Table-top chain reactions
Long Way RoundOne dull job, done the long way round, with what is on your table.
A chain-reaction machine is simple machines in a row: each one's push, roll or pull starts the next. Say the job, list your bits and bobs, and the page plans the machine and finds its weakest link.
easy hand-off tricky hard to aim weakest link
1 The job and your parts free
Two to twelve things. Say how many when there are several (12 dominoes, 3 books). If the job moves a small thing (a tea bag, a key), list it too. Nothing is kept unless you press save.
2 The page's plan free
3 The engineer's notes metered
One run writes every stage up as a workshop tutor would: how to set it up with your parts, what it hands on to, what to watch for and one tweak - then the first test, safety and a sign-off. It never changes the page's plan, and the page checks every note against it.
Pricing as soon as the session is ready...
Sign inThe reply could not be read as stage notes. Here it is as it came back:
The page's check
4 Saved machines
How the page plans it
Each line is one thing. The page reads what it can be: a row to topple (dominoes, books, blocks - 3 or more), a roller (a marble, a ball, a toy car), a ramp (a ruler, a board, a tray), a tube, a cup, string, a lever and a pivot (a spoon across a pencil), a prop (a pencil, a chopstick) or a weight (a key, a coin, a tea bag). Anything hot, sharp, glass or with a flame is left out.
The stages run along the table from your push: a topple row passes on a push, a ramp or a roll along passes on a roll, a tunnel guides a roll, a cup on a string turns a roll into a pull, a pulled prop drops a weight, a see-saw flicks a push on, and an edge drop tips the last thing off the table. Each part is used once and the same kind never comes twice in a row. Of all the machines that fit, the page picks the one with the easiest hand-offs (ties go to the one met first in that order). Each kind is a simple machine or a few in series - a ramp is an inclined plane, a see-saw a lever.
The verdict, checked in this order: the parts cannot reach the job without one more part - short a part (and it names what to fetch); else a hand-off is hard to aim, or two are tricky - fiddly; else ready to run. Run times are rough estimates.
A toy, not professional advice. Build on a steady table, keep marbles and other small parts away from small children, and never use anything hot, sharp, glass or electrical.