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?
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Yes, the original precision tools were made using hand tools.
The Antikythera mechanism was built sometime around 100BC, but has gears and bearings that have very tight tolerances. We’re not entirely sure how it was built, but we know some tools that were available at the time, like simple files and hand engravers. We also know they had a form of hand powered lathe to make round cuts easier.
In fact, it’s arguably easier to be very precise with hand tools than modern machine tools. This is because you can remove small amounts of material, check the result, and then remove more only if needed.
On the other hand, it also takes orders of magnitude more effort to actually complete an operation, which makes objects made this way very expensive.
Edit: There’s a YouTube channel you might find interesting: Clickspring
Chris is making a replica of the Antikythera mechanism, and along the way, he’s exploring how it might actually have been built using only tools and technology from 100BC.
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