The Breakroom > The Water Cooler
What will happen?
zeusrekning:
I think the route of the model engineer will continue to evolve. And there will be many gruby old timers who wont like it. lol
Look at blacksmithing, many still tinker with it but its not what it once was. Machinery has finally gotten to a price where most people can afford to buy a small lathe and mill for the home shop. The desire to purse ,I believe, will not be there so much for the younger guys. This used to concern me some until I came across HMEM and madmodder. I am always amazed at you white collar guys who knew nothing of machining but decided to give it a go. I think this is the way it will be for a while. I started working in a machine shop at 16yo, that was only 11 years ago. Ive always enjoyed working on things and designing tools, toys and junk (mostly on my head and on the pc). And I hope the desire continues for me.
:offtopic:
Ill try to focus a bit more I strayed off there.
What will happen. I think the younger crowd will not be coming into the hobby but that mechanical trait that is in most of us here will still be around. I believe it is still in us from the caveman days. I think you will see more and more 30-50 somethings enter the hobby and evolve it. I think you will see the home CNC hobby continue to grow as the equipment becomes more inexpensive. And we should see the 3D printers start becoming a reality for home machinist in the not so distant future. But beyond that I have no idea. Wouldn't it be cool if by the time Im in my 60's Madmodder had a section for molecular manufacturing? But in the end I think model engineering will continue to evolve and hopefully the internet will let us see this evolution. Some may like it some may not. But as long as we can all do and create as we please in our own shops, Ill be happy. And sites like this will be there for all who want to jump in. Just think of the kid in the future who may come across one of Bogs build logs and say "man thats cool" I want to learn how to do that.
Ohh clock making, thats where all my internet surfing has been focused at lately, Buggy to clock would be a cool shift.
Im sorry for rambling on, I was bored. LOL I usually type up these long pointless post then delete them, but Im going to click post now.
Bernd:
Ah to be 27 again. Glad you clicked post. You've added a bit more to the thread.
I didn't see any rambling in there. I think you have a point there though. 3D printers, Mmmmmmmm. Building Bogs engine using molecular building blocks, interesting. Could it become the worlds smallest twin cylinder steam engine? I think you'd need to crush the water molecules down to make the steam go through the pipes. :)
You never know what your words will stimulate in somebody elses mind.
Glad you posted.
Bernd
dsquire:
Zeusrekning
I believe that you have some very good points in your post. Times are changing and we for a large part will change with it.
We need very few blacksmiths now but a few people still like to work at that craft now. Mostly they do it as a hobby and for relaxation. Now we are working with lathes and mills in our basements and garages as a hobby for relaxation. Our new standard of living has allowed us to buy these new custom made toys for the hobbyist. Now the big thing is that we want to convert them into robots so that we load them with material, turn them on and walk away. When we come back we expect the perfect part to be waiting for us.
Whats next? I don't know. We will probably be leaning more and more into electronics and robotics for all kinds of applications. It does not matter if it is a bridge accross the Pacific or a Highway to the Moon, an engineer will be involved. No matter what hapens there is always going to be a few that march to a different drummer. He will not be satisfied to watch something work, he will have to take it apart and study it then refine it and put it back together so that it runs better than ever. There gentleman, is your next Engineer.
cheers :beer:
Don
NickG:
I think he is getting at thinking outside the box!
I don't think it'll be possible for people to do these sorts of blue sky things in their home workshops any time this century. Rapid prototyping machines exist but they're bloomin' expensive and I'd doubt if you could create a working model on one.
There are the exceptionally skilled people that make scale working models of ferrari's and things (there's a video somewhere on the net, the V12 engine sounds like a real ferrari and the guy said if you could drive it, it would drive like a real one) but lets face it, how many of us have the skills, time, machinery and what ever else to be able to do that?
Any machinery that is interesting these days is too complicated for us amateurs to model.
Nick
Bernd:
--- Quote from: NickG on September 02, 2009, 05:15:25 AM ---There are the exceptionally skilled people that make scale working models of ferrari's and things (there's a video somewhere on the net, the V12 engine sounds like a real ferrari and the guy said if you could drive it, it would drive like a real one) but lets face it, how many of us have the skills, time, machinery and what ever else to be able to do that?
Nick
--- End quote ---
Here's the scoop on Pierre Scerri and his Ferrari
Bernd
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