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Post by bancroft on Jun 16, 2023 19:08:50 GMT
We have some people wailing on forums here about the death of the UK manufacturing industry.
Yet I like watching programs like Wheeler Dealers and Find it and Fix it programs.
I am always amazed at the people out there that will use machines to design replacement parts for machines and body work. Inlcuding making thier own bolts when they can't find what they want.
Seems to me if you are reasonably loaded why not invest in an old British motorbike like a BSA or AJS, or a tractor like a Ferguson or old cars like a SD1 or Hillman Avenger.
By doing this we keep the cottage industry going and also maintain a bit of Britain's industrial past.
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Post by besoeker3 on Jun 16, 2023 19:26:44 GMT
We have some people wailing on forums here about the death of the UK manufacturing industry. Yet I like watching programs like Wheeler Dealers and Find it and Fix it programs. I am always amazed at the people out there that will use machines to design replacement parts for machines and body work. Inlcuding making thier own bolts when they can't find what they want. Seems to me if you are reasonably loaded why not invest in an old British motorbike like a BSA or AJS, or a tractor like a Ferguson or old cars like a SD1 or Hillman Avenger. By doing this we keep the cottage industry going and also maintain a bit of Britain's industrial past. I think that would be a positive. But my field was industrial power electronics - steel mills, paper mills etc. Much of these went into decline within my history. Many of these projects located to the Far East. The water industry is one of the exceptions. |
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Post by patman post on Jun 16, 2023 20:18:46 GMT
We have some people wailing on forums here about the death of the UK manufacturing industry. Yet I like watching programs like Wheeler Dealers and Find it and Fix it programs. I am always amazed at the people out there that will use machines to design replacement parts for machines and body work. Inlcuding making thier own bolts when they can't find what they want. Seems to me if you are reasonably loaded why not invest in an old British motorbike like a BSA or AJS, or a tractor like a Ferguson or old cars like a SD1 or Hillman Avenger. By doing this we keep the cottage industry going and also maintain a bit of Britain's industrial past. Isn’t the problem that most of today’s production isn’t concerned with the “industrial past”? Wrapped up as Britain’s proud heritage, and good TV for Shed & Buried, Britain’s industrial past is unlikely to prove essential in keeping the UK solvent — or even viable before the Americans, Europeans, and the Chinese step in. Anoraks, all of you… |
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Post by Dan Dare on Jun 16, 2023 20:49:24 GMT
We have some people wailing on forums here about the death of the UK manufacturing industry. Yet I like watching programs like Wheeler Dealers and Find it and Fix it programs. I am always amazed at the people out there that will use machines to design replacement parts for machines and body work. Inlcuding making thier own bolts when they can't find what they want. Seems to me if you are reasonably loaded why not invest in an old British motorbike like a BSA or AJS, or a tractor like a Ferguson or old cars like a SD1 or Hillman Avenger. By doing this we keep the cottage industry going and also maintain a bit of Britain's industrial past. This is all very well but it is hardly going to resuscitate UK manufacturing industry.
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Post by bancroft on Jun 16, 2023 21:12:34 GMT
We have some people wailing on forums here about the death of the UK manufacturing industry. Yet I like watching programs like Wheeler Dealers and Find it and Fix it programs. I am always amazed at the people out there that will use machines to design replacement parts for machines and body work. Inlcuding making thier own bolts when they can't find what they want. Seems to me if you are reasonably loaded why not invest in an old British motorbike like a BSA or AJS, or a tractor like a Ferguson or old cars like a SD1 or Hillman Avenger. By doing this we keep the cottage industry going and also maintain a bit of Britain's industrial past. This is all very well but it is hardly going to resuscitate UK manufacturing industry.
Our labour costs because of high housing costs, linked to high immigration will mean it is very unlikely we will ever mass manufacture again. Yet it is good to keep as much knowledge here as possible in case the SHTF. |
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Post by Baron von Lotsov on Jun 17, 2023 2:25:53 GMT
You could probably set up your own manufacturing operation with about ten grand of investment. The way to do it is a fully automated production line. You wont be able to start with anything too complicated, but the trick is to make something simple in massive quantities. This is why you need end to end automation. You can buy the machines from China and you can put it together in a kind of kit form to save money, like a big Meccano set. I've been watching a chap in the US do it. He makes power supply modules. They are simple circuit boards worth a few quid and he has a whole line of machines where they pop out the other end.
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Post by bancroft on Jun 17, 2023 10:35:18 GMT
I wonder how they get on with the gear boxes as they look technically very precise and then there is the timing so all the teethed clogs work together.
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Post by Baron von Lotsov on Jun 17, 2023 11:10:13 GMT
I wonder how they get on with the gear boxes as they look technically very precise and then there is the timing so all the teethed clogs work together. This is a 101 in pictures on how to do gears.
What you really need is a large CNC machine with automatic tool changer. Expect to pay a lot of money.
The reason it cost s lot is a cheap CNCs are not ridged enough so you get chattering. The more ridged the system is the better the work is finished. This is a good one.
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Post by Dan Dare on Jun 17, 2023 11:14:53 GMT
Machine tool design and manufacturing is another activity in which the UK is no longer an active participant.
It's not something that lends itself to a garden-shed scale operation.
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Post by Baron von Lotsov on Jun 17, 2023 13:23:30 GMT
Machine tool design and manufacturing is another activity in which the UK is no longer an active participant. It's not something that lends itself to a garden-shed scale operation. I think you could just about fit a small electronic manufacturing system in a double garage. You'd be looking at about a 3ft space for a pick and place machine, then you need an infra red oven and if you want to mount lead components you need a wave soldering machine as well. If you budget a grand per machine you could get something that works in a half decent way. You can buy a cheap milling machine if you only want to work with plastic or alloys. The way I would do it is use a Chinese PCB manufacturer to print the PCBs and then populate the boards yourself and then mill out a box to put it in. It's a matter of how much of the value chain you want to do and how much is more economical to subcontract.
You need to look at how investment affects labour. Say you start with stand alone machines and feed the work in yourself, then that investment in those machines saves you most time for your bucks, so you can produce so many and then you look at the next most time consuming manual process and automate that, so your output increases and the next most economical thing to do is worth it as throughput increases with automation level. I'd say by the time you have your double garage fully populated with machines you would be rich enough to hire out an industrial unit to put it into, although the real pisser with those things is signing a long lease. How the hell do you know you will still be affording the rent in ten years. This is when you start to notice greed of others gets in the way of ambition. They see you got money, they give you trouble to extract it from you.
By the way, if you want to be a cheapskate about CNC machines (which you will have to be a cheapskate to survive!) A very neat trick is to buy an ancient one which costs hundreds of thousands in its day but in the days before computers. Like I was saying, you need rigidity above all else. To make it computer controlled can be done. You can even buy the standard modern controller PCBs very cheaply. You just have to do some adaptation.
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Post by johnofgwent on Jun 23, 2023 0:11:53 GMT
As recently as the seventies it was possible to start up a serious company in a back yard, garage or semi derelict stately pile
Today the sheer amount of money needed to set up means it will not happen. The country has lost what made us ingenious, forever
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Post by Baron von Lotsov on Jun 23, 2023 11:47:50 GMT
As recently as the seventies it was possible to start up a serious company in a back yard, garage or semi derelict stately pile Today the sheer amount of money needed to set up means it will not happen. The country has lost what made us ingenious, forever Borrowing tons of money to set up in a business you have no idea about is far too risky. The way to do it is start small and learn the ropes before trying to be king of the market. Find something small you can manufacture in your garage, and when your garage is bulging at the seams you will have the cash. |
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Post by Handyman on Jun 23, 2023 12:04:18 GMT
After WW2 Europe rebuilt rejigged new machines and a willing workforce as did Asia , they had less overheads lower wages and even with shipping costs they were very competitive, we did not slow out of date machinery methods that cost more to produce the same widget or whatever, we could not compete, the Unions fought all and any changes the owners want to introduce to be more efficient IMO saw it happen up close and personal
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Post by johnofgwent on Jun 23, 2023 12:23:02 GMT
After WW2 Europe rebuilt rejigged new machines and a willing workforce as did Asia , they had less overheads lower wages and even with shipping costs they were very competitive, we did not slow out of date machinery methods that cost more to produce the same widget or whatever, we could not compete, the Unions fought all and any changes the owners want to introduce to be more efficient IMO saw it happen up close and personal another side to this from my own field of expertise people set up research facilities in their garages back yards and the like. My own (distant) relatives did this and made a pile. I just cant see it happening these days. Elfin safety for one thing. |
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Post by Baron von Lotsov on Jun 23, 2023 12:38:04 GMT
After WW2 Europe rebuilt rejigged new machines and a willing workforce as did Asia , they had less overheads lower wages and even with shipping costs they were very competitive, we did not slow out of date machinery methods that cost more to produce the same widget or whatever, we could not compete, the Unions fought all and any changes the owners want to introduce to be more efficient IMO saw it happen up close and personal another side to this from my own field of expertise people set up research facilities in their garages back yards and the like. My own (distant) relatives did this and made a pile. I just cant see it happening these days. Elfin safety for one thing. So did my great great grandad. He ended up owning the whole street in London for his business in making carts. They sold them in Harrods.
Anyway you are blaming your tools. Either do it or don't do it. Don't make excuses.
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