[TheForge] using tools to build tools

[Paul N]

Hi Terry,
While I don't have any specific machine examples, I do know that 
computers fit your description. (which is where I have my experience)

The first computers were designed by hand with pencil an paper, hand 
soldered and assembled. Eventually the computers were adequate to do be 
used for the calculations and design process, later being relegated more 
specialized tasks such chip design, verification, and even assembly. 
Same for the programs. There weren't always programs like compilers and 
debuggers. A lot of "coding" was done by hand, even into the 70's.

As for machines, the progression you describe can't be too far off. If 
we think about it, unless accurate machines were somehow gifted to us, 
this had to come about in a sequence where rough tools were tuned and 
used to create more accurate tools. Granted that the first metal cutting 
lathes didn't use carbide edged cutting tools. But once a center is 
established, it can be pointed and polished using abrasives, or later 
files to produce more accurate components for a lathe.

Your friends should note that more than anything, accurate machining 
make cuts reproduceable. A single hand made piece can fit together very 
tightly if the maker is skilled, diligent and careful; even using simple 
tools. Making 10,000 of them within tight tolerances is where the 
accuracy of machines comes into play. So use a machine to approximate 
the first accuracy, tune it by hand until it is accurate. Then on the 
next iteration, the machine is more accurate and less hand work is needed.

Eventually, the machine itself provides the accuracy, and the labor 
becomes less skilled, and the hand tools become foreign to them. Then a 
bunch of guys starts trying to figure out how this was done before there 
were machines.

Anyway, that's my opinion and contribution to the discussion.
**pn

terry l. ridder wrote:
> hello
>
> earlier today ( saturday ) i was having a discussion concerning
> inexpensive tools. the subject turned toward the age old questions that
> people have been asking for centuries. how did the first person build a
> lathe, wood turning lathe or metal turning lathe, without all ready
> having a lathe to use. my friends all agreed that the craftsman's talent
> would dictate the accuracy of the tool. they would not agree with me
> that i should be able to use a homebuilt gingery metal lathe and the
> other tools in in the gingery series to build large and more accurate
> tools in a bootstraping manner. they did not see how i could use a metal
> lathe of questionable accuracy to produce a metal turning lathe of known
> accuracy. i hsd no examples to show them since my tools are buried in
> the  garage amongst many layers of materials to remodel the house and
> such. ( the home remodeling was put on hold because of the
> head-on-collision back in 2007. i was hoping on finishing the home
> remodeling this year but it appears that the doctors have other ideas
> for my freetime. )
>
> i was trying to come up with common examples of using tools of
> questionable accuracy to build tools of high accuracy. for the life of
> me i could not think of any examples.
>
> would anyone on the list have some exampled that i may give to my
> friends the next time we meet?
>
>
>
>