I've read many times that the lathe (or rather the milling machine) can
be used to duplicate itself and to make any other machine in the shop.
On the other hand, I've also read that some lathes are too small to do
anything with. That led me to wonder whether those two statements might
contradict each other.

Specifically, suppose you have a small lathe and milling machine in
a shop. Can you use them to make a bigger lathe and bigger milling
machine? And, if so, can you use the resulting lathe and milling machine
to make still bigger ones, and so on?

Ignorantly,
Allan Adler


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* Disclaimer: I am a guest and *not* a member of the MIT Artificial *
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