Kate Hackett
Cheap and well-made don’t tend to belong in the same sentence very often, but not so with this list of things that are both!
Especially in today’s world of disposable junk, we’re all used to having to toss things every few years and buy replacements. It’s infuriating and the only alternative seems to be buying incredibly expensive items instead.
Enter u/Gourmet-Guy, who recently wondered “Which cheap and mass-produced item is stupendously well-engineered?” Here are 20 of the best answers.
1. Toilets
I’ve been a plumber 20 years and very little has changed, or needed to. Minimal up keep, cheap and easy repair, very long life.
2. Shipping container
The intermodal shipping container, a/k/a the Connex box. There are millions of the damned things all over the world, in use every single day. They are stackable, can be locked together, attach readily to ships, truck trailer frames, and rail cars, and can bear enormous loads. The cost of their manufacture compared to their economic use value over their useful lives is next to nothing.
3. Zip ties
Zip ties – such a simple piece of plastic but so versatile. I have one of the old fashioned chain link fences, some of the fasteners on the middle poles broke and in high winds the fence was swaying like crazy. A half dozen zip ties on the three posts and it doesn’t budge and nobody even knows they’re there
4. Matches
Matches are underappreciated because people don’t really understand how complex a match and striker are.
5. Ball bearings
Even the cheapest ball bearings with the loosest tolerances are still made in the 10~50 micron range of tolerance. It only gets better from there. (Abec spec anyways)
6. Cans
Soda/beer cans. The design has existed for decades with few changes.
7. Transistor
I remember how amazed we were in 1985 to see a chip with 68,000 transistors. Now they’re at 68 billion.
8. Ceiling fans
Not exactly cheap, but I’m impressed that I can have a ceiling fan run on high for 15 years straight and not have it explode on me.
9. On the road
Road reflectors – countless lives saved.
10. Sharpeners
Don’t buy the plastic ones in the school supply section. Go to the art section. Those metal sharpeners are CHOICE.
11. Clocks
Quartz movement clocks, you can literally pick one up for £2.50 here: https://www.ikea.com/gb/en/p/tromma-wall-clock-white-80454290/ the technology and gearing that goes into it’s functions is well worth the costs!
12. Glass bottles
Let’s melt this rock into a clear, brittle material and turn it into what? Windows? Decorations? Screens? No, we’re making pressure vessels, baby!
13. Boxes
The humble corrugated cardboard box. It’s lightweight, strong, splash resistant, somewhat padded, doesn’t break down in heat/cold, scratch resistant, recyclable, biodegradeable and able to be assembled cheaply into any size. The basic design has existed for over 150 years. The retail shipping industry runs on cardboard boxes.
14. Pens
The ballpoint pen, clearly
15. Batteries
Batteries are marvels of engineering packed tightly into a miniscule canister, even AA batteries are incredibly sophisticated internally
16. Molded stuff
Injection molded stuff like plastic ball valves. Stuff we don’t think about, but is amazingly good and cheap.
17. Zipper
The zipper. It’s a very cheap mechanism that secures objects in a very neat fashion. No wonder it’s used in most objects that need to be opened and closed such as luggage and jackets.
18. LEDs
Cheap diodes. Even colours. Ok, I dislike the blue ones but tint them and you get warm white.
19. Screws
Screws, can you imagine what would happen if all the screws suddenly disappeared from world? Everything would fall apart
20. Doors
A doorknob and a lock. Not that they don’t have their flaws, but I’d have a hard time making something that works that reliably that frequently.
