping one entrant.

Neil

That and the fact he ate ALL the pies

I was mildly confident given the low number of entries until I saw Rod's entry and the photos showing how he made it. I thought his entry was excellent in style and I was impressed by Rod's construction technique.

Congratulations Rod.

Cheers,

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 24/11/2017 18:28:54

Well done, Rod. A worthy winner.

Dave

Don't worry about favouritism Neil, I had already told Dave that back on page 3

Christmas challenge awarded In November ? Next year bring it forward to July.

But the result is in the December issue !

And I read it and applied that good advice! The main cause of the fun-fan-fiasco was me not having any suitable Aluminium sheet in the house and/or not making best use of what I had.

Ordinary kitchen foil is too thin to make a working fan; mince pie dish Aluminium is stiff enough but is unattractively crunched in manufacture. A section of disposable roasting tray would be ideal and l should have jumped in my car and bought one. I also have an uncomfortable feeling that a working fan is do-able with the 20g Aluminium sheet I had in stock given careful attention to detail. Should have tried harder!

I enjoyed the competition and expected more entries. Perhaps many were caught by the early closing date? I hope my outrageous tongue-in-cheek approach to Neil's serious competition didn't put anybody off. Virtual entries, spoof advertising, a Rosebud Grate in a candle-stick? Not me - a big boy did it and ran away.

Dave

Edited By SillyOldDuffer on 25/11/2017 09:14:22

I think with more notice next year there would be more entries, I was caught out by the short notice and would enter a competition for next Xmas, does it have to e a Xmas competition, then it could run at an alternative time during the year?

Dave W