Last Man Posting

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Bellhead
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Re: Last Man Posting

#14881 Post by Bellhead »

Very words. Much smart.

Machine shops like the ones you're thinking of tend to make their money on industrial-type jobs, more so than private consumers in need of a custom part, from what I understand. Larger companies, though, will tend to have their own in-house machine shop. That's where my uncle worked, in the back room of a Polaroid factory, building parts with which to repair the machines. It's much more of a niche market than it once was, so there's fewer of them around, but the expertise and capability remains the same among the older shops you'd find.

Regarding the need to build things, I totally get it. But machine work can get pricey, even if you do it yourself, with metal prices where they are and all that. If my understanding is right, it's one of those fields where you really have to enjoy it, or you won't get anywhere with it.
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Re: Last Man Posting

#14882 Post by Technic[Bot] »

Oh totally. Even the cheapest second hand mill is well over my budget. But it is still on my list of "expensive stuff i want to buy at some point"
Maybe getting a router or a 3d printer at least? In any case I really don't have anywhere to put it so will only be a silly dream for now.
I will stick to electronics and programming for now.

And officially exhausted my words on the topic.
So sad much despair..
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Re: Last Man Posting

#14883 Post by Bellhead »

Fun conversation, though.
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Re: Last Man Posting

#14884 Post by Neutral Smith »

And nobody won.
If it moves but shouldn't: Duct tape. If it doesn't move but should: WD-40. With a hammer everything fits, and if it still doesn't fit: bigger hammer. If it can't be fixed with a hammer it's an electrical problem.

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Re: Last Man Posting

#14885 Post by Tornir »

If you're an engineering hobbyist who doesn't have the funds or floorspace for fabrication equipment, have you heard of the Great Ball Contraption?

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Re: Last Man Posting

#14886 Post by Bellhead »

Ah yes, GBC. Some of those machines are just nuts.
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Re: Last Man Posting

#14887 Post by Technic[Bot] »

Bellhead wrote: Fri Aug 06, 2021 1:18 am Fun conversation, though.
Very fun indeed!

I love Lego as most as the next guy but those things, specially sets such as technic, can be incredibly expensive, much less than specialized tools but still a significant amount of cash, and some of those machines can require significant amount of space. Also they are a bit more toy than I would like to. Great for prototyping if you know what you are doing but not much else.

Also for some reason i did not get the notification this thread got update weird.
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Re: Last Man Posting

#14888 Post by Tornir »

Buying Technic sets new is expensive, but you don't need to do that for GBC. You don't need all the parts and plans to build a bucket wheel excavator or a Bugatti, you just need parts. That's where buying used from Craigslist/Ebay/Etc. comes in.
Children leave home, and parents yeet their junk; that's when you see trash bags full of mixed Lego being offered collection only at reasonable prices. (Doors/windows/minifigures and other bits you don't need/want can be sorted out and sold on.)
If you do want new, there's always Black Friday or clearance sales; I remember the AFoL descended on the Toys'Я'Us liquidation sale like a horde of Viking raiders.
As for process control, Arduino and Raspberry Pi are much cheaper than Mindstorms if you need more than just motors, and the interfacing is well documented.
I know a guy on another forum that builds modules for shows; some of his stuff is here and here.

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Re: Last Man Posting

#14889 Post by Bellhead »

it can be quite humbling to see what others have done with Legos and Technic stuff. Mind boggling...
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Re: Last Man Posting

#14890 Post by Technic[Bot] »

Agreed this is certainly impressive.

It is not that I not like Legos. Quite the contrary. But after college i was left with s rather negative image of Legos... Let's just say we were not allowed to use Legos for any project as they were either "already solved the problem we were looking to do" or were " too simplistic for the task at hand"

Maybe once I get a bigger place I will look for some used Lego for the spare time.
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Re: Last Man Posting

#14891 Post by Bellhead »

Some days I just wish all the stupid would go on vacation, so the rest of us could finally have a nice, calm day.
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Re: Last Man Posting

#14892 Post by Technic[Bot] »

Although I generally agree with your statement. If every idiot on the planet just disappeared most of us would be out of job in a week or two.

Also hope they don't go to vacation to the same place...
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Re: Last Man Posting

#14893 Post by Bellhead »

I DID say vacation, not vanish. A day or two would suffice. And yeah, different places.
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Re: Last Man Posting

#14894 Post by Tornir »

Some of the stupid are extremely good at what they do. They deserve at least a week off. Preferably in a luxury location where there's no risk of them having to try and do anything for themselves.
Take the one that called our office yesterday; it's not a publicized number.
Seems he'd called a company last week. but couldn't remember which company, or why he'd called them, so he was punching in random numbers he thought might be right, then asking the callee who they were and what they did, in the hopes of jogging his memory... :roll:

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Re: Last Man Posting

#14895 Post by Bellhead »

That's pretty dumb. Award that man something to commemorate his efforts; it takes practice to be that stupid.
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