Ideas for rekindling the love

Hopefully I can get some great suggestions here. I am struggling to get back the enthusiasm I had for model engineering a few years ago. I was really enjoying it and made a number of things, including a couple of simple steam engines, some tooling and a Wyvern IC engine. I have a well equipped workshop with 5.5 inch lathe and CNC milling machine. After I made the Wyvern I couldn't get it to run and got a bit frustrated and since then have struggled to get back into it and keep getting sidetracked onto other projects.

This seems like a real shame since I have such a nice workshop which is now not being used. What I am hoping for are some suggestions for a project that is going to rekindle the enthusiasm. Something worthwhile but not so complex and time consuming.

Can anyone help ?

Andy

Start by doing some small pieces and you will be surprised at how that will get you up and running again. My main problem is that I have other interests like gardening and woodwork and at the moment been spending more time getting the veg patch planted and flower beds sorted for all the plants I have raised from seed.

Find a model club in your area. As you have a good workshop and CNC mill, you may be able to assist others and share ideas.

Good afternoon, Andrew,

Might that frustration still be lurking in your sub-conscious? Of course, it is YOUR workshop but might a visiting fellow Model Engineer helping you get your Wyvern running properly help to assuage your frustration?

Are you a 'loner' or are you in contact with fellow enthusiasts (apart from this forum, that is ).

Best regards,

Swarf, Mostly!

Time is a great healer, take a break and don't worry about it. I did some machining yesterday for the first time in several months due to physical and mental health problems. The mental health problems resulted in a total lack of interest for doing anything on my engines, on the computer or in the workshop. I am only now just beginning to get back my enthusiasm.

Andrew

Andy I am in a similar position, Really enthusiastic until Covid hit and due to me and wife both being classed as vulnerable we kept hidden away only going out when absolutely necessary, now I find that I have no enthusiasm for the workshop and as loco needs hydraulic and steam test I cannot run the loco, cannot even be bothered to raise steam at home to check it over, also used to be fairly keen caravanner but since Covid van has not left the drive, we have booked a pitch in West Country for a week but I have lost all confidence for towing, never used to bother me but now I dread it. Don’t know what’s causing it but I know a lot of people are experiencing similar problems.

Baz,

If it's a new place you have booked Street View is your friend for turning point landmarks. I say that because my pet fear is driving past and not being able to turn round.

Edited By Dave Halford on 06/05/2023 17:34:21

Hi Andy

Valve timing, compression, spark timing and fuel. Any one of those will stop it

Fix the Wyvern and slay that particular dragon.

Thanks all. Sorry to hear that others are having problems. I guess I am a bit of a loner, it would be nice to get some help with the Wyvern - I think the issue is that I made a few mistakes with the cylinder head and the valves aren't gas tight and ideally I want to remake it in cast iron. The idea of getting going again with a couple of simple pieces is a good one.

Dave,

Exactly my thoughts but I declined to put up the first reply.

Andrew,

It seems like the valve issue may be the first issue to attend to. It may be the only one.

I am like quite a few others on here. I’ve not done much in the workshop lately.

Health issues in our household have severely limited time available. To be honest, things started to go wrong in 2018, then covid seclusion followed, and now recurrent illness to contend with. Allied with getting older by the day (just like everyone else, of course ) doesn’t make things any easier…

I find if I go to a model engineering exhibition, it re-ignites my desire to go in the workshop more often.

That's true Phil, I went to the Harrogate show and was inspired by some of the models, particularly the 2 race car engines by Mike Sayers.

Every time a pal of mine see's Mike's engines he gets demoralised and says he is giving up model engineering and taking up knitting or something similar.
So unfortunately for him the exhibition has the opposite effect.

I can sympathize with many of the sentiments above.

I don't make models of things, but I do make things. This week's challenge is to fix the linkage between the switch on the instrument panel and the magneto/coil changeover switch on the bulkhead of my vintage Alvis. I have a deadline to meet before rallying next weekend.

The point which I want to make is that you could offer to fix things for family and friends. For me, once you have agreed to do something for somebody else, you have no excuse - you have to get on and do it.

HTH.

I'm in approximately the same boat although without the Wyvern and CNC. I thought about building a steam engine but decided no. I do really like the Bentley BR2, and have collected articles on it, but it's well above my patience (and probably skill) level at the moment.

I think it's more to do with finding something to build which interests you, not just "I'll build one of those" to keep me occupied.

After a quick delve into trying to configure a glass scale to work with an early Blu Dro (it won't), making a slitting saw arbour for the mill and deciding to make a co-ax indicator holder, at the moment I am thinking!

I have a few of chunks of aluminium from when I used to make my motorbike bits, I may make a small parallel twin 4 stroke engine, gear driven oil pump, spark plugs appear to be the size limitation.

I also really like military vehicles and artillery. An SdKzf251 would be nice, but tracks are stopping me at present.

If I don't know what to do and everything appears uninteresting I tend to visit Wiki and end up opening all sorts of pages to different things

Ended up stuck on Roman history until about 3am the other night, (what a bunch of hooligans)

Once you have done a few steam engines they can become un-interesting as it is, to some extent, repeating what you have already done. I keep my interest in machining going by making parts to drawings for the UK Monowheel team where each item is a new challenge to make something I have not done before. I enjoy the pre-machining work planning as much as the actual metal cutting part. Some of the parts are at the size limits of what I can do which creates a challenge in itself. There is variety in the materials used as well. When the part is made I pass it on so I do not get cluttered with such objects. My fill in between these outside jobs is Elmer's wooden grasshopper which I can pick up again and do something and then put to one side for another day. It's interesting doing something in wood for a change.

Martin C

I can well understand losing interest. All my adult life I have enjoyed Making/repairing things, vintage motorcycles and cars, old houses all held an interest for me. Just prior to the first lockdown I had completed a vintage bike build for a friend then I had a stroke which impacted on my lifestyle more than a little bit. Interest returned during second lockdown but then I had surgery for cancer followed by radiation treatment. No workshop activity for me and a malaise set in for a while, I would go out to the workshop intent on doing something but maybe just clean and oil the lathe and mill and go back in the house. This went on for a time and I became very slow at doing anything at all. Upshot of this was being diagnosed with Parkinson's, my wife now wants to move house to the town and get a bungalow or apartment but I know once I give up the workshop my life will be over. Recently taking on a few jobs for friends has really helped me.

I've had it my whole life and after switching jobs every 5-7 years for decades realised it was some sort of genetic thing perhaps connected with my dads OCD

Total commitment until I figured something out... then not really too interested anymore because all that was left of it was the irritating monkey politics

He would collect stuff like a massive original jazz collection... then dump it at a record shop for a few hundred quid and start collecting opera stuff

Fortunately, real world engineering is a never ending problem covering a vast spectrum of subject matter so there's always something to squeeze our braincells

Being "afraid" of doing stuff tends to be anxiety related but I've never really been a sufferer, my dad has it really bad and wakes up shaking

I have noticed a fair number of folk around me have developed it since the pandemic and some have quite severely restricted their lives compared to previously

Thing is, nothing has really changed in the real world since before the pandemic and I try to explain that but it doesn't appear to help for anxiety sufferers

I just compare us with the pre-war brigade I grew up with and how they got through everything by bashing on regardless, two world wars, the great depression, spanish flu, no healthcare, no antibiotics, slum housing, 4 to a room etc so I consider myself to be super-lucky no matter what happens nowadays

Edited By Ady1 on 07/05/2023 09:09:16

What is working for me is focussing on improvements to how I do things. Eg making tools, & storage solutions to improve my efficiency, these projects don’t take long maybe a day or two so I get a quick return for my efforts.