[TheForge] using tools to build tools

[Keziah's Forge]

 Sorry if I think this is obvious, but the question answers itself.  The 
fact is, tools have been getting more precise, more accurate, more 
sophisticated for thousands of years.  Therefore every machine is the result 
of the use of less accurate machines.  This is simply a truism.  Without it, 
technological progress is impossible.  Therefor the very fact of 
technological progress proves that a superior machine can be dexigned 
through the use of the inferior one.  The specific question of the lathe is 
aseasily answered.  You use it in conjunction with measuring devises to 
learn where its inaccuracies are, and through skill compensate for the 
inaccuracies to make the finished product -- such as the part for the new 
lathe -- to conform to the accuracy of measuring device.

OF course. this truism leads to a far more profound question.  The means by 
which inferior machines are used to produce superior machines is human 
intelligence.  SO the real question is whether human intelligence developed 
from an inferior intelligence or a superior one.

Have fun.

Keziah
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "terry l. ridder" <terrylr at blauedonau.com>
To: <theforge at mailman.qth.net>
Sent: Sunday, April 05, 2009 1:37 AM
Subject: [TheForge] using tools to build tools


> 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?
>
>
>
> -- 
> terry l. ridder ><>
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