The effects of restrictions on shipping in the Red Sea and Panama Canal are being felt around the world. Global trade is under immense strain amid rising freight costs.
I disagree that cars are incredibly complex machines. They are certainly more complex than Ford Model T, but it is generally just iteratively sometimes useful bloat. When you say they are “incredibly complex” it usually means population’s understanding of it is lacking. To the point where people are afraid to jump start a dead battery, because “it has this complex computer and stuff”
Okay, remove the word ‘incredibly.’ The point is they aren’t just basic mechanical devices anymore. There are all kinds of things cars have now that likely would not be able to be manufactured locally or maybe even regionally, be they various sensors or power steering fluid or airbags- or the components needed to make those things.
The more you work with cars (or me specifically: motorcycles), the more you understand they are quite simple. The extra stuff added on top is usually just touted as an “incredible advancement”, but really amounts to decades of strong marketing. In many ways, simple ingenious solutions these days are axed and replaced with even simpler mechanics and engineered electronics, just because the manufacturer can get away with it and hide it, for some extra money.
That does look like an interesting read, but reading the abstract, he goes a bit fanatical, in that he tries to smelt the metal himself. The metal industry (and plastic) is alive and well in Europe, you can buy prepared metal, wires, microchips, buttons and other needed materials easily, down to plastic beads you can put in a mold (or more likely, just 3d print these days), given these, I don’t see having a problem building a functional, albeit less aesthetically refined toaster in 2 days.
I disagree that cars are incredibly complex machines. They are certainly more complex than Ford Model T, but it is generally just iteratively sometimes useful bloat. When you say they are “incredibly complex” it usually means population’s understanding of it is lacking. To the point where people are afraid to jump start a dead battery, because “it has this complex computer and stuff”
Okay, remove the word ‘incredibly.’ The point is they aren’t just basic mechanical devices anymore. There are all kinds of things cars have now that likely would not be able to be manufactured locally or maybe even regionally, be they various sensors or power steering fluid or airbags- or the components needed to make those things.
The more you work with cars (or me specifically: motorcycles), the more you understand they are quite simple. The extra stuff added on top is usually just touted as an “incredible advancement”, but really amounts to decades of strong marketing. In many ways, simple ingenious solutions these days are axed and replaced with even simpler mechanics and engineered electronics, just because the manufacturer can get away with it and hide it, for some extra money.
You’re really missing my point here.
I am not missing it, I am saying, from my perspective, this idea of it being so complex it can only be manufactured somewhere in China, is wrong.
Hell, my engineer friends, given material, and their tools, could do it in 2 days by reading blueprints and latheing from scratch.
That was not my claim. So yes you are.
So what couldn’t I manufacture in a fully equipped metal shop? Given materials.
So many things you could not imagine.
This isn’t conceptual. A book was written by a man who tried to make a toaster from the very base components. It was in no way easy.
https://www.amazon.com/Toaster-Project-Attempt-Electric-Appliance/dp/B00ANYWFP6
Also, I am not going to talk to you in two different comment chains, so pick one.
That does look like an interesting read, but reading the abstract, he goes a bit fanatical, in that he tries to smelt the metal himself. The metal industry (and plastic) is alive and well in Europe, you can buy prepared metal, wires, microchips, buttons and other needed materials easily, down to plastic beads you can put in a mold (or more likely, just 3d print these days), given these, I don’t see having a problem building a functional, albeit less aesthetically refined toaster in 2 days.