website
New Look
If this is not your first visit, you notice the look of this site has been refreshed. The content hasn’t changed but there is now a family resemblance between the THMS blog (here) and The Hobbyist’s Machine Shop.
They always work together and now they look like they belong to each other.
This blog site runs in a Content Management System (CMS) called WordPress and the Web site uses a CMS called Joomla. Conveniently I have a site design tool named Artisteer that permits me to share a site design between CMS systems. Some background info, but you can see the results.
I think is looks new and refreshing. I like the change.
Are You a Digital Machinist?
I have been looking at my past but more recent machining activities. I have realized it is almost 100% CNC operations. I now have two Taig CNC mills in my shop. Two? Yeah.
I have to sell the newest one or find a use for it. I have been doing wax carving so I could set up one machine for that and use the other for general metal machining. I am in no big hurry so I will just go with the flow on this.
My shop will remain on the micro/mini size of machining. I think I will be promoting a lot more of what can be done with CNC. I am doing that already so no change there. I don’t have a CNC lathe so maybe that is something for me to explore in more detail. It wouldn’t be too hard to CNC the Taig micro lathe. Perhaps a future project.
I just re-energized my subscription to the hobbyist Digital Machinist magazine. I need to come up to speed on what is the latest happenings in the hobbyist CNC. It’s only published 4X per year so it’s not that big a deal.
I admit I have been off wandering around trying to find a purpose in my hobby activities. For me its been a kind of pre-retirement panic of what am I going to be doing for the rest of my life. I am sure I am not alone with these thoughts. It’s not that I have nothing to do, it’s certain that I will be making things.
Like the special purpose magazine, Digital Machinist – I am thinking a special tab in my blog here or the old THMS website just for CNC activities. Maybe the mag will give me some ideas on subject matter and… Continue reading
The Lists
I used to post blog type thoughts and comments in The Hobbyist’s Machine Shop web site under the tab names “Shop Notes.” I was scanning that menu just a little while ago when I was reviewing the web site. The effort to publish those notes has been superseded by this site. The “Shop Notes” has become what is this blog today.
I kind of miss seeing all the topics listed in one simple list. So I thought the blog site (here) needs to have a list like that. I just made some changes in the right column that makes the posts and pages a lot more visible.
I think it looks good so it will stay… until I make another change. <g>
New Store Blog
I have just added a new blog as part of The Hobbyist Machine Store.
I have been posting store info here in this blog for some time. There is a category for THMStore. but now with the new blog connected directly to the Store, I have a better place to post when I am talking about something commercial in my store. My intent is to keep this blog more on topic with what I do just for myself in my personal projects.
I will reference between the two blogs as necessary, but the Store blog will be more customer/product oriented. You will notice the Store Blog enjoys the security of the SSL certificate with the actual store website. Not really useful for a blog, but the SSL is there and you will know no one can track your password to log in.
The new site is totally undeveloped at this point as far as entries, but I am making some changes in the business and I plan to have a lot of the changes documented in the blog as I move forward.
How to Cure a GAS Problem
I ran across an interesting read in a Photography blog called F/8 (f-stopeight.com) written by Olivier Duong. I had an immediate impression about his style of high contrast B&W photography. I think it is interesting but just not my bag. It works for him and that is all that matters. What I do like is what he has to SAY in his blog about photography and his case of GAS, and that is spot on.
His story is a line about Gear Acquisition Syndrome he acronyms to G.A.S. and having G.A.S. attacks. What he writes about is using “Self Talk” as a justification and it sure hit home with me. I experience self talk all the time, but I almost always talk myself out of the mistake.
I haven’t gone overboard on camera gear, but I easily could. I may be close to the addiction edge on machine tools, computers and other hobbies. In fact I see where what Oliver has to say reaches far beyond his world of photography to many other acquisition addictions.
I like that Oliver doesn’t knock gear acquisition per se, but only when it conflicts with his intention of becoming a great photographer. It’s a confession of a camera gear addict that has found a way back to sanity, like a recovering alcoholic.
His words ring true. GAS is an addiction and like all bad habits, can’t be erased, but they can be replaced with a different response. Go read what he has written. Ignore he is writing about camera gear. You may as I did, see a part of yourself.