John,
This is going a bit
here, but you can spot them a mile off.
They only ever make tooling for their highly polished Monarchs or Hardinges', Myfords et al, and other such useless jobs that could have been done with a bit of wire and a stick, instead they take months to make something to do the job, quoting specific threads and countersink angles, surface finishes and numbers for every bit of metal they use. But never make anything useful for anything other than their own little world they live in. They think nothing of reading a 10,000 page bible, and quote everything from that, even though they have no idea about what they are on about.
As you can see, I despise people like that, they have put model engineering back many years, just by back biting and shaming newbies, to such a point that the newbie wants nothing more to do with engineering. There are times that things have to be done by the book, but it shouldn't be forced down peoples throats. There is nothing wrong at all with using your own common sense to get the job done, and most times you will succeed. As long as you and other people are safe when doing it, then stuff the book monkies and posers, and get on with it. Get your hands and machines dirty, it soon washes off.
It has been that way for thousands of years, and we are not doing too bad at it.
I had an old saying that used to be my signature.
If it looks right, feels right and runs right, then it is right.
Sorry Al, for hijacking, but now that is off my chest I feel a lot better.
John
