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Comment by aaron695 | Hacker News Reader

Time between 1990 to now is not linear.

The web kicked off in the late 90's, picked up the 2000's but not real fast, and now is really flying and one assumes it will continue to accelerate.

Power tools are amazing. And that's the internet pushing them. I can see reviews with each new advancement anywhere in the world. They can see R&D around the world. Each company has to keep up and so do the counterfeiters. I'll order from overseas if they are not available local. Power tools augment humans, you can see people's home improvements getting more complex which is also pushed by the internet. Everything is in hyper mode.

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What major power tool innovations have happened since 1990? Battery tech is the only big one I can think of.

Saw brakes. Both Bosch (outside the US) and SawStop have technology where a current in the blade can detect the resistance of something that isn't wood and throw a brake before the blade can damage your hand. The Bosch one doesn't even break the blade, though the SawStop one does. The patents are still snarling it up, but it'll happen eventually.

Also, accuracy and precision on smaller/cheaper tools. I have a "jobsite table saw", which is a thoroughly budget one by comparison to a big ol' cabinet saw. And being a smaller saw has a lot of problems, but one that stopped being a problem is a rack-and-pinion fence even on fairly cheap (~$300) table saws that provides really, really solid accuracy.

Brushless motors, variable speed controls on everything, keyless chucks... new tools such as 3D printer... or this:

https://www.shapertools.com/en-us/

For me: The auto spooling weed eater. The hinges hedge trimmer than means I don’t need a ladder and can just walk along with it and cut the top. And to go with the tools, decent and readily available safety equipment. Not really a tool - home automation via ESP chips to water the garden.

The big refinement other than going to lithium batteries is the adoption of brushless DC motor technology.

That's not a small factor though as it reduces size and weight considerably. Also motor and motor control tech has improved significantly.

Substantial cost decreases as east Asian manufacturing matured. I'm not sure if that counts as an innovation.

Brushless Motors

Power Tool KickBack Control (and just safety, were dB warnings big in the 90's? Ergonomic's are improving)

Drill bit/blades/disk composition/tech.

The fact I can (almost) throw out tools that you'd never have seen in a garage in the 90's.

And if we are not children and can talk about such things, they can look good. (Although the 90's tools are now retro and also have an aesthetic)

Track down a power tools catalogue from the 90's

Like computers, every thing was invented before the 80's. But now it's usable and accessible.

And yes, the 80% is probably batteries and cost. But there's a lot in the 20% too.

Going off topic but putting a clear window on stick vacuum cleaners literally gamified vacuuming. What that means for asthma for instance we will see over the years.

Battery adapter's (ie. Milwaukee to Makita) went from 3d printed on ebay to injected moulded over a short period.

The female market has been increasing since the 90/00's and is continuing to increase.

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