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A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

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Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

#91

Post by will0 »

t0mas88 wrote: post #84
malleefowl wrote: post #28

If anyone is looking to buy one, I recently bought a restored Sunbeam T-20 from timstoasters.com and love it. He even replaced the plug with a polarized one.

What are polarised plugs? The article also mentions it but I have no idea what it is and why it's safer.

Without a polarised plug it means current can 'flow' the 'wrong' way through the toaster, backwards through the heating coils.

Which is to say when the toaster is plugged in but off, the heating coils could still be live, and touching them would shock you.

Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

#92

Post by Gigachad »

notacoward wrote: post #15

My wife has one of these and she's crazy about it. I'm less enthusiastic, especially since it has no protection against the outside getting hot enough to melt or burn anything carelessly put next to it. Maybe an update addressing that and some of the other issues mentioned in OP would yield a toaster that would make both of us happy.

It's also live while turned off so if you ever put a fork in it, it's deadly.

Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

#93

Post by cassepipe »

Ok I guess now is the time and place to complain to whomever cares about toaster design. Why is it that the metal grid that holds the bread has its bars so wide apart ? I don't toast only industrial square bread, I happen to regularly toast good state of the art european bakery bread that have very different slice sizes. It is maddenig to have your slice slip trhough the metal bars and prevent the toaster from going up or having to go fishing for your slice with whatever tool you think fit for the job, in 2021. Is my use case that specific ? I have been looking for a toaster with a tight grid bread holder but could not find one so far. Please help.

Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

#94

Post by Gigachad »

varelse wrote: post #36
quacked wrote: post #17

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've thought about this for a while. Imagine a line of "dumb" dishwashers, toasters, ovens, stoves, microwaves, etc., all well-designed and made with sturdy materials. Unfortunately, I think they'd cost 6-10x going rate as modern "smart" appliances, and also the market for them would be restricted to HN commenters.

Maybe less dumb and more easily repairable? Microcontrollers are great, just make a standardized component for all the things that can be unplugged and replaced and have at it. Why must we late-stage capitalism everything?

I don't think that dishwashers and related appliances are fragile or that they are too hard to repair. It's just that the brand new manufacturing cost has become so insanely cheap while human labor has become extremely expensive. So when the dishwasher finally craps out, it just isn't worth paying someone to crack it open and fix it.

Hobbyists are able to fix almost anything when they do it for fun in their free time as long as DRM isn't involved. It just isn't something that scales or can make a profit.

Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

#95

Post by Gigachad »

jfim wrote: post #83
denton-scratch wrote: post #29

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Washing machines were one of the first applications for microcontrollers. If you have an electric motor that's supposed to speed up, slow down, reverse, spin fast etc., all on a schedule, it's a no-brainer (pun intended). It's usually the pump that fails, but the controller-cards often fail too. Pumps and controller cards are, of course, outrageously expensive. These things are supposed to fail. Back in the day, they…

There are some companies that do build long lasting appliances. For example, one can buy a Speed Queen washing machine for home, and they're supposed to be comparable with their commercial laundromat offerings. They're also 2-4x the price of a similar washing machine. The big problem is that on the consumer side, it's pretty much impossible to evaluate durability of goods. Is the $80 toaster much more durable and bet…

And then is it even worth thinking about which toaster will last 50 years vs 10 years when the price may as well be free for how cheap they are.

Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

#96

Post by showerst »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #74
rsynnott wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In washing machine land, Miele and a few others make these. They are indeed very, very expensive. Mind you, adjusted for inflation, so were the old ones; there has never really been an era of cheap top-quality appliances.

But are they cheaper per year of service life?

You also have to account for the "pain in the neck" factor. A washing machine isn't a toaster, it's heavy and hard to move, and annoying to wait on a repair person or replacement.

Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

#97

Post by pmyteh »

askvictor wrote: post #82
botswana99 wrote: post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I have wondered too. I am on on, like, my fourth toaster. They work for a few years then fail in some non fixable way. So I toss and order another from Amazon. Think of all the material waste. Not very eco-friendly. But it’s another 30 bucks and comes next day … Is there a market for ‘buy it for life’ toaster. The question is will people pay 2-4X as much as cheap china toaster? Would you pay $150 for a lifetime toast…

Looks like Dualit toasters fit that bill somewhat. But a set of replacement elements cost several times more than a cheap toaster.

You're not likely to need a complete set: they can be replaced individually.

Mine is from about 1987, and I got it about 10 years ago on eBay. I've replaced one element card, as a result of a previous owner's dodgy repair causing arcing that eventually burned out a connector. The others look very old and are still fully functional.

Having said that, I understand the clockwork timers also fail from time to time, and they aren't especially cheap. And the toast, while very good and continuously adjustable in hue, isn't quite magnificent.

Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

#98

Post by myself248 »

netizen-936824 wrote: post #12
pickledish wrote: post #3

His whole channel (called Technology Connections) is probably my favorite one on YouTube, can’t recommend it enough! My favorites are his series on refrigeration and heat pumps, for example this one: https://youtube.com/watch?v=7J52mDjZzto Edit: to clarify, this article is based on an old Technology Connections video, and the creator of that video has lots more!

Seconded, I learned a ton about A/V systems from him. He has excellent technical content. Learning about how the old electromechanical juke boxes worked was fascinating. I can also recommend Applied Science. He explains the concepts behind numerous concepts and applies them to a home project in his garage. Such project include: Home made electron microscope Chemical glass strengthening Robotic cookie maker Creating X…

For A/V stuff, I went looking for an understanding of how color works in video systems, and ran across this gem from Captain Disillusion:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FTKP0Y9MVus

His whole channel is great, though there's not a ton there, it makes sense given the staggering amount of work that goes into the visualizations of each one.

Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

#99

Post by myself248 »

cassepipe wrote: post #93

Ok I guess now is the time and place to complain to whomever cares about toaster design. Why is it that the metal grid that holds the bread has its bars so wide apart ? I don't toast only industrial square bread, I happen to regularly toast good state of the art european bakery bread that have very different slice sizes. It is maddenig to have your slice slip trhough the metal bars and prevent the toaster from going…

Same problem! I bake a lot of my own bread and often end up with odd-shaped lumps of loaf-ends which fall between the wires.

Also I wish I could get a narrow-slot toaster. I never toast bagels, and I feel like a the ubiquitous wide-slot designs waste energy and take longer because there's so much unnecessary room for air to convection-cool the bread.

Re: A toaster from 1949 is still smarter than any sold today

#100

Post by pmyteh »

ClumsyPilot wrote: post #74
rsynnott wrote: post #26

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In washing machine land, Miele and a few others make these. They are indeed very, very expensive. Mind you, adjusted for inflation, so were the old ones; there has never really been an era of cheap top-quality appliances.

But are they cheaper per year of service life?

Maybe. A standard Miele washing machine costs about £900, while a decent (but less durable) machine might cost half that or a bit less. Having done endless (eventually futile) repairs on an older washer that kept falling over out of warranty, I'd day this one at least looks like a better price per year's washing.
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