There is a video somewhere of a guy building a Porsche motor : apparently Porsche have the complete motor put together by one guy, rather than on a chain. Doubtless there is a premium to pay for that, and after the first 100 or so it would get to be boring for the technician too, but it certainly looked more interesting than hand polishing...
The "make a cube" introduction is rather traditional, sometimes followed by making the cube into a sphere (not sure how relaistic that is). I'm sure there is some real body memory training going on: I remember when I was young, cutting anything with a hacksaw was a very approximate business. Now... I'm out by maybe 1 or 2 degrees. Doing more would have made it faster.
Otoh, does it matter? In the days of manual lathes it probably reduced stock wastage and reduced machine time. Now, with fully automated maching on 5-axis maching centres... the time would be better spent learning to program. Although of course you only need one programmer to do what hundreds of machinists uses to do, so really, most of them will be learning to make coffee for the robots...
Ah, there we are:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-mX4OwAR9ec
Does it matter? Well, to me, the ability both to do it and to know how much skill it takes to do it by hand is important if you are going to be an engineer. I suppose it's like maths: some people stop thinking about basics and simply rely on formulae. So where are you should you forget the formula for some reason - such as in the heat of a school exam - and can't look it up? I see these 'basic' understandings of things as the support to everything else in the discipline. In my own case, I realise my almost total lack of understanding of how or even why computers work as being a key reason for my dislike of them, and the total panic when something no longer works the same way as it did yesterday. Changes from Microsoft XP through Vista to my curren 8.1 have cost me dear, both in terms of nerves as well as money and the even more annoying loss of compatibility with several photographic requirements. Free W 10 was never going to be accepted.
The Porsche video is much on the lines of the Leica one in that it helps show the why regarding ultimate price of the product. As with the camera, those gleaming engine components even
look expensive! To me, that assembly line shows the sterility behind much of contemporary life; I understand the need for cleanliness of course, but can't help thinking it lacks the charm of the old craftsman's shop with junk everywhere! We still have a small steelworker or two in business in Pollensa, making steel products for private clients - made me different support brackets to my designs for fitting to several cars when I was still able to carry my US 'vanity' plates with impunity:
until, 35 or so years after its first iteration (with my wife's name and mine) on my first car here, followed so often by guardia civil, police, army and a host of other official entities, none of whom gave a shit, I was eventaully pulled over by a cop on a scooter (indignity on both sides) and told it had to go. Party pooper! This was the last car that carried it:
Whilst I would hate a career in engineering, I do wish that I had the skills and space to do car restoration. Of the many cars I've wasted my earnings buying just to avoid pissing it away in tax, the one I'd like back the most - despite its flaws at the time - is the little Fiat X1/9. Woefully underpowered in its day, it was beautiful and deceptively capable of carrying all my required lights, tripods etc. The ability to restore one, keep it rolling, would be a delight to me.
Rob
