Why our Screwdriver took 3 YEARS

Linus Tech Tips
5 HN recommenders · recommended in 3 months, 2022–2023
YouTube
4.5M views · 4 years ago · explainer · evergreen

Linus Tech Tips tells the story of designing and manufacturing their own screwdriver, and why it took three years. It covers handle size, bit storage, the ratchet mechanism and switching factories in China.

HN people recommend it as a rare, honest look at the whole path from idea to a manufactured hardware product, including the setbacks.

“don't miss the Linus Tech Tips video about why their screwdriver took 3 years to bring to market”
Industrial designProduct design & product thinking
#screwdriver#hardwareproduct#manufacturing#industrialdesign#linustechtips

8 comments from Hacker News

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@aaronbieber2023 · in “No, you can’t manufacture that like Apple does (2014)”
It stood out to me that the author of the post is the COO at a meditation service start-up, not a manufacturing one... Unless Ten Percent Happier is making physical products that I'm unaware of. I think this guy was just musing about Apple's quality and has watched a lot of AvE and This Old Tony on YouTube and wanted to share his opinions with the world. They're not all entirely correct. For anyone who wants to go on the whole manufacturing journey, don't miss the Linus Tech Tips video about why their screwdriver took 3 years to bring to market (▶ this video). And they based their design on a fully functional production-ready screwdriver, they did not start from scratch. Going from idea to production is really, really hard. Even today, even with CNC and 3D printing and other prototyping tools. Even with all the money LTT has to spend on it (millions of dollars, as I understand it).
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@deluxeroyale2023 · in “Ask HN: Where to get help with a hardware idea?”
This might be to some help; I saw this video posted on another HN-thread and it covers some of my experiences with industrial design/engineering. ▶ this video Not the biggest fan of LTT but the video covers some important points especially if you are going to follow through and commit with the project. I would say finding the right manufacturing partner is key.
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a
@an1sotropy2022 · in “Is Linus Tech Tips Screwdriver Best? Project Farm Ratcheting Screwdriver Testing”
Thanks for sharing this - I found myself watching all 29 minutes of the LTT screwdriver design video [1], previously discussed [2], so it was great to see that their new tool did well in these tests. Fun/bracing delivery, too. [1] ▶ this video [2] link
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z
@zepolen2022 · in “Our screwdriver took three years [video]”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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s
@sudhirj2022 · in “Why our screwdriver took 3 YEARS”
Submitted the video to Hacker News.
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O
@O_H_E2022 · in “Our screwdriver took three years [video]”
Just for people who didn't watch the video. They could only fit 12 bits in that they determined to be "optimal size" handle by making them half-size. But they disliked the idea of locking people into their bits, and changed the design so that a little rotation can adapt the storage area to 6 standard-sized bits. Here is a link to the relevant section ▶ this video
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D
@Daub2022 · in “Our screwdriver took three years [video]”
> He also explicitly mentions he uses the ratchet by turning only the axle and keeping the handle steady in his hand for a lot of the screws. This is shown in action at this point in the video: ▶ this video In many ways, this mimics the function of a jewelers screwdriver: link
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@tabokie2022 · in “Our screwdriver took three years [video]”
No it isnt. It's literally mentioned in the video. (▶ this video) > we changed to a different factory in China potentially losing our $130000 deposit in the process.
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