The madness needs to stop...how about a GROUP PROJECT?

GunsOfNavarone

GunsOfNavarone

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The "madness"? I see it a lot here and it's 90% what I spend my free time doing, making tools or making tools to make my tools better. Alright, it keeps us off the streets and we are enjoying ourselves, no harm no foul. What if we spent some time making forum tools? If you've seen TOT or Blondihacks, when many share the responsibility and build something big or valuable or handy or....?
Twenty people or 100 people could each take a part of a drawing/plan and make a part to a specific set of tolerances and the parts come together (maybe at a moderator's home and it is assembled). If it's a tool, say a diving head, now that moderator has a valuable tool that can be shipped to whomever needs it to use for a project or learn how to use it or whatever. Depending on your strengths and or your knowledge, you pick your best fit or the moderator can pick based on a 1-10 know how questionnaire. There really are a lot of possibilities how to handle that.
Costs? Well, depending on the project and how many interested ( we could have multiple levels and multiple projects) but say $10 to $20 each that is paypal'd to that mod and when items need too be paid for, that mod could paypal whomever for whatever material is needed. If someone flakes and doesn't build, someone could step in and take over that part and we could publicly humiliate that member! If they owed that$10 or whatever fee, I'm sure there is a way to put a hold on their access to the site, or we just write it off (less the public stoning)
Help me out here, the possibilities are endless. Would the mod here like to step in? We all obviously like making tools, but hell, it could be Jonny5!
Thoughts? Concerns? I dunno, maybe I've had too many espresso's?
 
GunsOfNavarone said:
The "madness"? I see it a lot here and it's 90% what I spend my free time doing, making tools or making tools to make my tools better. Alright, it keeps us off the streets and we are enjoying ourselves, no harm no foul. What if we spent some time making forum tools? If you've seen TOT or Blondihacks, when many share the responsibility and build something big or valuable or handy or....?
Twenty people or 100 people could each take a part of a drawing/plan and make a part to a specific set of tolerances and the parts come together (maybe at a moderator's home and it is assembled). If it's a tool, say a diving head, now that moderator has a valuable tool that can be shipped to whomever needs it to use for a project or learn how to use it or whatever. Depending on your strengths and or your knowledge, you pick your best fit or the moderator can pick based on a 1-10 know how questionnaire. There really are a lot of possibilities how to handle that.
Costs? Well, depending on the project and how many interested ( we could have multiple levels and multiple projects) but say $10 to $20 each that is paypal'd to that mod and when items need too be paid for, that mod could paypal whomever for whatever material is needed. If someone flakes and doesn't build, someone could step in and take over that part and we could publicly humiliate that member! If they owed that$10 or whatever fee, I'm sure there is a way to put a hold on their access to the site, or we just write it off (less the public stoning)
Help me out here, the possibilities are endless. Would the mod here like to step in? We all obviously like making tools, but hell, it could be Jonny5!
Thoughts? Concerns? I dunno, maybe I've had too many espresso's?
Click to expand...
An interesting idea. One thing that woulde become apparent very quickly is the need to be able to manufacture to tolerances. When two parties are responsible for making mating parts, each would have an assigned set of tolerances in order to ensure that the parts would mate correctly. The stacked tolerances would be the sum of the two and that tolerance would have to be within the tolerance allo2wed fror proper operation of the assembly.

When we make something solely within our own shop, we can check fits and adjust as required. This was done efectively in medieval times without the benefit of precision measuring tools. A blacksmith would make a lock and key by first making the key and fitting a lock to it. In colonial times, rifles were made the same way. Parts were not interchangeable from one to another.

Not saying that it can't be done but it will require special skill and discipline. Measuring instruments should be calibrated so everyone is on the same page. Ability to follow GD&T would be a plus.
 
Yes, and if tolerances were provided, either the final product is within or not. The person making it would be responsible for measuring, but perhaps the person that receives the parts from all parties. Maybe I'm crazy, but isn't that part of the fun? I've made parts for people and I try hard to make it perfectly to spec, whether they gave me those tolerances or not, I enjoys doing my best to hit the nail on the head.
Imagine the potential if everyone hits the mark, huge time consuming projects for one person is now small, palatable bites!
 
Sounds fun! An idea? Perhaps there are others like me who enjoy making multiples of the same part (I enjoy learning and improving the repetitive process to reduce cycle time). Assign a part and everyone ends up with one of the resulting tool/item.
 
@thomb exactly, work on peoples strengths. I hate doing the CAD/CAM part of the job, but whether manual or CNC, I love/need having the instructions. There are people here where the CAD part ain't no thang. People who love hobbing gears, people whole love repetitive work, people whole love intricate small. Why don't we combine our "superpowers" and make something worth while? Something that gives the group an incredible benefit of being a member here? And who doesn't think this sounds like a blast? I mean the pass around box is great, think how much better this would be and possible for many more to get involved. If people had 1 or 2 months to complete their small part, well, at the end of that time we could have made a mars rover! (j/k but you get the jist)
 
On the other side of the coin, This would be a lot of extra time, and workload for an already busy moderator. The person running it could be any long time trusted member, that has a clue.

I can see where the beer cannon did not get far as anything that goes bang will have certain legal issues attached depending on where a member lives. If the project is a tool or piece of equipment that everyone needs and can use, then it will get the biggest following.

Once this tool is built there is the issue of shipping it repeatedly, at some point it will get dropped and break. ALL shippers do this. Packing something big and or heavy is difficult to do, normally the cushioning is a one shot deal, It can absorb one big impact and has then given its life to protect its contents. It would need a custom designed, reusable, indestructible, shipping container.

I am not trying to be a naysayer, just bringing up the ugly parts of the equation that no one like to look at so we all go in with eyes wide open.
 
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