Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2020/11/16/this-guy-hand-makes-metal-tubs-with-remarkable-speed.html
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Impressive, but if this was shot within the last year… sigh… absolutely nobody wearing masks…
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I followed all of that, except grokking how the base was kept in place when it was first added.
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Not really one guy but a whole company of people working particular tasks to build tubs, but nevertheless the effort is exceptional and quick. It must be back breaking and laborious compared to what an automated assembly line can do but it’s still great to see masters of a craft at work.
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Near the beginning, when the sheet metal was being cut, I was fully expecting blood to be running from their non-gloved hands when handling those sharp edges. Perhaps serious callouses are keeping them safe.
What’s cool, and unusual these days, is that there isn’t any external energy being applied to the project. The cutting, the cold welding via hammer strikes, the forming… all done via human energy. I didn’t see any powered machines.
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Same here. When he picked up the stack of cut sheets with his bare hands I could feel it in my own hands.
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This thought crossed my mind and i presume that’s precisely why this business seems to be thriving. It might be possible to use solar powered simple machines, or maybe steam powered, to assist with production but sometimes simpler is better due to reliability. And in a poor area reliability is likely more valuable than ease of operation.
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Not to mention that most of them aren’t wearing shoes either, or open toed sandals at best.
Yikes!
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We see the bottom edge of the tub being bead-rolled in the hand cranked machine at about 4:30. This seems to put an approximately 90 degree outside bend on it.
As far as I can see, we don’t see the bottoms of the tub being made but I think they are discs with a wire rolled edge similar to the top edge of the tub
The wire rolled edge of the base is sort of clipped around the bead rolled bottom edge, and then the edge gets hammered.
The bit I didn’t get was the very last step where the handle straps are fixed to the edge of the tub. Are they riveted on or simply peened?
Peening seems to be more in keeping with the rest of the processes but I don’t know?
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Super cool to see so many of the similar clever methods that are also used here at home to hand make these Kenya Ceramic Jikos (charcoal cookstoves).
(Google/Youtube search ‘How to make a Kenya Ceramic Jiko (A short cookstove training film for existing manufacturers) for a fun video of hand making one of the most widely used stoves in East and West Africa’
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typically the buckets made in kenya have the ‘ears’ riveted on with a flat head rivet punched out on car lug nut. (if you look closely at Min 7:56 you can see the 4 rivets after he punches them out
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Ahh yeah!! Briliant!
this is very true - in Kenya its also the cost and unreliability of grid power, plus prohibitive cost of credit for buying machines.
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I’m almost certain that most of the workmen have serious hearing damage. And that is still probably the least of their problems. They have to compete against the global market, where industrial processes can really scale up and bring down the manufacturing and shipping prices of such buckets down to around a dollar a piece. Undercutting that means that living wages are pretty low.
What is not clear to me is who owns the workshop. If these men own their own shop and make a living wage making a quality product, kudos to them. But maybe they work for somebody else under a binding non-competition contract…
Sorry I’m a bit down at the moment. At least it is nice to see people taking some pride in what they do!
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Here you go.
I also noted the lack of hearing protection. Sad, to say the least.
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No gloves, and no hearing protection either. That’s gotta be a shop full of people with heavily calloused hands, and who have to ask people to speak up a lot.
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I can imagine there’s a good market for simple machines that can be easily repaired/built/upgraded by local mechanics. But i’m sure for most businesses it might be better to minimize reliance on things that can break down.
Also thought it was nuts that a significant part of the factory is literally just the street. Like, these guys are just out there working as motorcycles zip past a couple feet away.
Though, given their jobs, I guess if they get knocked down, then they’ll get up again. You’re never gonna keep them down.
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This guy hand-makes metal tubs with remarkable speed
You mean the eight or ten guys who are working without any ppe (get those homies some ear pro at least) and probably paid pennies per piece? The craftsmanship is real but maybe let’s not turn everything into a garbage clickbait headline.
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Yeah I was thinking how many of my hands would have been slices off before the four-minute mark. You only get two shots.
