I have to admit I was pretty angry with John ("Shoot first and ask
questions later)" Martin for his judgemental
heckling, the ultimate effect of which was to interfere with the
genuine help I was getting in the thread "rack and pinion". But, after
considering the matter, I decided that he actually did me a favor by,
in effect, pointing out how fragile the support is that I can expect
from rec.crafts.metalworking.

I have been quite impressed by the depth and breadth of the combined
expertise of this newsgroup, and I remain so. I have been equally
impressed by the good will and congeniality here and by the high
level of commitment on this group to helping people at all levels
of competence, and that is still my feeling. But the simple fact is
that, in real life, I don't have any friends with whom I can get
together to discuss machine tools or who can show me things or who
can help me pick up the pieces after a disaster or who can tell me
whether conditions in my shop are safe. Nor are there any courses
available to me (I have looked!) that can make me more self-sufficient.
That being the case, I have no other source of advice about metalworking
than this newsgroup and the question is whether I can proceed with just
that support, given the many other severe constraints I am operating under,
many more than I have mentioned above.



Shoot first and ask questions later? Shoot maybe, but only after I've observed
and identified my target pretty carefully. And I don't really recall asking
any questions of you.

I don't gladly suffer fools, Allan. Perhaps I should say foolishness, instead.
For I don't know you and don't want to brand you a fool. But I will say that
- in my opinion - many of your questions rank right up there with the most
foolish that I have ever seen. Someone once said that the most foolish question
is the one that is not asked, but he was not entirely correct.

You started with questions regarding a rack and pinion. Fine. But you then
wandered off into questions about how you could better examine the rack,
including building your own optical comparator, before you even took the very
good advice offered to you by several people - to clean the rack first.

After you had been warned about the problems with the Unimat, you told us you
had decided on one for your first lathe. You must be a lot smarter than the
people who warned you against it, because you stated "whatever its limitations
are, there must be a way to work with them". Of course, you also said that you
were at the same time trying to decide what your second lathe should be.

After you said that you didn't have a file, I suggested that you buy one and
learn how to use it. Was it intended to be snide? A bit. It was also a very
valid suggestion. You responded with paragraph upon paragraph as to how you
might structure a course to learn more about files, how much you should pay for
them, where you might obtain scrap metals to file, and so on. There are a
couple of ways that one could view your answer: as a sarcastic reply to a snide
suggestion, or as a serious plea for help. Frankly, I first took it as the
latter - because it resembled so closely the style of many of your previous
questions. So, apparently did at least one other person who attempted to
answer your questions. Now it appears that you meant it sarcastically. That's
fine - because as I already admitted, my suggestion was meant somewhat in the
same way.

But only somewhat. Because I still feel that someone who doesn't have a file
and yet is considering buying a lathe or milling machine is an idiot.

I feel as you do that this newsgroup is a valuable resource, and would only
suggest that you treat the others as the valuable resources that they are.
Think of it as a machine shop that you can walk into. A machine shop where the
machinists are busy with their own work, but are happy to help someone who is
eager to learn. But think, at the same time, what that machinist may say when,
after you have asked about a problem with a rack and pinion and he has given
you a good suggestion to simply clean it, you then tell him you would consider
building an optical comparator to better examine it. Or what he might say to
your proposal to make your own spotting compound, when commercial products are
available so cheaply. Or, after he has warned you about a particular tool,
that you think you can find a way to make it work.

I'm not trying to be an ogre or a net nanny. You are every bit as welcome here
as any of us, and I'd like to see you stay. That's up to you. I'd also
suggest, though, that you try harder to find some metalworking courses near
you, or some local hobbyists willing to help you in person. It's hard to
believe that there are no resources available to you. At the worst, though,
studying something, then doing it, making a mistake, and figuring out a way to
avoid or correct that mistake, is the way many of us have learned what we know.
The doing part is important.

John Martin