Agree with many of the comments.
Mr Pete has a lot going for him, with a few hinderances. He was one of the very early youtube machinists, and by far the most successful. So many from that time period never had his numbers, and dropped out after a couple of years.
Comparing those earlier days with now he kind of has a double whammy working against him. One there is just so much more competition dividing eyes, and two, those early videos are the beginner topics most desirable to developing hobby machinists.
Comparing the views from a video in 2010 showing some basic skill on his Atlas lathe is naturally going to blow away his latest video on some random gadget that caught his eye.
I'd put his video style as a neutral element. He doesn't have the technical skills in video production of some of the others, but where that may turn some off, it is likely a plus for others and a doesn't matter for most.
The comparison with magazines is a good one. He is not alone among the youtube machinist community of struggling to find something unique. You can only do so many beginner skills videos, so projects start to replace them. Those can also get repetitive, and are self limiting. If they just the application of basic skills, some will skip them. If they are an advanced subject or branching out to other skills, like soldering they will lose appeal to many, like those who already know how to solder, or have no interest in soldering.
I'd never suggest this to MrPete (got to show some respect and besides, it would probably tip him over into the grave!
) but I have considered suggesting to one or other of the more established experienced/skilled machinist youtubers (one of those that uses and is used to proper old iron), that they buy a Chinese 7x from one of the
reputable importers and do a series on
their version of fettling, upgrading and getting the most out of it. A warts and all series of videos.
I wouldn't count that out. He has been taking on some smaller lathes lately, and I think there is a lot of pent up interest.
Small lathes and mills are far more popular than many of the forums would suggest, as I think many just lay low about their machines. There really isn't a whole lot of small machine content out there. Watch and clock maker videos are very niche, and the few I can think of who use small lathes like Clickspring, and Stefen Gotteswinter are so over the top in their projects that the lathes become secondary and I think they scare many off. It is almost like they are compensating for using a small lathe.
Blondihacks and Clough42 do use 10" import lathes, but these are still more substantial than true "mini-lathes" and they have on occassion been less than flattering to lathes smaller that theirs (and mostly hearsay not based on personal experience, Adam Savage has also been guilty of this as well).
I agree it would be very interesting to see somebody take a look at some smaller lathes from the aspect of what they can do, and the kind of work they are truly well suited for. Not just how they fail compared to a 12" lathe weighing 900lbs.
Point out the strengths and weaknesses of the different options, and what you get for $500 vs $1500. I'd really like to see it from somebody with real skills, doing a variety of "normal" small lathe projects, like the majority of buyers are interested in, making a weird screw for an antique gun, a bushing for a mini-bike, or a simple wobbler engine. Not restoring a Victorian clock work monstrosity or an ancient computer (Antikythera mechanism).
I'm encouraged with Mr Pete taking on the Unimat, I just hope he goes further than a show and tell, using it on some real projects. I hope he continues the series with some of the other common 8" and smaller lathes, and maybe branches out to include some small mills.
Of all the youtubers, I think he really is the best positioned for a series like that.
It also provides an opportunity to revisit those evergreen beginner topics as he can go over basic operations like tool selection, threading, parting both as a refresher / intro for new viewers as well as highlighting the capabilities of the different machines. Threading being a good way to show off differences with lathes like the Atlas 618 and Chinese 7" using change gears, while many smaller lather require a variety of special accessories, like the hand operated change gears on the Sherline, or tracer device on the Unimat, while others are entirely reliant on taps / dies.
Like all topics, there will be some who immediately tune out of the "toy" show, but I expect he would also gain a lot of new viewers who own or were considering the purchase of one of these lathes.