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This brings to mind the other post about the Amish that's on today's front page. I believe the Amish sometimes use compressed air as an alternative form of power.

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Also quite popular in mines because it doesn't create sparks.

I read an article in a woodworking magazine about how one Amish woodworking shop was built to avoid using electricity. The whole shop ran off a stationary diesel engine driving a shaft in a floor trench and belt drove the larger stationary machinery like band saws, table saws, planers, drill presses, joiners and so on. But what about hand tools? A large belt driven air compressor off the diesel engine handled a myriad of air power tools like drills, orbital sanders, buffers and all that. Really neat setup.

Also adds a ton of pollution from using (often old and poorly maintained) Diesel engines in the name of avoiding the electric grid. Adding to that, compressed air is a much less efficient source of power than using electricity directly.

Yes, but air tools can be really nice to use,esp for grinding, cutting, sanding operations. For one, you can press/dig hard enough to bog or stop the tool and nothing hapoens - you just pick it uo and it speeds back uo again - do that with an electric tool and you'll have a dead motor paperweight real soon.

Air tools can also be lighter and no worries abt damaging the cord or carrying the battery.

Many good air tools can also have a better feel, especially if you can control the air flow trigger.

(I don't have a bias either way, use both in my shop, but just wanted to point out that both have advantages)

I agree - air tools are awesome in some cases, although modern brushless tools are often competitive if not superior to air tools compared to how things were a decade ago.

My complaint, really, is just how selfish it is to go out of your way to use a dirty energy source as a workaround for limits in your personal belief system.

Yes, I've also noticed that the new brushless motor tools are often great!

And yes, using diesel to power your compressor on a regular (non-emergency) is more than a bit wasteful.

I totally get their insistence on staying off-grid, and it is good to read that they seem to be positive towards solar, so we can hope that takes over soon! From the bits I've read about their ethos, it certainly should have the advantage of further reduced dependency on outside systems, in this case, a one-off purchase of solar panels & kit will eliminate ongoing dependence on the entire fossil fuel supply chain.

My father once told me that a lot of machine shops used to be set up that way, except that the powered shaft ran along the ceiling instead of in a floor trench. "Just throw a belt up over the shaft" and attach it to the machine you want to use, was how he described it.

I don't know if it's still there, but there used to be a fancy restaurant in the Eastlake part of Seattle that had started out that way, and still had the old Art Deco-ish drive shaft running around the ceiling. It was a neat touch point when I saw it and remembered my dad's description from years before.

Yes, the industrial revolution was powered this way. Water wheels and steam engines as central power plants, with power distributed mechanically.

My understanding is that this paradigm was incredibly dangerous, with a lot of workers losing hands and arms in accidents. Turning on or off a given machine involved physically putting the belt on or pulling it off, and you could easily get caught in it. A very clever system for the technology of the day, but it's good we don't use it anymore, at least without more advanced safety mechanisms and practices.

I would have assumed they would have clutches so that individual machines could be disengaged. The large open belts running up to the drive shaft on the ceiling were dangerous regardless.

I thought the whole schtick of the Amish was that they don't allow themselves to become reliant on technology, electricity just being an example. I doubt that Amish guy knows how to rebuild that engine should it fail.

They don't believe in having technology in the home. Most Amish are perfectly willing to work with modern equipment for their shops and businesses. Go by an Amish milking shed anywhere in the country--as my dad would say 'they're lit up like a shit house in the fog'. Electric lights from one end to the other with modern milkers inside.

The Amish only allow technology that they think will improve their lives. Many have cell phones, but don't use Facebook for example. I'd also bet he could repair the engine if he needed to.

There was a comment somewhere where they used modern cnc machines to make parts for their air tools.

This is basically how most indistrial setups was before engines and motors became a commodity. You had water wheels as your main power source, from which other tools was driven via belts and gears.

Later the waterwheel was replaced by an electric motor or a fuel powered engine - but still built around just one source of power, with elaborate setups to drive different tools. With the added benefits you could build factories and workshops outside main water sources.

There is a wonderful museum in Windsor Vermont called American Precision Museum which still has the original overhead shaft and pulley system along with machinery. Went there in the early 90's as a kid and they did mention that it was converted to electric and the motors were still working supposedly.

The Edison museum in Orange NJ also has such a preserved shop setup but electric driven by one or two big motors on an elevated platform.

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