Are Germans the Best Engineers in the World I say Yes

originally posted by: dfnj2015
The Germans are the best engineers in the world:

A guy I know from Rolls Royce offered up this description a few years back:

The Brits are great at being highly innovative engineers. They have a knack for thinking outside the box, coming up with great new ideas, and prototyping them effectively.

The Germans are great at being precision engineers. The machine will have 100 components and 200 screws - all 200 of which are different and custom-made specifically for that application. The machine will be superbly optimised and outperform everyone else, but only within a very narrow range of conditions. It will be painfully expensive and difficult to produce. It will be nearly impossible to repair.

The Americans are great at being production engineers. The same machine will have 10 components and 4 screws - all 4 of which are identical and available off the shelf from most suppliers. Their machine may not perform as superbly as the Germans' machine, but it will perform well enough across a wide range of conditions and can be easily mass-produced at reasonable cost. The machine can be repaired with a coat hanger and a piece of string.

originally posted by: EvillerBob
The Americans are great at being production engineers. The same machine will have 10 components and 4 screws - all 4 of which are identical and available off the shelf from most suppliers. Their machine may not perform as superbly as the Germans' machine, but it will perform well enough across a wide range of conditions and can be easily mass-produced at reasonable cost. The machine can be repaired with a coat hanger and a piece of string.

Yanks make great can openers. Tried a whole host of them in my life and the only decent one out there is made in USA by Americans it's just flippin mental over engineered and is so great to. Even the name is cool............... EZ-DUZ-IT. Love anythink made in USA and go out of my way to buy it

a reply to: verschickter

i worked and later owned a industrial/ commercial electrical repair service. we repaired all kinds of power tools, welders, generators, electric motors, motor controls, and kitchen equipment.

when i first started repairing equipment. all of us use to joke about how you could tell when something was built. especially in the power tools. most of the industrial / commercial stuff back during the late 50's 60's and even the 70's and 80's was built to last. it was bigger, heavier, used stronger components. but you could tell through the decades that the manufactures started to cut the quality of the way it was built.

it has gotten to the point, that they make their stuff to last just past the warranty period which some have gone as high as five years with limited warranties, and priced parts so high that with labor to repair them it's half or better than a new one. so most people buy new.

they also started making the parts as assemblies instead of individual pieces where they could, so they could make the cost more.

a reply to: hounddoghowlie
Rule of economic... don´t built stuff that lasts too long, they learned that...

I have a 70ish dough mixer, it has 3 levels and a power button, ugly orange+spinach green. I´m sure you could mix concrete or gum with this thing. Contrary to that, I know someone that has one with this fancy display that shows the rotation and has programs for different stuff. The look alone but not later than the moment when you grab it, you know it´s crap. Like when it makes squeeking noises if you work it a bit. But she makes awesome cakes with it nonetheless.

It´s always better to have something crude, simple and working that you can repair yourself, when it comes to tools. No fancyness needed. Don´t get me started on HiFi equipment. That old analog Kenwood Receiver/Amp still outruns any other electronic stereo equipment I´ve heard so far, and they even sent me schematics to figure out that blown mosfet (my fault for replacing the wrong fuse after a cleanup). There IS no overload. It ruins my day when I want to hear music and puff "OVERLOAD"/"COOL DOWN". That Sony receiver did that a couple times to me, then I went to lengths to get that same make and model again and was not disappointed. With Quart speakers, you hear the difference!

Playmobil toys are amazingly engineered! They are the only toys I love assembling.

My Braum razor cuts like a bitch. Whoever designed the trimmer waa definitely a nazi

a reply to: EvillerBob
Those custom made screws, like you call them, are not all custom made. There are regulations and norms, you can simply order what you need looking at the loads it has to transfer and the dimensions. Only in some special applications like vibrational, -thermal, corrosions environments etc you do what you have to do and figure out that special type that will cost 5-20x as much as the regular one. To make stuff precise and lasting.

I know you just relayed this and that he probably talked about regular tools. The repair issue. It depends. I´m not talking about cheap hobby tools. If you buy professional-grade, a shop can probably repair it. It depends on the task you build the machine for and the price range.

Although I gave you a star for your post, I´m totally disagreeing with this rolls royce guy. A very narrow view and not very close to reality, in every one of the three points.

When it comes to German engineering I think Nazi's and that old VW ad "farfignugen german word for engineering" then the accompanying joke 'whats the German word for constipation? Far from poopin.'

originally posted by: BigBangWasAnEcho
My Braum razor cuts like a bitch. Whoever designed the trimmer waa definitely a nazi

get yourself a solingen straight razor. Much better.

a reply to: SprocketUK

keep in mind not every factory there has the same quality output.. Herbertz does nice work although they produce series, but they do grind and sharpen them manually.

You can buy high quality single blades in many shapes from some manufactures so you can make your own housing and leather handle (or what you like) at home. You can buy some blades online to make your own pocket knife or replace the ones on your stock model. But careful, they come extremly sharp out of factory so working with the blade, you better have reinforced gloves and the blade covered while messing with it in the workshop. Good quality knifes seldom get dull. Often it´s enough to wipe the over leather or jeans a few times to recover the edge.

a reply to: verschickter

Good advice! Mines a Dovo and is lovely both to shave with and hone occasionally.

a reply to: alldaylong

Because Silverstone

a reply to: SprocketUK

If you are using jeans, it´s crucial to swipe it 45° angled to the string direction and do it 10 times for a regular sized shaving blade in each direction. Put a jeans leg on a flat surface and hold it so it stretches while you swipe.

Of course the standard procedures and using leather will get you more wield but if you need a quick fix, this is a great trick. It works with any blade and even system razor blades like Gilette Fusion and others. As long as the single blades are still aligned correctly you can max out the lifetime of a bladehead 2-3 times. Just remember to sanitize the blade before using, especially with system razor blades.

You probably know this but if you shave yourself everyday, you want a second blade. The edge needs some rest to straighten itself, that takes more than 24 hours if I remember correctly. BTW, that´s why wealthier men had several blades. You can notice the difference, and you will have to grind and sharpen both blades exceptionally more seldom because both blades have propper time to readjust.

Pyramids don´t work

a reply to: dfnj2015

Physicists from the U.S. Department of Energy's (DOE) Princeton Plasma Physics Laboratory (PPPL) are providing critical expertise for the first full campaign of the world's largest and most powerful stellarator, a magnetic confinement fusion experiment, the Wendelstein 7-X (W7-X) in Germany. The fusion facility resumes operating on August 28, 2017, and will investigate the suitability of its optimized magnetic fields to create steady state plasmas and to serve as a model for a future power plant for the production of a "star in a jar," a virtually limitless source of safe and clean energy for generating electricity.

The new run will test a device called an "island divertor" for exhausting thermal energy and impurities. The campaign will also increase the heating power of the stellarator to eight megawatts to enable operation at a higher beta—the ratio of plasma pressure to the magnetic field pressure, a key factor for plasma confinement.

phys.org - PPPL physicists essential to new campaign on world's most powerful stellarator.

The W7-X is starting back up!

They've installed the tiles and divertors. They also have larger neutral beam injectors. There is a new measuring device to check the edge plasma heat. The divertors are going to be thoroughly tested. The next shutdown they will add the water cooling (and it's heat exchange unit) which may actually generate electricity!

YAY!! This is great stuff to follow!

Max Planck - August 2017 News Letter.

I agree. Whether it is a result of their language or culture Germany has for the last 150 years produced an endless stream of great scientists and engineers; regardless of the field be it hard sciences like mathematics, astronomy, chemistry, geology, archeology, metallurgy, optics, physics, engineering or the soft sciences such as psychology, sociology and anthropology the list of names of just the well-known would run several pages long.

I think much of their culture has to do with their language as there are many words in German that have no equivalent in any other language; Gestalt for instance. The German language is very precise and unambiguous, a contributing factor certainly to their leading role in the sciences.

a reply to: Asktheanimals

The German language is very precise and unambiguous, a contributing factor certainly to their leading role in the sciences.

Maybe that´s the reason why sometimes there is miscommunication between me and others. I´m used to being direct and precise, yet often can´t find the correct vocabular, because it is simply missing and thus have to explain my way around it. Somewhere along those lines, I often eff up.

Whats in S4 anyway?
The fission thing is about change our tech as soon as miniaturization is perfected ,THAT'S for sure.

a reply to: cavtrooper7

wrong thread? Just so you might notice, if.

Their social engineering skills are questionable....

a reply to: selfharmonise

Not really, maybe to outsiders. We´re the king of fests and social interaction. We lack humor, I give you that