Winders

[Pete Fardell]

Had a root around my dad’s workshop whilst visiting over Christmas and was delighted to discover this old winder which we made to wind my models with some 40+ years ago. All Meccano, of course, and with a handy (!) 9:1 ratio. It’ll be a useful backup for my Derek Knight 10:1 outdoor winder. Action is surprisingly smooth despite all those years in a dusty drawer. (The Meccano itself is even older, being from my dad’s 1940s boyhood set.)

[Arnold S]

Love that Pete!

I used to have a lot of that “proper” metal Meccano as a kid.  I suppose it’s still in my Mum and Dad’s loft somewhere…

I don’t think it will be configured in such a fantastic way though 

Andrew

[TheLurker]

Nick Peppiatt is still using his Meccano winder, see attachment, it makes an appearance at Trinity most months.

What's left of my Meccano is in the loft.

[Crabby]

Meccano looks reminiscent of the old Erector sets we had as kids. You could make some cool gizmos with that set.

[Squirrelnet]

Great find Pete. As Lurk says Nick's example proves it's longevity...probably still be useable in another 40+ years !

[msc]

Meccano looks reminiscent of the old Erector sets we had as kids. You could make some cool gizmos with that set.

Meccano and Erector Set are very similar but Meccano came first. Meccano dates to 1898 and Erector Set dates from 1913. Meccano was developed and originally marketed in England where as the Erector Set was developed and originally marketed in the United States.

In 1990 Meccano bought the Erector brand so now they are one and the same. The two product lines have merged and can be found  marketed as both Meccano and Erector by Meccano. Spin Master is the current owner and manufacturer of both brands.

Mike

[Prosper]

That's really characterful, Pete, soaked in the distant past. Great sentimental value. I would not use it but just look at it.

'Erector Set' was the fictitious name of a B-17 in the novel 'The War Lover' by John Hersey - tho' maybe he nicked the name from real life? The novel provides a far better description of a daylight 8th A.F. raid than any I've read, but Hersey was I think a journalist not an airman - perhaps he went along on a raid? It's a powerful book although a huge chunk of it is taken up with an anguished psychodrama love affair. They made a movie of it which, as is often the case, completely misses the sense, feel and point of the book. . .but which does have a B-17 low pass which will give you goosebumps. I mean LOW.

Now having flown Pete's thread completely off-topic. . .Happy New Year everybody .

Stephen.

[billdennis747]

I used to have a lot of that “proper” metal Meccano as a kid.  I suppose it’s still in my Mum and Dad’s loft somewhere…

To be honest, I never 'warmed' to my Meccano set. It was the very un-tactile square nuts that I didn't like. Made my fingers sore and I quickly turned to balsa.

[DavidJP]

I think every boy had a Meccano.  I dreamed of having the full set so I could build that dockyard crane that appeared on the cover of the manuals.  I got as far as 8a plus the gears set but it was pretty clear even the full set would fall a long way short of enough parts to build the crane.  I never built a winder though.  Used an old hand drill instead that did not require a lot of ingenuity. Those square nuts took up a lot of space on anything one built too.  I imagine they were cheaper to produce.  I never seemed to have enough nuts and bolts!

[Viperkite]

My older brother was into meccano and both his friend and himself pooled their sets together and built 9 year old me a Dalek suit, but all the screws faced inwards and it was like an iron maiden to move around in. I got badly scratched, but they insisted I got inside after all the effort they put in.

[TheLurker]

To be honest, I never 'warmed' to my Meccano set. It was the very un-tactile square nuts that I didn't like. Made my fingers sore ...

You're right, I'd forgotten that.  However some time in the mid/late 1970s my kid sister bought me a "Pocket Meccano" kit as a bit of a joke.  Wonder of wonders, hexagonal nuts.  Don't know if they made it into the full size sets, but they were much kinder to the fingertips.

https://www.meccanospares.com/user/products/large/PK1.JPG

The other issue was the older Red/Green sets had a very, very slightly different hole spacing from the newer* Blue/Yellow sets, notably the straight strips.  Used to find it mildly frustrating trying to mix the two.

*1968

[Pete Fardell]

I do remember thinking I could just finger-tighten those square nuts and expect whatever I was making to still be a viable model. In fact, after a few failed efforts, it was Meccano that taught me how to use a spanner, and also how to double lock two nuts to make them invincible. My brother made a go kart out of Meccano, which looked good but the long girders all bent forever when he actually sat in it. The best thing about Dad’s Meccano set though, were the two mainspring powered clockwork motors. Beautiful square black things; one large and one small. Endless fun just winding them up and watching them run! We made a crane or two as well I think, and let the motor wind up the string.

[billdennis747]

I do remember thinking I could just finger-tighten those square nuts and expect whatever I was making to still be a viable model. In fact, after a few failed efforts, it was Meccano that taught me how to use a spanner, and also how to double lock two nuts to make them invincible. My brother made a go kart out of Meccano, which looked good but the long girders all bent forever when he actually sat in it. The best thing about Dad’s Meccano set though, were the two mainspring powered clockwork motors. Beautiful square black things; one large and one small. Endless fun just winding them up and watching them run! We made a crane or two as well I think, and let the motor wind up the string.

I attached wheels to my Mamod steam engine but the Meccano pulleys just slipped

[Arnold S]

Those square nuts weren’t very nice.  It is testament to how vertically integrated manufacturers were at that time that they made their own rather than buying standard Whitworth nuts.  I guess it was cheaper to make them in long strips and crop them off which would explain the sharp edges. The sharp edges and importantly the lack of washers made it pretty difficult to get them properly tight even with the spanner (that was made out the steel equivalent of plasticine!)

My set had some small electric motors in a little “pod” type thing I think.  I had a lot of fun with my sets even despite some of the limitations of it and my abilities at the time.  I seem to remember building an electric motor too, I can’t imagine that I thought of that myself, so I perhaps found some instructions somewhere…

My daughter loves the LEGO technics stuff, although it clips together rather than being nut and bolted per se, some of the engineering principles illustrated within it are very good, and it’s less frustrating for sure!