“But often times better than master of one.” You truly have been (and still are) a source of knowledge and inspiration to generations of artists, engineers, and builders around the world Tim! As a 10+ year old Danish boy in the 80’s and 90’s, I loved watching you and Rex mess around with everyday inventions in order to show us how they worked, and how they made our lives better, in an easy to understand, practical, and above all, entertaining way. THANK YOU!

I'm quite emotional watching the second part of this, really enjoyed just spending time with you in the workshop.

You can't underestimate the value of having a large array of material / stuff lying around for tinkering! Having it sorted neatly into bins helps to convince the wife that all the junk you have is really important. A nice bonus is that you can find that specific motor you need a lot easier.

I am an engineer of 54 years old , been around CAD since the first IBM PC but prototypes are so much better. Just want to say how much I appreciate your work! Just brilliant!

"It's only when things don't work out that I learn something new" little nuggets like this are peppered throughout this whole series, and it's fantastic

I can listen to Tim talk about anything. What a lovely person.

Another quote I used to hear is "Don't let perfection be the enemy of good enough" (or something like that). When making something for my car, I know I get obsessed with making it perfect the first time, and sometimes that obsession (and the lack of skill to achieve perfection) prevents me from starting. I really like your approach!

Even in professional engineering, the 'Jack of all trades' is a much sought after quality. (Which is fine for me, as it keeps me employed!) You can assemble a group of experts, but one person who can span the disciplines can often fo the job far more efficiently. And avoid the 'committee design' mentality.

Back again with more wonderful content. Love everything you do, Tim. Can’t tell you how much life of machines inspired me

We're spoiled to be getting so much Tim right now.

On your final note Tim, I got to know Tony Hart quite well in his latter years and he said the same. He always regarded himself as a jack of all trades but look how many people he inspired (including me) over the years, and he really enjoyed himself along the way. Priceless. If only our knees were as good as when we were young. I used to teach Radio production/journalism many years ago and I always started the first class with "The Secret Life of the Radio" which so expertly explained its origins in a vivid and wonderfully quirky way. Even years later students remember it and perhaps that says it all. Many thanks.

Wonderful Tim, and I'm with you on this one, I use CAD (cardboard aided design) all of the time, I too do everything from design, through to manufacture, and never consider myself jack of anything, we my friend are unfortunately a dying breed of engineer Keep up the good work, best wishes to you and yours Ralfy

I remember watching your original television program when I was growing up and it fascinated me. I’m always trying to figure our how machines work and how to improve them. You have inspired and taught many more than you know. You are a master of so many trades and a very good teacher. Keep making and explaining how things work. This world needs more like you with you whimsical artistic ideas and the masters skills to make them come to life. Alway amazing!

UKs national treasure!!! Such a wonderful personality, and lovely person! I miss Rex!

It's amazing to se just how aggressively people go at these arcade games, the wear and tear on them alone seems like it would keep you busy enough without throwing in the design and build of new one's. Well done sir. Love the content.

I am much happier being the guy that can "make things happen" or "get it done" than the foremost expert in only one area. I find that with a little knowledge and experience in a wide assortment of trades, people can be very useful but only if they understand that they don't know everything and keep an open mind to other ideas. One of the biggest problems I see today with the younger crowd is they are too afraid to try something new or something they don't know anything about so they just give up. It almost seems like the days of tinkering in the garage are coming to an end

Regarding that last point... those highly-credentialed "experts" frequently turn out to be appallingly mal-educated, as quickly becomes apparent to anyone with a little practical knowledge of their purported fields of study. Having a broad range of practical understanding of how many sorts of things work is essential not just for a creator (engineer, writer, etc.) but for anyone wishing to sort out sense from nonsense. Constantly learning about how things are actually done also helps to maintain perspective, and to guard against hubris.

As an American who only became aware of Tim Hunkin several years ago, his videos still create "comfort" for me. Lucky are those who had his mentorship. My God what a different trajectory my life may have taken if I was blessed enough to have Tim as my shop teacher.

You know Tim, At 21:37 even some TIG welding gloves would make things a bit less "burny" :^) Thanks for taking the time to share your world with us!

“A Glue Gun for Metal” Brilliant line. LOL

I can't remember the last time I looked forward to Thursdays this much

A specialist is a person who knows more and more about less and less until he knows absolutely everything about absolutely nothing. Love your work, Tim.

It breaks my heart knowing I'll probably never get a chance to visit this amazing arcade before Tim retires. I sure hope they find someone who shares his passion and creativity who can keep this going. It should be designated as a historical landmark and protected

Oh! Here I was, about to go to bed, but no. I must now watch this. Nothing makes me feel more content in this world than listening to Tim explain things.

Mr. Hunkin thank you. I remember watching your show years ago and no one can explain complicated things better than you. I am very happy you are still producing machines and programs and have moved to new formats that we can all still watch and learn.

Very touching ending, I think there's a portion of humanity that finds their niche as a jack of all trades, thanks for being a good role model for that set!

Thank you ever so dearly for welcoming us into your workshop. I sincerely hope you'll continue tinkering and making videos to share beyond this fantastic series. You're truly a world class national treasure, Tim.

I was fortunate enough to have had an apprenticeship with someone very much like Tim back in the late 70's his training shaped the way I viewed engineering and set me up for life.

You are not a freak! You are a very influential person to us who are makers today, I am 41 and your show from long ago, and now these videos, have made me a builder, and a better builder today.... I want to thank you for all you have done and the things you have yet to do

Tim's new videos were a great birthday surprise and I'm glad to see ads on the channel because he deserves it.

Hey Tim, I'm really curious how you go about designing your screen displays and audio. Would love to see a Secret Life of Screens and Speakers. Cheers!

it's rare to find someone who can both entertain and educate you at the same time - all that talk of wasted time and inefficiency - pfffft - if you're enjoying your time, it's not wasted - it's also where some of the best ideas come from - thank you Tim, for sharing your marvellous world and workshop with us

perfect outro, you and your daughter are both geniuses, love that she recognisise it in you

Dear Tim you are the master of the jacks of all trades! This jack of all trades from Buenos Aires Argentina greets you with all respect and deep admiration! I hope the day comes to fulfill my old dream of visiting London, and a visit to your arcade is a must!

I'm totally with you on the Jack of all trades. Robert Heinlein the engineer and sci-fi writer said "specialisation is for insects". I often quote him when I'm confronted by some so-caled experts when they start to annoy me. Yet again, great. You are an inspiration for many, Tim.

I love the full "jack of all trades" quote at the end. I live by the same rule, and people are always surprised about the variety of projects I do... well... I gather every part could be done better by an expert in that field, but I doubt that there are many people around today who can do this many things on their own. My grandfather isnpired me to be like that and I love your work and style for the same reason.

I am a big fan of CAD (cardboard aided design) when building things. Thanks for posting yet another first rate video.

As a jack of all trades myself, this was quite an inspirational film. That is a beautiful machine, by the way 👍 Thanks for all that you do and for allowing all of our inner children to live vicariously through your work here on the net ✌️😄 Brilliant!

In former days the local blacksmith was the Jack of all trades in every village. They did your plumbing, lawnmower, engine, car, horse shoes, knives and axes, gates and fences, special equipment for farming, the bakery and so on and so on. Amazing universal people who could fix or make about everything that was out there then. Thank you Tim!

Seeing Tim weld with no gloves makes me wince.

Absolutely flippin brilliant! Can't tell you how much I have enjoyed watching these videos. I love making and fixing stuff too, so satisfying.I used to take stuff apart as a kid, much to my parents frustration, never got told off though, they seemed to understand my curiosity.I remember watching The secret life of machines on TV as a teen and being Absolutely fascinated by it. I'm sure I was inspired by them. Thankyou so much Tim! You are a inspiration.

I used to watch your original series back when I was a kid. I always have been and still am fascinated by what makes things work mechanically and electrically. I distinctly remember getting in loads of trouble as a 10 year old for dismantling the family VCR lol after watching one of your original episodes on video recording 😂 I am in my late 40s now and I agree with you I see a real lack of this Curiosity on how things work and mechanical knowledge in the younger Generations !! But I am very pleased to see your new series and I have noticed myself binge-watching The Secret Life Of components !!! Keep up the good work

The ending was superb. You're a great teacher...and imo, one of the most amazing artists the world has ever produced. You have a true vision and the skills to make it happen. Thanks for making this channel and all you do. This series is mandatory viewing for anybody who enjoys the industrial arts. :)

Once again Dear Tim, I Thank you for being an excellent example of how things can be worked out to function.

Absolutely wonderful. Gotta ❤️ the humor. “Welcome to laboratoire Hunkin” 🤣

You’re a smart guy and it a real pleasure to watch you solve mechanically difficult problems using the simplest possible solutions

I loved the series back as a nipper. Had them all recoded on VHS which got played to death. Don't get telly like that any more. I'm very much a jack of all trades. Welding, turning, milling and a lot.of odd electrical stuff. Though I used to do a lot more machining and precision engineering. As well as specialist coil and armature winding. I have to say I am more cad focused these days in my projects. But it's partly as I got in to cnc. Which is like magic when it works. Having no official quifications doesn't seem to stop people wanting you to solve things. But it is an obsession in the modern world. Mainly so companies can prove their people are trained. However when working with these people it seems to matter very little over the attitude of wanting to do a good job. If they want to then they will with a bit of experience. If they just want to go home then it's always slap dash and shoddy work. Looking forward to more content.

Wonderful examples and so much to learn from your videos - thousands of tinkerers will benefit for many years from this repository of knowledge

You may be a genius or a freak or both, but in any case you are a beautiful human being. I cant thank you enough for sharing not only your knowledge but your experience and your brand of wisdom - which I find far more valuable than conventional wisdom.

This is so good. These videos keep getting better, it's the follow-on to Secret Life of Machines we all hoped for.

I’ve loved every episode of this and have watched since the beginning, but this is by far my favorite so far. It feels like all the previous components lead up to this.

As always appreciated. We need a video on the start to finish of a project. From getting the idea to completion. How you get the idea, the initial thought process ie to use pulleys or motors, physical switches or sensors.etc. Next time you decide to make a project please take us along so we can see the workflow and design/troubleshooting the whole process.

Fun to see that Rex is still working with you to this very day.

Arc welding without gloves, oh my. I have to say I enjoy every snippet of Tim's videos. Thanks so much for sharing the innovation that went into Super Cycle.

Superb - Tim is a real inventor/engineer!

I've been called a "jack of all trades, but master of none" my whole life... Nothing wrong with that is there ;-) I fix my own cars, tractor, have made my own trailors, barns, and even repaired my own electronics!! I'm not great at anything, but I'm good enough for many things... I LOVE your creations sir, keep going as long as you can !!!

Why doesn't this channel have millions of subscribers? This is great stuff. Imagine how useful such skills will be after the world's economy has crashed and burned.

All killer, no filler. Concise and knowledgeable.

Tim, you are a man after my own heart! I can picture in my mind a finished model of what I want to create, but the steps leading to making it a reality are exactly the ones you outlined in your superb video. I would so like to meet you in person and shake your hand! Well done sir!

That was the delight of the series. In particular I'd never heard the whole of the quote about a jack of all trades and I'm feeling a deal better.

An excellent Jack of all trades and a total genius. Well done Tim.

More interesting material from Mr. Hunkin is always welcome. Plenty of time to sleep later.

I have said it before and I’ll say it again: you are an absolute delight. It is my fervent hope that one day I will make it back to the UK so that I can visit your arcades maybe if I’m lucky even catch a moment of your time to thank you in person for all of the wonderful programs that you’ve made and that delete that you’ve brought to the world

Thanks Tim, these videos are excellent. :)

Would love to see a behind the scenes about how the videos are made!

Thanks for making another video. I really enjoyed it. You made me smile when you said, " I like to think of it as just a glue-gun for steel". 😊

Oh how joyously fabulous, the endless try, improve, try… that is the basis of everything that finally leads to usefulness all spiced with the essential piles of stuff that are both instant supplies & sources of inspiration all conjured together with enthusiastic purpose & inquisitive attitudes of wanting something where function transcends form. Thank you so much for sharing!

This is such excellent educational content on sort of a vague and confusing bit of life. You remind me very much of my own grandfather, who passed when I was too young to really learn from him. But your workshop feels so familiar to me, he had old dusty wooden shelves with hundreds of weird machine bits and metal rods and pieces of cars and millions upon millions of varieties of fasteners and screws and nails and bolts and nuts for entire walls. Thank you for embodying this particular type of person, and sharing that with all of us. I feel quite lucky to have discovered your content.

Tim, your videos are a wonderful treasure trove of practical, applicable knowledge along with an interesting side dish or maker/engineer/human philosophy. We are very lucky :) Thank you!

I loved your series on TV "The Secret Life of Machines. You have a way if explaining things that inspired my son to go on to fixing big machines, built by others, but nine the less, still have to be worked out before fixing.EDIT: Now this series, wonderful, I smile when I see you working on things and explaining while you go. Amazing to see you working and fixing and improving thing. You have a way of explaining things that make sense 🙂 👍Well done Tim.

I found it on yt. British people were lucky to have such content back in times.

Tim, you are a freak and the world is a better place because of it. Thanks for yet another brilliant insight into your process.

Thankyou for another enjoyable episode. Sincere thanks for taking the time to put it together, I know how much time and effort it takes 👍

Tim, thank you so very much for sharing. I think you could make 1000 videos and I'd still be asking for more. The painting you have behind you in some of your shots in the workshop, of what I can only describe as a foundry, has inspired me to make a mechanical scene of my grandfather's foundry which he used to own before shutting down a few years back. I'm privy to electronics, but the mechanical side of things both perplexed and fascinated me at the same time. Your series of videos has demonstrated and inspired so well on how to bring the mechanical back into modern electronics. I look forward to this venture and hope to continue to gain inspiration and experience from you through it all. Thank you Time, so very very much.

Tim, they'll have to come up with a better word than genius, you exceeded that long ago. Trades and skills are themselves the range of tools needed to get any job done. At this Sir, you excel. Never change.

More more more please Tim we can't enough of your wonderful videos

This video really cheered my up and your organic approach to prototyping is very much in the way I do things and the quote at the end, so apposite. Earlier this morning I was told that since I'm not a specialist then my services are no longer to be required as the firm only wants specialists not generalists.. Left me feeling very low, however that quote has bucked me up no end.

This channel is a gem.

Tim that was a perfect sum up of you at the end. It's funny what you said, because I get odd comments too, because I have a go at anything.

Yup, experts are great a discovering something new in an expected succession, geniuses are great at discovering something new that might not be so obvious and generalists are needed to give those ideas a practical purpose. Even if that purpose is entertainment. You're both entertaining and informative to the very highest standard and as a fellow man in a shed (although not as often as i'd like because the day job is purely software based) I'd like to thank you for everything you've done to inspire generations of people with your output. KZfaq is rammed with young makers and somewhere in their past is a person who shares your qualities. You should be very proud to be part of that body of inspiration over so many years.

I love these videos, Tim. I wanted to say that I especially loved your parting words on "Jack of All Trades". I'm a bit that way myself and yeah, some folks seem to struggle with the concept. Of course I'd hear and occasionally adopt the "Jack of All Trades, Master of None" label, but the new addition, "But better than master of one", was excellent! I'm a software developer in Australia but having grown up on a dairy farm (which I hated at the time but now regret not having paid more attention on some of the construction projects) and taking an 8 year stint working various factory and machine operator work has given me a broad spectrum of experience and knowledge and I draw on this all the time, sometimes in surprising ways. The fitters and turners at jobs actually liked me, because being who I am, it wasn't enough to simply learn how to run the machines. I had to understand how they worked and more importantly, WHY certain design decisions were made. It was quite common that if I needed to call up the fitters to come and fix something, from the other side of the site, I would add things like: "Yeah, i think it might be the header tank pump, looks like the vanes have probably shredded again and they'd be about due. So I'd suggest bringing at least one good Stiltson with you and you're definitely going to need one of your biggest, most-solid flat-head screw drivers". Saved them so much time because they didn't often have to walk up to "see what the trouble is and what they might need", to then walk back to the workshop to get what they think they need, to then come back. Also fond memories of more than a few "McGyver Solutions" over the years. It really irks me when I hear people discount the value of a piece of knowledge. All knowledge is valuable. Even if the "knowledge is junk", if you know it's junk and why, you've just learned what an example of "junk knowledge" looks like, first hand. Valuable. Don't even get me started on "When am I going to use this in real life?". Anyway, you're an inspiration to this developer to get more into physical building of things and some day I hope to leave the Southern Colonies to visit Novelty Automation. To other developers reading this: Video games and programming are fun, but I suggest getting hobbies or skills in something that requires a real, physical thing you can touch. It's great to remind you that Cyberspace exists to service real space. Well, this developer certainly finds it refreshing after a $DAYJOB (and hobby,) of problem solving with abstractions and interfaces that are really magnetic flux on a glass platter somewhere on the planet. And debugging something when you can actually see, touch and hold it is a joy of it's own.

great man , the secret life of machines is my favorite program in the discovery channel.

Complaint! Now, every time I walk into my shop your theme music starts playing in my head!

Best yet. Glad the simple glue gun got a mention. For kids it's a miracle rapid prototyping enabler.

Tim you should really do a series of videos about all the machines, they are so wonderfull. An idea: for the next design post a video documenting the process from paper to prototype to working machine!!! You should do a video about PLCs and your softwares behind the machines aswell, i'm very curious about that. Thanks for inspiring and entretaining all that watched this second season of the video series!!

Wonderful. Another masterclass in "Workbench Polymathology" look, listen and learn the fun of creating this way. At the bench. With real stuff. If I was stuck on a desert island I'd want Tim with me. I can visualise his "driftwood and coconut shell" based "get us home machine".

Had a lovely time on the pier exploring your amazing contraptions :)

Skill specialization has been taken to such an extreme, that now we have "SME's" or Subject Matter Experts... After 40 years in engineering, they called me that one day, and I didn't know what it meant, so I asked;"Oh, so what is the subject we are talking about?", and they all stepped back away from me... People don't realize that they just might be able to learn a new skill in a different area and be Ok at it... (And I certainly have met a very few real SME's in the past that are true genius in their field. ) Thank you for your videos. Watching them since you and Rex did the Fax Machine!

Wonderful, Tim. It’s great to see you back “on the air” teaching all things mechanical to the world again. You’re doing a service to future generations by making your experience available freely like this. I hope to see more!

Been looking forward to each episode! Your videos are the only channel I turn on notifications for!

FANTASTIC! I tend to watch all of your videos every year or so - as my skill grows, so does my understanding of your content as does my appreciation for your efforts to share your knowledge and wisdom. My prototyping is more or less chaotic depending on how well resolved the final product is in my mind. Sometimes, if I haven't fully developed the idea, prototyping is as useful for creating ideas about how the finished product will look and behave as it is to solve the engineering/fabrication challenges. Other times, I know exactly what the solution is meant to look like and I'll start machining on the best steel right off the bat.

“a jack of all trades is a master of none, but oftentimes better than a master of one.” So true.

My absolute favorite.... The cardboard prototyping method. It can be seen occationally in my videos... Thanks for uploading, Tim...a very entertaining video, as usual...Greets from Germany

Thank you for sharing your hard earned knowledge so freely. This series is incredible

You're a legend, Tim! There's still a lot of value in being the jack of all trades - I work in software engineering, and often find myself in that kind of cross-team bringing-it-all-together role. Things that seem so clear and simple from the broad perspective are somehow amazing revelations to specialists, and I've often had to reassure people that I'm not some kind of genius - just somebody who dabbles in everything so I can help to coordinate the real experts!

Excellent video, thanks again Tim!

Always a pleasure and instructive to watch even after 35 years.

Wonderful as always, bandaged fingers and welding gloves with burn holes! Absolutely fascinating and so approachable, together with a workshop that is ageing as gracefully as Tim. Priceless!

You have such a way of demonstrating and explaining everything Tim! Love the content. Hope there is much much more to come!

You, almost single-handedly, make me want to fly over the ocean and visit the UK just to go to the pier and play with your machines. I say almost single-handedly because I would also take the time to find the guys at Bad Obsession Motor Sports and the Oak Swamp work shop just to round things off. You are a treasure. If you ever feel the desire to visit New York, I live in Staten Island and I have a spare room with a bath you can use. Come down to my work shop and make something with me.