R.I.P. Dale Detrich

[stevehuckss396]

I just learned that my friend Dale Detrich has passed from complications from parkinsons.

Dale was a fixture at NAMES and Zanesville every year until he couldn't physically do it anymore. Uncle Dale passed on December 21, 2021 and his wife Aunt Jan passed January 6, 2022.

When Dale got bad I went down and bought all his spark plug making stuff and parts and got his blessing to take over the Detrich spark plug empire.

I'm a little mad and very sad that I didn't get a call and couldn't go down to pay last respects.

The very first attempt to make anything engine related i was looking for mini sparkplugs. I came across dales website and dale said. . . " I can send you one or you can come to the show in Toledo next weekend and get one and see the show" So of course I said "What show". I went to the NAMES show for the first time and met Dale and Jan. The very first "Model engine" people I ever met. He then talked me through making piston rings, getting my first IC engine the Peewee running. He was the single phone call that gave my life a 90 degree left turn into the modeling world. I'm going to miss them both!!!!!

 

[kuhncw]

Steve,

Thanks for letting us know about Dale and Jan. I'm really sorry they are gone.
They were wonderful people.

Chuck

 

[RonGinger]

Sad news indeed. Dale was a very prolific builder and always fun to talk to at NMES.

We are loosing to many of the old timers in this hobby.

 

[gbritnell]

Great couple! Dale was truly a gentleman in many ways. He was always willing to talk and share ideas. The majority of our fraternity is getting older so we're going to be losing more of the pioneers of th hobby.

 

[Mike Henry]

I have a couple of his engine plan sets on CD, along with plenty of pictures to illustrate setups and approaches to machining the parts. I, too, am sad to hear of his passing.

 

[ajoeiam]

I just learned that my friend Dale Detrich has passed from complications from parkinsons.

Dale was a fixture at NAMES and Zanesville every year until he couldn't physically do it anymore. Uncle Dale passed on December 21, 2021 and his wife Aunt Jan passed January 6, 2022.

When Dale got bad I went down and bought all his spark plug making stuff and parts and got his blessing to take over the Detrich spark plug empire.

I'm a little mad and very sad that I didn't get a call and couldn't go down to pay last respects.

The very first attempt to make anything engine related i was looking for mini sparkplugs. I came across dales website and dale said. . . " I can send you one or you can come to the show in Toledo next weekend and get one and see the show" So of course I said "What show". I went to the NAMES show for the first time and met Dale and Jan. The very first "Model engine" people I ever met. He then talked me through making piston rings, getting my first IC engine the Peewee running. He was the single phone call that gave my life a 90 degree left turn into the modeling world. I'm going to miss them both!!!!!

View attachment 134505

Praying that the good Lord would send us more people like Mr Dale and Miss Jan.
Never met them but know of some like - - - somehow the day is better when we're together.

RIP for both!!!!!

 

[rsholl]

Sad news indeed. Dale and Jan were always good to talk to and visit with. Will miss them at the shows for sure.

 

[stevehuckss396]

So here is a little update. I was snooping on the internet and could not find anything about what will become of the things that they both treasured. I stumbled onto a facebook page for folks who grew up in attica Ohio. Dales son had posted a link to an auction site. I clicked on that and found that the auction had not finished so I signed up and bid on one of his 4 cylinders.

First engine show I ever went to I entered the hall in Toledo and went straight to dales table to purchase a sparkplug. He sold me one and then asked me what engine I wanted to see him run. I asked what one he liked best (dumb question i know, they are all like our kids) and he stepped up to the 4 cylinder. Started it up and then gave me the tour of all his other engines.

I started bidding on a 4 cylinder. The engine I bid on had a "few missing pieces" so i figured it would be a little cheaper and I could easily make the missing pieces as I have had the plans for years. I won the engine and made the trip down to Ohio to pick it up. Didn't want it in the mail getting bashed up. A few weeks ago I went out to the garage and did a little inspection. Found that only 2 of the pushrods were gone and everything looked intact. Had the music wire so I made the parts. Tried to start it but no spark. I opened up the base box and found a lead acid battery in there to be dead. That was removed permanently. I wired up a battery I have here and gave it a pull and we had spark. Squirted a little gas down both carbs and it started on the second pull!

So heres the bad news. It spent 3 days getting cleaned up and now it is sitting on my shelf. It will probably never leave the house again and here is why. Dale built 3 of these. This type of engine is the first engine I ever saw running in person. Before that it was only on the internet. Because he made 3 there is a 33% chance that it is the actual engine that I saw running. If something were to happen to it my heart would break so it is here she will reside. Her brass will always be shiny and it will be started once in a while but other than that it is now a shelf queen.

 

[GreenTwin]

I am sorry to hear about Dale and his wife.
I never take life for granted, and these days I generally live every day as if it were my last (because we never know).

I attended NAMES for the first time in 2019, and other than the bad air from lack of ventilation, I had a great time, and met some very supportive and extraordinarily talented folks.
I got to see Rich Carlsedt again, and had a great chat with him.
I have followed Rich's work closely ever since I saw his fabulous Monitor engine; stellar work for sure.

I could not help but notice that the folks at NAMES were much like me, ie: no longer a spring chicken.
We need new folks in the hobby, and we need to pass on our knowledge to the next generation.

I really hope they get the NAMES show going again.
There is nothing quite like meeting and greeting folks in person, and chatting about the hobby.
Talking to others and seeing their work is what has inspired me to try to achieve things that I never thought possible.

The encouragement I have gotten from Rich and others in the hobby is really what keeps me going when the going gets rough.

Thanks for posting.
.

 

[William May]

One way to interact with and support young people who are truly interested in machining, is to find out where your local "Makerspace" or "Hackerspace" is, and drop in for a visit. I discovered the "Xerocraft Makerspace" in Tucson, and I now teach an "Intro To The Metal Lathe" class on the first Saturday of each month. We do simple things that involve facing, center-drilling, drilling, reaming, and turning OD's to size. The initial part is just to make a bushing. The goal is to get people spinning the dials and making chips right off the bat. The actual intro to the machine is about 5 minutes, and the rest of the time is them actually making something on the lathe. If they are REALLY enthusiastic, I point them in the direction of the local Community College, which has an EXCELLENT machine-tool program, and is currently expanding to THREE times it's original size, with a brand new building.
Since the bushing is a very simple project, the next project will be a wobbler engine, that will run on steam or compressed air. I am still refining the design, so that all the parts can be built in the small lathe we have, with only 1 operation so far using the milling machine. I will make fixtures for drilling specific holes, so success is assured. This gives people who have completed the intro course the chance to make something a lot more interesting that they can show their friends.
If you are wondering what kind of work they turn out, you would be amazed. On a 1953 Logan lathe that has seen hard use, nearly ALL the students so far have kept their final dimensions within +/- .001". The bushing has ample machining allowances, to allow them to make cuts and see what the results are when they ask something of the machine tool, and they gradually close in on the finish dimensions.
This last weekend, when I was down there, there was a student at the U of A, working on the milling machine, turning out a machined component for a spacecraft (The CAT-SAT) which will be launched in the latter half of this year. They are already well within the design envelope they have to work in, and are now 25% UNDER the maximum weight, and things are looking good for the project.
Not bad that amateur machinists are turning out parts that will fly in space!
Makerspaces are EXCELLENT places that YOU can contribute to! Kids WANT to know how to do things.
The Xerocraft Space also sponsors and supports a "Repair Cafe" which is devoted to repairing things that normally just get thrown away, to reduce the load on the environment. "Repair Cafe"s started in Europe, along with increasing pressure for manufacturers to make their machines easier to repair at the initial design stage, to have them provide tech data and parts lists to make repairs possible, and to stock and sell spare parts for machines they make. There is actually legislative action taking place in Europe now to increase repairability of machines and appliances. I expect this will start in the U.S. soon as well.

 

[dsage]

So here is a little update. I was snooping on the internet and could not find anything about what will become of the things that they both treasured. I stumbled onto a facebook page for folks who grew up in attica Ohio. Dales son had posted a link to an auction site. I clicked on that and found that the auction had not finished so I signed up and bid on one of his 4 cylinders.

First engine show I ever went to I entered the hall in Toledo and went straight to dales table to purchase a sparkplug. He sold me one and then asked me what engine I wanted to see him run. I asked what one he liked best (dumb question i know, they are all like our kids) and he stepped up to the 4 cylinder. Started it up and then gave me the tour of all his other engines.

I started bidding on a 4 cylinder. The engine I bid on had a "few missing pieces" so i figured it would be a little cheaper and I could easily make the missing pieces as I have had the plans for years. I won the engine and made the trip down to Ohio to pick it up. Didn't want it in the mail getting bashed up. A few weeks ago I went out to the garage and did a little inspection. Found that only 2 of the pushrods were gone and everything looked intact. Had the music wire so I made the parts. Tried to start it but no spark. I opened up the base box and found a lead acid battery in there to be dead. That was removed permanently. I wired up a battery I have here and gave it a pull and we had spark. Squirted a little gas down both carbs and it started on the second pull!

So heres the bad news. It spent 3 days getting cleaned up and now it is sitting on my shelf. It will probably never leave the house again and here is why. Dale built 3 of these. This type of engine is the first engine I ever saw running in person. Before that it was only on the internet. Because he made 3 there is a 33% chance that it is the actual engine that I saw running. If something were to happen to it my heart would break so it is here she will reside. Her brass will always be shiny and it will be started once in a while but other than that it is now a shelf queen.

Hi Steve:
I'm really glad you were able to acquire the engine. It's in good hands.
But "When you say If something were to happen to it my heart would break"
Do you mean if it were to go missing / stolen?
Because if something were to simply break, for sure you could fix it.
It would be nice if the engine was displayed again at shows. That was Dales intent for it.
It's amazing how many engines he packed up to display. They were always a delight to watch.

 

[stevehuckss396]

Stolen or heavy damage would be the 2 big ones. If it was damaged bad say from an auto accident getting to and from a show it could be repaired. Depending on how bad it is it, if it needed extensive repair then it wouldn't be the one he built anymore.

When I cleaned it up I actually thought about polishing everything on a buffing wheel. I decided to just clean it up and hand wipe it with some speedy metal polish. It's shiny but every scratch from a slip with a screwdriver or an allen wrench is still there. Every little flaw either from machining mistakes or assembly mistake or just wear over the years is still there down to all the original hardware except 2 pushrods. That just can't be replaced. Don't want to take a chance of Dales DNA getting erased.

 

[dsage]

All good. Points.
Enjoy it and the memories.
Thanks

 

[ShopShoe]

Stevehucks398,

You said "... It's shiny but every scratch from a slip with a screwdriver or an allen wrench is still there. Every little flaw either from machining mistakes or assembly mistake or just wear over the years is still there down to all the original hardware except 2 pushrods. That just can't be replaced. ..."

I couldn't agree more. If you've seen any of the forensic folks at work, on anythiing from archaeological artifacts to crime scene evidence, you can appreciate the ability to use those small clues to figure out what tooling and techniques were originally used. That's getting close to watching the original builder at work in his own shop.

As they say: "Priceless....."

--ShopShoe

 

[ajoeiam]

snip
The Xerocraft Space also sponsors and supports a "Repair Cafe" which is devoted to repairing things that normally just get thrown away, to reduce the load on the environment. "Repair Cafe"s started in Europe, along with increasing pressure for manufacturers to make their machines easier to repair at the initial design stage, to have them provide tech data and parts lists to make repairs possible, and to stock and sell spare parts for machines they make. There is actually legislative action taking place in Europe now to increase repairability of machines and appliances. I expect this will start in the U.S. soon as well.

Am hesitating to even say something due to the present acrimonious atmosphere that is dictating only model machining and nothing else.

You might want to be aware that the 'right to repair' movement has been working for at least a few years and keeps getting battered by the mega-corps.

I'll stop there so I don't get screamed at for off topic.