For some time I've wanted to acknowledge the huge contribution that financial supporters of the channel make to the creation of the project videos. Making the videos is an expensive and time consuming activity, and without any doubt, Clickspring Patrons, and those who provide direct financial support via other means, keep the lights on at Clickspring.

So I'm very pleased to announce a new, and improved reward structure for Patrons and financial supporters, that is my way of saying "Thank you" to you all.

As of today, there will be a new series of project videos (in addition to the free Youtube projects), available exclusively to Clickspring Patrons, that I am calling The Patron Series. Every Patron pledging $1 or more per month will have complete access to:

• Exclusive multi part project videos not available anywhere else 
• Fully dimensioned drawings associated with each project, and
• The opportunity to win the project, at the completion of the build.

The main "long term" projects (like the current clock build, and those main projects that will follow it) will continue to be freely available via YouTube. The Patron Series is additional content that I am creating specifically to acknowledge how important I consider Patron support of the channel to be. It is my intention that The Patron Series will be related to the main free projects on YouTube, and provide an interesting additional perspective to that project, with unique tool and device builds.

For now though, the first project in this new series is a 5 part build of a terrific little hand vise. You can catch a preview below of the first episode that has been released today, and I do hope that if you're not already a Clickspring Patron, that you will consider becoming one today.

Cheers,
Chris.

I'm very pleased to announce that I'm in the process of uploading all Clickspring video content to vessel.com

Nothing changes for YouTube; exactly the same content will appear on both platforms at exactly the same time, its just another option for you to view the videos, and it also gives me some peace of mind that the videos are hosted in more than one location.

Importantly, nothing changes for Clickspring Patrons either. I won't be taking up the "early access to content" option offered by Vessel, so Patreon.com/clickspring remains the only place to receive early access to Clickspring videos.

Personally I really like the look of the Vessel site, and the way they deliver content. They have a great attitude to creators, and have been a totally awesome group to deal with thus far, so be sure to check out the platform and see if it fits you too - vessel.com/clickspring

There are many ancient techniques that can be used to start a fire. The most well known would be the friction based methods like a hand drill, or bow drill, as well as the percussion based methods like striking flint and steel.

Another most unusual traditional method is the fire piston... Read More

Download Free Plans: 
Fire Piston Inch Units
Fire Piston Metric Units
​

Here is the concluding episode of the gyroscope build. If you are interested, I also wrote a little bit about the bearing design on the Make: website here.

I do hope you enjoy the project, and be sure to let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Thanks for dropping by,
Chris.

Free  plans are available for download here in Imperial or Metric units

If you're anything like me, you will have messed around with a gyroscope at some time in your life.

For me it was during a high school physics class, and I recall the gyro was a massive great lump of brass and steel mounted on gimbals with a stand. It made an awesome hum as it spun, and confounded all of us as we tried to manipulate it, and predict it's movements.

I also recall seeing a TV show growing up (maybe Candid Camera?) where a trick suitcase loaded with a large gyro was placed in a crowd, and passers by were invited to pick it up and walk off. The look of puzzlement as the suitcase darted off in unexpected directions was priceless, and has stuck with me to this day.

The take-out message for me is that a gyro is pure entertainment. Combine this with the fact that it is made up of a collection of seriously interesting metal parts, and we have rich pickings for a new video!

This project is a fair bit more complex than the first Make video, but well within the ability and tool collection of the average home machinist. There's plenty of lathe turning and mill work, as well as the odd dodge to get around not having all of the fancy tools. There is also a free set of fully dimensioned drawings available for download from makezine.com.

I have to tell you that I had an absolute blast making and filming this. It was such an awesome experience, especially messing around with the finished gyro at the end. I knew it would be kinda fun, but wow, this is a seriously addictive toy!

Here's a link to part 1 of the project, and keep an eye out for part 2 in about 2 weeks:

Making A Benchtop Gyroscope - Part 1

Be sure to subscribe to Make: Magazine on YouTube, and don't forget to like, share and leave me a comment on the video.

Thanks for dropping by,
Chris.

Blog posts have been a little few and far between over the last few months. My excuse is that I have been working very hard in my spare time to get out as much video content as I can. Possibly not the best excuse, but who knew that making videos took up so much time!?

I've also been working hard on an exciting new side project, that I am very pleased to be able share with you today: A series of videos  for MAKE: Magazine about bench-top machining.

The series is pitched squarely at the new user, with a focus on keeping the content fun and enjoyable. The objective is to entertain, but also to get the viewer totally hooked on machining.

The videos are project based, with a focus on the four staples of the home machine shop: The lathe, milling machine, belt sander and band saw. Other common hand tools make an appearance over the series, but I have tried to be conscious of the fact that most people will not have a well equipped machine shop. So where possible, I present a few different ways to do the same thing.

These four tools open up the project field wonderfully, so you can expect to see a nice range. The projects will be able to be completed in a weekend, and will often result in a useful tool, or at the very least something fun and cool to look at!

There will be a new video released every 6 weeks or so, so be sure to subscribe to MAKE: Magazine on YouTube, so that you can be aware of the releases as they occur.

Most of you reading this will already know that I am simply an enthusiastic amateur when it comes to machining. I don't claim to be an expert, nor do I have any formal training in the subject. But what I do have is a great passion for making things out of metal. If I can encourage more people to get into this wonderful activity, then I consider that to be time well spent.

So here it is, video #1 by Clickspring for MAKE: - Making A Metal Scriber

Just to prove the point that too many machining videos is never enough!

Thanks for dropping by,
Chris.

Red Lathe: SIEG SC4
Blue Lathe: Weiss WM 250V-F
Sherline: Sherline 4100 (Metric)
(Retired Green Lathe: CQ6125)

Sherline Thread Cutting Attachment: https://sherline.com/product/3100-thread-cutting-attachment/

Tubalcain Tailstock Alignment videos:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WLXL3cdnbpM
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tqjO4yPvhQs

Lathe Leveling:
TOT: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=THkb-x35fwc

Amazon Affiliate links:

Cameras: 

Panasonic GH5 - https://amzn.to/2rEzhh2 
Panasonic X920 - https://amzn.to/2wzxxdT

Tools & Shop Products:

Dormer A190202 Jobber Drill Set, 1.0 mm - 6.0 mm x 0.1 mm Size: https://amzn.to/2DR5fdb
Dormer A190203 Jobber Drill Set, 6.0 mm - 10.0 mm x 0.1 mm Size: https://amzn.to/2ITfeTa
Dykem blue: http://amzn.to/2plmLlx
Sherline Lathe: http://amzn.to/2pnXM19
Sherline WW collets: http://amzn.to/2FYZ7F8
Generic Dial Indicator 0.001": http://amzn.to/2FOFTyF
Interapid Dial Test Indicator: http://amzn.to/2FPInwH
Optivisor Headband Magnifier: http://amzn.to/2HFg1FU

Books:

Watchmaking: http://amzn.to/2FH3cyh
Wheel & Pinion Cutting in Horology: http://amzn.to/2HI6ca9
Clock & Watch Escapements: http://amzn.to/2FIEaic
Practical Watch Repairing: http://amzn.to/2tUyThX
Practical Clock Repairing: http://amzn.to/2HCey35
The Science of Clocks & Watches: http://amzn.to/2HIyuBA
Watch and Clock Making and Repairing: http://amzn.to/2pfdT0U
Casting Practice - The Ten Rules of Castings: http://amzn.to/2HF3VfL
The Model Engineer's Workshop manual: http://amzn.to/2G43VsV
Model Engineer's handbook: http://amzn.to/2FPxwmq
Workshop practice Series: http://amzn.to/2DyPs2D
Machinery's handbook: http://amzn.to/2pi7XE5

I love looking at old photo's.

There's something about looking at these forgotten scenes, that really stirs up my imagination. I want to know what happened to the people in them. Where did their lives go from this moment in time? Did they know how much things were going to change in just the next few years? How did they cope?

The dominant technology of the day is usually there to be seen. Perhaps not front and centre, maybe off to the side. An early model car, or a steam powered ship. An iconic device from the era that silently defines the age.  Something that the locals of that time took for granted, and assumed would be forever.

Yet we observers from a century later, know different.

We see the carefree expressions on the faces in the photo's, and know that some real challenges lay just ahead of them. We easily spot the unusual device or profession in the photo; the one that we know didn't make it. We mentally project it's trajectory over time. It's downfall, and ultimate disappearance. We sense the scale of the disruption that it would have caused.

And we know it's happening to us in exactly the same way, right now.

The arrival of Netflix in Australia a few weeks ago has almost certainly signalled the end of the local (ailing) dvd rental store, not to mention whole chains of dvd sales stores. The mobile-app-based taxi service Uber, was recently confirmed as one of the most popular forms of domestic transport, despite being essentially illegal in many parts of the world. Incredibly, the taxi aspect of Uber may just be the tip of a very disruptive iceberg. And the FAA release of new commercial drone legislation, has started (albeit very tentatively) perhaps the greatest revolution in transport logisitics we have ever seen.

Will we look back on pictures of taxi drivers, video store facades and delivery truck drivers with the same knowing sense of nostalgic melancholy?

How much have our manufacturing processes changed over just the last few years? I knew 3D printing was going to disrupt, but it wasn't until I read about Rolls Royce printing sintered titanium parts for turbines, that I really got how big a deal this is going to be. Disruptive may well be an understatement.

So will there come a time when a manual lathe or a hand file, and the skills required to use them are considered an anachronism? Will the move toward additive manufacturing in both the commercial and enthusiast arena's displace what we know to be the staples of a home machine shop: A lathe, a mill and a set of files. Or will there always be a place for the home creator to turn a dial, and make a pile of chips?

Just like the people in those photo's, I really don't know.

But I have a suspicion that the low (and getting lower) barrier to entry of 3D printers, will make printed items seem more like a commodity, rather than a creation. By contrast, I think traditionally manufactured items will appear to be more unique. They will have more of a story; the careful output of the home shop artisan. I mean no disrespect to those who love the additive technology; there is certainly a craft associated with modelling a part in 3D and getting a good printed result. But perhaps the current revolution will serve to even more clearly define the boundary between the two.

Either way, I've often thought that what we make in our home shops is often more about creativity than utility. After a hard week at the real job, you get home on the weekend, and make something cool in the shop. It's fun to design things and then express your idea's in metal and wood. For some it's just to impress the family, for others it's a prototype for a new line of product. For many it's quite simply an outlet for their creative expression. Their version of art.

Maybe the tools used to get there simply don't matter. Perhaps it will be a blend of all technologies. All I know for certain is that there are few activities in life that make me feel as relaxed as spending time in the shop. So I'm off to make a pile of chips.

The old fashioned way.

Thanks for dropping by,
Chris.

Its kind of the key to it all isn't it?

Knowing what pushes your buttons, and what doesn't. What you want out of life and what you would rather do without.

Sometimes it comes to you through the daily grind. For example, I don't need to do another peak hour commute to know that I won't ever again live in a big city.

Nothing against the big smoke; we need big cities. It's just that I don't really feel at home there, not like I do in a small town.

At other times it creeps up on you slowly; gently edging into your unconscious mind. A brief flicker of recognition now and then, until it finally emerges into your awareness. Clear and bright.

And so it was that I discovered I wanted to be a machinist, and make clocks.

I went to the local hardware store to buy some paint. They're very clever at hardware stores you know. You have to walk in past all of the shiny stuff to get to the boring stuff at the back. And on that day they hooked me. There was a nice new mini-lathe sitting on the counter next to all the usual trade tools. I saw it out of the corner of my eye, and stopped for a quick look.

I gave the carriage hand-wheel a quick turn, read the decals, slid the tail-stock up and back a few times. It was all shiny and red, and surprisingly small. Not at all what I remembered a lathe looking like. But it got me thinking about how I had enjoyed working with metal at high school.

Then I kept walking to the paint department, without a backward glance.

That night I found myself thinking about my high school manual arts (shop) class. Which was odd, because I hadn't thought about it in years. The projects I'd made, my teacher, the tools and machines. When I left high school I went to university, and followed a number of professional career paths; none of them involved using my hands. And I kind of missed that. The feeling of messing around with tools and metal. Of making something.

Again it faded from my thoughts.

But then slowly over the next few days and weeks, the urge to follow this thought just grew, and grew. Colonising my mind, and getting me motivated. I started watching youtube video's on machining, checking out prices for tools, and reading forums. The outside shed was sized up as a potential shop. Even the spare room inside was given a once over... this was starting to get serious!

There was only one thing to decide before I took the plunge; what exactly was I going to make?

I saw some impressive projects online. Steam engines, beautiful locomotives and one guy who had made a series of scale aircraft engines. I mean truly spectacular stuff. But I figured most of that was way out of my league, and I had it in my head that whatever I made had to have a purpose in everyday life. A working purpose. I didn't want to spend all this time making a steam engine, to then put it on the shelf to collect dust. I wanted whatever I made to be something I could use.

I don't recall how or when, but at some point the thought arrived: What about a clock?

And just like that it began. A multi-year obsession with learning about all things that go tick. The science, art, history and everything in between. What a great journey it's been. I've learned so much, met so many amazing and generous people, and found a level of satisfaction working with my hands, that I didn't even know was possible.

And to think it all started with a tin of paint.

Thanks for dropping by,
Chris.

This week I spent a lot of my shop time taking care of one of the more time consuming aspects of clockmaking: "crossing out" wheel spokes. I started this process a few weeks ago, and it's going to take me many more weeks to do all of the wheels for this clock. I'll probably spread it out over a few months, and mix it up with some tool making video's, so I don't bore you with the same thing.

But when I'm at the bench for long stretches like this, working on a single component, my mind wanders. I start to think about how it must have felt to be doing this 200 years ago, as an apprentice to a working clockmaker. Was the shop that different to mine, the vise, the files? Did they put in 8 hours a day, 10, 12? What about lighting and vision. I have an Optivisor to get up close to the work; how did they manage without modern lighting and optics?

As for productivity, my experience this week reminds me that past masters of this art were a very special class of maker. I am amazed at their sheer output; How did they push out so much work with just simple hand tools?

The traditional approach to crossing out a wheel is to remove most of the waste material by hand with a piercing saw, on a V-block of some sort, and then use files to finish the surface. This method comes with serious bragging rights. To take a component from raw metal to finished component without any power tool assistance takes not only skill, but a huge amount of time. Something that the modern world generally does not reward. This approach naturally leads to a very traditional appearance (every part slightly different, square corners at the intersection of spoke perimeter etc.), and is therefore still employed by bespoke makers of the finest quality items.

The modern approach is to use a CNC mill to remove the waste stock, or better yet wire EDM. Much faster, repeatable, and therefore financially rewarding. In each case, needle files and polishers can still be used to bring the profile of the spokes to a more traditionally correct appearance.

But this raises the question that vexes today's makers of clocks, watches and fine instruments: Is the CNC'd component really traditional? If an individual maker did not toil over it with needle file in hand from start to finish, does it still qualify? To what extent can we employ the time saving tools of the 21st century, and still claim the title "Hand Made"?

I have to admit that my own thoughts on this are still evolving. I absolutely love the hand tool tradition of classical watch and clock making. I use traditional tools and techniques as much as possible, and to the extent that I can still source the tools and materials. But I do use some power tools like a belt sander and scroll saw to speed things up. And I see some of my favourite makers embracing CNC with gusto, and watch their productivity shoot through the roof. It's hard not to be tempted.

So where do you sit on the spectrum - "Old School" all the way, or ready to roll with the latest the 21st century has to offer? Let me know in the comments.

As always, thanks for dropping by,
Chris.