Expand the "Home Foundry and Castings Section" ?

[SmithDoor]

Is there any interest in expanding the "Home Foundry and Castings Section" of this forum, to include separate folders for things like "Foundry Construction", "Investment Casting Methods", "Sand and Molding Techniques", "Casting Defects", "Pattern Making", etc. ?

It seems like once a topic goes into the que, then it moves down the que, and if you don't know exactly what to search for, then the topic is not really accessible.

Thoughts/suggestions ?

.

I look at the download section for data .

To many subcategories can be a pain too.
I been on sites were had a lot of subcategories and everyone would post in wrong subcategory.
It seem like good idea until people stated posting.

Try the search in upper right hand corner may help find the data you looking for.

Dave

 

[GreenTwin]

The expanded subcatetories are not without risk.

I like the idea of an index, or index of searchable terms, that could produce a list of topics, with an index to sort by the highest views.

The search function is very useful, assuming you know what to search for.
If you are looking for the latest trends in foundry work, you may not know what the name of the latest method or material is, and so no way to browse new trends in a foundry section.

The search function can overcome a lot of heading shortcomings, and also sorts through things placed under the wrong heading, or things that are a subtopic within another unrelated topic.

Probably finding a good/better approach to searching, and perhaps some sort of index of search terms by category, is the foolproof way to go.
Sorting/filtering by view count would also be very useful I think.

I have also noticed that I can search for things in my firefox browser online, and find them sometimes faster than using the local search here, where both methods lead to posts here.

.

 

[GreenTwin]

I was looking through some of the older threads on this forum yesterday, and found some fantastic builds that I had never seen before, and builds that included pattern making, backyard casting, etc.
The old threads on this forum are a gold mine, but finding the cool stuff is very difficult.

Often the search function on this forum brings back hundreds of threads, many which are not really related to the search tag.

I am thinking that improving/refining the search functions here would really expose some fantastic old builds that are here, and I would rather have an improved search engine than expanded headings, since a better search engine would work across all categories.

.

 

[wce4]

I was looking through some of the older threads on this forum yesterday, and found some fantastic builds that I had never seen before, and builds that included pattern making, backyard casting, etc.
The old threads on this forum are a gold mine, but finding the cool stuff is very difficult.

Often the search function on this forum brings back hundreds of threads, many which are not really related to the search tag.

I am thinking that improving/refining the search functions here would really expose some fantastic old builds that are here, and I would rather have an improved search engine that expanded headings, since a better search engine would work across all categories.

.

"Often the search function on this forum brings back hundreds of threads, many which are not really related to the search tag."
That is the biggest problem I have also when I use the search function on this forum. I presumed it was my lack of knowledge on how to use the search on here and I get frustrated and log off.

 

[minh-thanh]

Click on it, maybe it will help

 

[GreenTwin]

So imagine having a front page with a few general headings, and then a series of buttons below that, where you could basically build your own index of the things you were interested in, with buttons for low, medium, and high numbers of category sub forums.

With the right search engine, you could really do some fantastic things with a forum, and basically anyone/everyone could access whatever their interests were with a few button clicks, such as generating a front page of only IC engine items, or only steam engines, etc.

I think this will be the wave of the future.
When you think about it, only a few basic catetgories are needed, and then you custom build what you want to see as far as categories and category breakdowns below that.
And have a reset button, and you can start again, or you could store that category page for later use.

.

 

[GreenTwin]

Click on it, maybe it will help

View attachment 152989

That is good to know about.
And there are some advanced search options, but I don't see a sort-by-number-of-views, which would be nice.

One problem is that some of the titles are not particularly descriptive, such as "Another Corliss Build".
The thread may contain backyard foundry work, pattern making, casting work, machining, CNC, and a lot of other things that won't show up in the search.

.

 

[GreenTwin]

One problem I see with the advanced search here is that when I search a topic, it will list every post where it finds a match, and 100 or more of those posts may all be in the same thread.

Is there some way to enter a search topic, and the search return a list of the thread titles only that have posts in them that contain that word?
That is what is really needed; a list of threads, not a list of every single post containing that word.

.

 

[Jasonb]

Although the likes of Facebook will look at your info it is not all doom and gloom because they take that info and suggest other content that may be of interest to you so you don't even need to go and search for it.

Good example this just showed up not only some extreamly good quality "backyard" castings but a video showing them being cast and there were also several other photos including moulds, etc.

Another example from a couple of days ago was a post about an O&S engine which I know a member wants to make a model of so they would have missed out if I had not sent them a link.

 

[Jasonb]

Pat, regarding search, you have already been pointed towards clicking "title" which will narrow it down see post #25. Try "Casting" with title ticked and you will see how many forum sections it comes up in like beginners and tools so as I said a filing system is only as good as the person doing the filing. If you only went looking in Home Foundry you would miss out on a lot of threads.

Even listing by title you will get a result for just about every thread that has casting in it like all the build threads from casting sets so not going to be much use to someone wanting to learn casting rather than machining them and lets face it with the forum being HMEMACHINIST you are going to get a lot of hits about machining castings rather than foundry work..

 

[ajoeiam]

I would second (or third or twentieth) the idea of have more sub-forums.

Searching for things used to work great - - - in the early 2000s, now today - - - - anything even remotely relevant is dragged in and the noise level is normally so high that it can take days to filter through even a small listing. Even worse - - - if one is asking for a fairly specific topic (ie more than 3 search terms) one is drowned in the each separate term pile and there is normally almost never any with ALL the terms - - - that's a flaw in search engines imo.

Re: crackbook being useful - - - yes it is quite - - - - it has made a few people incredibly wealthy selling other peoples information - - - for any other purpose - - - well its usefulness needs some hunting to actually find. (There seems to be little understanding as to the value of all the information that is collected about one by such entities - - - - see the concept of 'the great data slurp' if you're looking for parts of the story.)

 

[ShopShoe]

A most interesting discussion.

Subforums are good, along as posts get into the most relevant subforum.

Adding a feature like the ability to assign keywords could enable a complementary option to search by keywords, as long as the keywords are descriptive enough to really be useful.

A better search tool could be helpful: I.E.: Search for poster, then by title containing word, then by keyword, then by some other option. Allow boolean operations while searching: I.E.: ShopShoe + build log NOT Elmer's.

NOW THE TRICKY PART. If these things are considered and implemented someone would have to edit and proofread everything going in to make sure everything is doing what it is supposed to do. Probably more elaborate and expensive systems would be needed to run the site. This probably translates to required and more expensive fees to participate. It would probably also mean posting and waiting days for the post to appear, which would take away spontaneity and discourage beginners and occasional visitors and contributors. Do we really want to create a "country club?"

I go back to what I think is really the main idea here: I think a few tweaks could help but this forum seems to be operating and behaving like some other forums I know. Content is contributed by members and there is interesting information to read, but it is hard to make a forum into a universal reference source that is everyone's Go-To for help.

In the spirit of community and adventure that is our shop world (and the main point of it all, anyway),

--ShopShoe

 

[kuhncw]

I agree with ShopShoe. I'd say HMEM is doing a great job for its intended purpose, the way it is.

I feel the same about the other forum, Model Engine Maker (MEM).

Chuck

 

[GreenTwin]

I went to the Xenforo forum, and researched add-on search engines.

They do have add-on search engines for Xenforo, and I don't think the cost is significant, but the reviews I saw said that the add-on search engines were no better than what comes with Xenforo (in their opinion).

And I saw one thread about somehow tying in the Google search engine into the Xenforo search engine (if I understood the post correctly, which is questionable).

I wish I knew more about Xenforo's search engine, and how to modify it.
I know of other Xenforo hobby forums that have better searches, specifically with that has a header across the top of each list of posts, and the header has buttons on it for "Title", "Start Date", "Replies", "Views", and "Last Message".

Clicking on any of these buttons immediately sorts all the threads below.
So this is not some radical software change, but apparently just a minor tweek that is within the capabilities of the existing Xenforo software package.

Just a small change like this would be very helpful.

Any while the current forum setup may suit the needs of many/most/all that are here, the fact is it makes most of the older posts gererally difficult or impossible to find and access.
If folks don't care about that, then I guess none of this conversation matters.
Some folks just live blissfully in the moment, and have little care or awareness beyond their immediate experiences, and I sort of envy that attitude, but unfortunately I an not one of those types of people. Everyone has different motives and objectives in the hobby, and that is ok.

Edit:
They do have Xenforo consultants "for hire" on the Xenforo forum, and I have actually hired one who lives in some obscure country across the globe.
He did a great job, and was inexpensive to use ($200.00).
There are other Xenforo consultants I ran into who can best be termed as "cut throats", and you want to avoid them at all cost.
The trick is to find an experience consultant who really knows his Xenforo.
.

 

[GreenTwin]

I uderstand that the title of this forum is Home Model Engine MACHINIST Forum, emphasis on the word MACHINIST, but it seems nonsensical to create an entirely new forum call Home Model Engine CASTING Forum, just so folks can have an organized place to post casting information.

Seems like that would just divide the hobby, for no reason that is apparent or logical to me.
Does the machinist community consider itself so special that it must exclude or minimize other types of engine construction?
If so, then it is all about showcasting one's machining prowess, and not really about model building at all, or so it would seem.

.

 

[Jasonb]

Don't think anyone was suggesting having a new forum but as I said early on the home foundry activity is quite a small percentage of the total so why give it a larger number of headings than the other more active topics.

Also why does it have to be restricted to Home Casting etc. I've done CAD pattern work for people that won't cast the items and also produced patterns myself that were not cast at home. But I'm happy to pass on what I know and do to anyone.

 

[GreenTwin]

Everyone has the path that they want to go down, and those paths are different, with different goals, objectives, etc.

I for one would like to expand the backyard model engine casting aspect of the hobby, and so I don't want to force that on others who are content with their machininst hobby.

But you are making a catch22 statement; ie: The interest in hobby casting is small, so lets make sure we keep it that way by not making the changes required to grow that aspect of the hobby.
That is how I read your statement anyway.

I think a forum dedicated to home foundry/casting/model engine building is inevitable given the players involved and the attitude that they have about the hobby. The resistance to change is too great to overcome without starting something new.

.

 

[Richard Hed]

Everyone has the path that they want to go down, and those paths are different, with different goals, objectives, etc.

I for one would like to expand the backyard model engine casting aspect of the hobby, and so I don't want to force that on others who are content with their machininst hobby.

But you are making a catch22 statement; ie: The interest in hobby casting is small, so lets make sure we keep it that way by not making the changes required to grow that aspect of the hobby.
That is how I read your statement anyway.

I think a forum dedicated to home foundry/casting/model engine building is inevitable give the players involved and the attitude that they have about the hobby. The resistance to change is too great to overcome without starting something new.

.

I find that casting is large enough that I don't consider it to be "A small part" of machining. I find that it is very much like other subjects such as silvveer soldering or carbide sharpening or other "side" topics. They are generally ALL relative to machining. We machine castiongs, therefore casting is part of machinng in my view, and like the fellow in "the Princess Bride" says, "I'm always right".

So what's the big deal? What I see needs cleaning up is that we lose access to older posts and often repeat old posts with new people doing the re-posts. I'm sure I would be interested in those old posts if they were easier to find. I DO believe some kind of contents should be created.

 

[GreenTwin]

Don't think anyone was suggesting having a new forum but as I said early on the home foundry activity is quite a small percentage of the total so why give it a larger number of headings than the other more active topics.

Also why does it have to be restricted to Home Casting etc. I've done CAD pattern work for people that won't cast the items and also produced patterns myself that were not cast at home. But I'm happy to pass on what I know and do to anyone.

I agree, the "Home" it totally unnecessary, and if you read the articles that can be found from 1920's model engine making, it was common for model engineers to make their own patterns, and have those cast at the local foundry.

So just Model Engine Casting Forum I guess.

.

 

[Jasonb]

Yes if you want to limit it to engines. Model Engineering covers a wide range of items and Engines that HMEM and MEM cover is just a small part of that particularly in the UK where Locos and traction engines are a far bigger proportion of the hobby. Of those making IC or stationary engines most will buy castings or choose barstock designs with just a few doing patterns and fewer still casting so it will be a very Niche membership.

Though I suppose "engine "could cover loco and TE just depends where and if you want to file them somewhere.