Always Random
Just worth saying
Where’s the Beef!
The “beef” is in the bun. Some of my readers sort of ask me that question.
I have received a number of emails wondering what my latest project might be of if I still like or use such and such a tool that I published in my now aging website. I think it is mainly because I have not made any major updates in the old style web pages for awhile.
The truth is I still report rather actively but not in the same way as I have in the past. I started my THMS web page before there were such things as dynamic web site Blogs and CMS (Content Management Systems) like Joomla. There is actually quite a bit of work building a pure static HTML web site.
I still like the old format when I want to publish a full article with lots of pictures. The total control is awesome. But I am finding more of a liking with the high level presentation format available in dynamic publishing.
Most of my web pages now have both a URL identified server where the management code is stored and lives but also requires the services of an SQL database server to hold and provide the dynamic data. It sounds complex and it is. My several blogs (WordPress), one Bulletin Board (TEDEX), and multiple Joomla sites all require two remote computer servers to provide the viewer the content you see, like this very page.
The result is that publishing content is 10 times easier once the website is set up. I love the design complexities and that creative exercise, but when I want to post something like this, it only takes five minutes or less, just the time to log in and upload, and the world can read it fully… Continue reading
New Look Again
Some of the blog “regulars” may have noticed the look of this site has changed a bit. We are still running inside WordPress but I built a new template using Artisteer. Today it is possible to do something that looks this good without directly using HTML, a special language to create web pages.
There is some very minor use of HTML for “tweaking” for a little more (but unnecessary) personal touch.
I hope it looks good to you too.
Perfect
I decided I should move back on topic here in the THMS Blog. One perfect part at a time is a hard challenge. I am the first to admit I am far from perfect. How boring life would be if everything was perfect. That’s why I doubt heaven or whatever that great place you want to be in the next life is as perfect as it is cracked up to be. If it is, it might be a place for a short visit but I wouldn’t want to live there forever. But then it all boils down to the definition of perfect, doesn’t it? Perfect could be just enough frustration to keep life interesting. A need to make enough bad parts to make the good parts enjoyable.
Wow! No wonder metalwork is such a perfect hobby!
Note the heading doesn’t say, “One Perfect Part EVERY time.”
The Toolmaker
I just watched an interesting video over on the Tormach Blog site, copied here. It is a simple little YouTube video talk about toolmakers by a man named Bishop “Bud” Wisecarver. He has done a series of these, a look back at his career as a machinist. I have viewed them all and this is the one where he really makes an interesting point about toolmaking. I found it interesting to explore what he has to say before this point. There is a link on the bottom of the viewer that will take you to the other chapters in his story.
<Video no longer available>
Toolmaker is an important title and one of which to be proud. Bud sheds a renewed light on what it really means. If you make useful things from raw materials, then you too are a tool maker.
Miscellaneous
Halloween Thought
I have discovered I might have all that I need to die happily in my machine shop. Well, almost. It’s that “almost” that will keep me alive in the long run. Just one more tool then I will die happy. It may be the “just one more tool” that keeps me alive forever. What do vampires know about immortality? HA! All that awful yucky blood and stuff…
It’s bad enough when I nick my finger. I have a cute little scar on the back of my left hand middle finger where earlier this year I let a 10,000 rpm end mill remove some flesh. CSI (Crime Scene Investigators) would have enjoyed figuring out what happened at the scene of the accident from reading the resulting blood splatter. <’ulp…>
Ninety nine point nine percent of the time I practice safe workshop. That’s ok as long as the last tenth remains minor. The vampires can stay in their dark places, thank you.
Small Stuff
I am still in lust for the smaller projects. I had a discussion with a caller about machine tool size. I admitted I liked some of the larger machine tools, but I have no projects that can justify them. Mostly I cannot justify the very high cost of the tools or the materials. I’m just in my comfort zone where I am.
I have been doing some recent machining so small I have to wear one of those dual lens magnifying hoods to see the work. When I push it up or take it off, I always feel amazed at how tiny the work is that I was doing. I think it is a lot of fun doing miniature machining.
There is a trade-off between modeling something very small for display and… Continue reading