Hello Bill, no, you are not unusual. I try to remember to make notes and take photographs of progress when, for instance, going on holiday, not having access to the model because it's in an exhibition etc and then, with luck, I can quickly continue from where I left off…… doesn't always work though!

Brian

Edited By Brian H on 07/11/2019 19:57:29

I find with long projects such as my corliss mill engine, that I need to break off and do a bit of toolmaking periodically.

I am currently in a broken off phase and making some collet blocks so I can use the Pultra 1770 10mm collets in the jig borer vice.

Phil

Bill

I have more than one project on the go at any time and swap between them. Like XD351 I box every thing when I stop on a project. I also like to loosely assemble as much as possible.

I feel that keeping a diary of the work done and taking photographs is invaluable. In the olden days this meant having a note book and a few pictures. Now, with computers, one uses a spread sheet and can take thousands of photographs for nothing. My simple spread sheet has a few columns; Date, Part, Part number, Action, Comment and Photograph file name. This is a daily record of work and tries to record everything particularly minor disasters, required tools etc.

JA

One thing that I do to help with the motivation is to try and finish in the workshop with a component that is set up ready for machining when I start the next session. Obviously I will check over everything before switching on, but this approach has always helped me as I know I can start a session without having to spend a lot of time thinking about what I'm going to do. Always useful with advancing years and a failing memory.

Phil