The toaster project
by Thomas Thwaites · first published 2011
17mentions
6recommended by
15HN commenters
2015–2026first – last mentioned
40% recommend53% neutral7% critical
Why HN recommends it
Follows an artist building a toaster from scratch, from smelting metal to molding parts to making the plastic casing. Readers find it a fascinating, crazy look at how much hidden work goes into everyday objects.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…I would have thought: http://gse-compliance.blogspot.com.ar/2013/05/finding-graphi... Other related projects include: Thomas Thwaites making a toaster from scratch: http://www.thomasthwaites.com/the-toaster-project/ That guy who made a ceramic-tile-roofed house with underfloor heating from scratch just posted about adding a kiln and firing more pots: https://primitivetechnology.wordpress.com/2015/10/30/55/ This…
on “Making a pencil from scratch (2013)” ↗The Toaster Project is a good example of this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ODzO7Lz_pw https://www.amazon.com/Toaster-Project-Attempt-Electric-Appl... He attempted to build the basic components of a toaster from scratch.…
on “Why did we wait so long for the bicycle?” ↗If you're looking for a story of someone attempting to completely build something from scratch, try thomas thwaites "the toaster project" - http://www.thomasthwaites.com/the-toaster-project/
on “How I built a keyboard by hand” ↗This reminds me of Thomas Thwaites The Toaster project. A great read and very crazy project. http://www.thomasthwaites.com/the-toaster-project/
on “How long would it take to create a Windows 1.0 capable machine from scratch?” ↗The Toaster Project[1], where Thomas Thwaites tries to build a toaster from scratch also touches upon this subject. Fascinating read. [0] https://www.thomasthwaites.com/the-toaster-project/
on “I Tried to Buy an Actual Barrel of Crude Oil (2015)” ↗Even im fascinated by such things. I would definitely suggest you to read a book titled ‘The Toaster Project’ where the artist tries to create a toaster from scratch including the plastic casing. This also inspired me to write about a thought experiment called ‘Man from the Future’: https://rishikeshs.com/man-from-the-future/
on “Ask HN: Do you also marvel at the complexity of everyday objects?” ↗Reminds me of Thomas Thwaites "The Toaster Project". https://www.thomasthwaites.com/the-toaster-project/
on “On the impracticality of a cheeseburger (2011)” ↗…over/ability to understand What someone from the Union of Concerned Scientists once called something like the "problem of the pulled-up ladder". I gave a talk on this, and relating to Thomas Thwaites "Toaster Project" [1], on the fact that we no longer have an education strategy that recognises that one generation cannot hold the knowledge to reconstruct technological society (100 years ago we could). > Because limits…
on “Cozy Futurism” ↗Just here to give a ref to The Toaster Project[0] and its accompanied TED talk[1] from Designer Thomas Thwaites[2]. [0]: http://www.thetoasterproject.org/ [1]: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5ODzO7Lz_pw [2]: https://www.thomasthwaites.com/
on “Ask HN: Should I try to manufacture toasters?” ↗A related old art project: Making a toaster from scratch by Thomas Thwaites https://www.dezeen.com/2009/06/27/the-toaster-project-by-tho...
on “Ask HN: Should I try to manufacture toasters?” ↗Funny, my first thought in seeing this headline was The Toaster Project by Thomas Thwaites: http://www.thetoasterproject.org/ (~2010) - more of a reflection about globalism and what is possible to create from scratch. https://www.ted.com/talks/thomas_thwaites_how_i_built_a_toas...
on “Repairable Flatpack Toaster” ↗What I don't like about Thomas Thwaites's Toaster project is that I feel the end product intentionally looks bad. I feel the artist could have chosen different paths and could have created a practical toaster just with a little bit of care. The artist just choose…
on “Repairable Flatpack Toaster” ↗…of the examples I found (as expected) relate to military or commercially sensitive technology that did not get written down (for obvious reasons). It also reminded me when I read Thomas Thwaites' "The Toaster Project: Or a Heroic Attempt to Build a Simple Electric Appliance from Scratch", where to make a smelter from scratch he relied on a 450 year old book ("De re metallica" by Georgius Agricola), as well as a friendly…
on “The West Forgot How to Make Things. Now It's Forgetting How to Code” ↗> The iron ore reserves near Scranton began to be depleted by the end of the 19th century. Something mentioned in the book "The Toaster Project" (where a guy tries to build an electric toaster from scratch) is that high-grade ore basically doesn't exist any more, and you now need to process a ton of ore to extract a few kilograms of metal. (Just…
on “The Scranton Iron Furnaces” ↗It doesn't answer your question, but the Toaster Project book explores the difficulty of making even relatively simple modern objects from raw materials. http://thetoasterproject.org/
on “Ask HN: How many dependencies does manufacturing a light switch have?” ↗