On Mon, 12 Aug 2013 22:44:58 -0400, "Michael A. Terrell"
wrote:


Gunner Asch wrote:

On Sun, 11 Aug 2013 19:52:56 -0500, "Pete S"
wrote:

Realizing that so many of you with nothing else to do can turn anything into
political rant, I took a long time composing the subject for this post.
It is NOT of a political nature.

I do a lot of blacksmithing at historical reenactments and threshing shows
to show the visitors "how things used to be done". I really enjoy getting
the visitors interested in what I am doing, but I realize that mostly, their
attention spans are limited and what I am trying to portray may not be high
on theirs list. There is always that "it's like watching paint dry" issue
if I try to do a project that takes a long time, so I try to choose things
that move along quickly and produce items which which the audience can
relate.
----Been doing this for many years and I think I can do it pretty well.

----But, we are in the process of setting up Machine Shop sections within
two of the venues that I attend annually. So we are in need of projects for
this part of the shops that will "wow" them and at the same time teach a
little.
What do you folks do?

Pete Stanaitis
---------------

first question is...old time machine shop..or state of the art (within
reason) modern machine shop?

Either way..first thing you do is machine little gizmos out of
aluminum or steel as give aways. Something cool and neat and fast and
cheap.

http://www.instructables.com/files/d...136Y.LARGE.jpg

Now if old time machine shop..you have to have a shaper and a drill
press first of all. Then a lathe and then maybe a mill.

When you add the machine shop...this is the PERFECT time to have
close by..small engines and steam engines and cannons and whatnot,
made by yourselves and others. Perhaps a display of small internal
combustion engines that run..etc etc.

I can probably find you a very inexpensive screw machine to
demonstrate how "automation" came to being. Sthrom, Tornos, something
along that line....

Make a little gizmo out of a bar of cheap steel or stainless....shrug.
Steel push pins or something along those lines...to demonstrate the
evolution from blacksmithing to machining...

One can also get kids involved by turning out parts that simply screw
together into some neat little device, made out of donated bar stock.
Fill up some boxes with the parts...put up a sign on how it all goes
together..and let the kids and adults assemble a gizmo that they can
take as a freebie.


This looks like an interesting tool to make & demonstrate:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HkLy1ILLFuY there are a lot of designs
online, and they all claim to have invented it.


Hey! I like that tool! How much are they?


--
""Almost all liberal behavioral tropes track the impotent rage of small
children. Thus, for example, there is also the popular tactic of
repeating some stupid, meaningless phrase a billion times" Arms for
hostages, arms for hostages, arms for hostages, it's just about sex, just
about sex, just about sex, dumb,dumb, money in politics,money in
politics, Enron, Enron, Enron. Nothing repeated with mind-numbing
frequency in all major news outlets will not be believed by some members
of the populace. It is the permanence of evil; you can't stop it." (Ann
Coulter)