Hard Things

[ysabetwordsmith]

Life is full of things which are hard or tedious or otherwise unpleasant that need doing anyhow. They help make the world go 'round, they improve skills, and they boost your sense of self-respect. But doing them still kinda sucks. It's all the more difficult to do those things when nobody appreciates it. Happily, blogging allows us to share our accomplishments and pat each other on the back.

What are some of the hard things you've done recently? What are some hard things you haven't gotten to yet, but need to do? Is there anything your online friends could do to make your hard things a little easier?

Comments

[acelightning73]

I admire your spirit, building something to solve a problem. It's frustrating to find out that someone else has already solved it, but the thing they build is unaffordable to mere mortals. I'd love to see an industry based on "assemble complex useful devices out of stock parts that are inexpensive and easy to find.

Try this ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

Watch the 3D printer movement. They've been printing out prosthetic devices. The medical industry is screaming bloody murder about how they're "not good enough." Well, a plastic hand that is free is much better than a $50,000 one that most people can't afford. I have no sympathy for the prostheticists who want to charge ridiculous prices. I approve of people solving their own problems with whatever they can.

https://free3dhands.org/

Re: Try this ...

[see_also_friend]

>>Well, a plastic hand that is free is much better than a $50,000 one that most people can't afford.<<

My thought on healthcare, is that fancy medical advancements are useless if they are unaffordable.

Re: Try this ...

[ysabetwordsmith]

I agree. America has the best healthcare in the world, that almost nobody can afford. That and Texas are why the perinatal death statistics are worse than some countries in Africa. >_

Re: Try this ...

[acelightning73]

I've seen many references to 3D printing for medical purposes. I think they "printed" a framework of a friendly plastic to grow kidney cells on to create an artificial kidney for implantation. I know they can make arteries that way, and I think there's a way to encourage bone growth. (I wish I had a 3D printer to play with!)

[siliconshaman]

Well.. that and I'm broke most of the time, so anything I build has to be cheap or recycled from stuff someone's thrown out.

But yeah, it really bugs me that not only are bikes hard to maintain by design but that they make even more money by deliberately designing it so you have to buy a tool that you'll maybe use once or twice a year at most, and costs you a significant fraction of the actual bike, for something that probably cost at most a couple of quid to make!

That's just taking the piss that is!

So, I wanna build something better, and something that if it catches on, makes a dent in those money-grubbing bastards bottom line!

Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

>>Well.. that and I'm broke most of the time, so anything I build has to be cheap or recycled from stuff someone's thrown out.<<

Necessity is the mother of invention.

>>But yeah, it really bugs me that not only are bikes hard to maintain by design but that they make even more money by deliberately designing it so you have to buy a tool that you'll maybe use once or twice a year at most, and costs you a significant fraction of the actual bike, for something that probably cost at most a couple of quid to make!<<

When you deliberately cause your customers to hate you, then you deserve to hemorrhage market share when a competitors comes along who is not an asshole.

I have seen several solutions to the problem of expensive tools:

* Bike repair stations with attached tools. These typically include a bunch of things that are only used on bicycles, like the rim key for removing tires. They are sometimes found at parks or in businesses with a garage space for bike commuters.

* Bike shops with a repair area for their customers or other members to use. It's one way to keep customer loyalty.

* Mobile bike repairmen who set up at places like farmer's markets, where they will fix your bike cheap while you shop.

* More expensive, more convenient bike repairmen working out of a van which they will drive to your home and fix damn near anything wrong with your bike.

>> So, I wanna build something better, and something that if it catches on, makes a dent in those money-grubbing bastards bottom line! <<

I am all in favor of this.

*ponder* The modern custom is for bikes to have separate parts that can be assembled on a mix-and-match basis. So the wheels are one assembly you can buy, the seat is another, the handlebars on their stem, the frame, etc. You might be able to engineer a better version of one piece at a time, rather than trying to do the whole bike at once. And it occurs to me that once you can build and control a working model, you could crowdfund the thing to put it into production.

Another possibility ... you could take the current crappy version, dissect it, and do a critical analysis of what is wrong with it. Take pictures. Post the results to your blog. People like to read complaints, it would start building and audience, and you would gain a more comprehensive idea of what needs fixing.

Maybe chat up your local bike shop(s) along the way. They would probably be interested in a better bike or parts.

Re: Thoughts

[see_also_friend]

Try a wooden frame. Carpentry is lower-tech and easier to mess with than metallurgy, or heaven forbid, carbon-fibre filaments.

Re: Thoughts

[see_also_friend]

Oh, and sometimes you can share tools among your friends. I've got some basic bike repair stuff, and I will sometimes let people use it, or offer to do quick fixes myself. (I can do basic maintenance and a bit of jury-rigging. Fancy stuff like cables, I need to hire someone.)

Re: Thoughts

[ysabetwordsmith]

Oh, I forgot neighborhood co-ops, and tool libraries as part of city libraries.

Re: Thoughts

[see_also_friend]

I don't have a co-op or tool library, though they are good ideas.

My experience is sharing tools between relatives, and occasionally fixing up other folk's bikes. Mostly this is for friends/relatives, fixing up junk bikes* for donations, looking at already-donated bikes due to having the best repair skills among the volunteers, or being the person who actually has tools.

*I do have standards; I try to donate them in useable condition, cleaned and tuned-up as best as I can. Good brakes, good tires etc. I even like to leave a note about what condition it is in!

[acelightning73]

They've made it like that with cars. When we had VW Jettas, we had a number of Volkswagen-specific tools. We had to get a specific Toyota thing after our last VW died and we wound up with a 2006 Corolla. And that died in the coastal flooding at Christmas, so now we've got another Jetta - it belonged to my daughter-in-law, who developed a severe eye infection last year, and can't drive any more. (And I can't drive because of the stroke.) My son removed all the wards and other protections they had put on the Jetta, so I could add my own. So... this little car is a rabbit. Beneath the notice of a person who has big important things to do. Not big enough to be a threat, but not big enough to bother to eat either. So you just don't notice me driving a little faster than the law says, or sneaking past you as I take the exit. Just a harmless little bunny of a car, in the care of a hedge-Witch.