Welcome to my workshop... As an avid web wanderer and browser, I have been inspired to venture into the domain of the online model engineer! I have combined my interests in steam and Stirling engines, computers and web design to document the setting up of my new workshop (it is actually quite an old workshop that I am trying to revitalise).

That′s me on the right, John Waterhouse. I live in Buckinghamshire in the U.K.. I have had an interest in things mechanical for as long as I can remember and have played with computers at work and at home for a couple of decades, so I am not exactly new to engineering or the internet but I need a lot more practice at both.

The dictionary defines a workshop as follows:

Well that's what the dictionary says and it sounds about right to me. The room or building I already have viz one largish home built garden shed. CIGN Workshop will record how the workshop was set up and how it has developed with time. There are already a few pages that show how I made some minor modifications to the lathe and milling machine. There will at some stage be some real model engineering pages with some real models. Why CIGN I hear you ask, well that′s a long story... Briefly it′s a trade name that I used years ago, before the days of computers. When the internet got going I registered the domain. The rest, as they say, is history!

The second part of the definition, exchange of ideas and the like, might take a little longer to get going. I have managed to get a BLOG page up and running so feel free to comment. Fortunately there is plenty of "exchange" already in place online. There is a vast wealth of information and help freely available on the many excellent model engineering and woodturning websites. I have included links to sites I have found interesting throughout the site and to save you hunting for them they are all on my "Collected Links" page..

As Isaac Newton said "If I have seen a little further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants." There are a lot of really tall engineers out there and between them they have probably already done it, and probably made a website about it!

Enjoy

John