I will be there!

God willing I will be there – as normal. If your interest is foundry work and small scale casting I will be giving a talk on Friday. Or find me in the halls and pick my brains. Noel.

Bought my ticket, I have.

I went to the show/exhibition today.  A good day out.  All, bar one, of the stands I visited were helpful, and I did buy a few things.

The odd one out was the aerospace surplus stand.  I would advise anyone considering buying from that stand to check, very carefully, the item they intend to purchase.  No address, only sells at shows and, IMO, is less than honest.   A box of supposedly 25 left handed drills I bought last year contained 4 right-handed drills.  He denied any knowledge of selling those sets, then got stroppy.

I did tell anyone at his stand to be careful to get what they expect, each time I passed by.  I don’t think it made him happy, but I got my own back on him somewhat.

It was a good turn out of punters based on how full the car park was. I wasn’t overly impressed with the exhibition The amount of models seemed to down on  couple of years ago when I last visited. Some nice work on display but quite a few that I had seen before. Do we really need part built model on display that haven’t progressed in the last couple of years.

i bought a few files, got a bargain two  Burnerd D1-3 collet chucks one lever and the other key and a full set of collets certainly made the visit worthwhile.

I agree with Howard that if we don’t use it we will lose it but having visited the show for the last three years with that thought in mind, I think I will give it a miss next year if it is staged again although I hope someone who has not been yet will take my place. They would not be disappointed, IMO.

I spent yesterday at the show on the Gauge ‘3’ Society’s stand, helping my friend Ted. Ted’s been there all week, having set-up things on Thursday and he will be taking it all down again this evenlng. He lives an hour away and it’s quite a big commit to volunteer to do this. So if you are going today, please drop by and say “Hello Ted!”. He’s a lovely guy and has a very nice garden railway too!

I did have a wander around the show, trying to spend some money (as usual) but as I’ve been busy this year helping Ketan empty his shelves, I didn’t need very much. I did buy some 8″ files in various grades from the ‘aerospace surplus’ guy for a very good price. I purchased some 4″ ones from him several years back and they have been fine.

A shout out for Tee Publishing! We were contacted recently by a guy who had found his Dad’s B/L Flying Scotsman in the attic and who would like to restore it. I’ve seen examples running at G3 GTGs but didn’t have any plans for one (I have the Weiss/Collins A3). So on the way to get the bacon butties, I dropped by to see if they had the FJ Camm booket. The gentleman on the stand couldn’t find one, so I went to find my favorite ‘buttie’ ladies out in the paddock. Later in the day, this gentleman turned up on our stand with a copy for me to look at. I was very pleased to give him £3.95 in His Majesties finest coin for it. What a nice chap!

One last comment. The gentleman demonstrating CNC ‘Engraving’ on the SMEE stand was really being a bit naughtly using a centre (Slocombe) drill to do so. I had a chat with him and he explained that a) he had lots of them and b) each had two ends – so for running continous demos at shows, they were ideal!  🙂

It was a very good day out, met some old friends and had fun.

Regards,

IanT

This site is still flaky. It took three atempts to make this reply panel work!

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I was there as a paying visitor on Thursday, helping staff the MSRVS stand on Friday.

Form our stand’s vantage-point on one side of the main hall, there seemed many fewer visitors on Friday. Either that or far more of the attendees arrived early so had seen/done/bought all they wanted, early on. The crowd certainly thinned considerably by mid-afternoon. compared to the previous day.

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We know we have lost major traders like Reeves (so consequenrly now, Hemignway, bought by Reeves), but I thought there were fewer exhibitors too; and II recalled having seen many of the models several times now. That annexe used to contain all-display areas. Half of its area is now set out as “lounge” with tables and chairs.

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Lest anyone wonder, yes I do enjoy this exhibiton, do hope for its continuation, and hope to be back next October.

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I had a moment of quiet amusement on Friday, by seeing three of the judges puzzled by a simple folder made for use with a fly-press. After a minute or two of consultation they did realise the heavy-duty brackets holding the punch immoveably above the die was simply an artifice to display the tool’s principle. Amused perhaps, but I also realised from that glimpse that theirs is by no means an easy task.

Bought the few things I needed, plus, after considerable thought, a replacement early-pattern screw-cutting gerabox for my Myford ML7. That from one of the second-hand dealers, who generously knocked £50 off the label price for it, too.

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What most impressed me? Not a magnificent traction-engine, locomotive, clock or workshop equipment, showing levels of skill I do greatly admire – and envy.

No, it was perhaps the exhibition’s smallest and simplest exhibit, and not where you might have expected it either, among the very creditable models on the Young Engineers’ stand. It was (is – typing this on Sunday morning) on what I think a general competition display just inside the entrance.

It was that simple plumb-line, with a brass bob and aluminium (I think) reel, both turned to a high standard. The label said its maker is aged seven. Not seventeen, not seventy.

My reply to those who say youngsters are not interested in making things, is to ask, “Ah, but is that their fault? Are the grown-ups around them inspiring them, encouraging them, helping them, to make things?”

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I dined in my “annual local”, The Crown Inn, in Harbury on Thursday evening but enjoyed a very tasty meal in exhibition hall’s cafeteria on Friday. The venue’s catering staff work very hard, and to a very good standard.  (My accommodation is the campsite on the fringe of the village, roughly three miles from the exhibition centre.)

I remember a few decades ago when the ME and EIM magazines and their respective shows were rivals a rather petty editorial claiming one show had (roughly from memory) 1100 models while the other only 1050. Not sure how you can count every one hiding in the corners of a stand.

Of course it is down to us to provide more models and variety. As well as the competition classes listed at the start of this thread they need to make a more explicit request for non competition ‘loan’ models and clarify support for supplying and retrieving models.
My local agricultural show is cutting its own throat in the classic cars section by increasing the entry charge (now £10 from free before covid) and only issuing one ticket.

Like Nigel my attention was drawn to the Young Engineers stand , in particular to the reversing (variable pitch ) marine propeller , so much so that I asked the very pleasant young lady attendant if I could inspect it at close quarters . She duly obliged and said it had been made by a 17 year old lady . I was impressed by the standard of workmanship and the actions were smooth and precise , so congratulations to the lady concerned .

EXCELLENT NEWS NOEL . Looking forwards to next October already .