Author Topic: Age and Model Engineers  (Read 18641 times)

Offline mklotz

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Re: Age and Model Engineers
« Reply #45 on: January 23, 2013, 06:54:49 PM »
Well, Dave has offered his anecdotal example so I'll submit mine.

Local junior college having an open house for high school students who might be looking for a place to go after they graduate.

I've got a table full of operating engines - air, Stirling, flamesuckers as well as some other mechanical oddities.  You know, the kind of stuff that you would be ogling with bated breath when you were a kid.

I kept count for a while.  At least half of the boys and all of the girls walked by without looking at all.  The rest offered a casual glance and returned to fingering their phones.

Finally, one sleazy looking boy with a face full of fishing tackle sidles over, glances around and says,  "So, what's all this crap?"

As long as we have a culture where football is a religion and starting a rock band is a legitimate career goal, model engineering is doomed.

« Last Edit: January 24, 2013, 04:14:31 PM by mklotz »
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Offline propforward

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Re: Age and Model Engineers
« Reply #46 on: January 23, 2013, 07:00:49 PM »
Well, I don't know. The common theme whichever way you look at it, is that kids need an exposure to making things at an early age in order to become interested in it. School is a place where it needs to happen, as well as the world in general. Is model engineering doomed? I don't really believe that, but it is likely to be a smaller concern maybe.

Stuart

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Offline rleete

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Re: Age and Model Engineers
« Reply #47 on: January 23, 2013, 07:03:42 PM »
Another thing I just thought about.  In the past several years, I have become the neighborhood "Mr. fix-it".  Since I'm out working on cars alot in the nicer weather, the kids figure I must know how to do stuff, so they bring bikes and other toys to me for repairs or adjustments.  Once, several years ago, a boy threw the chain on his bike.  He wheeled it past his own father to bring it to me.  The father was somewhat anoyed by this, and asked the boy why he hadn't brought it directly to him.  The response was, "I wanted it done right".

Just another example.  It's the exposure to the trades that gets the interest going.  Show off your stuff and you will soon have a rapt audience.  Kids are like sponges - if you teach them (without lecturing) they will be interested.  Not all, but that's okay, too.

Offline Tennessee Whiskey

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Re: Age and Model Engineers
« Reply #48 on: January 23, 2013, 07:20:32 PM »
From Dave's story down. That kid's dad was training his " pup" , not just letting it grow up. I was kicked out of a prominent Catholic kindergarten because I was uninterested and made the other kids unruly
Hell yeah, I wanted to get back in the shop with my dad and uncle and hand them wrenches and keep the shop clean and if I did a real good job I could practice my welding. I could read a tape, new the fractions on a wrench, and I could push a broom. I could have gotten a job at lotta places by today regs. Some where there is a generation that let a lot of this happen and it's hard for anyone to take the blame and what's bad is they are the ones that don't even notice it. Yet

Eric

Offline 90LX_Notch

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Re: Age and Model Engineers
« Reply #49 on: January 23, 2013, 07:32:28 PM »
My 7.5 year old daughter loves to come in the shop and watch me.  Whenever she asks to help, I find something for her.  She ran the lathe when she was six, her brother just ran it at age nine.  She wants me to have an "engine building school" in the summer.  I'll bet her engine gets done before her brother's.  They are two very different people.  You can see it with the Legos.  My son is a whiz at following the directions and building the sets.  My daughter creates her own things which are very creative.  He's very "in the box' and she is very "outside of the box".  He's your engineer type and she is your zany intellectual type.

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Online Jo

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Re: Age and Model Engineers
« Reply #50 on: January 23, 2013, 07:37:28 PM »
He's your engineer type and she is your zany intellectual type.

Hey, no reason why the lass cannot be both ;)

Jo
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Offline 90LX_Notch

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Re: Age and Model Engineers
« Reply #51 on: January 23, 2013, 07:43:43 PM »
Engineer in the professional sense when he is grown.  I can totally see her taking up this as a hobby before he ever would.  She has a genuine interest.  His interest is more about "can we do some guy stuff".
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Online sco

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Re: Age and Model Engineers
« Reply #52 on: January 23, 2013, 08:49:02 PM »
My 7.5 year old daughter loves to come in the shop and watch me.  Whenever she asks to help, I find something for her.  She ran the lathe when she was six, her brother just ran it at age nine.  She wants me to have an "engine building school" in the summer.  I'll bet her engine gets done before her brother's.  They are two very different people.  You can see it with the Legos.  My son is a whiz at following the directions and building the sets.  My daughter creates her own things which are very creative.  He's very "in the box' and she is very "outside of the box".  He's your engineer type and she is your zany intellectual type.

Funny but I would have a labelled them the other way around - a good engineer wants to do more than just follow somebody else's plans.
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Online sco

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Re: Age and Model Engineers
« Reply #53 on: January 23, 2013, 08:57:52 PM »
I have four children; eldest two are boys, second eldest is doing engineering at uni but I don't think is a natural engineer and is just doing it because he's seen the enjoyment I get out of engineering and doesn't know what else to do.

Youngest daughter is very creative and could be a good engineer but I suspect will be turned off by her peers, we do stuff in the garage from time to time but mostly she is into needlework type crafts.

I'm impressed by the skill and dedication that goes into building locos but when they don the flat hat and ride round behind them I find it hard not to have an image of a clown on a tiny bicycle in my mind.
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Online Jo

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Re: Age and Model Engineers
« Reply #54 on: January 23, 2013, 09:18:59 PM »

Youngest daughter is very creative and could be a good engineer but I suspect will be turned off by her peers, we do stuff in the garage from time to time but mostly she is into needlework type crafts.

Nothing wrong with needlework  8) : http://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php/topic,283.0.html

Jo
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Offline craynerd

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Age and Model Engineers
« Reply #55 on: January 23, 2013, 09:25:33 PM »
What an interesting topic.

I'm 29 and purchased my first lathe at 19, while at Uni, couldn't use it, couldn't find anyone to help and got rid. Bought one back 4 years ago aged 25/26 and progressed from there.

I know a lot of the time and certainly in the past, I have been accused by members of not listening and following advice. I don't do this on purpose as without advice and information on forums I couldn't have even started. But what I think a lot of older members forget, is that my age group and younger didn't get ONE SINGLE bit of engineering knowledge imparted to us at school (I got shown how to use a plastic vacuum suction machine!!! ). Until recently, I use to get advice and even the simple steps didn't make sense.....bearing it mind that most advice uses terms of methods that seem obvious to the person writing it! It is very difficult to interpret written word advice without even the basic knowledge. I'm just saying that it is very very hard to start in this hobby without even the basics which kids no longer get.

I've managed to find a few local engineers but sadly a lot of those like talking about locos rather than actually machining steps.

As has already been said by others, I work 5 days, have a family of 4 to support and my time in my workshop is limited to a hour or so (at best) each night. I just couldn't commit to a club. It is also a sacrifice, workshop time or reading about matching! Time is limited.

Looking at the young coming into engineering, they seem very interested when I show them my work but when asked, do you fancy having a go they reply by saying... Looks good but I couldn't be bothered! Not to mention the cost element. My wife would murder me if she knew how much I'd spent on equipment. Then as a cheap skate you fall into the trap of buying cheap and having to buy again.

At the end of the day, to get anywhere starting from scratch,you need to be truly interested and dedicated.....bordering on obsessive!

Without you guys posting on forums like this, I certainly wouldn't be with the knowledge (as limited as it is) I have now. So, thank you!

Chris

Offline Maryak

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Re: Age and Model Engineers
« Reply #56 on: January 23, 2013, 09:28:15 PM »
 Age from 3 to 16 ? Wanted to join the Navy
Age from 8 to 13 ? Member of Ian Allens Locospotters Club
Age from 13 to16 ? Migrated to Australia and started to learn how to race sailing dinghys.
Age from 16 to 32 ? Served in the RAN as an Engine Room Artificer (fitter/turner) and later as an Engineer Officer. The Cost of all this was paid for by the Australian Tax Payer. Continue racing sailing dinghys on many of the worlds finest harbours.
From 32 to 48 Lubricants Engineer with British Petroleum. Built a couple of racing dinghys which I sailed with both my son and daughter.  Learned to play golf badly.
From 48 to 65 Retrenched so contract lecturing in marine engineering. Industrial surveying Master 4 ticket. Bought a yacht, divorced my 1st wife. Went to Siberia married my 2nd wife. From volunteer to engineer at SA maritime museum, restored a steam tug, restored a police rescue launch. Raced my yacht all over the place.
 
Suddenly the sails got too hard to pull up and take down, the water down the back of my neck was cold and wet and had a devastating effect on my libido when it settled in my undies.
 
Meanwhile back in the real world computers went from massive bits of machinery, housed in air conditioned buildings and attended by people in white coats called System Administrators and Programmers; to something that fitted on a desktop attended by ordinary folk.
 
This gave rise to among many other things CAD and CNC. With this, the umpteen machines attended by umpteen machinists could be replaced with a couple of machining centres attended by a couple of operators.
 
Aha, now we don?t need the umpteen apprentices to replace the umpteen machinists.
 
Some bright spark figured that at best machining was a time consuming and wasteful process. So design philosophies were changed from machine down to size to a build up to size.
 
Also when I and my family were younger there were not??. home computers, VCR?s, DVD?s, microwave ovens, mobile phones, coffee machines, food processors, the internet, multifunction cookers  and on, which must be provided and maintained in today?s home.
 
Now back to me, I was older, more tired and with a flagging libido! Even worse I still had this active brain trapped in a not so active body. What do I know and what can I do to accommodate this.
 
Sell my yacht and use the money to set up a workshop and make model engines so here I am.
 
Face it???. we do this because we enjoy it. We may not like what we see as deficits in today?s world but then, neither did my father or my grandfather and I am pretty sure my children and my grandchildren will have the same reaction.
 
Best Regards
Bob
 
 
Если вы у Тетушки были яйца, она была бы Дядюшкой

Online sco

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Re: Age and Model Engineers
« Reply #57 on: January 23, 2013, 09:37:16 PM »

Youngest daughter is very creative and could be a good engineer but I suspect will be turned off by her peers, we do stuff in the garage from time to time but mostly she is into needlework type crafts.

Nothing wrong with needlework  8) : http://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php/topic,283.0.html

Jo

No not at all - she does cross-stitch, sewing stuffed animal kits and has recently discovered latch hook which is a type of rug making.
Ars longa, vita brevis.

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Re: Age and Model Engineers
« Reply #58 on: January 23, 2013, 10:21:16 PM »

Youngest daughter is very creative and could be a good engineer but I suspect will be turned off by her peers, we do stuff in the garage from time to time but mostly she is into needlework type crafts.

Nothing wrong with needlework  8) : http://www.modelenginemaker.com/index.php/topic,283.0.html

Jo

No not at all - she does cross-stitch, sewing stuffed animal kits and has recently discovered latch hook which is a type of rug making.



Gordon Bennett    :Lol: .. that brings back memories ... Hour after hour with my gran, covered in lint ...

Readicut still going, it seems ... Damn good rugs though.   

BC

Offline John S

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Re: Age and Model Engineers
« Reply #59 on: January 23, 2013, 10:24:20 PM »
I've got three kids, one of each...........
John Stevenson, Nottingham , England

 

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