How are items manufactured with such precision, when it requires a machine with precise parts to manufacture the items (which presumably requires another machine to produce it’s parts)? Does everything eventually trace back to handmade parts or tools?

Question

How are items manufactured with such precision, when it requires a machine with precise parts to manufacture the items (which presumably requires another machine to produce it’s parts)? Does everything eventually trace back to handmade parts or tools?

In: 9

Answer 1

[This is an excellent video on the topic.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gNRnrn5DE58)

Yes, essentially. There are a few fundamentals like getting something flat by rubbing three axis planes together which will create a flat surface, and from that theoretically everything is built off of that. Then you need systems of measurements, use a natural constant like a stick or something if you don’t need to communicate this to someone else. Then evolve into codified units….

Eventually there was even a very profitable European company making precisely measured blocks that could be used to ensure the quality of machining. These had to be smuggled out of Europe during the war to help boost US manufacturing.