Precision for granted

[dicer]

Since everything has to begin some where. Now lets think about precision flat surface plates, machine ways, micrometer screw threads. They didn't just apear from nowhere. So how many people could take a poured slab of iron and turn it into a precision plate, without using any kind of machine to cut it? So next time you hold a nice machined precison part, do you know how it all began?
And if they didn't exist niether would these computers we all use. Or anything else mechanical everyone takes for granted.

 

[zeusfaber]

Surface plates, you can do from scratch can't you?

As long as you make them in threes, continually blueing and scraping each in turn, each acts as a reference for the other. Who says there's no such thing as magic?

A.

 

[GregLocock]

That's exactly how Whitworth started building precision machines. Screw threads are actually easier, conceptually, you use a long 'nut' to average out the imperfections in a hand cut thread.

Cheers

Greg Locock

SIGlease see FAQ731-376 for tips on how to make the best use of Eng-Tips.