Front Page
This is a wiki, put together by members of the online metalworking community (especially folks at gingery_machines) in order to improve access to current information regarding building a machine shop from scratch. Information collected here should be relevant to non-professionals and small shops producing a variety of items on a prototype or short run basis.
- What is a wiki?
- A wiki is a dynamic web database that users can easily add to or modify. A wiki is different from a forum because users can modify the organizational structure of the site. Almost all wikis have an "Open editing" policy; any user can modify any page at any time.
Why a wiki?
- You can find the information you are looking for, unlike digging through mailing list archives
- You dont have to ask for anyone's permission to contribute. Just click on "edit this page".
- You don't have to register. (hopefully it will stay this way)
- You don't have to do all the dirty hard behind the scenes work if you just want to contribute.
- You can do the dirty hard behind the scenes work if you want to.
- You don't have to worry about format compatibility i.e. I cant write .doc or .pdf files
- Wiki format is much easier to edit than HTML
Okay! Now that you know what you're looking at, a good place to start would be here.
- News
- 4/12/06:
- Well I'm running out of procrastination time before the CNC-workshop, so I've begun work on the hexapod in earnest. First up is the motor controller h-bridge so I'll be building the mechanics while waiting for electrical stuff to arrive in the mail.
- 4/03/06:
- Due to a recent rash of serial spamming I've restricted editing to logged in users only. Hopefully I can change this back in the future. You can log in using anonymous/password as your user/pass or you can mail me if you would like a more unique username. -fenn
- 5/27/05:
- Added lathe_construction_costs. One of these days I'll mention this site on RCM and then all hell will break loose. Want to batten down the hatches before that happens.
- 5/22/05:
- The attach function seems to be broken again and most attached files seem to have disappeared.
(This seems to be an intermittent problem, as I haven't been able to replicate it. The admin probably keeps all the attached files on a different filesystem, and he might have been doing maintenance on it? --fenn)
- 5/15/05:
- The attach function is working but seems to have a 1meg file limit.
- 5/14/05:
- The attach function is broken.
- 5/10/05:
- Finished adding navigation info to the top of each page and making style more consistent throughout, re-organized the overall site structure, changed the left menu some, added some to legal,
- 4/27/05:
- Been poking around here and there, rearranging names and adding some "spatial browsing" information as they call it. At the top of each page it will show what categories and information tree the page belongs to. Expect to see more of this in the future. Added a design to encoders and some links to design. Worked a little on lathe_parts but got bored quick. Mailed the site admin and got him to fix the attach function. It's fixed! Yay!
- 4/17/05:
- Someone has added links to various pdf files in various yahoo groups. Thanks! The "attach" function currently seems to be broken. It would be great if you could upload those files here when it gets fixed so that we all don't have to join so many different yahoo groups.
- New pages don't show up under "Recent changes" so we won't know of their existence unless you tell us about them or subsequently modify them.
- The Dreaded SpamBots have attacked! Aiee!!!!!
- Added to import_tools, some pictures under lathe_modifications and accessories
- 4/13/05:
- Arg. Those google ads suddenly appeared and messed up all my formatting.
- Vote! What do you want me to work on first?
- Other: (edit)
- New 4/8/05:
- Added patternmaking, personal letters section, added to lostfoam
- New 4/7/05:
- Added stepper driver bus article, book series corrections page, why the f** should I care about this stupid page page.
- News 4/5/05:
- Added list of authors and list of things that have changed since 1981 when Gingery published his book series. The site has a pretty good skeleton to it now. Go tell people about it!!!!
In order to preserve credibility and make people feel good about themselves, we should try to keep track of who originated an idea in the manner of a scientific journal or research paper, since essentially we're doing a research project here after all. If you contribute a section of text that is your own idea, please sign your name to it. If it was someone else's idea, please put a link to the webpage it came from or the author's name, and update thelist of authors. If it came from a book, state the title of the book. If it is common knowledge (i.e. how to sharpen a drill bit) then you don't need to include anyone's name. Most of all, don't worry about it too much; this isn't English class after all!
This site is designed to simplify access to information. If there is a site you found with good ideas/info on it, but it's buried under lots of junk (yahoogroups rcm ahemahemcough) you should ask the relevant author for permission, and then summarize it here, with enough detail that anyone else could replicate it. Please don't bury us under a pile of links! That forces the reader to go through every link and read duplicate information over and over again. There are plenty of webpages about that already.
- News:
- I changed all of these pages from wysiwyg mode to wiki mode, since it's easier to write than html once you learn how to use it.
If you can't figure out how to edit a page, just email me (fenn) and I'll put it up for you.
The Vision
Each machine in the series and also ones not in the series will have its own dedicated page. That page will point to sub-categories for that machine, such as a partslist, corrections, modifications. Looking at the parts list page, each part should have its own page. I think that should be fine-grained enough to start with. Someone can add a photo and/or CAD drawing of each part or assembly to that part's page. It would be nice to have a list of every little thing on the partslist page, like a bill of materials, and also links pointing to pages for each sub assembly. Carriage should point to saddle, apron, cross slide, and compound slide. Then, the compound slide page could also point to modifications of the compound slide under the modifications subsection.
I have to say this page has become much more gingery-focused than I had originally intended. I'd like to see some work on developing new designs as well. Anyone who is interested in helping design new machines should add ideas to the WishList for things I would like to see in an updated version of Dave_Gingery's book series.
intellectual property and copyright concerns page here ?.
