Amish Hackers (2009)

Re:Amish Hackers (2009) by Reason077 on Wednesday January 12, 2022 @10:50AM (#29908052)

> “From the tank a series of high-pressure pipes snake off toward every corner of the factory. A hard rubber flexible hose connects each tool to a pipe. The entire shop runs on compressed air. Every piece of machine is running on pneumatic power.”

This was an entirely normal setup for factories and workshops back in the day, certainly not exclusive to the Amish!

Now days, electric tools have become more powerful and more convenient thanks to better batteries etc, so pneumatic isn’t as common as it once was. But pneumatic tools of all kinds are still sold and still used in some shops.

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Re:Amish Hackers (2009) by cardiffspaceman on Wednesday January 12, 2022 @07:01PM (#29914722)

When my house was being significantly remodeled one of the crews set up shop air every morning using an electric compressor.

One of the crews left behind a battery charger typical of those used for drills, so the building trades are not unanimous on air vs electric.

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Re:Amish Hackers (2009) by riveducha on Wednesday January 12, 2022 @03:52PM (#29912509)

This reminds of old factories that had belt-driven tools running off of a shared axle hanging overhead. The axle would be powered by a combustion motor. Turning on/off your tool meant engaging or disengaging it’s belt from the axle. I’ve only seen these in museums and don’t remember what they’re called.

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