Project for the grandkids

[Bob Eustace]

This wasnt made on a CNC but it is a project easily adapted and a lot of fun. Its a marble run that you can use just like Leggo. More info here-
http://woodgears.ca/marbles/run.html

[myxpykalix]

Bob,
I saw that and contacted Mathias asking if his instructions were in metric or imperial explaining i wanted to try to adapt his plans to be able to cut it on a CNC and he didn't think it would be that easy to cut due to many of the parts having to be cut on multiple sides.
Have you adapted the cutting directions to be able to use your CNC?:confused:

[Bob Eustace]

Jack it is such a shame that Mathius doesnt present all his stuff for CNC. He seems to be fighting against it all the time by having races against our methods. He would make a lot more money if he did so - bit like what Jon is doing. I think I will build his pantograph router ( see a later post) as I can see a real use for that particularly on box joints. Have no idea why he works in metric. My wifes a quilter, and our Aspire designer so its compulsory to work in inches!

[davidp]

Mathias works in metric because that is the official measurement system of every country in the world except for Liberia, Mayanmar and USA.

[Brian Harnett]

When I worked as a designer for furniture in a production shop I did it all in metric, most of our equipment was metric and it is much easier to divide by ten than split fractions.

I talked them into switching, the shop was resistant for about a week till they got used to it.

[phil_o]

Mathias is Canadian - hence metric.

[dana_swift]

Mattias is known for his hand-methods. Hand-made tools, and very clever designs. It would be like asking Michelangelo to use 3D printers on his statues. The point is that its done by hand.

Production is not Mattias's goal. He has found a market for ingenuity and I think that is far underdeveloped. Most people appreciate craftmanship, and have no idea how much of it is still needed when CNC is employed. There is this idea that "the machine made it", not "a human designed it, toolpathed it, supervised the cuts, then sanded it, assembled it, and put the finish on it". Only one of those operations was automated. Mattias prefers not automating it either.

Good work Mattias- keep it up! I work both ways. There are times for the old tools in my shop. Time for the new ones also.

D

[myxpykalix]

I admire the way he makes things but for me if the tool i pick up doesn't have an on/off switch on it...i don't use it:D

Now if i can only figure out where the switch is on this hammer...:rolleyes:

[Simops]

Mattias is known for his hand-methods. Hand-made tools, and very clever designs. It would be like asking Michelangelo to use 3D printers on his statues. The point is that its done by hand.

Production is not Mattias's goal. He has found a market for ingenuity and I think that is far underdeveloped. Most people appreciate craftmanship, and have no idea how much of it is still needed when CNC is employed. There is this idea that "the machine made it", not "a human designed it, toolpathed it, supervised the cuts, then sanded it, assembled it, and put the finish on it". Only one of those operations was automated. Mattias prefers not automating it either.

Good work Mattias- keep it up! I work both ways. There are times for the old tools in my shop. Time for the new ones also.

D

Spot on Dana!

As to using metric....as others have said majority of the world have adopted metric as the standard....Australia went over in the mid sixties.....I learned imperial at school so I tend to use both but it was interesting talking to my son who is a chippie and has no idea what an inch is or even what it means. I'll say to him it's 10 inches long and he'll look at me puzzled and say "Dad talk English!"

Cheers

[ssflyer]

Dana,

Not sure about Michelangelo, but most artists employed, I guess the term today is intern, to do a lot of their work - a 15th century shopbot? :D

[genek]

No matter what form of measurements you use, they can be converted to the other. Mathius is a skilled worker. We all should ad-mar his workmanship. The old school of wood working is slowly dieing, at some point in time mankind will lose this knowledge. Just like how they built the pyramids, we have no knowledge of how they were so accurate in their work. That is now lost to us.. Soon hand working wood will be lost to us. Hopefully people like mathius will keep on doing this and teaching others how to do so.
I give mathius a big thumbs up on his workmanship and skills.

Thanks for sharing.'

[Burkhardt]

I am an engineer and spent half of my career in Germany, using the metric system. The only remnant of the inch era there is the "Zollstock" translated to "inch-stick" which is a folding ruler but only in name because nowadays it shows millimeters/centimeters.

Then I moved to the to the US 20 years ago and got reasonably familiar with inches and feet. I could do without personally but in my profession here it is mandatory.

For my private wood working I now got used to completely mixing it up. For smaller parts and when I need to divide things up I use millimeters, for larger parts I prefer inches or feet. Sometimes I use the unit of the next ruler that is available or the last unit setting of the software.

So, I don't really care much about units anymore but I wish that people would use metric fasteners here. The trade sizes and fractional inch dimensions work but sometimes drive me nuts.

[ssflyer]

For anyone using Vectic software, the newer versions allow instant conversions - Quote from Adrian: If you wanted to use the imperial equivalent of 100mm you would enter 100*i= and if you wanted to enter the metric equivalent of 4 inches you would enter 4*m= for example.

Hope this helps someone...

[feinddj]

Lets remember that metric is the official measurement system in the US and has been since 1976. It was the resistance to the implementation and the poor method of presentation that doomed us all to 1/8, 1/16, 1/32, 1/64 and adding in base ten and in base twelve in the same equation.

David
ps i use both and have english/metric tapes. They are less likely to get "borrowed" permanently on a job site.