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Originally Posted by Grinder74
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Think about what we have accomplished before computers were in manufacturing, we have airplanes that still fly, car still on the road and the speed records made all without computer modeling and manufacturing.
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I do think about it. I wish I knew a tenth of what my grandfather did about making and repairing parts. I still remember his work shop vividly. I think that knowledge such as his has not been lost. It has been digitized. The change to 3d printing and such is historically analogous to how stamping machines replaced skilled knowledge of people who once did that labor. The knowledge was not lost. It was embodied in a machine. What is lost is our connection to the materials and that is sad and profound.
Quote:
Originally Posted by freebeard
... he mentioned 3D printing a Mercedes dash knob that would have cost $500 OEM.
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And maybe here is why we know where even more of the skilled machinists will be going in the future. Printing parts is more profitable for the profit hunting investors and cheaper for the bargain hunting consumers.
I have acquaintances and friends now making money selling big industrial 3D printers. They can not keep them in stock and are month behind filling orders.
In a way, machines like this beautiful 1832 engine represented an earlier stage in this history. After all, these precision engines were replacing water and horse power for wood and iron constructions. Local blacksmiths and carpenters were cut out by those with access to more profitable methods that attracted the bigger capital.
In our A.I. robot future, we might be further from the manufacturing than our ancestors could have imagined.