'Ideal model workshop' 61 years ago - have we moved on?

[bruce d]

From January/February 1960 WORKSHOP magazine: an article on what they consider the ideal workshop for modelmaking.

No 3D printers or internet radios but most of the items still look appropriate.  (Don't miss the jokes scattered through the pages)

 

[harlequin]

never in a million years has my workplace been that tidy, nor is it ever likely to be...😀

[bruce d]

Absolutely 🤐

[Dave_E]

Model "what"? 1/2 scale stuff? 😄 Looks like a full blown wood shop, something we had in high school back in the day.

Edited December 14, 2021 by Dave_E
Addition

[David Lester]

I don't think they presented this as a workshop for making models. By "model shop" they mean it's an example of a woodworking shop on which to model your own. Interesting that they included a Shopsmith.

David

[Charles Green]

Third page down: the Dremel Moto Shop.  I had one of those and I pity anyone else who had one.  My parents bought mine for me at serious expense to them.  The disappointment that saw created in the three of us is felt by me to this day.  It ran at one speed - too fast.  Enough noise to startle anyone not ready for it - think "lawn mower over gravel".   Hand numbing vibration that made following a line impossible.  It used pinned blades that came in a variety of sizes, all too large.  The flex-shaft accessory in use in the photo was useless.  The motor speed, while too fast for scroll saw use, was too slow for a flex shaft tool.  The "flex-shaft" was one in name only.  Trying to flex it would create enough friction within the shaft to drop the motor speed and then pressure on the cutting tool would bring the motor to a near stall. 

[Roger Pellett]

The hedge trimmer did seem a bit out of place.

 

As a child, I had my own workbench with real tools, a defensive measure by my father to keep me away from his stuff.  The only power tool was a bench mounted vibrating jig saw.  You could actually touch the blade. Without getting cut.  It worked for balsa and other soft woods.

 

Roger

[kurtvd19]

Roger:

That was my first power modeling tool.  Got it as a Christmas present when I was in 5th grade IIRC.  I had it sitting around for years after moving on to better tools and it finally was gone - maybe at my parent's hands - I just don't remember.  But I used it a lot back then. 

[glbarlow]

Looks more like my high school shop class, scary how big all that stuff was then. 

[TBlack]

2 hours ago, Charles Green said:

Third page down: the Dremel Moto Shop.  I had one of those and I pity anyone else who had one.  My parents bought mine for me at serious expense to them.  The disappointment that saw created in the three of us is felt by me to this day.  It ran at one speed - too fast.  Enough noise to startle anyone not ready for it - think "lawn mower over gravel".   Hand numbing vibration that made following a line impossible.  It used pinned blades that came in a variety of sizes, all too large.  The flex-shaft accessory in use in the photo was useless.  The motor speed, while too fast for scroll saw use, was too slow for a flex shaft tool.  The "flex-shaft" was one in name only.  Trying to flex it would create enough friction within the shaft to drop the motor speed and then pressure on the cutting tool would bring the motor to a near stall. 

Charles,

I have one of these today, minus the flex shaft. And you are absolutely right on all points. It's amazing that I can get anything cut right.

Tom

[Gregory]

Food for thought:

 

The cartoon about the $15 saw blade..  About $145 today..

[Jaager]

It is sobering to see the sorts of tools that were available back then.  I am sure that many of the specific choices were determined by the magazine's advertising department.  I began this about ten years later and it helps make clear why I made some of the choices that I did.  Choices that my retrospectascope shows were far less than ideal.  

 

I remember that a Shopsmith was considered a big deal by some back then.  I have never seen one in person, but I worked for someone who had one.  My impression from back then is that it did a fairly wide variety of jobs.  None all that well, and the time necessary to reconfigure it was significant as well as being a source of frustration.   I suspect that one of its gifts was as an inspiration for later designers of single purpose machines with a reasonable footprint.  

 

A three wheel bandsaw is an awful, awful design,  I wonder if their existence was because the two wheel models of the time were huge and expensive monsters? 

 

One machine that we do not have at a modeler's scale size is a crosscut with horizontal rather than chop blade movement.  When needed, it would be handy to have.  But the reality is that the few times that it would be needed could never justify either the money spent for it or the bench space it would take up.

 

In photo #22 - the philosophy behind the function of the Belsaw machine is just as valid today.  It is to be grateful that we have better ways to do it now.

[mtaylor]

Interesting to see what they had then and considered ideal and what we have now.   But then, our tools are more sized according to our needs and some magazines ideal workshop.  Yes, advertisors did and do play a part in those publications.  Last time I saw a Popular Mechanics with their articles about "must have" tools proved that.

 

Come to think of it, we modelers see similar things about "must have" tools on a regular basis.

 

As for the Shopsmith... my dad always wanted one and when he retired, we kids bought him one.  He loved it and made a lot wonderful things on it.  My youngest brother has it now and uses it a lot for his custom furniture business.  

[thibaultron]

I used to have subscriptions to Popular Science and Popular Mechanics when I was young, took about a months allowance for each one. Stopped then in my 20s when they switched from "Take your hammer, and build this house, car etc." to "This is a hammer, and this is what you do with it" type articles.

[javajohn]

That picture of the Shopsmith brings back memories... My dad used it for a wide variety of projects, from cabinets to a pool deck. I built a music synthesizer during high school in the mid 70's and used the Shopsmith to build the keyboard and system cabinets. That was my first real introduction to woodworking.