4 ms·

cool now perform a repair on something inside of it.

eastbound 3y ago
Can you repair your hairdryer? It’s literally a Chinese motor with a Chinese resistor, the two most frequent objects in the world. Objects in the industrial world can’t be repaired. But Titanium can be melted.
- justinclift 3y ago
  > Objects in the industrial world can’t be repaired. That makes no sense to me, as industrial things commonly are repaired. Sometimes many times across decades as one part or other wears.
  - almostnormal 3y ago
    From a certain point of view repairing is fixing things that are literally broken, which involves glueing, welding, screwing, ... Replacing parts is not repairing from that point of view, even if at a macroscopic level it returns something back to working condition.
    - justinclift 3y ago
      This is really not making sense. Also, why did "replacing parts" suddenly spring up? "Repairing" something is generally considered to be taking whatever action is needed to get it back to the required condition. If some parts need fully replacing, then so be it. But it could just also be things needing to be re-seated, maybe something needs to be bent back into shape, etc. The list of possibilities is probably endless.
- TaylorAlexander 3y ago
  > Can you repair your hairdryer? It’s literally a Chinese motor with a Chinese resistor, the two most frequent objects in the world. Most hair dryers don’t come with parts manuals so we wouldn’t know exactly which replacement part to get. And there’s more to it like a switch, a cord, etc. These things could be designed for repair but they would have to provide reliable part numbers for the internals, which they currently do not do. > Objects in the industrial world can’t be repaired. Objects in the industrial world most certainly can be repaired and it happens all the time. For example here is how a giant excavator tire is repaired: https://youtu.be/p0R-YWQCfdQ?si=iGagfyttgO5vTvDr https://youtu.be/p0R-YWQCfdQ?si=iGagfyttgO5vTvDr
PeterisP 3y ago
How do you perform repair on something inside a solid steel, titanium or aluminum block, which is what this structure replaces? These are structural components that don't have anything "inside" but are used as material for carrying/distributing loads, and their strength and weight is the thing that matters. If their integrity is compromised, you generally don't repair structural components if the repaired seam wouldn't have the same strength as the original material, but replace them.
- spectaclepiece 3y ago
  Do you think there will be a market for typical household electronics items such as the hairdryer specifically made with repairability in the near future? Perhaps driven (unlikely) by consumer demand or more likely by resource prices or legislative pressure.
- 13of40 3y ago
  I think a real-life example that might illustrate the difference is a car that's been in an accident. A good body shop can do a lot as far as straightening components, doing new spot-welding, etc. in a car that's made with contemporary techniques, but imagine if it had a chassis or unibody components made out of this material. They would need to be replaced, because straightening won't repair the micro-structure, and they probably can't be welded. Replacement is going to be far costlier as well, because you'd have to disassemble the whole car and put it back together. plus the replacement part has to be meticulously 3D printed instead of stamped/forged/welded. That said, I can imagine it being good for applications like fighter jet components where it's probably considered scrap after the first accident.
  - bawolff 3y ago
    I am not an engineer but i don't think car repair techniques would work on traditional materials used in this niche to the strength required for anything that needs to use titanium alloy. We don't currently make cards out of titanium, we probably aren't going to start making them out of fancy titanium. Car repair shops work because cars don't actually need to be that strong.
iancmceachern 3y ago
That's like saying, cool, now make a repair of a small Crack in the middle of the center later of a sheet metal panel. There is no need to do so. You would replace the part.

Can you repair your hairdryer? It’s literally a Chinese motor with a Chinese resistor, the two most frequent objects in the world. Objects in the industrial world can’t be repaired. But Titanium can be melted.

justinclift 3y ago
> Objects in the industrial world can’t be repaired. That makes no sense to me, as industrial things commonly are repaired. Sometimes many times across decades as one part or other wears.
- almostnormal 3y ago
  From a certain point of view repairing is fixing things that are literally broken, which involves glueing, welding, screwing, ... Replacing parts is not repairing from that point of view, even if at a macroscopic level it returns something back to working condition.
  - justinclift 3y ago
    This is really not making sense. Also, why did "replacing parts" suddenly spring up? "Repairing" something is generally considered to be taking whatever action is needed to get it back to the required condition. If some parts need fully replacing, then so be it. But it could just also be things needing to be re-seated, maybe something needs to be bent back into shape, etc. The list of possibilities is probably endless.
TaylorAlexander 3y ago
> Can you repair your hairdryer? It’s literally a Chinese motor with a Chinese resistor, the two most frequent objects in the world. Most hair dryers don’t come with parts manuals so we wouldn’t know exactly which replacement part to get. And there’s more to it like a switch, a cord, etc. These things could be designed for repair but they would have to provide reliable part numbers for the internals, which they currently do not do. > Objects in the industrial world can’t be repaired. Objects in the industrial world most certainly can be repaired and it happens all the time. For example here is how a giant excavator tire is repaired: https://youtu.be/p0R-YWQCfdQ?si=iGagfyttgO5vTvDr https://youtu.be/p0R-YWQCfdQ?si=iGagfyttgO5vTvDr

PeterisP 3y ago

How do you perform repair on something inside a solid steel, titanium or aluminum block, which is what this structure replaces? These are structural components that don't have anything "inside" but are used as material for carrying/distributing loads, and their strength and weight is the thing that matters. If their integrity is compromised, you generally don't repair structural components if the repaired seam wouldn't have the same strength as the original material, but replace them.

spectaclepiece 3y ago
Do you think there will be a market for typical household electronics items such as the hairdryer specifically made with repairability in the near future? Perhaps driven (unlikely) by consumer demand or more likely by resource prices or legislative pressure.
13of40 3y ago
I think a real-life example that might illustrate the difference is a car that's been in an accident. A good body shop can do a lot as far as straightening components, doing new spot-welding, etc. in a car that's made with contemporary techniques, but imagine if it had a chassis or unibody components made out of this material. They would need to be replaced, because straightening won't repair the micro-structure, and they probably can't be welded. Replacement is going to be far costlier as well, because you'd have to disassemble the whole car and put it back together. plus the replacement part has to be meticulously 3D printed instead of stamped/forged/welded. That said, I can imagine it being good for applications like fighter jet components where it's probably considered scrap after the first accident.
- bawolff 3y ago
  I am not an engineer but i don't think car repair techniques would work on traditional materials used in this niche to the strength required for anything that needs to use titanium alloy. We don't currently make cards out of titanium, we probably aren't going to start making them out of fancy titanium. Car repair shops work because cars don't actually need to be that strong.

iancmceachern 3y ago

That's like saying, cool, now make a repair of a small Crack in the middle of the center later of a sheet metal panel. There is no need to do so. You would replace the part.