<story><title>Scientists built their own Stone Age tools to figure out how they were used</title><url>https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/03/these-scientists-built-their-own-stone-age-tools-to-figure-out-how-they-were-used/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>sillysaurusx</author><text>I’ve found myself infected with a desire to have a machine shop. I don’t exactly know what I’d use it for, but there’s something so cool about making your own stuff.&lt;p&gt;This fellow inherited his grandfather’s machine shop &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;hearLttbrLo?si=r2CHxdepmhQ71xJq&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;hearLttbrLo?si=r2CHxdepmhQ71xJq&lt;/a&gt; and used it to make… a pen. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;j27RKTHMLkA?si=f5OPN7ZJ10EBSZa4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;j27RKTHMLkA?si=f5OPN7ZJ10EBSZa4&lt;/a&gt; And it’s an addiction I didn’t know I had.&lt;p&gt;The gateway drug that led to all of this was a video about a $200 CNC mill &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;K9pjduKSsKs?si=mOJGCF9X6_s7d-J9&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;K9pjduKSsKs?si=mOJGCF9X6_s7d-J9&lt;/a&gt; which led to a tour of his machine shop &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;bHnfvtYHn7k?si=w65ZPfYm_5xpdkcD&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;bHnfvtYHn7k?si=w65ZPfYm_5xpdkcD&lt;/a&gt; and a video about making a library. For his apartment. With a ladder that rolls along the shelves. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;DPRQaPVuRxU?si=uyR5xMDWgrYzHqlp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;DPRQaPVuRxU?si=uyR5xMDWgrYzHqlp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;I’ve been making things for… I probably shouldn’t have calculated it, but it turns out to be 23 years now. They’ve all been digital. Somehow it never occurred to me that you can just make things yourself rather than buy it from Amazon. It sounds stupid to write it out like that, but it’s an easy thing to overlook, because you can go your whole life without thinking about it.&lt;p&gt;There’s also no limit to the stuff you can cobble together. Here’s someone whose channel averages about 30 views per video, who made a &lt;i&gt;vacuum pump&lt;/i&gt; out of a refrigerator compressor. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;4Zg0EXvyD-4?si=f6oB8ScuhDd64T6n&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;4Zg0EXvyD-4?si=f6oB8ScuhDd64T6n&lt;/a&gt; (His channel also has hundreds of videos with dozens of projects, including making his own friggin’ laser CNC machine from scratch via arduino and time. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;0z-zXQ2INp4?si=Y0Ao6dwr1YpQVqU7&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;0z-zXQ2INp4?si=Y0Ao6dwr1YpQVqU7&lt;/a&gt; I have no idea how no one has noticed him yet.)&lt;p&gt;All of this culminated into an intersection of everything I’ve been interested in recently: 3D resin-printed molds for plastic injection molding. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;wMRSPXt48CI?si=5IeQnSi89byrr0Il&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;wMRSPXt48CI?si=5IeQnSi89byrr0Il&lt;/a&gt; You can make practically anything you can think of, and they don’t feel cheap. Not to punch down on normal 3D printers; some people love them, but a larger contingent dismiss most of what they can make as cheap toys. They’re not wrong.&lt;p&gt;It’s interesting tracing a line from the Stone Age tools to these. The people back then were smart and industrious. If you gave them a lathe, I wonder what they would have made.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>pugworthy</author><text>If you really want to start from the beginning, get “Build Your Own Metal Working Shop From Scrap” by David Gingery.&lt;p&gt;Quoting the description from Amazon (link below)…&lt;p&gt;“[It] is a progressive series of seven projects. Beginning with a simple charcoal fired foundry, you produce the castings for building the machine tools to equip your shop. Initially the castings are finished by simple hand methods, but it is not long before the developing machines are doing much of the work to produce their own parts.”&lt;p&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;a.co&amp;#x2F;d&amp;#x2F;cIqbQCD&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;a.co&amp;#x2F;d&amp;#x2F;cIqbQCD&lt;/a&gt;</text></comment>
<story><title>Scientists built their own Stone Age tools to figure out how they were used</title><url>https://arstechnica.com/science/2024/03/these-scientists-built-their-own-stone-age-tools-to-figure-out-how-they-were-used/</url></story><parent_chain><item><author>sillysaurusx</author><text>I’ve found myself infected with a desire to have a machine shop. I don’t exactly know what I’d use it for, but there’s something so cool about making your own stuff.&lt;p&gt;This fellow inherited his grandfather’s machine shop &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;hearLttbrLo?si=r2CHxdepmhQ71xJq&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;hearLttbrLo?si=r2CHxdepmhQ71xJq&lt;/a&gt; and used it to make… a pen. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;j27RKTHMLkA?si=f5OPN7ZJ10EBSZa4&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;j27RKTHMLkA?si=f5OPN7ZJ10EBSZa4&lt;/a&gt; And it’s an addiction I didn’t know I had.&lt;p&gt;The gateway drug that led to all of this was a video about a $200 CNC mill &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;K9pjduKSsKs?si=mOJGCF9X6_s7d-J9&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;K9pjduKSsKs?si=mOJGCF9X6_s7d-J9&lt;/a&gt; which led to a tour of his machine shop &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;bHnfvtYHn7k?si=w65ZPfYm_5xpdkcD&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;bHnfvtYHn7k?si=w65ZPfYm_5xpdkcD&lt;/a&gt; and a video about making a library. For his apartment. With a ladder that rolls along the shelves. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;DPRQaPVuRxU?si=uyR5xMDWgrYzHqlp&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;DPRQaPVuRxU?si=uyR5xMDWgrYzHqlp&lt;/a&gt;&lt;p&gt;I’ve been making things for… I probably shouldn’t have calculated it, but it turns out to be 23 years now. They’ve all been digital. Somehow it never occurred to me that you can just make things yourself rather than buy it from Amazon. It sounds stupid to write it out like that, but it’s an easy thing to overlook, because you can go your whole life without thinking about it.&lt;p&gt;There’s also no limit to the stuff you can cobble together. Here’s someone whose channel averages about 30 views per video, who made a &lt;i&gt;vacuum pump&lt;/i&gt; out of a refrigerator compressor. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;4Zg0EXvyD-4?si=f6oB8ScuhDd64T6n&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;4Zg0EXvyD-4?si=f6oB8ScuhDd64T6n&lt;/a&gt; (His channel also has hundreds of videos with dozens of projects, including making his own friggin’ laser CNC machine from scratch via arduino and time. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;0z-zXQ2INp4?si=Y0Ao6dwr1YpQVqU7&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;0z-zXQ2INp4?si=Y0Ao6dwr1YpQVqU7&lt;/a&gt; I have no idea how no one has noticed him yet.)&lt;p&gt;All of this culminated into an intersection of everything I’ve been interested in recently: 3D resin-printed molds for plastic injection molding. &lt;a href=&quot;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;wMRSPXt48CI?si=5IeQnSi89byrr0Il&quot; rel=&quot;nofollow&quot;&gt;https:&amp;#x2F;&amp;#x2F;youtu.be&amp;#x2F;wMRSPXt48CI?si=5IeQnSi89byrr0Il&lt;/a&gt; You can make practically anything you can think of, and they don’t feel cheap. Not to punch down on normal 3D printers; some people love them, but a larger contingent dismiss most of what they can make as cheap toys. They’re not wrong.&lt;p&gt;It’s interesting tracing a line from the Stone Age tools to these. The people back then were smart and industrious. If you gave them a lathe, I wonder what they would have made.</text></item></parent_chain><comment><author>dieselgate</author><text>That’s what Harbor Freight is great for if you’re in the States. They have little milling machines and lots of cheap tools that work well for one-off stuff, at least.&lt;p&gt;Was lucky to take an engineering machining class in college and got to use a lathe and mill, am more of a welder now. The definition of a “tool” is pretty loose but lots of small things can be made with just a cheap stick welder and grinder.&lt;p&gt;Cheers</text></comment>