The two shows I go to have gone to a donation system instead of an entrance fee. Both organizers tell me it is working OK. I try to contribute to insure the viability of the shows.
Well, I am in the same boat (welcome to the club).I guess I am the odd man out in that the cost of things is a major factor in what I do or don't do. I have to control my expenses and the cost of travel, entrance fees and lodging are significant. I am delighted that some are wealthy enough that these aspects don't even enter your mind. Must be that I am part of the wrong club and should see myself to the door as I don't have the wealth enough to be involved here. And thank you for letting me know that because my priorities don't come up to your high standards that I am very wrong and the real problem with why these events are struggling.
We used to have GEARS in Eugene, OR. It brought people from the whole west coast, but they started a show in California and GEARS faded away. Now there is nothing up here. Not even any clubs north of Portland. I used to belong to two clubs in Eugene and Corvallis, but the Eugene club died. There are no groups in Seattle at all and the Portland Model Engineers club is dying slowly. Just no interest among the younger generations.Well, you don't see ME attending NAMES or any other show on the east coast. It's far more than 12 hours for those of us on the Left coast--it would be easier to fly but I thimpfk the airlines might object to all those metal engines. ON the Left coast, I know that San Francisco must have a show but I never hear about it. Portland also might have a show or at least some place in Oregon. But if there is a show in the Soviet, I've never heard of it.
Yes, what a shame, I know for sure that the Soviet has MANY enthusiasts in it, but it must be the oppressive air of sovietism or something?! I thimpfk Oregon has many enthusiasts too. CAlifornia is too far for me to drive (except that I am presently in Henderson, Nevada). In Washington, a nice central area to meet might be Yakima, as it has nice dry weather most of the time and is large enough to have motels, food etc. I don't know of any enthusiasts in the Yak area tho'. Idaho and Montana have some.We used to have GEARS in Eugene, OR. It brought people from the whole west coast, but they started a show in California and GEARS faded away. Now there is nothing up here. Not even any clubs north of Portland. I used to belong to two clubs in Eugene and Corvallis, but the Eugene club died. There are no groups in Seattle at all and the Portland Model Engineers club is dying slowly. Just no interest among the younger generations.
I was told by an instructor in CNC that fellow instructors that are over 40 believe that students should learn on non-CNC machines THEN move to CNC, but people UNDER 40 (and what would THEY know?) recommend going directly to CNC. HOwever, people who hire those CNC operators complain about the newbies breaking a lot of tools. Well, what newbie is not going to break a few tools? Even in manual, I broke lots of tools and occassionally, I STILL break tools.Without deepdiving into a lot of quasi-political/economic ideas about why society is changing, suffice it to say that technology has changed society very dramatically in the last 200 years, and there has been an exponential change since the advent of modern 3-phase electrical systems were introduced in the late 1800's.
For a while, engineers were started at the bottom of a company, moved up, often working many positions in the company, and eventually becomming CEO.
Now days the beancounters have completely taken over most companies, and so it is not a matter of producing a well engineered product, but rather unparalleled and unchecked greed, and all products are cheap and disposable, and also non-repairable.
Humans have become a commodity, and those who work for the least amount of money are the ones who get the jobs and factories.
Everything is much bigger, and bigger is definitely not better.
I read an article yesterday about chip wars. The country who builds the best and most chips wins, because the world runs on chips now, especially the military and intelligence communities.
My dad was a prolific model engine builder, and he freelanced engines generally using a few prints he found in old books; all barstock builds, and all fully functional engines. Dad refused to use computers, and only towards the end of his life did he get a dumb cell phone.
No amount of persuasion could get my dad to learn CAD. He said "Learn it for what ?".
My dad was a quintessential "old-schooler".
My approach to the model building hobby is to use new tools to accurately create old engines, much in the way that some folks can recreate very authentic looking arrowheads that are so genuine looking that they have to be labeled so as not to confuse them with the old original arrowheads.
I use a manual lathe and mill, with poor-man's DRO's, which are digital verneer calipers clamped on (and that works very well).
But I use Solidworks, and a 3D printer for design and pattern making, and an iron foundry that uses the latest advanced materials and techniques.
I like fasteners to look exactly like they did in the old days, and I don't like to simplify designs just because a model is being made.
To each their own.
My interest in all things technical took off during the Saturn rocket era, and I was obsessed with the internal workings of that spacecraft.
Fast forward to today. Anyone can purchase a cell phone with 10 bazzillion (my joke term) transistors and 100 bazzillion lines of code, and enter a world of artificial reality, all in high resolution color animation that is shockingly realistic.
Today's technical students learn 3D modeling and CNC machining.
I have seen technical schools near this area that require the entire class to design a model hit-and-miss engine in 3D, CNC machine it, assemble it, and make it run on the table.
Pretty interesting to see a room full of these running. I was naive enough to ask the instructor "Where do you keep all your lathes and mills ?".
LOL, we are at the dawn of a new era.
There is no turning back at this point.
Adapt or go the way of the dodo; its as simple as that.
We need a "Plan B" for this hobby, but I am not sure what that plan looks like.
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I don't blame them for that because I didn't follow in my father's footsteps either.
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