Editorial

EDITORIAL

For the week ending 18 October 2010

This week

We’ve seen a lot about EDM machines elsewhere just lately, with people making life difficult for themselves. So our short series starting this week on how to build a simple EDM machine will no doubt be welcome by anyone who wishes to build a machine that works very well for about £35 for the electronic bits plus a few short pieces of bar (assuming you don’t have what’s required in the scrap box). We saw this machine working recently on the SMEE display at the Warco Weekend and were suitably impressed.

The design, by Mike Kapp, is based on a set of readily available components to provide the power. The mechanical part of the machine, built by Alan Wragg, does require some precision machining, but nothing too difficult.

We can see lots of these being built. It really is the world’s simplest spark eroder.

The machine is a manual one, but we hope to include details of an automatic feed system to ensure a reasonable electrode life and to cut accurately.

We don’t suppose we’ll ever charge readers to visit MEWS, but we’d quite like to give readers an excuse to shower us with riches. So we’re producing a calendar. Well, two calendars, actually, First is a neat little desk top (or bench top) folding version and second is a larger one designed to be hung on a wall. The ‘theme’ of the calendars is ‘model engineers’ and we include some of our favourite photos from the past year or so. The small one is £7 and the large one £12. Prices include postage in the UK and can be ordered with a click using PayPal or a bank card. If you require multiple copies or postage outside the UK, please email us. Buy your calendars here.

This week we welcome another new sponsor, Messe Sinsheim. They have two great shows coming up in the next few months. First is at Cologne from 18 to 21 November. This is a very large show and one of the most enjoyable. It includes indoor live steam with 5in. and 7 1/4in. tracks in constant action, plus traction engines weaving in and out of the walkways and other working model engines. There are also a number of model railways in action with some great layouts. A LEGO exhibition is also incorporated with some truly amazing constructions on large scale - see photo right (yes, it really is LEGO). Also a general hobbies display. This is a large show held every two years and thoroughly enjoyable. Our report from 2008, here.

The other show is the Echtdampf Hallentreffen Karlsruhe, formerly held in Sinshiem. Undoubtedly the greatest gathering of live steam indoors, anywhere in the world. It takes place 14 to 16 January. Perhaps by then the Eurostar will be running to Cologne and Frankfurt and you can take a train from there to Karslruhe. What will be running is the super tour by History in Harmony - details on our news page.

Lots of people have enjoyed the snippets we have included from the Newsletter of Boz Oram from History in Harmony. Especially the jokes! So from this week we include a whole page devoted to ‘Boz’s Blog’. Enjoy!

Bit like buses, really. You don’t see a railway gun for 70 years then two models come along at once. Dougie Swan’s super model of an English rail gun was the star of the show at Harrogate this year. But it was not the only one there.

D Downie displayed his under-construction ‘Anzio Annie’. We think this will also create great excitement, too, when it is finished. The full size version was used against US troops at Anzio. This massive weapon fired shells around a foot in diameter from a barrel more than 70 feet long! Like Dougie Swan’s gun, the workmanship on this looks excellent. We can’t wait to see it finished.

We’re putting in quite a lot of new material on the site at the moment (eight new items this week!) as Mrs Editor goes into hospital next week for a hip replacement. As a result Mr Editor will be doing the household chores and not have as much time as usual to devote to MEWS.

All: “Aah!”

Actually it reminded us that in the early days of joint replacements, skills were so short, that a note was put into Model Engineer magazine asking for people who could machine them. Wonder who makes them now?

Meanwhile, this week the Midland show starts. Time your visit for the lectures you’d like to hear.

Newsletters

Can you please help?

We do receive newsletters from a number of ME Societies, but hope that we will receive more. We rely entirely on club members to help here to make sure we are on the mailing list (details are on the News page).

So, if you would like your club to be noticed on MEWS, do please let us have copies of new newsletters and any news you would like to share.

We have to point out that everything on this site (or published anywhere, come to that) is somebody’s copyright. We do publish drawings which we hope that people will use to build things. However, that applies just once. You are welcome to use the drawings for personal use to build one model for yourself. They are not published for commercial use.

Also drawings can be downloaded - again for your personal use. They must not be sold or published elsewhere without permission.

Privacy

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Unlike some, this website does not collect or store information about readers or pass such information to others. None at all.

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Enjoy your workshop.

David Carpenter

Editor

mail@modelengineeringwebsite.com