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Professional youtubers have lost touch with reality.

deleted_user

Super User
I dont watch nearly as much youtube as I used to. When I do now it is only for instruction/inspiration and I always take things with a grain of salt. But still it burns me to hear the utter BS some really high profile tubers will spout when they get thousands of dollars with of free equipment and then tell everyone else how affordable it all is...

Most recently I just watched a gentleman say how great this Chinese import tapping arm is, with the only complaint being that it is not as smooth as some models.... and only cost a few hundred bucks. Reality check, it costs $1200 bucks without any tooling.

I can't decide who is worse, but leaning towards those 3d printing guys.
 

gerritv

Gerrit
Which expert was that?
For 3D printing the crown goes to Design Prototype Test.
The list of worthwhile YT machinists is quite short. Too many are personalities, not experts or teachers.
 

deleted_user

Super User
Which expert was that?
For 3D printing the crown goes to Design Prototype Test.
The list of worthwhile YT machinists is quite short. Too many are personalities, not experts or teachers.
Actually it was not the youtuber (NYC CNC) themselves that made the statement but rather Mike Dubno, a very privileged person, made the statement during a shoptour video made by NYC CNC. I mean who doesn't have a 10K desktop waterjet in their house, or a tormach cnc mill.

But this is just one incident out of hundreds or thousands spouted every day by content creators.
 

Tom Kitta

Ultra Member
It is difficult to become a famous youtuber but once you make it, you act like a celebrity. Very few are down to earth. Most... are not. Heck, certain Canadian I used to watch, Ave, if I remember, known for catchy phrases such as "skokum" got himself a Haas Mini CNC. Lets just say his level of knowing what to do is low as he did not know how to use ER collets and (!!!) machined the nut flat removing the spring mechanism (!!!).

So take anything off internet with a grain of salt. Heck, one video with millions of views had a two wires 1m apart that went into a loop that was 1 second C long, where C is speed of light. Question was, how long will it take for light bulb to shine. They claimed with professors present that it is whatever it takes light to travel 1m as electricity travels outside of wire and induces on the other wire. I correctly stated 1s C. On another video someone actually got a 1km of wire to prove these guys wrong. And sure enough, I was correct. Besides, if you want to remove inductance almost completely, you can use shielded wire, such as TV cable. There was also a problem with micro capacitance of the wire as well as tendency of some electronic to "push" or have forward lean. But Einstein was correct in the end.
 

gerritv

Gerrit
Not sure where you got the $1200 from, https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002740534364.html for $150-300 depending on the vendor plus the air tool of course. If you want overpriced then look at FlexArm. But other than that his shop is no better than some hobby shops I have seen, except perhaps his waterjet (which I didn't see in the video?). Gear cutting is no big thing either even with a slitting saw. But he speaks well and thus impresses people.
 

Tom Kitta

Ultra Member
Don't forget shipping, 150 for collet set and 120 for the pneumatic tool. Of course you can get better ones as a package https://www.aliexpress.com/item/322...ommend-ump;is_freeshipping:null;trade_order:9

or even better ones -

So I am not sure which one is it - the last one, with a motorized chuck (not air) is around 1200. Cheapest set is around 500.

I wonder how well do the air based ones work.
 

whydontu

I Tried, It Broke
Premium Member
the ones that frost me are the DIY videos that show someone using a grinder, tig welder, drill, etc, and two hours of work to make a wrench that they could buy for $1.50. And they always seem to be able to cross-drill a bolt by hand.
 

deleted_user

Super User
Not sure where you got the $1200 from, https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002740534364.html for $150-300 depending on the vendor plus the air tool of course. If you want overpriced then look at FlexArm. But other than that his shop is no better than some hobby shops I have seen, except perhaps his waterjet (which I didn't see in the video?). Gear cutting is no big thing either even with a slitting saw. But he speaks well and thus impresses people.
I found this listing for the exact model the gentleman had in his shop and others like it at similar price points.
 

Brent H

Ultra Member
Well...... I used to watch Norm Abram on PBS every Saturday morning as I was learning carpentry skills, building houses, kitchens etc etc and I would complain about all the tools he had and the workshop. Now I have all that stuff..:rolleyes:...sigh. It has taken many years to collect it for sure, but I would be hard pressed not to get a youtube response of "sure you can do that- you have all the tools" if I was to post a cabinet making video.

For machining stuff, well...I am not there yet and probably never will be as I am out of space and reluctant to build another shop - although I can never say never.

For the most part I watch the Youtube for ideas or watching the application of a tool or set up of a system. That is usually grounded with reading books and other experiences to determine if the project is feasible or even worthwhile - as @whydontu stated it is painful to watch some of the folks working away for hours on trivial things that are easily purchased or in my opinion - pretty useless. I am also not a big fan of making tooling so I can make tooling that will be used to make more tooling. I can use the tools to make repairs to tools that I will then make something practical with, but I try to avoid making things that put me into the loop of doom.

With the commercialization of youtube, copy write blocking crap and to some extent Youtubers getting paid it has become less and less interesting. Many of the videos I am watching the poster just put their project out there and that was it. Cool! The desperate desire to keep the videos going and make the big bucks usually kills a once good poster. I think that all happens - like a sitcom on TV runs its course and then another show starts up about the same stuff but with a new cast.
 

deleted_user

Super User
Well...... I used to watch Norm Abram on PBS every Saturday morning as I was learning carpentry skills, building houses, kitchens etc etc and I would complain about all the tools he had and the workshop. Now I have all that stuff..:rolleyes:...sigh. It has taken many years to collect it for sure, but I would be hard pressed not to get a youtube response of "sure you can do that- you have all the tools" if I was to post a cabinet making video.

For machining stuff, well...I am not there yet and probably never will be as I am out of space and reluctant to build another shop - although I can never say never.

For the most part I watch the Youtube for ideas or watching the application of a tool or set up of a system. That is usually grounded with reading books and other experiences to determine if the project is feasible or even worthwhile - as @whydontu stated it is painful to watch some of the folks working away for hours on trivial things that are easily purchased or in my opinion - pretty useless. I am also not a big fan of making tooling so I can make tooling that will be used to make more tooling. I can use the tools to make repairs to tools that I will then make something practical with, but I try to avoid making things that put me into the loop of doom.

With the commercialization of youtube, copy write blocking crap and to some extent Youtubers getting paid it has become less and less interesting. Many of the videos I am watching the poster just put their project out there and that was it. Cool! The desperate desire to keep the videos going and make the big bucks usually kills a once good poster. I think that all happens - like a sitcom on TV runs its course and then another show starts up about the same stuff but with a new cast.

It is a different story when you're a professional like New Yankee Workshop... BUT I'd also point out that Norm's production team scripted, storyboarded, directed and edited content for brevity and quality.. unlike most tubers. Norm would also never lie about the cost of equipment.
 

Dabbler

ersatz engineer
I'm sure it works both ways. Remember "Pierre's Garage" or "Make Something Cool"? they have both stopped making content. It is a very tough ecosystem out there, and things are getting rougher every week.

Many channels have moved to *Entertain* first, followed by *Content* and lastly *Integrity*.

AVE has discovered that *Entertainment* pays the bills, - he used to be far more 'hard core' machining, and now he just pisses around.

Of all the 3DP channels I follow, many of them have gone down the same path. Sorry @gerritv "Design Prototype Test" has an axe to grind on too many videos - for technical stuff CNC Kitchen and Thomas Salanderer fit better for me. All of the Canadian 3DP guys are really into being technical: MirageC, NeeditMakeit, Nero 3DP, Vez3D for instance.

[late addenda] Once you depend ore money from YouTube, then you get into the 'publish or perish' grind. It can rob your soul!
 
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gerritv

Gerrit
I meant to indicate the Design Prototype Test is one of the clowns of 3D printing, and just a paranoid delusional spouter of nonsense.
 

deleted_user

Super User
I'm sure it works both ways. Remember "Pierre's Garage" or "Make Something Cool"? they have both stopped making content. It is a very tough ecosystem out there, and things are getting rougher every week.

Many channels have moved to *Entertain* first, followed by *Content* and lastly *Integrity*.

AVE has discovered that *Entertainment* pays the bills, - he used to be far more 'hard core' machining, and now he just pisses around.

Of all the 3DP channels I follow, many of them have gone down the same path. Sorry @gerritv "Design Prototype Test" has an axe to grind on too many videos - for technical stuff CNC Kitchen and Thomas Salanderer fit better for me. All of the Canadian 3DP guys are really into being technical: MirageC, NeeditMakeit, Nero 3DP, Vez3D for instance.
Both CNC Kitchen and Thomas Salanderer offer good content. Bonus points my wife likes Stefan's accent, so I can cast his videos onto the large screen TV instead of watching on my laptop
 

Dabbler

ersatz engineer
Design Prototype Test is one of the clowns of 3D printing
I misread your post. I thought the 'crown' was a good thing. I misread the context. sorry. I agree competely he is a clown, and not a great engineer, either. For enginneering, you just cannot beat Mark Rober. He seems to have found the balance between entertaining and content that teaches.
 

Everett

Super User
I didn't get my channel started to be famous, nor am I a gifted maker, nor did I have any spectacular equipment, for sure. I appreciate to have a few things in my shop that others might not have access to, and also realize that many others have better gear, skills, equipment, and camera personality. In fact, I have learned much from the comments that people leave, both the positive and negative, and it has helped me improve.

I got into it because I was already making parts and pieces for myself and my buddies, and after seeing John Mills (doubleboost), a self professed "mechanic who pisses about," I decided to give it a shot. It has never been a goal to "get rich on YouTube." I was just hoping to be able to join in and share ideas with others who know more about these things than I do. Just like on this forum. It has been interesting to see how a number of people have been interested in some of my projects, and not in others. And that is totally fine by me, I'm not chasing the money. And yes, I sometimes get into making a tool to make a tool to make a thing, but it's partly the challenge so I can learn more, and sometimes due to cost/local availability for some things.

Getting to the point of the thread though, I have to say that I do agree with it in some cases. Some of the "big names" now have sponsorships, accounts with Patreon, and try to sell piles of merch to make money off it. And so, they churn out stuff in a "video factory" mentality. As an "unemployed bum wiper" (stay at home Dad with two small kids) would it be handy to make a few bucks off it? Sure! Let's all be honest, none of us would turn down a few extra dollars. I've even turned away a pile of people soliciting for "paid reviews," product promotions, and so-called "partner" deals. Not my cup of tea. I'm just screwing around in my shop and decided to put a camera over my shoulder.

In full disclosure, yes I do make a few dollars from the ads now on my channel but the ads are turned down as low as I could get them. And yes, it definitely only a few dollars. YouTube will now put ads on anything, including non-partner program channels, so this way at least I could minimize them and choose which types of ads can appear. That being said the couple small cheques a year I get from them just goes into small bits for the shop, it's certainly not even "side hustle" level. Interestingly, I get more views and viewer interaction from the car repair videos I've done for family and friends than I do from my machining projects.

Sorry if this seems to be a bit of a loose bit of prose but all I wanted to say is that although there are a number of "big names" who are making their YouTube maker/machinist/fabricator/etc. channels part of their staple income, most of us are just regular people who are tinkering and doing a grown up version of show and tell like we did in kindergarten. We all come from different backgrounds and have different things to share, and not all of us are experts (we are all still learning), but we can all still learn from each other even as amateurs.

Exactly why we all congregate on this site. Just different. :)

P.S. - And yes I do have channel stickers. And they are totally free to whoever wants one. Not for sale. ;)
 

Darren

Ultra Member
Premium Member
Everret, Ive been watching your channel for a few years. I enjoy your content. I'd rather watch what you're doing than some money driven shill promoting products that they didn't pay for. For example, I used to really like Abom. Ever since he got the Flexarm and bullshitted us about buying it, I don't want to watch his channel. It feels like an ad. I dunno, maybe i'm being petty, but I feel like he changed. I've been noticing the same thing with a few other channels. I just don't like paid shill's i guess.
 
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