A suggestion for dealing with hobby machinist posts

[plastikdreams]

If it's on the internet it has to be true

 

[mac1911]

Ah, yes. And we have so much better access to technical and arcane information, and give and take. But it still takes some effort to locate the info we want.

Unfortunately, forums have become a convenient means of some lazy, passive folks to get answers with no legwork. A question with some research behind it is has much to be desired.

And not just from hobbyists.

I agree and finding info can be challenging. Much like a library.
My internet search skills are awful. I cant find much of what Im looking for easily. Forums search features seem to be even more lacking or difficult.
In the end I think the best thing for bad posts or those that think they are bad is to pass them by and the Moderators need to clean them up once in a while

 

[mac1911]

If it's on the internet it has to be true

If its in a book its true also. Just harder to delete or re write

 

[michiganbuck]

If it's on the internet it has to be true

and if they say it a number of times on TV it's gospel.

 

[Ron Hofer]

A Modest Proposal:
Inform all of us amateurs that, for eight bucks a month, PM will put a blue check in front of our names.
That should resolve everything.
You're welcome.

 

[eKretz]

A Modest Proposal:
Inform all of us amateurs that, for eight bucks a month, PM will put a blue check in front of our names.
That should resolve everything.
You're welcome.

Elon, is it really you?!

 

[rons]

That would be weird.

"You have been voted off the Island. Please, take your micrometers and go."

Reminds of what Will Willis says to blade smiths that don't make the cut, "Please surrender your blade and leave the forge floor".

 

[Lewie]

I agree and finding info can be challenging. Much like a library.
My internet search skills are awful. I cant find much of what Im looking for easily. Forums search features seem to be even more lacking or difficult.
In the end I think the best thing for bad posts or those that think they are bad is to pass them by and the Moderators need to clean them up once in a while

BUT are we assured that the "Moderators" are any better than the original erroneous posters?? The have grown up in the same terrible education system. :-(
...lewie...

 

[farmersamm]

Farmer sams example is good.........In the case of the pivot pin.........yes you can make a pin from whatever your lathe will cut.........unfortunately ,the original pin is induction hardened high strength steel ......the surface is file hard ...RC 60.....without that hardness ,your replacement will chop out in six months...........Yet every day some guy pays a lot of money to have a shop make him bucket pins for an excavator out of 4140HT........strength is OK,but there is not the hard surface to resist wear that was in the OEM part...........he thinks hes saving 50% on the OEM price.....he s actually wasting money.

You're right.

At the time, I tried to defend an indefensible position.

I've always used DOM for a pin boss, with 1018 pins, no bronze bushings. It's actually, Honest to God, worked well............................... I thought Fatige Proof was a monumental step forward this time around.(not)

But that's been on low cycle, relatively lightly loaded pivots. For example: The loader I built has a 4000# weight limit, and the rotational cycles on a loader are far far fewer than an axle pivot. It's been in service for about 25yrs. A recent teardown to replace the cylinder seals, revealed almost no appreciable pin wear, and the bores, although I didn't put a caliper in them, are still tightish(these were built to .010 clearance).

I guess I'm like a dog that drools when it sees a Milk Bone. I have patterned behavior. Which can be bad.

Anyways................. The front pin is steel on steel, the rear pin is steel on bronze(although it's 1018 because it had to be weldable, like the original). I know I will find out that you're right. I'm a grease freak, so I'm hoping that will delay the inevitable.

 

[michiganbuck]

Newbie Posts in moderation are a chance for experienced guys to give good advice and perhaps avoid the next newbie from making the same mistakes.
So if not in excess they are not that big a deal.

Getting "How to Run a Lathe," and downloading the "Cincinnati TC grinder operators manual" are often the good advice given.

 

[Rob L]

Okay, let's try it the other way round.

How many pro / none hobby machists on PM started as a hobby shop.

Here's 1 to start the ball rolling.

I didn't start as a hobby shop as such but I did start to learn with Chinese hobby grade machines. They taught me a valuable lesson, when it comes to iron more is more and cheap used 'industrial' machines beat the socks off new small import machines.

Having been there done that I have respect for the people who do make really good parts on the small import hobby machines, it's one hell of a lot harder to make something well on a small Chinese benchtop CNC lathe with steppers than it is on a 30+ year old Hardinge CHNC, going from one to the other literally feels like having a money printer and I say that from first hand experience.

I can completely understand not wanting all the hobby stuff on here though, the forum could and almost certainly would get swamped with extremely basic questions that get repeated over and over again, I've seen it on other forums before they died a death. For what it's worth I had been reading threads on this forum before I even bought a hobby machine to get learning, I even didn't register until I felt I had anything useful to say or had a sensible question to ask which would have actually required the knowledge of a much more experienced machinist to answer and that was probably 2 - 3 years after buying my first 'real' machine, I'm pretty sure I repaired my CHNC twice using information found on this forum before registering infact.

Only other thing I would say is this forum is maybe a bit too dismissive of Chinese manual machines, yes the bench top stuff doesn't really fit here but there are plenty of much bigger machines coming out of China, no they aren't anything special but plenty of people do use them for actual business activity, some of the machines Cutting Edge Engineering Australia uses look like they're from China and you could hardly accuse him of being a hobby machinist.

Just my £0.02 anyhow.

 

[Tyrone Shoelaces]

My reservations with “ newbies “ or “hobby shop guys “ is when they get to the point were they “ know just enough to be dangerous“ as my old foreman used to say. They also seem to think because something they’ve done works for them it‘s going to work for everybody.

Regards Tyrone.

 

[mac1911]

I didn't start as a hobby shop as such but I did start to learn with Chinese hobby grade machines. They taught me a valuable lesson, when it comes to iron more is more and cheap used 'industrial' machines beat the socks off new small import machines.

Having been there done that I have respect for the people who do make really good parts on the small import hobby machines, it's one hell of a lot harder to make something well on a small Chinese benchtop CNC lathe with steppers than it is on a 30+ year old Hardinge CHNC, going from one to the other literally feels like having a money printer and I say that from first hand experience.

I can completely understand not wanting all the hobby stuff on here though, the forum could and almost certainly would get swamped with extremely basic questions that get repeated over and over again, I've seen it on other forums before they died a death. For what it's worth I had been reading threads on this forum before I even bought a hobby machine to get learning, I even didn't register until I felt I had anything useful to say or had a sensible question to ask which would have actually required the knowledge of a much more experienced machinist to answer and that was probably 2 - 3 years after buying my first 'real' machine, I'm pretty sure I repaired my CHNC twice using information found on this forum before registering infact.

Only other thing I would say is this forum is maybe a bit too dismissive of Chinese manual machines, yes the bench top stuff doesn't really fit here but there are plenty of much bigger machines coming out of China, no they aren't anything special but plenty of people do use them for actual business activity, some of the machines Cutting Edge Engineering Australia uses look like they're from China and you could hardly accuse him of being a hobby machinist.

Just my £0.02 anyhow.

Sady my shed can only take about 600 lbs . So small machines are where Im at for now.
IDK what it was like 20+ years ago but finding some what inexpensive old usable equipment seems harder to come by these days. I “lucked out” on snagging my name not to be said 3-1 and what I did not “pay” for it had afforded me some tooling and learning.
Now since my lathe is in a hostile place and the snow and cold will shut me off to using it I hope to pick up some actual books to read over the winter. I hate reading off the electronics

 

[eKretz]

BUT are we assured that the "Moderators" are any better than the original erroneous posters?? The have grown up in the same terrible education system. :-(
...lewie...

I think you're missing the point of Buck's post. Unless I'm mistaken, what he meant was that knowledgeable guys need to stop replying to numpty posts, then when they're older and have no replies, the moderators should delete them.

 

[john.k]

maybe Ill just buy a tiny single speed Asian 'LSO" (lathe shaped object) and stir up all the forums ...........i have actually thought of buying one,but they are all like $1000,and I rather buy useless old motorbike and gun stuff with my money....i was pretty frustrated as a child ....I tried to make lathes out of truck and car bits,never worked out...........there was a guy with a lathe in his shed about four mile away..........he used to make ally v belt cone pulleys ,and his metal scrap was old Harley and Indian motorbike crankcases and heads.......I was given all the iron parts ,and coupla years later did very well out of them.

 

[guythatbrews]

I don't play golf, but have heard stay off the course until you've taken some lessons and been to the driving range a bunch. This creates more enjoyment for you and others.

Same works on a forum. Study up and get some basic knowledge. Then when you participate it's better for all.

Hard to make a rule for that, and seems like the rules aren't read much anyway.

I just skip the inane posts.

 

[henrya]

snipped…..

I just skip the inane posts.

Good advice here that solves lots of problems on any forum. ^^^^^^

 

[NC Rick]

I have been around the site for a while. I don’t post often and on a few occasions I have contributed in a way that seemed to be helpful to others. Our business of the last 20 years has been reliant on machine tools and my mediocre skills are critical to providing a living for my wife and I as well as out 3 other employees. I have owned a basic tools (including a lathe and mill) for 25 years prior. Sometimes I am a complete newbie and even a hobbyist. Sometimes I am trying to do things outside of my skill set. This site has always be super helpful to me and I have never been ignored or belittled. Thank you all for your kindness and happy holidays to all.

 

[Cole2534]

Knowing enough to ask an intelligent question is really all I care to see. Especially with the goobers who ask about coding advice but don't post any of the code.

 

[FredC]

maybe Ill just buy a tiny single speed Asian 'LSO" (lathe shaped object) and stir up all the forums ...........i have actually thought of buying one,but they are all like $1000,and I rather buy useless old motorbike and gun stuff with my money....i was pretty frustrated as a child ....I tried to make lathes out of truck and car bits,never worked out...........there was a guy with a lathe in his shed about four mile away..........he used to make ally v belt cone pulleys ,and his metal scrap was old Harley and Indian motorbike crankcases and heads.......I was given all the iron parts ,and coupla years later did very well out of them.

There was a professional gunsmith that frequented the gunsmithing section years ago, that mentioned he had one of those LSOs. Used it all the time for filing radii on pins or sanding parts and stuff like that. Sometimes your other lathes are tied up or you need to sand something and do not want to mess up your good lathe. He called his LSO a "can opener".