Subtleties

Gast · 2005-11-28T21:03:39+00:00

Hallo Leute von Fotoimpex, Ihr macht ja ganz wundervolle Dinge und habt auch einen sehr schön zu lesenden Katalog; mir als altem Feinmechaniker stellen sich...

Gast

Hello everyone at FOTOIMPEX, You produce some truly wonderful products and your catalogue is a real pleasure to read; however, as a former precision engineer, reading it makes my toes curl. As this is rather painful, yet I wouldn’t want to do without the catalogue, I would ask you to correct the error that also appears on your website:

New Fotoman 6x17 camera. CNC-machined from a single piece of aircraft-grade aluminium. With adapter plates for all standard lenses on the market

However it was made, it certainly wasn’t turned. CNC-milled, filed from solid stock, blessed with voodoo spells or healing waters – but no, no, not turned. Please! Hugo, who also trained as a turner.

Stagirit

If we knew who had screwed this camera into the aircraft aluminium in the first place, we could surely work out how it was unscrewed again.

MirkoBoeddecker

OK, let's do it. But this drill... doesn't it rotate? Mirko

cfb_de

Come on, where’s the sympathy? If even the Chinese have to import German and Russian migrant workers for joint ventures, then surely they’re perfectly entitled to *turn* flat, angular parts. After all, they might actually be able to do it, which is why they’re so successful at marketing that sort of high-tech stuff. After all, they even manage to produce wooden boxes ‘Made in Germany’, plastic cases to pack films ‘Made in Germany’, and all with a precision more than worthy of a German premium manufacturer. Even the complex surface of the Fotoman is ‘turned’. It’s no coincidence that the profession in our local developing country has long been called “machining technician”, loosely following the 1968 slogan: “Destroy what destroys you.” Nothing has been *turned* on *that* for a long time. China is the more capable Germany! Without IGM, they can do anything! Dead serious;-> Franz

PhilippReichmuth

China is the more capable Germany! Without IGM, they can do absolutely anything!

Fittingly, there’s a crash underground, or nitrobenzene in the drinking water. Well, the Russians are getting the water now, and we don’t have any relatives in Khabarovsk. Philipp

Stagirit

On a lathe, you turn the workpiece, and on a milling machine, you mill it. All material-removal techniques are grouped under the umbrella term ‘machining’. Even though spark erosion or grinding don’t actually produce any chips. Perhaps the camera is simply repositioned more often, which would allow the edges to be turned as well. That’s my opinion as a mechanical engineer.

MirkoBoeddecker

Ah, you never stop learning. Unfortunately, I don’t know what exactly is being stretched, cut away or milled off in the camera’s construction process. The only thing that’s certain is that it’s probably not being carved. So that’s out of the running as a more plausible descriptive term. Shall we all agree on: milled? It’s a Japanese CNC-whatever-it-is milling machine doing the work, in China, run by an American and a Canadian. No trade unions. There are environmental regulations, but they’re minimal. But unfortunately, all of this still hasn’t led to the delivery of the much-coveted goods. We’re still sold out :-( Best regards, Mirko

Gast

Don’t worry about it – even *Die Sendung mit der Maus* aired a correction on the subject last Sunday: If the tool is rotating, it’s a milling machine. If the workpiece is rotating, it’s a lathe. There’s nothing to twist there. Best regards Martin P.S.: *Die Sendung mit der Maus* was talking about trouser buttons

Stagirit

Why is it that there aren’t any dedicated camera makers in German garages?

arothaus

Some amazing creations are also being made in German garages: http://www.wica-wetzlar.de/ Best regards, Andreas