How to become practical

I was brought up on Meccano, Airfix, Mamod, Triang, Hornby Double O, Pond Yachts, Balsa Wood Gliders and living in a hilly area it was expected that every self respecting boy had his own design of 'bogey' (kart) made from wood, pram wheels, U-Bolts etc. Such fun.
Adolescence brought tinkering with motorcycles (Triumph Tiger in my case) and mechanical things. Our Tech Teacher over saw a project where we built a car from scratch (with the help of a generous scrap yard owner).
Only last week my son at age 22 announced he had changed the radiator on his car! I had to feign joy and happiness for his first practical achievement in the field of mechanics and didn't burst his bubble by mentioning any of the above. :)
 
davidjackson said:
Great thread! Happy days!
Meccano, Mamod steam engines, push bikes, b&w photo processing, radio controlled balsa model aeroplanes, Lambrettas, Cutlass Class 4 Cart, virtually scrap cars, amateur radio, kawasakis, stationary engines, scuba diving, dinghy sailing, BMW bikes, mountain bikes, and finally, the floating money pit. I hope never to outgrow my toys!
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To save me typing out a list, I will say I can tick nearly all of those as well. I clearly remember my first (second hand) Mechano set and I am now extremely practical. Children had lots of Lego but no Mechano. They are reasonably practical...
 
Lots of wonderfully secondhand stuff as a kid, meccano ( with motor that could hardly drag the skin off a pudding so quite a challenge making cars..), ever expanding Lego ( cable cars across the bedroom built from the tightest fitting bits plus rubber wheeled v powerful motor/battery pack)...pond yachts, building bricks, multipacks of playing cards, electronic project kits using huge circuitry, homemade model crossbows, balsa planes. Usually up at 6 am and to the background noise of early radio 4 ( pretentious kid eh?) 'stuff' got made then remade then improved... then joy of joy allowed loose on my dads modest tool kit and Wolf drill phwoarr, and a leaky old cold moulded sailing dinghy that was splaying along the centre and transom... Which led to bigger boaty adventures as the bug bit.. Usual ' abused' bikes and cars .. And the boats got better but the modifications more outrageous..! Halcyon days and sore hands and knees..
 
prv said:
In order - yes, yes, and no.

No because I don't have any kids :)

Pete
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+1

Meccano was great - and made life easy for parents. Every Christmas the main present was the Meccano extension set which made the collection of bits the same as the next set up. Never made it to a number 10, though.
 
+ yet another one, and haven't stopped playing with machines since, including large warship engines ! Still to this day with large fridge engines (compressors).
 
Yes, I'd consider myself practical -at least I've never paid anyone to do a job on any of my cars or boats! I like being as self-sufficient as possible. I did have Meccano as a kid, but it was very old and rusty. Must admit, I preferred Lego, but Technical Lego wasn't really invented then.

I now have two lads, 7 and 9. Neither has the attention span to make something from the old Meccano at my parents' place. They like stuff once it's made, but not "making" it as such. I bought them some new Meccano a couple of years ago and it was PANTS! Thinner than the old stuff, and one bit of landing gear (it was a plane kit) fatigued the day after we finished the model! Easy enough to see why - the name stamped into the piece right next to a hole causing a nice stress-raiser. Still, at least it taught the kids SOMETHING about engineering!

Alas, they can get their "instant gratification" online these days. They prefer Lego, but the Lego kits are so specialised these days, you can't really build much else other than what the kit was supposed to be.

Wherever possible, I try to involve them in "real" projects though - building from scratch. This used to be a late relative's electric wheelchair!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvSeS2t7naY
 
Avocet said:
Wherever possible, I try to involve them in "real" projects though - building from scratch. This used to be a late relative's electric wheelchair!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DvSeS2t7naY
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Fantastic! Best Dad Ever :D

I know when I was a kid, anything self-propelled was a big deal. Everything else I might ever "drive", whether go-cart, bike, skateboard, etc, would be propelled by someone, usually me, pushing, pedalling, or pulling. As a kid you don't usually get to control something with a motor or engine, so a vehicle that moves on its own is special.

Pete
 
Yes I had mechano. However things have changed since then. Sure some kids spend too much time with video war games but many don't. I used to be involved with Scouts and I was truck with "Scouting for Boys" the book. It had lovely chapters on building bush shelters fires and camping. All good stuff for bringing boys and girls in adult hood. But of course in todays age kids need more than skills with an axe to survive. They have to know about hire purchase and loan sharks about mobile phones and emails and about the internet. Much more essential knowledge than how to build a fire. Indeed here in Oz fire building is now only the art of the arsonist.
So to the OP don't despair kids are mostly well prepared with toys to prepare them for the brave new world. Sadly tinkering with cars is largely going by the board as cars are more reliable on the one hand and too complex in computers etc to fiddle with anyway. Things are changing and have changed. Just because it is strange to us oldies doesn't mean it is a bad change. olewill
 
Spoiled my day with bad memories. I had oodles of Meccano. Once made a steam powered vehicle with four speed gearbox, differential, Ackermann steering and suspension. When I was at University my mother let some visiting kid raid my Meccano and take almost all of it, including the electric, steam and clockwork motors. It is a sad fact that (and I'm actually not joking I'm afraid) this was the end of any amicable relationship with my mother. She knew that I had spent most of my adolescence playing with it and that I'd spent all my spare pocket money on bits for it. It clearly should have been kept for my kids.

I probably class as practical. Helped my Dad build Amulet (http://flic.kr/s/aHsjmtgt2k) and also had a school teacher who let us dismantle and reassemble a car. However, I am never quite confident enough to say that I'm completely practical - I'm still good at finding new ways of cocking things up.

And if you are the kid who stole my Meccano - I'm over 60 years old, but I'm still angry, and I want it back.
 
Brought up on a diet of Honby O guage, Meccano, Lego, Bako, OO gauge electric Mamod....

But favourite Toy was a Gamages Toy yacht. Lovely Gaff rigged self steering Toy just got bigger when I could afford it.

Son and daughter brought up on similar diet

Son helped build a racing kart including chassis and engine was converted from a 100 cc Honda that puffed out 9hp to a 110 cc and 21hp

However he designed and built a working Tacho at school to prove to his mates that it revved to 18,000 whilst racing,Now a highly paid teccy in the application of electronics....As a hobby he has just built his own 3d printer and wants a lathe and a milling machine for his shed.

Daughter used to get her hands dirty on car maintenance and house renovation and repairs but the combined income of a pharmacist and an FD tempts her to employ someone else to do that for her now.
 
This thread just keeps getting better and better.

As I posted earlier, my excursion with go-karts was a Cutlass Class 4. The engine was Villiers 9E. I built the whole things from a set of plans during my apprenticeship. I even fabricated the exhaust from sheet metal. I recall quite vividly the first time the engine started. I put the rear of the frame on a pair of axle stands and rotated the rear wheel. I was scared half to death when it started because, to be honest, I didn't expect it to!
Duly took it to a disused airfield landing strip. Scared the other half of me to death with its speed. Not helped by a steering rose joint coming off through a corner. From that day, I was clearly never going to be a racing driver and I'm now very content with cruising at 5 knots!

As to electrickery, well, it's just not "normal" is it. You can't see it so I don't understand it. I managed to get a full amateur radio licence in the early 1980's and did a couple of electrical modules in the 70's during my mechanical degree but, nah, I'll stick with nuts and bolts, thanks.
 
Meccano, very little lego, pond yachts, balsa tissue planes, remote control boats, Hornby Trains, remote control plane (built but never sold).

Bikes, Boats first cadet 7 joint with sister of 9. We learned at an early age to look after our own boats...

Practical now yes I think so..
 
Reading all the above makes me realise I ommitted to answer the OP questions.
Yes, had a Meccano set (shared my big brother's) but I also had a "silver" set, which belonged to my late uncle. Bought, presumably, in Canada where they lived before WWII. Same scale/dimensions, had little spring "butterfly" clips to hold bits onto the axles, rods etc.
Anybody recollect that type? Name of, still around?
Kids - sadly No. Daughter was a doll and make-believe acting type, son was just mad on sport. Both good, healthy pastimes.
Oddly, daughter is now a whizz around the domestics - plugs, drains, tap-washers decorating, home-finance etc(still needs daddy for really difficult stuff; plumbing, climbing-frame building, kitchen fitting, shelves and cabinets!)
Son, still mad on sport, is having to learn quickly about home maintenance as he's extremely strapped for cash and dad is 8 hrs north of him!

I reckon as a youngster, I could dismantle anything - getting it put back-together was a different matter.
Main projects were tree houses. Wouldn't pass H&S and planning regs now, but the "battles and exploration games" that they promoted were all-time-consuming.
Nowadays it's boat-maintenance and increasingly car repairs as cash is haemoraging faster than rebuilding.
Good for the sole, mind and character though:)
 
Of course I had a Meccano. And Mamod steam engines too. And then a bit later, my dads old motor mower to take to bits. And then of course along came the old bangers that needed engine strip downs etc.

I made a mistake with my kids though at least I did make sure my daughter didnt end up one of those bimbos who need to flutter eyelashes at some gullible yoof to get her car tyres blown up. But with my son I made the mistake of getting him a reliable car, and even worse doing the few remaining jobs for him. He's now late 30s and I'm still doing the repair jobs. Daft. And really irritating.

But yes, the OP is right. There are people on these forums who dont know a camshaft from a conrod and could no more strip a gearbox that I could ballet dance. Sure there is a difference between being a reasonably practical handiman and being some sort of technician, but IMO it really is dangerous to sail offshore with the level of practical competence that some people exhibit on here. There's no RAC man out there.

P.S. When they make something mechanical, why do they always use more washers than are necessary , leaving you with little piles of them after a strip down and re-assembly job?
 
wotayottie said:
with my son I made the mistake of getting him a reliable car, and even worse doing the few remaining jobs for him. He's now late 30s and I'm still doing the repair jobs.
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A very good point, because what did we graduate to after Meccano but a car or motorcycle -- in the days when they were forward-thinking enough to make them unreliable? I don't think I ever set off on a significant journey with any expectation that at some stage I wouldn't be at the side of the road with the tool kit out and the bike half in bits. Aye, they certainly don't make 'em like they used to. And of course one always looked on the positive, personal-development side whilst sat in a dirty puddle in the pi**ing rain with a carburettor in bits and fingers too cold to do much about it. At least there were no mobiles then, so you didn't get nagged by the girlfriend for being late.

Perverse, yes, but it fills me with a fond nostalgia. And, come to think of it, it's a bit like owning a boat.

wotayottie said:
could no more strip a gearbox that I could ballet dance.
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That I'd love to see. Could you get Dylan to shoot the vid?
 
I've still got my Meccano (or quite a lot of it anyway - can't find the nuts and bolts tin!). I inherited it from my Mother who was the mechanic of the family! Most of it is the pre-war unpainted version (I wouldn't have ever called it "silver")
Meccano.jpg

I also had Bako (wasn't it "Bayko"?). Then there was Juneero which let you make things without the rows of holes using a universal t ool which could cut strip steel to length, punch holes in it and bend it to a right angle - proper engineering!
My balsa and tissue planes were powered by Jetex.
 
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