Model Engineer & Workshop

[Bazyle]

On Bazyle Said:

I assume some other European countries have equivalents as we know they all have substantial industrial heritage like us.

Perhaps a positive effort by Kelsey to reprint articles from these other magazines would be better than some of the marginal home grown contributions.

There is already some duplication. I also subscribe to the German MiM (Maschinen im Modellbau) and have seen articles in there that have also been published in ME. Though more a case of the authors submitting similar articles to both mags than sharing between publishers.

MiM has a similar mix of models, tooling, machines, show reports, museum visits etc. Nowhere near as much loco content being more IC and stationary steam models and machine articles don’t feature Myfords as you are mor elikely to see Wabeco and Optimim machine modifications and accessories. Bit more CNC, CAM and modern methods in use too. Though I do much prefer the glossy paper than the thin matt stuff ME&W is currently being printed on.

[southernchapParticipant @southernchap]

Neil

Yours is, I feel a thankless task, and I’d like to point out that none of my comments were intentionally aimed at you.

One issue with any ‘technical’ periodical is that, aside from paradigm shifts, or rather, more often, new distinctly different equipment, that offer a new way of achieving the same goals (the arrival of affordable benchtop milling machines might be one example, or benchtop CNC routers becoming more accessible being another), these periodicals tend to repeat themselves.

Photography magazines have a similar characteristic (with digital cameras, Photoshop, and perhaps mirrorless cameras to a lesser extent, being examples in that domain).

And that’s okay if you have a decent sized cohort of people starting whatever technical hobby the magazine is about.

Photography mags are possibly fairly safe in that regard.  Camera manufacturers are still bringing out new models of the entry level ‘proper’ cameras, despite the threat from the admittedly very good phone cameras that most people already have, so I guess people are entering that hobby in reasonable numbers every year.

Would that it were the same with hobby machining.  Even the most optimistic of us would grant that the overall picture is not a frightfully healthy one.

So the cyclic nature of “Ah the time has come around again for an article on ‘techniques for squaring up stock’ or a ‘how to safely cut internal threads’ article , or ‘the most appropriate metrology tool for the level of precision one is working to’ article” isn’t appropriate for our hobby.  There are fewer to whom a piece on indicating in a part in a four jaw chuck would be novel and useful information.

On the subject of contributing articles, well, I’ve had a lathe and a milling machine in my workshop for coming up to four years now, and despite my humorous leg-pulling of the ‘loco-fondlers’, those people have skills, experience, and knowledge, I can only dream of.

I personally would not feel confident enough yet to write for any publication where those that read it, have paid actual money they could have spent on other things.  A case of better to remain unpublished and thought a fool than write and remove all doubt, methinks.

I suspect many others will feel the same way.

So unless you fancy starting a regular, rather repetitive column, where a man in his mid-fifties moans about other men in their seventies (and over) because they won’t shell out the cost of a couple of restaurant meals for a decent reference surface, then I’m afraid I’m personally no help! 😄

 

[Neil Wyatt]

On Neil Wyatt Said:

… Drawings are moot though as many will be redrawn for publication in most cases so the authors original isn’t published.

Note that the new contract only applies to new authors; the publishers are quite happy to honour the prior contracts of existing authors.

 

This is interesting because I was asked to sign a new contract, which I refused, and after reading the contents of said contract I decided to no longer contribute to UK ME&W. Incidentally all the drawings I have submitted with my builds have been printed as submitted; and all my builds as well as a number of series have been republished or compiled into online books.

I can’t imagine any good engineer that produces novel work will agree to the current contract for the pittance that is paid. There are just far too many other options to have your work ‘published’ with far greater returns, minus the bureaucracy.

I tend to agree that ‘choo-choo’ sic build series become long winded and repetitive (love that phrase). A good test for this is if the author wears out ‘and then’… Listening to some of the feedback on this very forum (and others), I have just completed a series on the Willis farmers engine where the build was used as a case study to show common machining pitfalls and methods to improve accuracy, tricks to get steam valves and clacks to work first time and even a little insight into new pattern and casting techniques. I think if future build series are written like this then all readers may find them interesting, and applicable to a great number of builds.

That fine balance of magazine sales and marketing income vs expenses-to-print becomes moot if the contents aren’t innovatively riveting, inspiring or succinct knowledge transfer. Alienating contributors (either financially or with bureaucracy) is probably not the best way to get good content.

[PippinParticipant @phillspowart84010]

I should say that Neil has been very sympathetic regarding the contract issues. Having spent a life in two very paperwork heavy fields of engineering (one of which is heritage rail), and having been through legal cases after road accidents, I am VERY wary of what I sign! Not to mention two decades reading the back pages of Private Eye.

Whilst I have no doubt the MEW team are absolute gentlefolk, you never know who else is above them, or after them. Legal fights are not cheap.

[duncan webster 1Participant @duncanwebster1]

I signed the old contract, which left copyright with me, before the new one came out. I have not been asked to sign the new one.  I made it clear that I wouldn’t,  and have has stuff published since

[Pippin]

On Pippin Said:

Only thing I particularly didn’t like was the obviously AI generated christmas story,

Oh dear!

The story definitely wasn’t AI generated, whatever you thought of it, just the illustration…

Christmas (and particularly Christmas Ghost) stories have been a feature of Model Engineer for a very long time. I don’t think sacrificing a page to tradition is a big burden on those who aren’t interested.

Neil

 

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