Making a Toaster From Scratch, Mining the Raw Materials

why all this for a toaster...?

I wish someone could spend their resources in making faster bread toasts with solar energy.

Why the heck does the people with free time always seem to waste it? Is he also making his on refractory and elements in his furnace he uses to smelt the metals? I think he'd probably do better getting with his wife and making an assistant that could take over the silly idea when he is gone. At least this would be a allot more fun way to spend time IMO

Why not make your own Toaster (light bulb, iron furnace, whatever) from the raw materials? Think about what you would learn. You might even find a new way to do something that will make you money, produce energy cheaply, build an anti-gravity machine, who know what. That's what Edison, Eienstien (sp), and other inventors did.

Jim

It is a learning experience. It also illustrates how difficult it would be to maintain our technological civilization if a disaster wiped out the majority of the people and industry. There would be books full of knowledge that no one could use. It also illustrates to the fanatic environmentalist that toasters don't just appear on department store shelves, they have to be made by doing things they are opposed to.

I just think i would aim for something more exciting than a toaster, its a rather dull kitchen appliance that sparks little interest to most people.

I completely agree that the basis of the idea is outstanding, far too few people do realize the amount of work that goes into such a simple counter-top appliance.

I did this somewhat with my glass blowing hot shop although I didn't go as far as mining the the raw materials. I did build all my furnaces, blow pipes and so on and all I had to purchase was a particular ceramic burner, the electronic components and wiring and a crucible. My wife is a potter and I probably should have figured out the recipe for a high temp clay but due to timing I broke down and purchased a burner and crucible instead. I spent a ton of man hours on this project and I use the equipment several times a year. I am a welder/fabricator and when I started I didn't know much about electronics, glass melting and machining, but I did have a prettty good knowledge of refractories and high temp. metals. I learned how to wire up and build a good temp. controller system. I had also very little knowledge about running a metal lathe but I had one in my shop. By making my own blow pipes and punty rods I learned a great deal about how to set up and use a lathe correctly. I also learned allot about how to melt and cast molds from brass as well as carve the forming blocks from wood that every glass blower uses routinly. Now since I finished the equipment I am learning how to actually make something from glass and even sold about 1500.00 worth of christmas ornaments last year. I did my project because there was no way I could afford to buy the equipment and in the end I have what I need to learn what I consider a very interesting skill as well as learn the basics of several other skills along the way. Also I have a habit of doing it myself on most of my projects so it fell right into place. My point is that if someone is going to far more trouble than I did by taking it back to the raw materials stage I would try and concentrate on building something that you could learn even more from when it is finished. I would like to wish you all the luck and hope you do not give up after spending hundreads of hours mastering all the skills needed to do your project.