Any vacancies for absolute beginners

[CrewCab]

Hello to all ..... ;D ...... I'm Dave and based in the UK ........... West Yorkshire for those that know it.

I've been lurking on the sidelines for a few days as I'm looking to equip my little workshop with a small lathe and mill in the near future, (that's something I've been "going to do" for far too many years), and as time seems to march on faster as the years advance I think I'd better "get mi' finger out" :

Anyway, I've jumped in now rather than later as I have found the wealth of information and expertise on this forum to be quite unparallelled imho ....... and the end products are simply stunning; plus, having trawled through many websites and forums, this one seems to stand out as a very friendly and pleasant place to be.

So at this moment in time, I have never built an engine ............. apart from the standard school project in Engineering Class, ............ which actually did work, but that was a lot of years ago, on top of that I don't at present own many metalworking tools ........... other than a file, a hacksaw and an angle grinder.

OK ........ as far as I can see there are two choices here ............... class me as a fraud and expel me .... ......... or let me in ............. and hopefully I can learn lot's from the knowledgeable members on here ........ .......... so from my point of view, hopefully it's Option 2.

Oh .......... I'm also most likely to bore you all silly with very basic questions so ....... be warned


Dave

 

[mike4517]

Hi Dave

Where in west yorks are you i am in leeds
Mike

 

[CrewCab]

Hi Dave

Where in west yorks are you i am in leeds
Mike

Just down the road in Wakefield Mike

Dave

 

[rake60]

Welcome to HMEM Dave

Every one of us started exactly as you are.
We saw a homemade running model engine and a thought came to mind.
It was either, "I can do that!" or "Can I do that?"
Anyone with the interest to get that far most certainly CAN.

There's no need to worry about asking a silly question here.
The most basic question set even an experienced builder to thinking about
why it's done the way it is, and is there a better way.
We are all here to learn from others skill.

Rick

 

[alan2525]

The good thing about this forum, the guys here are very welcoming to new members, regardless of their experience and level of ability, there are lots of people in your boat trying to work out what sort of tooling to purchase for their workshops and will be able to offer plenty of advice regarding project engines too.

The other thing thats great on these forums is there are lots of in depth posts with lots of step by step photos of various processes too. I find those really helpful to demonstrate how to do something, written without expecting the reader to have a huge wealth of machining experience too.

Feel free to ask any questions you have, there's always more than one way to do a particular job and the questions and answers can be of benefit to others noobs too (like me)!

Alan

 

[John S]

Dave,
Are you going to the Harrogate show ?
May the 9th, 10th and 11th.

.

 

[CrewCab]

Dave,
Are you going to the Harrogate show ?
May the 9th, 10th and 11th.

.

As it happens ...... ;D ............. yes I am

Have booked tickets and was hoping to decide on a Lathe and a Mill, in the hope there were some decent offers ............... I'd be happy to converse over coffe and a bacon butty if your off too ;D

Dave

 

[John S]

There will be plenty of machines there.
Chester, ArcEuroTrade and Warco will all have stands, do a web search before hand to get info.

I'll be there for the whole 3 days but working so I won't get much time off, in fact on the Friday it's impossible to get any dinner unless it's on the move.

If you haven't been before it's mind boggling the amount of gear on sale and show.

.

 

[Stan]

Welcome Dave. Everyone is very helpful. The most knowledgeable will resort to the most basic explanation to try and help.

 

[Philjoe5]

Welcome Dave. I'll tell you everything I know about machining if you tell me what a bacon butty is ??? Can I buy one in the states ;D?

Cheers,
Phil
Lancaster, PA

 

[Brass_Machine]

Always room for beginners. In fact some of advanced members will tell you the are still beginners.

Welcome Dave!

Eric

 

[CrewCab]

I'll tell you everything I know about machining if you tell me what a bacon butty is ??? Can I buy one in the states ;D?

Phil, "bacon butty" is just a colloquialism for a bacon sandwich ;D ............ I'm sure you have them over there ............... bit like a cheese and bacon burger ......... without the cheese and burger ;D ;D

Many thanks for the warm welcome gang, much appreciated. As a first question I wouldn't mind some honest opinions on a small mill and lathe, I've an idea which I think would suit me but I would value input from experienced users ........ but is that better in a separate thread somewhere.

atb

Dave

 

[DickDastardly40]

As a first question I wouldn't mind some honest opinions on a small mill and lathe, I've an idea which I think would suit me

Dave,

Welcome, I believe the only silly question is the one not asked! You'll find some conflicting opinions perhaps on what might best suit, with out going into specifics, I would suggest you think about a few things then come back for detailed feedback:

1. How much space do you have for your proposed machinery? Do you need to install power sockets, is the floor sturdy enough to support what you may bolt to it.
2. What is your budget? Include into this extras and tooling beyond the basic machine price.
3. What do you think you want to make? The size of your preferred potential projects may require that you have machines of a certain minimum size. Allow for some growth so as you get more confident you can do bigger.
4. Do you prefer new or second hand machines, good second hand machines may be harder to come by but also you may get more for you money. Patience is a virtue when equipping anything, don't jump on the first thing that's shiny unless it's a screaming deal.

You're in a nice situation to be starting from scratch, my stuff was built up piecemeal and I might have done it differently had I asked advice at the time. That said some engine projects can take a lot of time (mine is almost up to 10 years) so you don't need everything at once and can spend more on say a lathe now, save and buy a bigger mill when you can afford it.

Hope this is of help

Al

 

[CrewCab]

Hi Al,
Thanks for that, I've just popped a post in the Tools section to ask for a bit of guidance, I'll nip back and add a bit more info.

Cheers

Dave