Harrogate 2013

Well I’ve been to the show at Harrogate today and ordered the new mill and lathe and thinking hacksaw and old arms I also splurged out on a small WARCO bandsaw.

Lots of kit (and blokes) crammed into quite a small space but at least I did not have to walk far to see the exhibits and trade stands.

I had not been to the show at Harrogate before and as enjoyable as it was I will probably stick to the Sandown show in future as it is nearer to me and enjoyably less crowded and more laid back.

Wife remarked on what an ugly looking crew filled the two halls which made me laugh. My own observation was the lack of young folk (OK it was Friday) and that the majority of us there seemed to be plus 55 years old and then some!

I had the distinct impression that this gathering of talented veterans were demonstrating the implacable spirit of skilled engineers en masse’ and were delivering a solid two finger salute to those that have been responsible for destroying the British engineering heritage as was.

Rik – reporting from Harrogate.

Well I used to love going to Harrogate but these days now in 70s, and driveing from deepest cider country to up there is a NO...I used to visit an old comrades grave while in the area. My son is more intrerested in programming call centers and if anything slightly more complicated than a screwdriver needed someone gets called in. Sad but as Ketan says of Arc we can no longer afford to shut our web site for a week. If anyone bumps into old DAG Brown say Bob T gives his regards

Bob

"Deepest cider country" Must be Somerset?

Just about to set off on the long drive to the showground. it must be all of eleven miles. Will give DAG the usual greetings. Was there on Thursday afternoon and was a bit worried about the lack of trade support. We'll see what today brings. Nodoubt I'll still spend a B.... fortune on stuff I'll never use. One sets out with the idea that having the tooling will make you a better engineer, but reality kicks in when it comes to actually doing the job.

Alan

I went yesterday.

True there are gaps in hall 2 where all the larger traders are but I felt that it was well attended, in fact I felt attendance was back to where it was 4 or so years ago.

Club stands were very busy, that busy it was often best to miss a stand, look at something else and go back later.

Usual very well organised show in a beautiful and relaxed location by The Rex family and usual crew of helpers.

I wonder if we are not going back to shows of old where the models took centre stage and trade content was at a minimum because there wasn't the number of traders there is today.

I personally still feel there are too many shows in the Calendar for a country the size of the UK.

Two shows in London within a month is insane, one or both has got to suffer.

Traders I spoke to seemed happy with the attendance but most were also in agreement with Proops, Chronos, Arc's decisions to rely on telephone and Internet sales. However you got the impression they were sitting on the wall and wouldn't take much to push them off.

Would I go again next year ? too right in my book this is the best show of the year with Bristol a close second because of the diversity of the models on show there.

Hi, I went yesterday and got there around midday and the place was quite full. As John has said it was best to miss one or two stands and go back later.

I had to stand a watch the trains go by on the big layout whilst eating my lunch as there where no empty seats available anywhere to sit down.

It was also a bit of a hussle to veiw things on a lot the trade stands, even at about 2.30, maybe the reduced number of the major traders ment more people round the rest of them.

Like John says there is a good diversity of models on show, one I was intrigued by was a Swing Surface Grinder which is described in MEW 45 & 46, a good example of what can be done with a cheap bench grinder.

Regards Nick.

Edited By Nicholas Farr on 11/05/2013 10:47:29

Missed the swing surface grinder, not that i would have been that interested as i have a commercial model but for anyone who hasn't used one of these things they are awesome.

Normally surface grinding is down to small amounts per pass, often 1/2 thou or so and then traverse the work, fast they are not.

The swing grinders will remover a thou at a time easily [ more if you are rushing ] but cover the whole job at one pass, very fast.

Problem with the swing grinder is it leaves swirl marks and not linear marks which some don't like.

I use mine a lot, often milling down to a few thou above and grind to size. In fact the normal surface grinder has had that little use for the last few years I sold it two weeks ago and rely on the swing grinder.

I went on Friday & was disappointed that ArcEuro & Chronos were not there as I was particularly looking to get some items from both traders that I had earmarked in my little notebook, always nice to 'see before you buy', did manage to get stuff from RDG (also earmarked) but still missed both of the above. Apart from Warco, Chester, & RDG (usual disclaimer) there were the usual gamut of smaller dealers for those wanting to 'browse through' stuff so there was enough to satisfy the most picky.

The finance director (SWMBO) accompanied me & again commented on the amount of backpacking,corderoy/jean, fleece garbed 'oldies' wandering around with glazed looks on their faces, myself included I might add, much akin to anoracked train spotters, commenting with 'ooohs & ahhhs' on this & that, albeit said with a grin on her face & then promptly hotfooted it back into Harrogate..for a little bit 'shopping' .

The exhibition on the whole was as expected, a lot of superb models, my favourites being the scale model 1923 Bentley front end.. along with the superb paddlewheel yacht 'Samantha' ..exceptional work guys! puts my meager attempts to shame, still have to make my '1st project' yet.

All in all a good day out & will be there next year.

Cheers

George

Edited By mechman48 on 12/05/2013 22:07:18

Went on Saturday, was busy but not as much as previous years. Some amazing models on the club stands, well done to all concerned. Not many youngsters, I felt like a kid and I'm 40!

I was there today.

Talking to one of the traders his takings were 50% up on last year and last year he was 30% up from the previous year, so the public are still spending despite the current financial constraints.

Arc surprised me by withdrawing last year. I wonder why they need to bring so much stock and staff to an exhibition, to the point where the main business has to be suspended. Maybe they could try to bring samples of a range of their stock so that people can see what is on offer and place orders at prices that are a bit under the normal mail order price. That way they need less staff to do the exhibition and the main business can be maintained as normal with a bit of a boost to their turnover. I know a lot of people who are reluctant to buy mail order because they want to see what they are spending their hard earned cash on before they commit. One of the other traders I know only brings samples of his larger items and still sells plenty after the buyers have had the chance to look at the goods hands on.

My impression was the Sunday attendance was better this year and a pal who was there Friday said it was much busier than last year.

I think the competition models were an improvement on last year. My interest is locomotives and John Richardson's Atlantic is superb and may well be comparable to Bill Carter's Atlantic from forty years ago in it's fidelity. We'll only know for sure if it goes to the ME Exhibition.

All in all Harrogate is still worth the treck.

Eddie

I used to drive to Harrogate from Sheffield, but the train is just as fast, and almost as cheap. I like the Shuttle bus, it solves the 'last mile' problem very well. I thought Deborah and I were the only people waiting for the shuttle, but when it came all sorts off grey-haired people descended upon it from nowhere! I thought the show was very busy, I didn't get to talk to many people, as all the stands were deep in conversation with other visitors. A good sign, I thought. We took a walk round Harrogate whilst waiting for the train back, and passed an African busker playing a strange instrument. It sounded very tuneful, and he said it was called a Kora. Then he started signing about a 'Gentleman and his Beautiful Lady' Deborah said that Harrogate obviously attracted a better class of busker...

On Saturday a cheap barber could have done a roaring business and would have been able to spend all this week filling scatter cushions.

I think it was at Harrogate about 6 years ago that I saw a wonderful display of clocks, mounted by, I think, a club from the Southern Counties. There were one-off clocks with ingeneous mechanisms, many of them being gold plated.

Nothing like that this year.

The boats are always good to see and admire but the one lasting memory I have is of a small boat being rowed by a skeleton man. Perhaps that was at Ally Pally a few years ago.

Im confused (as usual)...I only ever go on sunday, last year I couldnt move, this year there were very few people there, stands which had previously been 4 deep might have had one or two people around them, very good for me as for the first time ever it was enjoyable!

My wife and I were there on Saturday during peak times.

I could NOT BELIEVE how busy it was. Many of the stands, I didn't even bother to wander along and see what was there. (That's a good sign) I guess coming off a week of walking the North Yorkshire Moors and the open space made Harrogate a bit of a culture shock.

Geoff- my Debra and I walked around Harrogate City, and saw the same man playing the same instrument!

Another JohnS

Back in Canada.

Rik,

Just out of curiosity which lathe & mill did you get?

George

Merlin,

The skeleton rowing the boat was definitely at Harrogate, like you I always remember it. When I saw it it had the pool to itself.

May also have been at Ally Pally of course

Phil

Edited By Robbo on 14/05/2013 09:52:53

Hello George and thanks for your interest. I have ordered WARCO machines viz:

Lathe WM250 VF with power cross feed.

Milling machine WM16

Band saw CY90

I would have gone for the slightly larger WM280 lathe but it would not have fitted into the "tardis"

I have been without a lathe for some months now and I'm getting a bit impatient to get cracking again but it seems that I'll not be able to for the foreseeable. The mill is due to dock imminently but we don't even know if the lathe has even left those far flung shores.

"There's a green hued little lathe

To the north of Kathmandu;

Which I hope will soon be sailing

On a ship with a mad crew."

Rik

They were known as a mad crew
By the subs at Kathmandu
And the lathe was wetter having come adrift
But with all the deep sea pranks
On the decks and in the tanks
The lathe was lost and Rik was rather miffed