Disappointed with "The Home Shop Machinist" magazine.

Back to the original topic, I have also been disappointed in the content of the HSM and PIM magazines. It's a rare issue with an article is of real interest. The current HSM just arrived, and it's another yawner. I think the last article that really interested me was a multipart series on rebuilding an Atlas shaper, about a year ago.
But I just renewed for 3 years, mostly because there is no alternative, and I want to see the publication survive.
The big problem is the lack of people willing to provide content. I'm as guilty as the next guy. I have written articles for magazines, and I have also documented many of my projects on various fora such as this, but I have not sent anything to Village Press. Maybe I will.

On the insurance: My shop is 30 miles from my house. About 10 years ago I arrived at the shop to find the door swinging in the breeze, and the contents looted. Everything of value was gone. I was sick for about 3 days, until I called my insurance agent to inquire about a policy to insure against the next time.
He said "I think your off-premises coverage might apply". Sure enough, my policy had a standard clause which covered personal property away from home. He sent me a check for the value of what I had lost, and I went shopping!
Of course today, my shop value far exceeds the off-premises coverage amount, so I'm exposed.
 
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I am actually intrigued! We have detailed why we believe the magazines are worthy or not. But very little has been said about what content would we find appealing.

So allow me to ask: What are the projects / techniques that you would like to see on future editions so that as you go through the edition you can end with a big satisfying "Well, I'll be darned, this was a good read!"?

Or is it possible that, perhaps, there comes the point in time in anybody's life for which no magazine can any longer be any appealing as the knowledge obtained through experience far supersedes any possible magazine's content?

Just being intrigued here!
 
My interest in the hobby is in restoring or rebuilding old machines, and the research and history associated with that. The articles that interest me most are those that address restoration methods, such as the aforementioned Atlas shaper rebuild. That guy had to make a lot of parts.
I don't recall seeing an article about restoring a 9A South Bend, but there is a new thread nearly every week on one forum or another where someone has bought one and is inquiring about how to refurbish it. It's the '57 Chevy of the machine world.
I am starting to see almost as many threads about older Taiwan-made lathes, usually Enco. These well-made lathes are gaining some respect, and people are rebuilding them. Parts are unavailable, so there is some fabrication involved. I have gone through 2 or 3 of them myself.

I also read the gunsmithing articles, although I don't trust my skills enough to risk ruining one of my firearms. But I'd like to see an article about How to Make a new firing pin, for example. Or how to crown a barrel, including the different types of crowns and the reason for each. Or how to repair a .22 breech that is badly damaged by dry-firing.

As much as readers value the old issues, I would suggest, in lieu of new articles, that Village Press start a regular "Classic" feature and reprint the best from past issues.

I rarely read the minilathe articles. There is so much online content about the Seig machines that there cannot possibly be anything else to cover. I have had 5 or 6 minilathes and they just don't interest me anymore. Same with minimills, 90% of the content written for those addresses the many faults that they come with.
I would be more interested in articles about innovative repurposing of these machines. For example, I have been looking for a head for a Clausing mill for some time, and have considered using a minimill head (for all it's issues). It's probably the cheapest milling head you can buy, and one of few available new. Show us how to adapt one to an old horizontal mill, make it look like it belongs there, and make it work.

Perhaps the best suggestion is for Village Press to to track the threads of all the metalworking fora and blogs and invite the best contributors to write up their work (for compensation). They need to look at the gunsmithing forums too, as well as some of the car repair/restoration sites.
Most of us document our work in bits and pieces, not really trying to emulate a magazine article. It would not take much more effort to pull some of these threads into a decent article. The editors could help the process by pulling it all together, editing, asking for additional information or photos.
Of course, they would have to be careful of the copyright issues if the original post was on a competing forum (and they use content verbatim), but that could be solved by offering attribution to the forum. ("This article originated as a great thread on the blah-blah forum at . Some content is used with their p...ere more than some other sites. Anyone else?
 
Barnes & Nobel isn't that far from me. I go on the first of the month and eyeball the rag. If there is something interesting I buy it, if not I leave it for someone else. When you subscribe to a magazine you get the good with the bad, there is no escaping it. Buyer Beware.

"Billy G"
 
I feel the same about the 2 machinist rags as the original poster but as many have pointed out even though the projects usually don't interest me the methods do. I buy all the issues of both to build my library of knowledge.

Now to pose a question. How feasible/profitable would it be to start a magazine that specializes in old school machinery & methods? I've been kicking around this idea for sometime along with the idea of having a machinery show/swap meet in the south. I know a guy who does several car related shows a year that are growing leaps and bounds and he also has a quite successful regional magazine to go along with it. I'm gonna try & pick his brain about these 2 ideas.

Anybody with knowledge of the publishing business/process want to toss in some advise as well as those with interest/ideas that would just be possible subscribers/readers/contributors?
 
Charley Davidson said:
I feel the same about the 2 machinist rags as the original poster but as many have pointed out even though the projects usually don't interest me the methods do. I buy all the issues of both to build my library of knowledge.

Now to pose a question. How feasible/profitable would it be to start a magazine that specializes in old school machinery & methods? I've been kicking around this idea for sometime along with the idea of having a machinery show/swap meet in the south. I know a guy who does several car related shows a year that are growing leaps and bounds and he also has a quite successful regional magazine to go along with it. I'm gonna try & pick his brain about these 2 ideas.

Anybody with knowledge of the publishing business/process want to toss in some advise as well as those with interest/ideas that would just be possible subscribers/readers/contributors?
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Charley,

Print media is a dying business thanks to the internet. Areas with limited appeal are especially risky as investments. You can get more information online and faster due to search engines than you can in print media. My suggestion is to run an online magazine, or even make it a group on this site (for free).

Example: The other day, I wanted to find out how to wire two duplex outlets in one 4x4 box, jumper or pigtail. I have two popular wiring books that I purchased at Barnes and Noble. Neither shows how to do it. But a simple Google search produces 5 articles with photos demonstrating how to do it.

Re: the machinist magazines: Like Bill, I read them at Barnes and Noble for free. Or at the library for free. Owing to the way this site and I were personally vilified by the editor of one magazine group, I will never, ever subscribe to his product and line his pockets. Given the limited appeal of these magazines, you would think he could ill-afford to tick off any prospective subscribers. As for content, why make one magazine with a lot of content pages, when you can split that magazine into 3 magazines (claiming that they fill different "niches") and make people subscribe to all 3 and generate 3x the revenue. Then, offer one or two good articles in each magazine each month and the rest advertising. That is what one magazine group does.

From what I see, it is a very risky venture, and the frustration can make a person very angry and bitter.
 
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Nels said:
Charley,

Print media is a dying business thanks to the internet.
Click to expand...

I disagree.

It is already dead but the body is just flopping around.

Previously, the ads were a big draw to be able to find niche items. Now, they are pretty much worthless. A google search can take you to the vendor and have all the info they care to provide about their wares. Why would someone pay thousands of dollars for a 2in. square ad (or even a full page) when they can put tremendous amounts of information online for little money.

The articles even at best were small and had little space to really get any details. Whatever value the editorial process had beyond a "gatekeeper" is questionable. Most annoying are the ones from the UK or other places that like to spread a good one out over several issues that leave you waiting for months to get the full information. Well, that and the "rave review" articles where they push their advertiser's products regardless of quality.

The only thing that they really offered for projects over what we have now was professional editors. Personally, I could care less. I can get past typos and less than professional writing. Content trumps presentation in this case.

I have only read a few machinist magazines (Model Engineer's Workshop) which isn't too bad but I can't say I would ever subscribe because although it is well done, much of their content doesn't interest me. The book compilations they have in the Workshop Series are nice.
 
After staring at a computer screen for much of the day, I like print media for a change. I get 4 magazines every month, and I buy books. I read fiction almost exclusively as e-books, but for non-fiction I like paper.

After writing the above about all the non-relevant articles in HSM, I spent last evening going through my back issues. In about every other issue I found an article I had dismissed as irrelevant at the time, but as my interests have evolved the articles are now relevant. I am about halfway through them and look forward to spending another couple of evenings finding more nuggets.
I guess this is why back-issues continue to bring face value on ebay.
 
AR1911 said:
After staring at a computer screen for much of the day, I like print media for a change. I get 4 magazines every month, and I buy books. I read fiction almost exclusively as e-books, but for non-fiction I like paper.

After writing the above about all the non-relevant articles in HSM, I spent last evening going through my back issues. In about every other issue I found an article I had dismissed as irrelevant at the time, but as my interests have evolved the articles are now relevant. I am about halfway through them and look forward to spending another couple of evenings finding more nuggets.
I guess this is why back-issues continue to bring face value on ebay.
Click to expand...

+1 on this AR1911. I really enjoy time away from a backlit screen. It feels totally different than screen time, as much as I love HM and a lot of googling!

I also enjoy learning about things I didn't think I would find interesting at all... i like reading old Steam magazines like ModelTec or Live Steam, even though I don't have a steam engine or train. THere are so many PRACTICAL processes and tricks that apply to anything you do.
Almost ANY article, no matter what it is about, has tidbits of PROCESS that help.

Plus, you see people writing some "human interest" in there too. Being a home machinist can be a lonely hobby, for us extraverts ha ha.
This, and I actually don't mind seeing ads etc when they are in print. For some reason it doesn't bug me. Maybe that's because I am a photographer for a living!

Why don't we all try to CONTRIBUTE to these institutions that we wish to see continue to thrive? MAKE them into what we want them to be?


Bernie
 
What's wrong with me??

Why don't we try to have our members, with some assistance, send in their project pics and descriptions so submit TO HSM???

Pics are already taken, really cool and current projects, and with just a little polishing of the copy and organizing the info, so much of the info is there waiting to be an article??

Look at so many of RayC's posts, Hawkeye's Toolpost post, and so many more members here? I bet that often our projects of the month are worth submitting!

Just a thought


Bernie
 
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