Help us to "find ourselves"!

[Highpower]

Re: Help us to

I can share how I would perform some operation on the machines I have at my disposal, with the tooling I have. That doesn't mean you're supposed to go out and buy that same stuff, or do I expect you to. I just share because you may one day hit a yard sale, flea market, etc and find some good tooling that you could now put to proper use. If you always make stuff by banging two rocks together, and only talk with other two-rock bangers, you might never grow into banging one rock onto a piece of steel.

A valid point, however that does not help me at the moment when I'm having trouble adjusting the angles on the banging rocks I currently have - as they are the only tools I happen to have. When I run across that machining center at the yard sale down the street, I'll start asking questions about it then. Doing it now would be pointless because it may never happen. I'm being silly of course, but just saying no matter how good the intentions are they don't always help.

That's why I say I look for help from those that have been there before me at my level, because it tends to stay more on point. Asking a question about the springs on my Ford Pinto won't be served by a lesson from Mario Andretti on tuning a Formula 1 car suspension. One has to learn to the basics before they can comprehend the advanced levels. Skipping the first 5 chapters of book to go straight to the "good stuff" is cheating myself.

I will help someone out in any way I can, as I'm sure you do Paddy. But I don't have your experience in machining so my input is quite limited.
It's great to have you and others around that can answer the tough questions, but I'm sure that most newcomers are put off from asking basic questions because of past experiences elsewhere. That is where I would like to see these forums shine. I believe sticking to a question at the level it is presented - is the key to achieving more participation.

Maybe I'm wrong. Maybe Nelson wants to create an "Advanced Hobby" site. I don't know.
OK, enough of that.... :-X

Newbies: The man asked for input. Speak now or forever hold your peace.

 

[Starlight Tools]

This has been a good discussion guys. I know that one of the reasons I am on these sites is so that i can help mentor others and at the same time develop friendships with others that have a similar interest to me.. Unlike a guy driving around in his Pinto which we see he has, it is impossible to tell if the guy in the grocery store lineup next to you has a machine shop in his basement or not, so this way we can meet others and know they are into this.

I try to give examples of how I would attack the problem with the tooling I have on hand, much like Paddy was saying. there are many ways to skin a cat, and sometimes I will do it one way today, but tomorrow I may try a different method.

Like many of you, I have areas wheere my strengths are there and other areas where I am a raw newbie, so I will learn from the discussions of others and at the same time I try to help others so they can learn from my experience.

Walter

 

[lane]

Well I`m new here . And reading through post not sure what you are looking for. I do know their are a lot of machining beginners coming out of the wood work in the past few years with all the cheap Chinese machinery coming out. I have my self been working with 2 who muddled along by them selves for a few years before we met. then their world of machining changed dramatically after we got together. I my self am still trying to learn to use a computer. And find it hard on my own. just so much i do not know. Like i said in my hello post I have been doing this for 40 = years and that is getting to see how 100`s of other people would do something are machine something for over 40 years. so their are many ,many different ways to machine things . some one trying to learn on their own i think is all most impossible. But the internet makes it so easy. with forum`s like these all they got to do is go in and ask a few questions . In a few hours they will have many answers and different ways to do things. I do not have all the answers but I can usually tell some one how to machine something and it will work. so if you have a question . Just ask will try to help .

 

[rock_breaker]

I'm one of the guys in the ranks, trying to learn about machine shop work and enjoying the pictures and illustrations on how things are done. I believe keeping the U. S. iron separated from the imports is a good idea! I have wondered about the number of your posts, and I believe you are trying to get more reader interaction. Kudos for that, and not being an editor, reporter or web-site manager I will trust your judgement and if I don't like it I have the option to drop out.

Other forums have designated standards that we can choose to enjoy or not, I like the idea of geneeral conversation and what might be called informallaty of this site. Hopefully the Level 10 machinist will continue to advise us newbies (level 1 or 2 in my case) in the spirit of educating and promoting safety.

I believe semantics are very important here, least wise what I think semantics involves. I wrote a response on another forum about how I was taught machines should be secured and shimmed on work benches, just prior to posting my response I revisited the other person's comments, wondering if my comments would be recieived constructively I decided to drop it.

 

[Nelson]

Guys,

I'm glad to hear some positive comments, but also appreciate the constructive criticism. I have tried to listen and also to make changes to the forum based on what you guys have told me in this thread. You guys will notice a lot fewer stickies on most forums as an example.

I'm really looking to find out what we could be doing to be even more helpful to all of you guys. You guys may not have noticed this, but the site lets me create and designate groups. So, for example, you want to have a special, closed forum for advanced machinists, that is possible. You want one only for motorcycle/machinists, we can do that. We now have a group for machinists in Minnesota (MMC). Regular users don't see the group because it is private.

I'm looking to help non-machinists like myself learn- that is my principal goal. Guys in suits and ties learning to make chips for fun and hobby. You guys have also contributed tremendously to that. I want to do more. The more non-machinists that learn, the more the trade lives on, spreads. I'd rather my son helped me restore my lathe than sit on Playstation playing "Call of Duty".

Any other suggestions on how we can build our identity as a group are, of course, welcome. I like to think outside the box, to get everyone possible involved, and make everyone feel a part of this.

Best,


Nelson

 

[cyrusb]

Just got here 2 days ago, and this is the first machine forum I've ever seen, and It looks good to me. One question though, whats up with the level 2 or 10 rating ? What does that mean? How is it determined, and is this common on machine forums in general?

 

[Starlight Tools]

Re: Help us to

Just got here 2 days ago, and this is the first machine forum I've ever seen, and It looks good to me. One question though, whats up with the level 2 or 10 rating ? What does that mean? How is it determined, and is this common on machine forums in general?

Cyrus

Level 2 versus level 10 does not really mean much nor is it a real rating system. It is just a members way of saying that if we are talking to a person that has limited knowledge and experience in machining, that we need to keep the discussion rated to a level that he/she can understand, whereas if it is an experienced machinist talking to another experienced machinst, then they can use terms and methods that they would understand but the average hobbist will not. Nor can we assume that a junior person will know that there are ten or more steps left out when a process is described to an advanced machinst as they are "ass/u/me/d to know them.

For the most part this group tends to not take many steps for granted as we realize that many of those on the group are inexperienced and need the steps spelled out.

So don't worry about what level you are, cause to be honest I really don't think anybody knows what they are. Besides some have more experience in one area and less in others and vise versa.

Walter

 

[cyrusb]

Ah, got it, should have figured that out myself. As far as my personal level, I would say I'm at "It's a miracle I'm still married" level.....

 

[b.lindsey]

After almost a month here the one thing I would like to see is a little more differentiation in the "projects" section, perhaps breaking it out into a reasonable number of interest groups rather than lumping it all under one category. Personally my interest is in small engines but there are obviously other interests expressed here such as home made shop tooling, firearms and accessories, clockmaking, etc. While I can and do read and learn from areas of interest outside my own, it would be nice to be able to have a few sub-categories under the projects heading so that any of us can focus in on our personal interests when time doesn't allow for reading through all the thread titles. Just a thought...and as the site grows and more posts are made more often, it is easier for even newer topics to get burried quickly if (as in the case of projects) everything falls under only on major heading.

Bill

 

[Nelson]

Re: Help us to

After almost a month here the one thing I would like to see is a little more differentiation in the "projects" section, perhaps breaking it out into a reasonable number of interest groups rather than lumping it all under one category. Personally my interest is in small engines but there are obviously other interests expressed here such as home made shop tooling, firearms and accessories, clockmaking, etc. While I can and do read and learn from areas of interest outside my own, it would be nice to be able to have a few sub-categories under the projects heading so that any of us can focus in on our personal interests when time doesn't allow for reading through all the thread titles. Just a thought...and as the site grows and more posts are made more often, it is easier for even newer topics to get burried quickly if (as in the case of projects) everything falls under only on major heading.

Bill

Bill,

I made subgroups for small engines and tooling and will make more as soon as I can.

Best,

Nelson