Trials and Errors
| Perfection is achieved, not
when there is nothing more to add, but when there is nothing left to
take away. — Antoine-Marie-Roger de Saint-Exupery  This picture
shows the
many rejected trial parts for the belt drive table. Each piece
probably
represents at least 15 minutes of
construction time and who knows how much design time. The pulleys and belts are from the trials that did not perform as desired. At $5 to $30 each they add up quickly. The final parts count is a fraction of what is shown in the photo. The unused wooden components that were built for the leadscrew tables are not in the picture but they could keep a wood-stove fueled for quite a while. Working in CAD is an excellent way to design, but it is through the actual building of the tangible product that problems are found and more efficient designs can be created. Whether the failed parts are measured in time or money, the investment is considerable. Buying prototyped and tested plans allows the builder to benefit from the hard won knowledge of the designer at a fraction of the cost. There is no point reinventing the wheel unless the time and money spent are enjoyed and available. Also there are those dead ends encountered when diving into unfamiliar projects; one seemingly small snag can bring the entire project to a halt.  The
project goes dormant
and parts are then cannibalized
for other projects. Plans help to smooth over the gumption traps
and ensure completion.The other images on this page show some of the many variations that the leadscrew routers went through while in the design stage. Though the drawings do not appear that different conceptually, there are many differences in the details which are not obvious here. Each image represents hours of work; work that does not have to be repeated when plans are used. |
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