What Do You Want In 2020?

A new day, A new Year, and a new Decade!  We don’t get to say that very often, so it’s kind of cool.  Anyway, as we look to the near future for Mechanical Elements, we want to know what you want in 2020.

  • How should we improve the website?
  • What new plans should we create?
  • What have you been wanting to build?
  • Is there something you want us to write about?

This website is for you — the better than average DIY builder.  When you make stuff, we want to help with answers and plans and insight.  Our goal years ago was to become “The” web portal for DIY creators.  (We limit that to things we do like trailers, shop tools, and the like, of course.)  Anyway, we are looking for your direction in what we should do next.

Things We Currently Offer

Homemade Crane At Full Height.Over the past many years we’ve written a lot about building for DIY with tons of Tips, Insights and Lessons learned.  And, we’re building right along with you.  Those articles are all in the Mechanic’s Post area.

We also offer some of the best DIY plans available anywhere.  With plans for Trailers, Cranes, Presses, Canoe Racks and more, that area is still growing.  We’ll be offering a couple new trailers and some shop tables soon, but what else do you want for 2020?

As an example, a few years back, several of you requested purpose built Tiny House Trailers.  Not just a trailer, but one that will serve as a rock solid foundation for your home.  We did it for you in 3 trailer sizes.  You can read about the engineering that went into the design as well as how the plans we now offer make a wonderful, stable platform to live on.  That’s engineering and design for you.

More examples are in the articles.  Some are stimulated by your questions, such as the post about safety factors.  Another good one is the article explaining about Where Does The Axle Go?.  (That one is pretty popular reading.)  Others are linked from our FAQ Page.  These come from your questions, or from comments, so let us know what you want for 2020.

Finally, in the past couple years we started a new section of the website called Solutions!  These are things that you (or we) use and love in our own work.  Much of it is centered around things for the shop, but that’s not all.  We all learn from each other when we share ideas, so let us know if you have something cool you like to use.  Thanks in advance!

What Do You Want in 2020?

Off Road Specialty TrailerI hope you don’t think this is silly, because I’m quite serious in asking.  Our goal is to serve you, so I debated how I should request your input.  Seems like this kind of an article is less intrusive than a mass email or something.   Anyway, please let us know what you’re thinking in the comments section below.  Please tell us what you want for 2020.

With respect to trailers, we have both utility trailers and specialty trailers.  If this is your request, please let us know how others might also use the plans.

Perhaps you’re looking for Plans in Metric?  Make a good case in the comments below for what you need, and how it might also help others.  We’ll listen, and maybe we’ll do it.

Thank you so much for being a part of our website experience.  We hope you find the info you need — but if not, again, let us know in the comments.

Disclaimer

Yes, you know there’s going to be one . . . Just as a disclaimer, we’re not promising to provide everything you request, but we do promise to seriously consider it all.  Obviously, if we don’t know enough to write on a subject, or if you’re asking for a 747 trailer, we’ll probably decline, but it’s worth asking, for sure.  We also don’t make any promises for timing.  Sometimes it get’s pretty busy around here.  Thank you for the input, and thank you for visiting.

Happy New Year to All.  From The Mechanical Elements Team

Update:

With not even half the year gone, it’s amazing to look back and think about plans we had.  At this point, I’d be supper happy with peace and anti-virus.  Who would have known we’d need to escape from COVID in DIY?

I know many have taken advantage of forced time off by doing DIY, and that’s great, but WOW, planning certainly changes with the current situations.  We hope you are all safe and doing well.  Keep up the DIY to maintain sanity, and we wish you the best of luck as the year progresses.  Thank you for participating at Mechanical Elements.

Comments

Subscribe
Notify of
5 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View All Comments

We Found These For You . . .

Article
Applied Force vs Movement With Shop Tools
Is there anything more annoying (painful and frustrating) than busting a knuckle when working on things in the shop?  To many of us, blood sacrifices are just part of getting a project done, but it doesn’t have to be that…

Read The Article

Article
How To Weigh A Trailer
Do you need to weigh something really heavy but don’t have access to an industrial scale?  How can I weigh heavy things — like a trailer frame — without a special huge or super heavy duty scale?  Answer:  With some…

Read The Article

Article
Dies
While the Tap & Die go hand in hand as threading tools, they’re very different in the way they work.  There are also different tricks for success.  So, let’s talk success tips for making external threads with a die.

Read The Article

Article
Example of DIY Trailer Construction Mistake
Learning good trailer construction by examining bad is a great way to focus on details.  This photo shows 4 points of “less that careful thought” in the way the trailer is built.  Can you pick them out?

Read The Article

Article
Tandem Torsion Walking Beam
Over and over we recommend:  “Don’t use torsion axles in tandem because they don’t load-share”.  Well, What if we make them share?  Here’s a new design that brings the benefits of a torsion axle to the tandem axle party

Read The Article

Product
i-Beam Connector Clamp Bracket

A simple, mechanical, I-Beam connector clamp made from common materials as a solution for anchor positioning, and to enhance flexibility with a Gantry Crane.  Matches I-Beam flange angles.  Free Plans.

Article
Gussets At Beam Intersections On A Trailer Frame
I have a great trailer, but it feels a bit flexy, maybe even rickety . . . How can I strengthen a trailer frame?  How can I stiffen it?

Read The Article

Article
May Is Build Month - DIY Plans Sale
May, the time of new flowers after April showers, is also the time for building that project you’ve been stewing on over the winter.  Spring has sprung, so it’s time to make it happen.

Read The Article

Article
More Trailer Plans for Torsion Axles
More New Product Announcements:  The Mechanical Elements line of DIY Trailer Blueprints has just expanded – AGAIN – with more trailer plans for torsion axles.  These new trailer plans fill

Read The Article

Article
Winner of the Visa Gift Card
We have a winner of the $100 Visa Gift Card!  We sent out the Photo request, and you responded.  Now the drawing, and the winner.

Read The Article