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| Simple Machines |
 Title text: It's hard to decide which simple machine system to invest in. DeWalt makes a great lever and inclined plane, but I hear Milwaukee's wheel-and-axles are really good. |
Explanation
There are various ways to use a mechanical advantage when applying a force to an object with a tool. Classically, there were considered to be six simple machines which, in combination, formed the basis of all tools:
These are often considered as idealised, abstract concepts in the study of mechanics.
Multitools combine various tools into a single package, usually for reasons of portability. For example, the classic Swiss Army Knife combines various different forms of blade (which in part act as levers and/or wedges, depending upon use) along with some non-bladed tools (such as the corkscrew, which naturally embodies the same forces as the 'simple screw').
Instead of combining simple machines to make a single tool, this comic suggests the existence of a multitool featuring all six simple tools individually, some of them with multiple purposes depending upon application. For example the lever and the inclined plane are both present via the same core rod.
Having one of these "all-in-one" devices does not mean it does everything you can do with different combinations — the choice of components and how they interact (or don't get in each others' way) is important for the function of a particular device.
As is often the case with mutlitools, there are obvious drawbacks to having this 'all-in-one' tool. The tools all have varying uses, some very different from one other, and you would find it unlikely to find many devices in need of all the tools together in a spot. So such a tool would be largely useless compared to its singular variants. Also, the tools come in many different sizes, meaning unless it has special adjustable sizes (which could well be impossible, to account for all the different sizes)[citation needed] the tool would be unlikely to be the right size to fit many features. As well as that, though Randall claims he can stop buying simple tools thanks to his all-in-one, in reality you often need more than one of the various tools for projects (particularly screws, of which there can be hundreds in a single project).
The title text is a joke about battery powered tool ecosystems. Milwaukee Tool and DeWalt are two common American tool companies. The text notes that each company has advantages in certain specific simple machines, which makes deciding which brand to invest in for a whole system of simple machines difficult - presumably because each brand's machines are designed to work together, but would not work across brands. With battery powered tools, the batteries and the base motor units are often interchangeable between tools from a single brand (and are often purchased separately from the tools). Once you buy, say, a drill and batteries from one brand, it is more economical to buy a saw from the same brand, rather than the saw and batteries from a different brand.
Transcript
- [A rod with a square cross-section is shown sloping from top-left to bottom-right. At the bottom-right, it has a wedge tip. At the top-left, it is threaded and has a long nut on it. The nut has an eyelet where a rope is connected. The rope travels taut around a wheel on an axle connected near the wedge-end and then lies loose with a hook on the free end.]
- [Caption below comic:]
- I can finally stop buying simple machines now that I got an all-in-one tool with all six of them.
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