# German Engine Forum



## pete (Jan 19, 2012)

I thought I'd post this for those that are interested. It's a German language forum at http://dampfforum.info/

Take note, "THE FORUM OWNER DOES NOT WANT ANY POSTS IN ENGLISH" I can agree, understand, and sympathise with that point. However it's still a really awesome forum even with the requirement of using Google Translate. There's some very complicated and technical engine builds and most are done without using castings. Be prepared to burn up more than a few hours searching previous posts. Unfortunately you also can't view anything on this forum without joining it. But it's more than worth it. Since it's the scale stationary steam engines that interest me, That's the only sub forum I've checked so far. If you do decide to join this forum? I can promise you that your not going to be disapointed.

Pete


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## lazylathe (Mar 24, 2012)

Hi Pete, 

Joined this a few weeks ago.
Had some issues logging on and the forum owners were very helpful in getting me set up!
Just use google translate to communicate and they reply very quickly!!

The work is top notch on that site!!!!
I can see spending a lot of time just looking at the pictures!!!

Thanks for the link!!!
Also helps I can read a bit of German!!!

Andrew


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## pete (Mar 24, 2012)

Hi Andrew,
I'm glad at least one person got some actual use out of my post. Yeah there is some VERY mind blowing items on that site. But for anyone else reading this? I want to again state very clearly, "THE SITE OWNER DOES NOT WANT ANY POSTS IN ENGLISH". I can understand and fully agree with his points of view. It IS a German language forum. Personaly I'm happy enough they let me join and view all those great engine builds. But don't bother using Google translate to make any posts from English to German. It ends up almost unrecognisable.

LOL, On a side note? I've been following some of your posts, PM/South Bend etc. Your quickly moving up into a machine tool whore. I'm jealous ;D You've managed to score some great equipment.

Pete


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## JorgensenSteam (Mar 24, 2012)

Looks interesting, but I can't seem to access any of it, other than an index.

An open forum would be nice for the folks who are not members, or who cannot become members. What is the harm in having your posts seen by everyone? Surely the posts can be that priceless that they cannot be seen by everyone. Maybe because of the plague of copying, but I would still make it an open forum. So what if it gets copied? Big deal.

The posts are permanent though, and I reserve the right to remove my posts. Too often I find that I have highjacked someone elses thread, or gotten hopelessly off-topic, or just misunderstood the question, and then posted a response that makes it obvious what an idiot I am (to those who don't already know that). I think most would appreciate being able to change or delete posts.

I believe I could learn German without too much trouble, I have had to work on projects with all German drawing and text, and you can pick it up pretty quick, expecially since the vocabulary is generally limited items we know well.

I don't even see an email address to contact anyone, so I get the idea (don't call us, we will call you).

Hats off to HMEM, Madmodder, and other open forums.
I found HMEM by browsing around trying to learn machining, and liked what I saw. I would not have joined had I not been able to see what is here first.

Keep info open-source is my motto.
It works out better for all involved, and promotes the hobby in a big and open way.


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## pete (Mar 24, 2012)

Yes You do have some valid points. However that German forum is one you have to join to see anything. I think it's worth it. The majority on that site seem to specialise in building to commerial drawings, But without using the castings. At least for the stationary steam anyway. I've learned at lot thru that site. There are some very talented people there just like here. Google translate is slow and doesn't always give the correct translation due to technical terms. But overall it's not too tough to figure things out.

Pete


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## lazylathe (Mar 24, 2012)

Thanks Pete!
I still have some place to fill with tools!
So my tool whoring will hopefully continue
for a while as long as I find the good ones!!

I do not have a problem with the German site.
Join if you want to or don't!
They just have different rules to what we are used to.

As for google translate it works quick for me.
No problems with crazy translations yet!

I get most of the German just need help with
some words!

I really like the Stirling and vacuum motor sections!!
Very cool work!!!!

Andrew


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## mklotz (Mar 24, 2012)

The first German sentence you must learn...

Das Leben zu kurz ist, Deutsch zu lernen.


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## stevehuckss396 (Mar 24, 2012)

mklotz  said:
			
		

> The first German sentence you must learn...
> 
> Das Leben zu kurz ist, Deutsch zu lernen.




While your up, get me another beer?


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## steamer (Mar 24, 2012)

An Oscar Wilde fan heh?

Dave


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## steamer (Mar 24, 2012)

but I like Steve's translation better...... ;D

Dave


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## steamer (Mar 24, 2012)

I was able to register, I look forward to seeing what's up there.

Dave


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## mklotz (Mar 24, 2012)

steamer  said:
			
		

> An Oscar Wilde fan heh?



It's sort of frightening to admit that one of my intellectual heroes is an Irishman, and one of dubious moral character at that (or is that redundant?).

How can one not admire a guy (?) who could come up with such gems as:

The only way to get rid of a temptation is to yield to it.

Moderation is a fatal thing: Nothing succeeds like excess.

Biography lends to death a new terror.

Only the shallow know themselves.

Bigamy is having one wife too many. Monogamy is the same.

and my personal favorite...

Of course, America had been discovered before Columbus, but it had always been hushed up.


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## steamer (Mar 24, 2012)

mklotz  said:
			
		

> It's sort of frightening to admit that one of my intellectual heroes is an Irishman, and one of dubious moral character at that (or is that redundant?).
> 
> How can one not admire a guy (?) who could come up with such gems as:
> 
> ...




 Rof}


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## Mosey (Mar 24, 2012)

Das leben zu klotz. sprechen


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## steamer (Mar 24, 2012)

Wot Marv Said!....and Mosey ;D


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## Herbiev (Mar 24, 2012)

Sign in my workshop. Used to see them in telephone exchanges where I worked



ACHTUNG! ALLES LOOKENSPEEPERS!

Alles touristen und non-technischen looken peepers!
Das machinen ist nicht fuer gefingerpoken und mittengrabben.
Ist easy schnappen der springenwerk, blowenfusen und poppencorken
Mit spitzensparken. Ist nicht fuer gewerken bei das dumpkopfen.
Das rubbernecken sichtseeren keepen das cotten-pickenen Hans in das
Pockets muss; relaxen und watchen das blinkenlichten.


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## lazylathe (Mar 24, 2012)

Here is a link to a video of one of the steam engine builds:
[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRJfx6NlgKs&feature=youtube_gdata_player[/ame]

Andrew


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## steamer (Mar 24, 2012)

That's beautiful Andrew.....can't wait to browse around myself!


Dave


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## petertha (Mar 25, 2012)

pete  said:
			
		

> Be prepared to burn up more than a few hours searching previous posts. Unfortunately you also can't view anything on this forum without joining it. But it's more than worth it.



Before actual viewing, looks like one can burn a few hours just trying get in front door REGISTERING! ;D

I entered the typical email/name user fields up top, selected Britsh English as the language, my time zone. The country dropdown only shows: Germany, Austria, Swiss & 'not selected'. Tried 'not selected' & filling in the rest of the info, guess it didnt like the flavour of a Canadian phone number or something. Did you eventually contact a web admin or someone directly? Looks like nice stuff there, but what a rigamarole.


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## steamer (Mar 25, 2012)

Yeah I ran into the same thing, so I checked off Germany instead.........It went through although I haven't been "approved" yet.

We'll see.


Dave


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## Xlmyford (Mar 25, 2012)

lazylathe  said:
			
		

> Here is a link to a video of one of the steam engine builds:
> http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XRJfx6NlgKs&feature=youtube_gdata_player
> 
> Andrew


Hello.
You can take a look at this guys machines without becoming a member of the"Dampfforum".
Here is his homepage
http://dampfundmehr.de/
There on the left side, you will find"Meine Modelle",the third from the top.
Just click on it.Then click on the thumb pics.
Cheers,Ralph


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## Xlmyford (Mar 25, 2012)

petertha  said:
			
		

> Before actual viewing, looks like one can burn a few hours just trying get in front door REGISTERING! ;D
> 
> I entered the typical email/name user fields up top, selected British English as the language, my time zone. The country dropdown only shows: Germany, Austria, Swiss & 'not selected'. Tried 'not selected' & filling in the rest of the info, guess it didn't like the flavour of a Canadian phone number or something. Did you eventually contact a web admin or someone directly? Looks like nice stuff there, but what a rigmarole.



Hello.

You have to recognize that this forum is a more intimate or personal kind of community.
Most of the members know each other in person and therefor new members are checked in advance.
They don't want any trolls.

Give them the time they need and you will be welcome there.
You have to show your *real name*,no nicks allowed, and your phone number has to be written without spaces,IIRC.
Cheers,Ralph

BTW. Another very gifted model engineer's side,worth a longer look.
http://www.eckartkercher.de/
Lots of brilliant pics in
http://www.eckartkercher.de/uebersicht.htm
http://www.eckartkercher.de/baubeschreibungen.htm
This guy is a retired advertising photographer(you will realize this,as soon as you see his pics).
He has had no "metal experience" before he started model engineering.
An autodidact,which is hard to believe and makes me cry,sometimes. :'(


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## pete (Mar 25, 2012)

Xlmyford is 100% correct. It took me over a week to finally get signed up at that site. It IS worth it though. There's one young guy on there who doesn't yet have any machine tools and builds amazing stationary steam models out of light cardboard. Somebody needs to take up a collection and well buy that guy some starting equipment.

Since I don't speak any German, One little trick I discovered that saves a lot of searching time is I use a 15 post minimum count for a thread, Scroll thru till I hit some pictures. If I'm real interested in what their doing, I then kick Google translate into gear. They all seem to be expert photographers on that site too. As long as people behave and don't post in English. I'd think they would welcome anyone.

Oh Yeah, You have to use your real name as Xlmyford said, But it's both your first and last name too. That's what slowed me up from joining.

Pete


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## JorgensenSteam (Mar 25, 2012)

I used this link to get to one of the sites mentioned above, for Peter Falla Schek. Maybe it will work here.
It translates the German into an understandable but not perfect English.

http://translate.google.com/transla...+fallaschek&hl=en&biw=936&bih=463&prmd=imvnso

This guy appears to be extremely good at modeling.

Here is Eckart Kercher's website in English:
http://translate.google.com/transla...art+Kercher&hl=en&biw=936&bih=463&prmd=imvnso

Eckart's models are incredibly beautiful. Works of art I would say.

Those guys are no slackers when it comes to engineering and modeling.


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## Admiral_dk (Mar 25, 2012)

I registered myself there yesterday - he requires your full name and address etc for signing up, but the first line is your handle, so I filled in Admiral_dk as I have done several places on the net - no problem.


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## gbritnell (Mar 25, 2012)

I see Herr Schek uses what some people consider unusable, a round column mill. 
gbritnell


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## steamer (Mar 25, 2012)

Oh I would never think that George....no one else should either! :bow: :bow:


Dave


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## steamer (Mar 25, 2012)

Thanks for that Ralph!  He does very nice work!

Dave


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## Xlmyford (Mar 25, 2012)

gbritnell  said:
			
		

> I see Herr *Falla*schek uses what some people consider unusable, a round column mill.
> gbritnell


Yes,Peter is using a BF25 (Rong Fu),sold by Optimum in Germany.It came along very low priced.
Peter is a former instructor for industrial machinists,that included turning,milling,etc.
After he did some modifications to his mill,
http://dampfundmehr.de/bilder/keller/optimum/digi_anzeige.html,
he is very satisfied with it
and the round column never bothered him.
His workshop is located in a very small cellar in an apartment house.
There is only space for the mill,his Myford
http://dampfundmehr.de/site05.htm
 and for himself.
His bandsaw and the brazing equipment are standing in his garage.
Fortunately Peter is not that big. 
Cheers,Ralph


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## steamer (Mar 25, 2012)

Ah and he has it on the ball too!  The cam lock spindle head lock is a awesome mod to the RF. :bow:

The brief time I had a RF30, that feature was one thing I truly disliked!

Dave


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## Blue_Rock (Mar 26, 2012)

Hi, I registered yesterday and got access today. 

Yep, that camlock mod to the RF head lock bolts is sweet. 

Nice to see Herr Falla Schek has included some great photos and a very clear PDF drawing of the mod... in metric, you gotta love that. 

This guy turns out a staggering array of beautiful and finely-detailed machines... truly inspiring.

Herr Falla Schek ist Der Mann!


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## Xlmyford (Mar 26, 2012)

Hello.
Don't want to be impolite,but
"Der Mann"is named Fallaschek.
Or call him Peter.
Cheers,Ralph


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## JorgensenSteam (Mar 26, 2012)

You can tell those guys are extremely passionate about what they do.

Having seen their work, I don't blame them for wanting a sort of closed club consisting of others like them.

I still would hope they would have an open forum though for the rest of us "mortals", (no criticism intented, these guys are great, but open-source helps the rest of use become great too).


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## Xlmyford (Mar 26, 2012)

UNIcastings  said:
			
		

> You can tell those guys are extremely passionate about what they do.
> 
> Having seen their work, I don't blame them for wanting a sort of closed club consisting of others like them.
> 
> I still would hope they would have an open forum though for the rest of us "mortals", (no criticism intented, these guys are great, but open-source helps the rest of use become great too).



There is no problem to join this guys.
You don't have to show any masterpiece to become a member.
I'm a member there and I've hardly any idea of model engineering.
Cheers,Ralph


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## petertha (Mar 26, 2012)

Hopefully Im following the correct procedure. I initially filled in the info on the registration page, then got an email a few days later confirming my chosen username & password Welcome to Dampfforum forums, Please keep this e-mail for your records. Your account information is as..

Today I got another email saying Registrierung und Datenerhebung Die Angabe des vollständigen Namens, der Adresse (Land, Postleitzahl, Wohnort, Straße),für die Anmeldung bei dampfforum. (Nicknamen werden automatisch gelöscht) ..... English translation: Registration and data collection Specifying the complete name, address (country, zip code, city, street), with the application for steam forum. (Nick name will be automatically deleted).

So I went back to the registration page, this time inserted my full name & address, using my email & password from before.. Is this the right procedure? Am I almost there?


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## petertha (Mar 26, 2012)

Never mind, just got a confirmation email. Im IN. Yaaay!


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## lazylathe (Mar 26, 2012)

Looks like this thread is causing a lot of interest! ;D

Just remember no posts in English!
And also Google Translate does not always translate correctly!

And it takes a long time to find info...
At the moment i am looking for info on test tubes.
They always seem to be able to get the best ones!

Andrew


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## JorgensenSteam (Mar 26, 2012)

Another benefit of having an open forum is that realistically, I will not be able to post any useful information on a German forum like that.

So there is no need to join, only to make a few posts, and then probably get bumped out of the membership due to lack of activity.

But if I could see what they were doing, then I could interactively comment on what I see, for example from this forum.

At least then we could all interact and discuss in some way.

Again, in my opinion, open forums (open forum means that you can see everything regardless of whether you are a member, and not to be confused with a forum who admits anyone for any reason, and regardless of whether they post anything or not such as HMEM) are the only way to go.

Note, there is nothing wrong with the way HMEM admits anyone as a member regardless, if you have someone who can spend a bunch of time each day weeding out hundreds of spam applications for membership. Most people who run forums just don't have time for such things, and have to have a "on request" membership. More power to HMEM if they do allow anyone. It does seem kind of odd to have 10,000 members, when only perhaps 500 have ever made their first post, and of those 500, only 100 ever make a second post.

I think the reality is that 1% of the 10,000 members make 99% of all the posts.

I think we have to realize we can't join and actively participate in 20 differnet forums (unless we are retired and don't have anything better to do, I am not retired).


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## chbeyer (Aug 1, 2012)

Hi,

being the site-admin of dampfforum.info I just want to state that there are no access limits for the site, rules are a bit more strict than here, like no nicknames, only 'real' avatars, correct post address. In the past we lost some very valuable highly gifted model engineers and with them a lot of useful input due to trolls and harsh language and general intercourse. To avoid that the forum has been made as unattractive for trolls as possible. 

Though anyone from the very beginner to the specialised builder is very welcome there and we have  a bright variety of members. 

For the language, the language of the forum is obviously german and 50 to 60% of the members don't speak/read english at all (including Peter the 'owner' of the forum). It is not formally forbidden to post in different languages but at least a google translator output in german should be added. Seems logical to me I don't write this in german either 

The fact that the forum is closed has more or less historical reasons, one of the advantages though is that some of the more active posters also write for model engineering magazines usually those do not tolerate articles about stuff that is already publicly available on the net. It also keeps the number of members a bit smaller and the percentage of 'active' members higher, though nobody get's bumped out for being inactive !

cheers
christoph


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## Mosey (Aug 1, 2012)

Huck, Klotz, Steamer, Lazylathe! Wow, glad to see you guys here , again.


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