XaiJu
Inheritance Machining
Inheritance Machining

patreon


I need your brain.

When I started Inheritance Machining over two years ago, I wanted to do something that would let me spend more time in my shop. Along the way I've tried to create videos that make machining interesting, accessible, and honestly cool.

To everyone who has followed me and watched my videos so far, thank you! I am so glad you’re here.

But now, I need your help. I want to make something new. Something that will really help more people get into machining and take their knowledge up a level from what I can do on YouTube.

So what’s next for Inheritance Machining.

Below are some product ideas I’m considering. Cast your vote or pitch your own idea in the comments below!

Comments

For me specifically, I just moved up to Michigan and there is a good market for used machines up here. Id love to see a video or series helping to build a starting shop.

Drew Washburn

It's a hard question and one I don't have a good answer to, but I'll power through anyway. :D I love your presentation, but as mentioned, there are plenty of "getting started" videos out there. While you can bring something new, you have to wonder about the customer base as well. There's only so much room for initial videos. Now, a unique view is more useful. Not "how to get started in machining," but "Machining for Engineers." It leverages your unique strengths to help with what I saw as a huge gap in engineering knowledge. Educate engineers as to when an arbitrary decision can make production substantially easier or harder. There are a LOT of books out there. Your fans would love a hard-copy of your plans, but the wider public? Depending on your time investment and if you run print on demand, that may cost you more money than it makes you. That being said, I have many wonderful books I've read once or . . . sadly never. Cookbooks, a lovely book on campaign furniture, books on armored vehicle design, it's all about utility or uniqueness. Ask yourself "are these plans duplicating other references? If so, is compiling these prints of value to the purchaser?" You don't have to worry about your fans, you need to produce something of value to people who have never heard of you. A good book is a good thought, but as someone who's written a book, it's not exactly a sure-fire thing, you need to market something people want, and get it in front of eyeballs. It comes down to your unique strengths and circumstances. If you did a complete documentation of your teardown and rebuild of your new lathe, like a Hilton manual, it would be very useful for like two people on the planet, but writing about machining for engineers, or engineering for machinists, would be broadly useful and leverage your experience. A short guide on how to move shop machinery, how to spec a shop, and your efforts in (re)building yours is also exceptionally valuable. That gantry system? Who's put out a guide for that? Bottom line, anything you've done in your shop that you couldn't find guidance on, especially if you had to fall back on experience or trial and error, that's worth writing down. It's hard to change experience into words, but documenting the lessons you've learned adds to the corpus of human knowledge, especially if nobody has bothered to write it down yet.

Michael Faragher

True! I haven't searched hard for it, but the only videos that I've seen that covered drafting skills were on The Tool & Die Guy channel. They may have been hidden behind a paywall (a bit less than $100 to access all of his content), I'm not sure.

Jonathan L

NEED DRAFTING!! Lost art

Cyrus Kofroth

I was drawn to your content because I connected with your story. I have a lot of my grandfather’s old woodworking tools that I kept meaning to do something with. Watching your journey nudged me to take that step. While you still make connections to your grandfather, it’s not as frequent as your early videos. You have a unique brand that has a story, high standards, knowledge, and you have fun doing it. My vote would be for videos on the fundamentals, but keep it in the same vein as your current content. That’s my two cents, but you’ll end up miserable trying to make us all happy. If you’re happy, we’ll watch.

Jeffrey Held

Imma be honest, I'm just here to watch old machines get restored and cool stuff get made. While hobby machining might be cool, it's a hobby I will likely never get into.

FrustratedPenguin

PaskMakes and Fisher's Shop do similar videos for woodworking. The video is them making an original, then they upload the plans and documents.

FrustratedPenguin

Hmmm that’s a tough one isn’t it? As a gunsmith I’m working through machining my own bolt actions…when I have time. It was always been my philosophy to diversify as the prospects for expanded business opportunities is necessary. When you limit yourself to just machining you will eventually run out of options. You’re almost going to need some sort of long term project that will require the parts to be machined in a video series. What that is only you could know as none of us know your likes and dislikes. Ever modified a Model of 1917 bolt action to accept the .375 H&H or the .458 Lott? Wish I could be more help but I have no idea of your likes and dislikes.

Richard Kramer

Speeds and feeds for real world manual machining. Where do I start and how do I know what depth of cut is safe?

Joshua Weiss

There are a few others who already fill the "beginning machine shop class" niche on youtube for me. I enjoy your videos because you're solving different problems and working with a different scale of machines. In a lot of ways, your videos are like working and learning alongside a master machinist day to day. Seeing how you approach setup, fixturing and machining complex parts goes far beyond any intro material. You seem to have a knack for graphic design as well; I'd definitely pay for Inheritance Machining reference posters of drill sizes, tap and die sizes, speeds and feeds, and the like.

Austin Hendrix

CNC milling is something I've done for a long time, and all is self-taught. I just purchased a new tool room lathe (not unlike your Royal) from Babin Machine Tools (they trick out new Taiwanese clones). But I'd like to come up to speed more quickly than I have been able to, especially with things so many take for granted that everyone knows, like reliable indicating strategies and how to get real precision. You seem to have that level of finesse and sharing those skills seems better for me than just seeing you make a lot of cool stuff. I do enjoy your storytelling, and many of your experiences I myself have had along the way, the little frustrating bits and things you never see coming (-: For myself, trained in electrical engineering, I have had to teach myself machining and mechanical engineering principles because I work in the microwave and millimeter wave realm, and making mechanical systems for these applications is very "artsy" given at those short wavelengths everything is a resonant chamber and everything is an antenna that is over a few mils long. I'm something of an autodidact anyway: learning new things is fun. But having someone naturally gifted as a mentor is invaluable. There is no substitute for experience.

Capt.Frito

I'd also be into a self-replicating lathe build although I'm not sure how it would work with The Algorithm. Pretty cool idea, though.

Trevor Flowers

I say make a project based video course! I think you should do it around something simple a large group of diy'ers could do at home. https://www.blacktailstudio.com/ does something similar. Maybe reach out to him to see about the work involved vs the payoff. I make Youtube videos and sell courses so I'm biased www.youtube.com/bringyourownlaptop. If you every want to chat about making the Youtube to Course process happen let me know. It's my biggest marketing channel. Happy to jump on a call.

Daniel Walter Scott

I suggest drawings for things that newbie machinists can make. Not tools! Just solid shapes, doodads, toys and ornaments. Each one needing new thinking and techniques. Users can build the set and show them off.

Justin Walsh

It's difficult to choose really, I had a really good tutor who got me into machining and basically gave me my career so I think if you were to do a more in-depth video about why and how aachine works and maybe a guide as to what kind of machines people who are interested in getting into machining could buy would be a great help to many budding engineers.

troublogaMing

honestly everyone teaches differently, you might explain something that ive been struggling with in a way that makes it finally clicks. im always up for learning processes in new light

mike kruzan

How about shop improvement for machines and work organization ideas. I've got a cool tool holder rack for my lathe, I wouldn't mind sharing?

James A Williams

Oh, yeah I have no idea obviously. I was just guessing at the cost of everything after all of it was shipped and installed. You're probably right that it's not that much, but then most people don't have an entire machine shop to inherit 🙂

Locane

Whilst I personally like the idea of a book, I would echo what many have said - it’s a tough market to enter at the best of times. Other side of the coin is the education part of it - again, very useful for some, but I’d hazard a guess that it might be a slightly diminishing return investment, not helped by the fact that everyone on the internet has 340 years of machining/welding/engineering/etc experience and will no doubt tell you about it. My idea, if you can call it that, would be to do something similar to what Quinn does - alternating between projects(I know you’re kind of doing that with the lathe, but her locomotive build, whilst directly driven by machining, also reaches out to an audience of train enthusiasts and so on) So my thought would be similar to what Locane said - a project that involves your everyday life, a bit like the go kart build that TOT did. I know you’re into your cars, so perhaps building an open wheel racer a la formula student, or a quad? I dunno, just some thoughts. My main concern would be the additional load on you. Producing high quality videos every 2 weeks is already a sizeable task, let alone if you run multiple projects of different types simultaneously. And then, of course, there’s the whole “appealing to too many audiences” issue too. Punchline is - you’ve got my support, as well as many others, and I’m sure that whatever comes next will be just a great

Erik D. Radzius

This is proving to be a harder question to answer than i originally thought. MrPete222 has hours and hours of "instructional" shop video, as well as other channels, but id love to see yours as well. At the same time, i have made a binder of all the drawings you've released as projects i plan to build for my own shop, and i love the idea of that too. Although i would not consider myself a beginner machinist, im no expert either and learn tons from your videos and others. At the same time, being a controls engineer, for the electrical side of stuff i got that down and have this idea in my head i will use my own shop to build my own equipment/machines for small business owners that want to make a process easier or automated that cant exactly afford top of the line manufacturer equipment. (Not saying my quality wouldn't be leagues above what you can buy 😜). My personal interests cover every aspect of design, build, weld, wire, write code for.. basically to sum it up my goal is "if the world goes all Mad Max, i want to be able to make anything i could ever have bought". Be it wood, metal, electrical circuit boards, computer hardware, etc. I guess on a personal level, id love to see more of, "here is older well made machine tool with x problems, here is how to get them back to precision level." Or, "here is small equipment not super capable, and here is how to make it capable". I actually wanted one of my first videos to be the latter as i have an old craftsman 109 lathe that trembled in fright of anything harder than delran and i want it to cut steel. I know what upgrades it needs cause its built solid enough to handle it, its just the spindle thats lacking. I guess my vote is gonna be, do the shop instructables, but maybe a bit above the beginner level. I think there is enough material out there for that level, but a lot of us would love to know some of the "tricks of the trade" you only learn from experienced machinists and not textbooks.

Kyle Wellman

E-book. Angus from Maker's Muse has an excellent example in his book, "The Ultimate Guide of 3D Printing Tips and Tricks". While a lot of the people in the comments are poo-pooing the idea of another book, what they don't appreciate is the fact that your viewers are primed to read your ebook over competitors'. I just did a quick search on Amazon for "machining book". Results were a mix of textbook-sized (and cost) books and cheap guides with old-timey drawings and grainy/black-and-white photos (even though they were published within past 15 years). I didn't recognize any of the authors. Just by having an associated Youtube channel, you would stand out. And by staying digital, you can avoid the cost of publishing in quality color.

Jonathan L

$100,000+ equipment? Maybe when the equipment was brand-new, adjusted for inflation. Certainly not now. The cost of second- and third-hand equipment is absurdly cheap. Frankly, shipping is often the most expensive part of acquisition in the used machine market when dealing with equipment that is over 30 years old.

Jonathan L

Until the advent of metal 3D printing, that was true

Jonathan L

Titans of CNC. Tool and Die Guy.

Jonathan L

Blondihacks. Titans of CNC. Also, The Tool and Die Guy

Jonathan L

I don't understand much of what goes on but I think this is good stuff. I'd love to know the basics.

Dave Cannon

Hot take... a version of the first one (Shop Class). Do you want to be an educator? Ok then. Dial back your posting schedule just a little bit in the IM channel and start a second channel. On the second channel, post shop class content. How to use an indicator. Facing techniques. How to do X, Y, or Z. You name it. I'd absolutely watch it. Hell... learning stuff is probably the only real reason I watch any maker channel. :-) You could probably even record content for both channels at the same time during a given project. Avoid the book idea. We all have a ton of books, and there are tons out there. Crowded space to be in.

Terry Hernlund

I wouldn’t mind a few tutorial type videos sprinkled into the channel, but inheritance machining at the end of the day is where I go to for build videos. Something that’s been sorely lacking from some of the greats like TOT. I’ll watch anything you put out, but I want a lathe or a mill running almost the whole time. Cheers and much love

MilfyDaBear

I guess my reaction to these is "none of that"? A book is going to be Yet Another Machining Book which you know, granted, would have your personal flair and style to it which would probably be entertaining and easier to read, but to be completely honest I don't think a lot of the audience you reach on youtube is neuro-typical enough to sit down and read a book on machining. Watching you tinker with $100,000+ equipment with the electricity, space, and knowledge to maintain and upgrade these machines is really cool, but it's very far out of reach for most people. I make a stupid amount of money per year and I don't have the space or time to do this kind of thing - I enjoy living vicariously through your trials and tribulations. If we're talking about new ideas, maybe we could consider doing something that solves a non-machining problem or has impact on your life? ToT made a go-kart for his kids that turned in to an extremely complicated problem really quickly even though he was aiming for simple (steering and linkage is really hard it turns out). Maybe you're working on a car or a piece of equipment you use in your regular life and need to machine a part for it? The clock build was pretty cool, although kind of sad, to me since themes of death are tough for me. For me the joy in watching your channel comes from starting in a problem space and coming along for the journey of solving that problem, and the overall arc, once all the equipment is running smoothly finally, making something that impacts someone's life outside the machine shop in some meaningful way. Maybe combo with 3d printing and make your own drone? I don't think anyone's done a submarine drone as far as I know, if you live near water it would be cool to solve all those water problems and still get reliable video somehow. Come to think of it getting signal out of it is probably going to be a nightmare, and a cable attached to it would be just as bad. All of these are still videos, though, so I'm biased really since that's what I enjoy from your content. Maybe you can be twitch's first machining streamer 😂 Sorry this comment isn't more help, but if you're having doubts about whether you want to keep doing this then don't 🤷‍♂️ I like what you create, but it's not worth your mental health or feeling like you're wasting your time. Many youtubers leave and come back.

Locane

But, I like the videos 😟

Locane

How to repair the lead screw on a old lathe so I can chase threads again

Mike Crusoe

As a retiree who is trying to teach himself machining, please please PLEASE do the shop class videos! 🙏🙏🙏

Bill Yester

I like side projects. Seeing you build something you need in the moment or will use later on is magical. Really, anything you make is fun to watch.

Kenneth Greer

Gee, Tim, anyone in particular you're referring to.....? :-) I used to LOVE his stuff, sadly it's all just a big commercial nowadays.

Michael Leptuck

Personally, I enjoy the totally unnecessary but super convenient (and dare I say over-engineered -- in a 100% great way) work aids like the mini pallet, radius fixture, lathe tool height gauge, etc. I do understand you reach a point where you're out of those sorts of voids to fill, and it's on to more 'practical' stuff. I think the basics and getting started type stuff has been done a LOT on YT already, so I'd either vote for an eBook of reference 'stuff' like trig, speeds & feeds guidelines, metrology methodologies (i.e. using ground pins to measure features indirectly, that kind of non-obvious stuff). So, either 2, or 3, maybe. Does that help at all???? And 3 would have to be qualified with let's see more 'totally unneeded but fun to design and build and a luxury to have on standby' kind of projects.

Michael Leptuck

Or, opening your shop up for business and making one-off things for customers, ala the thingamagigs you made for your racing club.

Tom Paccioretti

And there are always twists and turns no one could have predicted.

Tom Paccioretti

More - what if you traveled to find and "buy" old equipment, refurbished them XX videos, and then donated that piece to a high school, trade school, etc.?

Tom Paccioretti

The videos I enjoy most are those showing the refurbishing of old classics, lathes, mills, and (fill in the blank).

Tom Paccioretti

THIS! ^^^

Chris Slaughter

Intro. Definitely. eBook would be awesome as well, but the Intro would be great. Example: (I'm a welder who is learning to machine to make work life better, so bare we me on this) Why would someone use 6010 over 7013? When do you need to use 309 Tig rod? Which tip is best for Oxy/Ac cutting on 3/4" AR500? I would like to know when and why I need to use a button insert or how to insure my 12' (that isn't a typo) lathe is level on uneven concrete. I have more, but those are just the beginning of the book of questions. I voted Intro. AWESOME channel BTW.

Chris Slaughter

As a retired Journeyman it’s fun to see how an engineer approaches running a machine shop like yours! So both of your questions are valid points and would make for a broader and interesting videos about your approach to machining

Daniel Cummings

I really liked the initial videos like making a pen, here’s the design step by step but simple and approachable. Or just a bunch of fly cutter footage.

MoonQuail

I like the intro class idea, but perhaps breaking it into more bite sized 30min Patreon videos.

FixMasterMike

Intro to machining is already done, BUT, from an engineering perspective could be useful. The physics, math and mechanics of “why” would be helpful to people like me who work in a vacuum.

Russell Dodd

I'd like to suggest that you build an actual machine that does something that is dear to you. Product development has a strong influence on machining imho. If it would be me, I'd build a food processor.

Rafael Reiter

Please, do the intro. I have learned so much from you already but I know there is more buried in there. Unfortunately I had no interest in this stuff in my younger years now I regret it extensively and would do most anything to go back and cram my brain full of what I actually should I have vs what they told me I would use every day!

Hunter Henderson

Bro, you clearly are missing the obvious. Mustaches in Machining calendars. Who has the market on those? No one!

Ed Popelas

I was wondering what plans you have for the channel, so it's good to hear you're thinking about that. I agree with the idea of "So, you want to set up a machine shop, but didn't actually inherit an amazing collection of tools" being a good idea. I keep toying with the idea of buying a cheap lathe and/or mill, but all of my shop classes were focus on working with wood so I don't really know what I'm doing. Do I want to buy a used machine that needs work, an affordable Grizzly (or whatever) that will only be so accurate, or do I start with making a perfect metal cube with just a file and an attitude? I also think there is quite likely interest in "So, you want to set up a Maker channel, but don't actually know anything about filming, editing, story design." Your production values are great and not something that you just stumbled into, so providing practical advice on how to learn that would be valuable.

Ralph Marshall

Mr. Pete, Blondihacks, and Laney Machine Tech all have great intro videos already, but nothing can be really complete, and "shop class" is a lot more than just "here's how you run a mill". Not to say that the above don't go well beyond that at times, but I think if you were to do an education series, the angle would be something with a real curriculum, that aims to be both structured and fairly complete. And even if you did a "intro to the mill" series, you would be adding something valuable to the world. But if you're shooting for the moon, I think building machinists, in every sense you can think to do that, in a structured way, would be a good thing. You clearly have the chops to present information in a first-rate and compelling way. In any event, you should identify your audience. Is it hobbyists? People looking to enter the field as a career? I think the considerations are quite different.

Craig Andera

Hi Brandon, how about "buying your first lathe/mill?" where to find, what brands to consider, how big or small to start with.

Steve Gambino

I honestly love to learn from the practical experience

Dhandayuthapani T

Mark Anderson,

Mark Anderson

I honestly love both, but I think the eBook is an underrated idea.

neal richard

My 2 centavos: -Both options are great! I am a novice at best so clearly I would consume these over and over again to learn. -you can monetize both ideas beyond patreon or commietube -I appreciate tool or parts making projects like anyone out there but the projects that have an actual final product like the pen sets you apart from the rest. Everyone in YT has videos on making tools, parts or repairs but few an actual final product. -lastly my own bias, no one has a full in-depth, high quality video series on restoring the HLV. I mean, you can even add an electronic lead screw and make it a monster threading machine. I am sure whatever you decide will be successful. The most difficult part is what you have: the “human element” story telling and charisma is not abundant these days.

Seta

“It has been said that the Engine Lathe is the only machine that can reproduce itself…” I’ve heard this statement, but I’ve never actually seen it. I like both of your options and I’d support whichever makes you happy. I’m here to support you and your dad jokes…the machining is just the sour cream on the taco supreme.

legendary.jerry@gmail.com

Both ideas are great! Another topic you might spend some time on would be a “ways to skin a cat” type series. What I mean is that if you’re blessed to have a shop full of top grade tooling you can make amazing stuff. But what if you only have a small lathe or perhaps a big drill press etc. Maybe you could explore creative ways to use each machine in your shop to achieve useful outcomes that usually involve a specific tool or process. Would be valuable to those of us just starting out working on small projects but don’t have the money yet for a full gamut of tools.

jason

If you're interested in helping people get into machining then I recommend checking in with a local community college or other tech program. If yours are like those in my area, they're probably looking for experienced machinists who want to help teach the next generation. I'm not sure how your land and shop are situated but if it can be set up to handle visitors then I'm pretty sure that a fair number of people would be interested in weekend or vacation week classes on specific topics like metrology, drafting, heat treating, etc. I see woodworkers, blacksmiths, and other craft folks offer these but rarely machinists. For video series, I enjoy the multi-part builds from channels like Blondihacks where she's building a steam-driven train engine. Is there some large project that you've always wanted to take on but didn't think it would ever fit into your schedule? A personal submarine slash donut shop? A flying monkey drone army? It seems like you're in a good position to make that happen.

Trevor Flowers

I love both ideas, but there are lots of "intro to" videos online already, so I'd suggest you start with the survival guide. There are naturally plenty of "here's my shop" videos, too, but most seem to overstate what they're working with for the sake of appearances. With your flair and transparency, I think it'd be more unique and innovative, and thus more engaging and valuable. That said, I'd love to see you come back and do both.

Matt Kosmoski

You and a few others have already encouraged me to take on this new journey. I would love to see how you would approach teaching skills and development. I have been a network engineer for 25 years and this is just the start of what I think is a new love for machining!

Jonas Linde

So I know it only says pick one, but both of the ideas are great. Quinn and Tubalcain are really the only ones with a sort of intro series.. there is room for another. The illustrate book is a great idea...can never have too many references!

Jim Hinze

I really like the tool making side of things. The jack radius jig center height finder for the lathe. Machine setup and tuning is always of particular interest. Getting a three jaw chuck to run true on a lathe is an example that comes to mind.

Pierre Alie

I believe you would be a great teacher in a live classroom environment. I have often thought of contacting you for a visit to your shop and simply asking to observe. Can you build/open a space to teach and provide newcomers access to the tools and instruction?

Michael Knap

I need help measuring. When I took a drafting class all my drawings were just a little off. Sadly I still have issues with it. Don't laugh it's embarrassing

Todd M. Shaffer

I like the idea of an updated Mr. Pete. Just don't drag projects out forever, like for example making a 23 part 5 month long series on machining a vice.

timothy desilets

remake the Blondie Hacks Series on Machining (lathe and milling machine would be nice to start) I think the concept of filling different playlist over the time with alike videos is very pleasing. see for example: blondie hacks as mentioned or coding train youtube channel- every video is kind of indexed and hereby has his own home in a bunch of different styled formats

Nico Chiaro

I'm fascinated with the gingery lathe, and the idea of homebuilt precision in general. I find it super interesting how to get there from low precision tools.

Justus Wingert

Yes definitely both. You could do a spinoff channel, but I honestly don't feel like that would help the algorithm in terms of building subscriber count, which let's be real.... you literally quit your job for this (which we are all thankful for 😃) and subscribers/patreon are what gets you paid. Shorter format for the "shop class" might make it easier to get content out as well. Whatever you choose to do, I'll be watching!

Steven Bierlink

I like the first option, but I prefer some fun and useful projects that you get in all these classes, vise stop, 1-2-3, hammer, but adding a twist to show some people a challenge.

Bababooey

Maybe upgrading or changing tools from your granddads shop? So it's something you inherit but make your own. Not sure how much untouched stuff you have left though haha

Andrei Shylo

Both the ideas are fantastic.

stuart andrews

Perhaps an offshoot of the "Intro" option, something like how you pick your setups and workholding for one of your normal projects? So a more in-depth walkthrough of one project.

Josh Goldshlag

Both are great!

Peiro Bonnal

I’m personally not interested in learning about machining. I watch for the precision as it satisfies my OCD. Along with the watching your problem solving on your side projects. I just like watching you test your skills and making things so polished from scratch. Build something useful or useless, just as entertaining to me. But you do what makes you happy

Bryan Brautigam

Love this idea Brandon

Jeffrey Spoor

Im having my final examinations to become a tool and dye maker next month and never leraned the basics. My instructor began by giving me difficult parts to machine. I've never really seen any great machining videos for beginners. Id love to watch that

Martin Liebaug

I think a no bullshit "masterclass" style intro to machining would be super interesting. if you've heard of blacktail studio and what he does with his epoxy table workshop something similar could be very successful!

Gazza

I'm torn between the two, both would be awesome!

Luke Sorensen

But honestly both sound worthwhile. Love the channel.

Ernie Porcelli

Why not both? More side projects, the better!

Bryce de Haan


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