The Importance of Solving Problems in Smart But Also Dumb Ways
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- Опубликовано: 7 сен 2024
- I'm pretty convinced at this point in my life that my top hacker skills is a tie between "general kindness and emotional competence" and/or "charging forward with the minimum viable solution and getting it to the next page as fast as possible" which -- follow me on this one -- is a kind of hacking that is worthy of more appreciation.
If you can learn to form a rough idea and prototype it into even the most ridiculous working proof of concept, you'll be light years ahead of everyone who can't get out of their own way in the pursuit of perfection before they leave the drawing board.
This video is an example of that. 👍
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"Who's the most wholesome person in your feed?"
"Oh, this hacker dude who breaks in to places."
I don't know if he is the most wholesome person in my feed, but he is definitely one of the good ones!
...named Deviant.
This reminds me a lot of something that's been on my mind a bunch: "you can edit a bad book, but not a blank page."
Sadly you can also edit a single chapter over and over again. Maybe why I have tons of copies of 1 chapter of a book I want to write.
and then on the other side of the wooden rod, you can add a hook of some sort, literally like a coat hook, to pull the staple out so it's easier to pull the staples out. or you know, a hammer head sort of lever top so it's not so staining on you to tug the staple out.
Stick a magnet there as well, to pick up the staple after hooking it out.
@@SeanBZA make that an electromagnet, with an attached bin. Then after so many, you can drop them into the bin with no effort. (Yes, let's overengineer on this video!)
cup hook. they generally have a built in screw shaft and have a hook that goes two thirds of the loop to pull the staple up.
a magnet ( maybe with a collar) on the wooden shaft would probably let you slide the staple down to a collection point for next year's use.
Two pins on the side would also let you grip the flag and with a little twist. pins would need to be slightly offset and slightly wider then the flag stake. Slip the pins around the stake, pivot to bind and pull up.
Honestly, if you made the staple into an h shape, add the flag to it instead of it being two separate pieces, you can just use old people grabbers and yank them out by the flag, much easier and less overengineered imo.
@@Giftedbryan I use those said "Old people grabbers" all the time, mainly due to the claw arms actually being quite useful for things you either do not wish to touch with hands, or quite useful in a hard to reach place.
I know with experience, grabbing onto a small wire, it would either take to long to line up, or the fact that when something is stuck in the ground, it needs a certain amount of force to pull out, and with those claws, they need a certain amount of force to keep them closed, easily time and time again thin items will slip through because the claw's tension is way too loose.
So while yes I agree with the flag being integrated with the staples in some way. I don't quite agree with the old people grabbers idea.
Apparently the of-the-shelf tool you're looking for is a (Sod) Staple Setter, which has a magnetic groove sized to the staple width.
If you want to super optimize, try bending a some thin kydex in the shape of a product called a KYWI -- you could extend the kydex in front of the binder clip to create feed lips for one handed insertion. A little 3d printed V-block in the bottom would prevent the staple from kicking out at an angle (if that's a problem).
that's awesome! no need to re-invent the wheel this way! EDIT: although the commercial versions of that are mad expensive and now I *am* going to 3D print a replica hahaha
@@DeviantOllam threaded broom handle, 3d printed cylinder with a dado cut in it, and a spot to glue a magnet to, to retain the staple.
Should be a ~30-45 minute design tops, since its literally 2 cylinders and a rectangle, no special shapes/sizes needed. And the broom handle can be bought anywhere.
Worst case, make it slide onto a piece of 1" PVC pipe, instead of a broom handle, so it's a standard size. Only concern would be the flexing of the pipe.
I mean, in theory, you could use a PVC coupler, PVC coupler plug, cut a dado in that, and hot glue or 5 minute epoxy a magnet inside the coupler. Then if you want, you can cut a piece of PVC into 1-2 foot sections, and use couplers to bring it to length, which makes it easily packable, and reusable
For 1" pipe, you're looking at ~$15 to make one, if you already have a saw. And that's using a 10 foot piece of PVC, so you'd in theory, be able to make 2 for ~$20 if 1" PVC is stiff enough.
$2.11 for the PVC plug, $1 for the couplers, and $11 for 10 feet of 1" PVC
@@DeviantOllam ruclips.net/video/Lzi544q9iKI/видео.html
One of the best bosses I ever had would always say "I've been doing this job for 30 years and know probably the best way to do almost any aspect of it,; BUT I want you to try and figure it out first because you will probably find a better way." Obviously, he wouldn't let you hurt yourself but that's what he did, made you do a task first, watched then showed you his method. Learned a lot from him and am proud to say showed him a trick or two myself.
Sounds like a damn good teacher
"Then I go to Home Depot, which is where I walk around when I'm trying to figure stuff out and build dumb things" could have been straight from Breaking Bad's character Jesse Pinkman.
"gotta hack my campsite... bitch!"
I wander around the hardware store looking for ideas.
Employee walks up: “do you need help finding anything?”
@@BlackSoap361 It is always fun, when they insist on helping you... "Okay... Well, I am trying to find a good quick-connect/disconnect device to control the front steer mechanism from manual to Robotic on my son's PowerWheels... Do you have Any Ideas?" ...crickets...
This seems like a parallel to a concept I learned years ago in software development. “First try the simplest thing that could possibly work”. Then iterate.
This is closely related to the concept of the minimum viable product. Don't spend all your time thinking about the additional features you can support before you even have the basic functionality you definitely need implemented.
I've dont this in reverse once. we needed a supposedly simple nested loop script but no one on the team could get it to work , so I wrote 800 lines to get it to work that day and refactored it back down to 50 the next day. I don't think its been used since, on the up side there were no matches in the code base of the original fudge last we checked.
Side note. If you’re trying to get some physical task done like this and you’re stumped - see if you have someone with a physical disability in your group if they’re the happy sort.
You’ll find we have had to come up with bunches of “idiotic” adaptations to do stuff like shove a simple staple into the ground. We often have something similar in our heads already where we had to accomplish a physical task like that and say, maybe we can’t bend over much… there’s a reason those stupid grabbers are popular… but if you’re a hack / builder you made something for yourself long ago…
Cheers man. Fun vid. Adaptation… it’s what humans do to be human.
My boss: How do you get things done so quickly?
Me: Mostly OSHA violations, it's best you don't ask.
I may be thinking about this too hard but from the way I see it, the flaw with the stapling process is not the act of putting the staple in the ground but the staple itself.
Devising away to attach the staple and the flag to the same bit of wire and have that bit of wire be long enough that you don't have to bend over to put it on the ground seems like the simplest solution to me.
All you would need to do is have one leg of the staple do a 180 and become the flagpole.
I guess this would be a custom fab part but make a thousand of them and never have to worry about it again? Seems like a win to me.
yeah I thought the same thing, you could def hit it with a single tack weld, would be plenty to hold them together for 1 in/ out cycle, although sadly 95 percent of these just get left in the ground and the plastic flag becomes microplastics that flow downstream anyway.
real solution would be wood clips that will biodegrade
Damn. I just posted the exact same thing.
The way he had the flag and staple sitting together on the table, I thought that was the solution he was going with. Until he picked up just the staple. If someone doesn't already make a flag with 2 tines at the bottom then someone should. You just place the flag and step on the bottom to set it. Then removal is a simple pull of the flag.
"If it's dumb and it works, then it's not dumb" and the "KISS method" are two mottos I live by. I've started companies with dumb. I've done things engineers told me were impossible because they were too smart to think outside the box. I think the key in either case is to avoid over-specialization. Usually when I'm trying to think around a problem, I'm drawing from ideas that exist in other fields that can be applied to my work. One day I'm tossing pizzas and the next I'm using brewing technology mixed with oilfield equipment and golf balls to eliminate toxic waste.
Totally relate to the Dome Depot trips. I just got back from one. Grabbing 40 adapter bushings one minute only to put them back and figure out there's a better way to do it with pipe glue. Spent 2 hours and $600 to build 3 different prototypes.
I've found setting a tight budget or adding constraints to a problem instead of removing them can help foster innovation. I've been trying to get into a high dollar industry with low dollar equipment and that challenge has come with so much insight. I tell people it feels like I'm taking a college course every month by finding new problems to solve.
This is SO important... I'm a perfectionist, and I'm a master at overcomplication. Everything I do I want to be the best. While sometimes the best answer comes to me quickly, other times, I'm left brooding over the problem for several days. Somehow, I just can't accept mediocracy. It's making my life painful to the point that things I used to love, like problem solving, has become a chore. I think I really need to take this lesson to heart and find a working solution before a perfect solution.
Yeah, I'm also suffering from perfectionism. And my biggest problems arise when instruments come in for repairs and simply don't want to be repaired. I can't give back something that isn't in perfect or near perfect condition, and it doesn't really matter how economical it is to actually fix.
I have the same struggle when it comes to repairing or improving things. In German languagwe we have a special word for when you want to fix or improve something but make it actually worse than ist was before: "verschlimmbessern" ~"improve-worsening" 😂
Nontheless, a simple and quick solution to a problem is often the better choice than thinking about and searching for a cheaper oder more suffisticated solution ;)
When building as a prefectionist a great motto to keep in mind is: 'Don't let the perfect get in the way of the good'. Ofc when the good is done you can always see how to make it even better 😉
Whenever I have to mentor interns (mechanical engineering), I tell them that every design starts with at least one linear actuator... just don't stay there. Make it as dumb as possible while still being smart enough to work.
Use a screw with a large flat-head screw head. Line the flat-head groove with the jaws. The screw head then holds the staple lined up and it doesn't skate off the screw head into the corners of the clip if the ground's too hard to shove it in on the first push.
alternatively just let it rest in the corner of the clip and step on the edge of the clip with your foot for the extra oomph, even dumber but still an effective solution
Search for "Foamboard stapler". It is used for in-floor heating installation on top of foamboard, but it might work well for temporary cable runs. It is magazine fed, just keep punching down the staples.
My first thought was to just sit on a skateboard or dolly and not get "up" between every single staple haha
But for a rod, a slot cut in one end with a magnet was my second thought :p
For harder ground use a large, flat head bolt instead of a screw. Open the flat screwdriver slot on the bolt enough to hold the staple so that the staple can't deflect under pressure of insertion.
or just step on the edge of the clip like you do with a shovel lol
Look at the flagshooter from the 811 industry it's a staple gun Mounted on a paint stick the flags have a bend like a p-trap would hold the cable down and flag it simultaneously. At least in theory, I've never used one mostly because they're expensive. Probably good for ideas toward the over engineering side of it.
If you *need* an over-engineered solution, let someone else do the engineering for you. 🙂
So much easier than you thought. Stick with slot, magnet at the bottom of slot. Upgrade: add pedal on side to push it down with your foot.
im so dumb that I accidentally do smart tings
Had to peg wires at an outdoor concert. I appropriated a broom handle, cut a wedge out the end and stuck a magnet in it (I always have some ca glue and magnets with me), saved my back that summer.
My film auditor told me "all your ideas might not work, but keep trying things that you think of. You might revolutionize our industry"
High hopes, but it was very much motivational. I've come up with many things I do/use at work now that people have made both positive and negative comments about, and I adjust when needed. It seems that some industries have run on "what just worked" for decades.
Well I'm mega late to this conversation, but I'd be tempted to take a metal washer, bend it into a "V" or "U" shape, then fit it between the screw head and spring clip.
The point would be to keep the bridge of the staple centered while it's being pushed into the ground.
As it is now, seems the bridge would tend to slip off of the screw head while being force into the ground, potentially bending the staple, or just being a little awkward to push.
Awesome design though, love the KISS philosophy!
One of my favorite sayings as of late is, "If it's dumb but it works, it isn't dumb!"
I like this idea, I'd suggest putting two binder clips on the dowel, one on each end. That way when you are punching one staple down you can load the next in and just spin the dowel around for the next punch.
If not that, then I like the suggestion someone said about a hook on the other end of the dowel as well for staple removal, but I would add some kind of magnet with the hook (if the staples are magnetic) so when pulling them up they will stay on the end of the dowel until you pull it off. That way you don't pull the staple and then it falls off the dowel and you have to bend down anyway to collect it.
Another option, if the staples are all a uniform size, and again magnetic, skip the binder clip, make a slot in the end of the dowel, glue a magnet into the slot, then they put the staple in the slot, magnet holds it in place, push into ground. No need to squeeze the clip to reload. Downside, the clip helps keep the staple from rotating when stabbing, the dowel would need to be wider to not need the clip. Possible solution is find a way to permanently leave a small gap in the binder clip by bending it slightly and putting a magnet on the screw that holds it into the dowel. Now you still get the guide so the staple won't swing out of position, and you're reducing strain because binder clip won't need to be constantly squeezed. Magnet will hold in place until stabbed in ground.
Rod with slot + magnet, was also my first idea 😂
Intresting.
As an engineer that used to work on robotic tooling I was also thinking staples... but stapler. You'd need a machine ship but you could totally make a stapler on a stick with a 100staple magazine.
Having a bad plan is better than no plan.
This is the MVP, minimum viable product. Make, then iterate
Rapid prototyping is such a key skill when testing an idea, great video. Also I love the mug ;D
one simple improvement so you could easily open the clip (or at least losen its grip) from the far end-
have a length of string with each end tied to each clip loop, and at the far end of the stick, a slot the string can go through.
Normally the string will be at the bottom of the slot due to the clip acting as a reset spring, and when you pull up on it (via a loop at the top, or something that otherwise gives you easy purchase on the string), it _should_ pull the clip open.
Absol-Freaking-Lutely! as a Data Scientist & Analyst, this is the primary principal in my mind as I work to develop the solution which my customers are asking for. I never set out to build the final implementation the first time. Often because after the first conversation, I often do not understand enough of what they are asking (it is their data). That is were the Iterative and incremental development process begins. I have many examples, but one early in the Pandemic with a team very new to WFH protocols, there were many emails back and forth about what they wanted to see, it was hard for me to understand it in their technical-speak. I finally asked the head honcho to take a blank sheet of paper, some colored markers and draw what he wanted with axes labeled, take a picture with your cell phone, and send it to me... 15minutes later I knew what he wanted, 4hours later he had a prototype in his hands that he felt confident to put in front of his management/customers. K.I.S.S. Always!
My mental back-of-the-napkin design: Staples ferrous? If so, drill a hole in the end of a rod. Put a magnet in the hole. Cut a groove across the diameter of the rod's face deep enough to set the staple in so it isn't pulled sideways by the magnet but instead remains perpendicular to the ground. Adjust relative "stickiness" of the magnet vs. the friction of the ground against the staple by putting the magnet shallower or deeper into the face of the rod. If it works it would save people having to fiddle with opening the binder clips every time they wanted to load a staple, and it wouldn't be much more difficult to construct than your current design. Price might be higher depending on the quality of the magnets you found you needed to use.
I know in framing/deck work, they have staple/nail guns on sticks so you can just set it down, hammer a piston, and move on to the next spot.
Honestly, I thought you'd make something like a giant office stapler, with a rail for the staples to ride in and just a long stick handle/plunger.
I came up with the binder clip idea as well as one other; rod, cut halfway through a couple inches from one end, then remove that little half cylinder chunk. Bar magnet. Quick loading, the cut-out would let you stab the staple into the ground as with your original notch idea, and the magnet would easily slide off. All that only works if the staples are magnetic, of course. More expensive, a little longer to make, but less fidgety and quicker to deploy multiple staples. So it depends what balance you want to strike.
In closing, yes, I enjoy these sorts of things. So if you're inclined to make more content along these lines, I would be into it.
I love this! A few of my programming "swings" ended up as long-term solutions at my job.
Nice! We use lawn staples to pin down Landscape Fabric in our guarden we use to keep the rows weed free. I think I might try this next year. My knees have bad circulation.
Make a wire that looks like an "h" with the upper part very long (1.50 m). The lower two legs are the staple; the upper part has the flag. It can be made of 1 wire because the staple may have a double leg on one side. You grip it at the flag location to push it in the ground and also to pull it out again. Bonus feature: It also makes a great antenna. Disadvantage: the flags are at 1.50 m height which may be 'unacceptable'.
Even if it's only 1-2 ft tall you can bend over slightly and just step on the bottom portion
I am so happy you said this. I always thought "keep it simple stupid" was kind of insulting calling someone stupid for overthinking. I now realize it probably should be "keep it simple & stupid" or even "stupid simple"
Dude I love binder clips, I have them doing all kinds of odd jobs all over my house.
cool example!
i would only add: beware the cargo cult of simplicity, the distinction between simple and simplistic and complex vs. complicated is profound IMO...
in my experience in software, but not only, a lot of time people distort the meaning of "simple", substituting that word when they actually mean "familiar", "dumbed down", and the danger is that if this is then officially considered "simple" but ends up ignoring edge or corner cases, later addressing those in a superficial way will pile on complications like no tomorrow while people will still regurgitate mantras about how a more rigorous approach is more complex... over-unengineered is even worse than over engineered ;-)
the old apocryphal story about millions of R&D that went into space pens while the Russian space program just used pencils comes to mind, when in reality pencils were actually pretty problematic when considering deviations from the happy path
My first thought was a stick with a magnet hot-glued to the end. Only problem might be keeping the staple pointed in the right orientation
KISS is one of those key things to always keep in mind. Also Do not let perfect be the enemy of good enough.
Put a couple of rubber bands or zip ties around the arms, so you can pre-tension the binder clip slightly open and make it easier to have the staple stay in the ground when you pull up.
@Deviant Olam that's exactly how early prototypes are built. Industry starts with wood and cardboard to do in initial mock up of what they modeled up in CAD.
Then look at where things are located and refine from there.
2nd prototype might be wood and cardboard again. Or it might be made from scrap metal laying around and be a little more functional.
Repeat the process until they get to a fully functional prototype. Then do testing of the device itself.
Refine more, build another functional prototype and test with any systems it ties into.
Refine again and then build another prototype and test again.
Then they might build a first article production model and do more testing again.
The two types of CAD: Computer Aided Design and Cardboard Aided Design.
@@Coderjo. Both work, but one allows you to document what you plan to do. Which in turn allows revision control and documentation control.
The other doesn't allow for traceability of what you did previously and why.
Traceability and documentation are critical to understanding what changed between prototype versions. Especially when something doesn't work, but worked on the previous prototype.
@@creamysbrianna I wasn't really intending to imply one replaces the other, merely making a bit of a joke around both having the same initials.
@@Coderjo. Sorry that's the curse of being a person who's Autistic not always picking up on sarcasm or jokes.
Thank you for sharing your fun inspiration. My homemade coffee roaster utilizes binder clips too. Over a thousand roasts later, there really is no need to change. Never underestimate the power of binder clips, nylon tie straps and aluminum wire in most projects.
Definitely appreciate the point of this video! Knowledge weighs nothing! I work as a theater tech as my second life, so thinking through both the high and low tech options is a part of life
Add a string up to the user end and two small hoops down by the lever ends to add a manual release for the paperclip.
I was just thinking a 2x2 with a light friction slot in the end, possibly friction by using two felt pads in a wider slot.😅🤷
Normally in the work shop a temporary fix, well 10 years later it's still there
Personally I would look to integrate the flag and staple. As one piece it could eliminate the need for Deviants tool altogether since the flag could make a nice handle for the staple.
woosh (no prob dont want to replace commodity landscape flags and ground staples with hundreds of custom made bespoke thingos)
@@RUclips_username. I don't think you have the maker spirit. That comment seems funny when applied to an installation that couldn't be called anything but "bespoke".
@@jmr i yes im flawed on a maker spiritual level your idea isnt just bad
@@RUclips_username. I'm glad you can admit that. It takes a lot of courage.
great stuff. looking forward to more InRange crossovers.
I'm not an engineering student anymore but a great joke (and valuable lesson) I heard all the time was "any engineer can make a bridge that can stand, but a good engineer can make a bridge that can barely stand."
You can probably add some grip tape on the inside of the binder clip and have it wrap around to the outside. Or you can 3d print something that goes inside that binder clip that looks like a mold for casting stuff, but it just holds the ground staple in place.
Really good advise deviant, I’ve heard people describe it as a “minimum viable product” thanks for another great video
"Let's try something stupid."
-Me on just about every project
Might be a little late but you can make 2-3 of those and get a team of 3 people where one guy lay the wire and 2 people placing staples after the first guy. And then you can add a hook at the other end to retrieve the lawn staple.
Use a smaller binder clip so the staple sticks out the side of it enough you can put your foot on the staple. Only need one staple leg help by the clip. Also you can reload by pushing the staple leg into the clip rather than opening the jaws every time.
You could add a 3D printed 'back stop' for the top of the 'garden staple' inside the binder clip, just something that creates a deep enough groove for the staple to seat into. The same 3D printed part could be made ever so slightly wide enough to cause the binder clip to have even less grabbing force if that was needed. I love this sort of thought exercise.
quarter inch dowel with a staple glued to the end and a flag on top set it on the wire, step on it to drive it and walk away. grab the flag and pull to remove it when you're done.
Tex, his closing thoughts on the Rifleman.
"If it's stupid, *but it works,* it isn't stupid."
Alternatively, re: the Warhammer: "'Good enough' is fucking perfect."
Be a nice idea if you could combine the flag and staple into one thing. If the rod on the flat were long enough it could be bent into a staple shape suitable for a light duty application like this I think. There might even be a flag shaped like this already?
I had expected you to turn around and walk around the gardening department to see if they sold an existing version of this there.
If you wanted to just add to what you have, which is pretty good - some Thinkpads with the USB-C charger have a small red little plastic clip on the AC adapter cable to clip onto itself. Print a couple of those to glue into the clamp to give a bit more grip and keep it straight. Not a tight enough grab to keep it from releasing.
Maybe even Lego mini fig hands?
I spent the weekend actually putting a bunch of these in, the problem you might come across using this is that if there are any rocks or something that will deform the staple going into the ground its not going to work.
If they have to put the flag in at the same time, cut a slot in the top of the binder clip as well. Put the staple in, slide the flag into the slot next to it, push into the ground and staple and flag are both set.
Retrieval of the staple can be done with a cup hook on the other end (although I would go with one of those L-shaped screw in hooks rather than a curved one for ease of hooking).
I was talking in college with a friend who didn't think he had enough time to make a costume for Halloween. I told him that you can do *something* pretty easily, and he challenged me to do it.
I took a 4x4 piece of wood, cut it to size, mitered the ends with a bandsaw, and hotglued a 1 inch PVC pipe to make a Thor hammer.
Sure. It was janky, handle flew off when I was spinning it, it was unfinished, etc, but I made something in 10 minutes. A few more hours, a little bit more money than leftovers from the scrap bin, and I have a Thor hammer with a brown handle, silver head, mitered corners, a strap, epoxied and sunken connection, it was a decent hammer.
That year, I dressed up as a freshman genchem 1 student dressed up as Thor. Not enough to win any cosplay awards, but enough to make people smile when you walk by. Brighten everyone's day with a little effort.
Also, I would be surprised if there wasn't already a product specifically for this.
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are. - Theodore Roosevelt
I was thinking take a box that is as wide as the staples, cut a slit in the bottom, fill it with staples, a spring and a follower. Attach a thin piece of sheet metal above the slit as well as a spring and a stick. Basically take a regular stapler with a stick ducktaped to the handle and scale it up to fit these lawn staples. You could add a screw to the heel of an L stabbed stick to pull them out. L shaped for more leverage. Essentially a scaled up hammer claw
The best way to do things is to not be afraid to change your method to see if there is in fact a better way of doing it. Sometimes you succeed, sometimes you fail, but you learn. I try to figure out how to improve my work flow all the time, most of the time it is just adding more work but eventually I will find something that just clicks and makes things easier. You don't know how dumb something truly is until you try it and all is well as long as you don't blow something up that doesn't need blowing up.
I don't know if you will ever read this, but there are staplers for that exact purpose. They are used to staple the pipe for underfloor heating to the underlying impact sound insulation. Edit: Costs about 85 €, so might not exactly be the thing you are looking for. Though the versions without a staple magazine are probably cheaper.
You could get a wooden rod, cut the end to fit the metal thing, and add a magnet in the wood, this way it will stay in pace and be placed very easily.
A good enough solution now, usually beats a great solution later. (The binder clips have solved many a problem).
you know what my first thought was? get a wagon that can be made flat, have 1 guy lie down on it facing backwards and just drag him around over the wire. drill a hole through some plastic cups or a bucket or something, ziptie it onto the wagon, and now you have a holder for the flags and staples. strap on some couch cushions for extra comfort.
A stick in the woods... that is a hard thing to find.
1. Failbetter. Also Fail Faster. New guidelines that we really need to remember these days. When the cost of failure is kept low as possible, you just try and itterate and GO.
2. I think the next upgrade would be a little clip on the side that also does the flag at the same time.
could tie a garbage grabber on the side of the stick, that way you can use the handle to squeeze open the clip, aka:stab, point at mate with staples, pull trigger/handle to open, load, repeat.
Make the flags about waist level from the same wire they use for political advertisements with a bend or hook on the bottom so it's all one piece. Make a quiver so going out it's as effortless as harvesting them at the end. Getting the amount of steps down to a move or two in the order of operations on any very repetitive task that involves manual labor is good for my not sober mind when gardening haha. Only problem I could see would be someone falling on one. but you could always make shepherd's hooks on the top with little 1 LED solar lights or something.
Gets my vote! Makes the staples hard to lose as well. Only minor issue is what to do with all the old staples and flags....
@@peterrendle4079 The quiver would serve as storage as well. I think it's a yearly event but I'm not 100% sure so might as well reuse them.
MVP : Minimum Viable Product
I'm a commercial superintendent, I tell my crews every day, 'I like easy". complicated usually screws up my day. Easy also makes for a more concise daily report.
I have been in wooded areas where the ground is spongy because of all of the dead leaves etc. Perhaps , if the spring is too strong for the staples to release, rubber bands could be installed on the clip handles to reduce the tension on the clamp?
Thanks for your positive energy and insights.
My mind ran to a slot and a magnet assuming those staples are made with iron.
I don't really have a way to put it in graphic design but my mind went here for an "advanced" version.
Long-ish rectangular tube sized to fit the staple attached to the side of a broomhandle. In de side of the tube is a triangular piece that the staple can slide past from top to bottom but not back past. A small magnet strong magnet just below the triangular piece retains the staple crossbar (Or another triangular piece with some flex to allow the crossbar past). Drop a staple into the tube from the top, it slides down past the triangle and stops on the magnet. Stab down to set the staple and pull the tool off. Repeat
That device number is nice. 😆
Another saying: "It's not stupid if it works."
I kept thinking the solution would've just ended up being "use your toes".
Some old-timey, time-worn aphorisms that come to mind: "Better is the enemy of good enough." And "Perfection is the enemy of progress."
My thought process:
That's just a giant staple, all I need is a giant stapler on a stick. That way it can also have an internal magazine of these staples so you don't need to bring it up and flip it over to add another etaple every time.
You need a staple, and you need a flag. Two separate items? Make them one. Get a longer flag made and have the manufacturer form the bottom into a staple shape, then you can hold the top of the flag and step on the staple part without bending down too low.
I work with a guy who is amazing at solving problems with cardboard. This is EXACTLY him
As the adage goes, "Make it work, then make it pretty."
I work in cnc machining in france.
We had a quality control issue. The guy was not happy and wanted us to machine in an entirely différent way so he could control the part in a nicer way.
Litteraly i just fixed the issue with a ruber band so we could hold the part upside down and hold a rod onto it for the control. Voila.
While you were describing the problem, I was just thinking a broom stale with a saw kerf in the end… pick the saw to give a little spring tension to hold the staple and if the friction of staple in the ground isn’t enough then a bit of a wiggle side to side probably would be…
If it’s stupid; but it works. It ain’t stupid.
as soon as the guy said "have you got anything to stop us bending over all the time" my brain went straight to just giving him a skateboard or a mechanics sled to sit on. That's how stupid simple I keep things.
My idea would have been a slot in the end of the stick, big enough to snugly fit the staple. Then drill in a small magnet to hold it.
but i guess the slot would fill with dirt and grass over time, which yours wouldnt have.
Sound advice, good example.
My first idea was a plank with four wheels. One person lying on it, putting staplers in the ground. Another person pushing it. :D
Dude, I don't even fish, but I want one of those emergency survival cards with the fish hooks for the survival pack I carry in my vehicle. Need to see if I'm on the list...
It doesn't have to be perfect when it's simple and cheap.
Too bad that camp ground thing isn't around here. It sounds so cool as I used to work at MCI in a terminal (CO) and later a maintenance tech for circuits. Would love to help with that phone network.
Also... If you could somehow integrate the staple with the flag so that they're on one piece of metal (think lowercase "h"), the recovery operation becomes that much quicker -- pull on the flag, the staple comes out with it. No recovery tool needed!
Very late to this party, but my first thought was, "why are they putting wire on the ground when they could be stringing it over the tops of trees or structures?" - no staples or markers required because it's obvious where you left the cable.