Revolution

[Felch]

Yeah, making smokeless powder and primers would be a bit trickier than black powder, but it's still basically mid-19th century tech. If I were a post-apocalyptic warlord it would be somewhere on my list of priorities to find some chemist who can figure out how to synthesize some replacement powder and primers.

[Lorizael]

S.M. Stirling has a series of books with this idea.

It's not new

ACK!

The show actually is based on the Dies the Fire stuff.

[Tuberski]

Maybe it's because trade has broken down so they don't have access to the ingredients of modern propellants. Also there must have been a massive die-off of the human population in the first few months after the blackout began so the remaining population may not include people with the necessary skills to synthesize chemicals. Still, fortunately we haven't completely abandoned libraries, so books with the necessary information should be available still. Also, the people look remarkably well dressed. Oh, and why couldn't people make diesel engines? They don't use electricity. A diesel would be a ***** to crank, but I've actually lived in a house that had a crank started back-up diesel generator.

Even crank starting is inducing a voltage to get it to start, so that wouldn't work.

ACK!

[The Mad Monk]

AFAIK, diesels just use pressure, not spark plugs. With the exception of glow plugs used for cold weather starting, diesels need no electricity to run.

[Hauldren Collider]

All hydraulic controlls would go down though.

Why would hydraulics stop working?

[Hauldren Collider]

AFAIK, diesels just use pressure, not spark plugs. With the exception of glow plugs used for cold waether starting, diesels need no electricity to run.

This is correct. You can start some diesel engines just by dropping a cylinder, I think.

[dannubis]

As an answer to the hydraulics question:

Because they are driven by electrical pumps.

[dannubis]

This is correct. You can start some diesel engines just by dropping a cylinder, I think.

If you have an explosive then yes. Otherwise you typically need an electical engine to start a diesel.

[The Mad Monk]

If you are a noodle armed nancy boy, sure.

[dannubis]

So you are going to start based on your muscle power a modern diesel generator ?

I am impressed.

[The Mad Monk]

Generators don't work, remember?




Ta-da.

[Felch]

To be fair, that guy is Australian. They're known for being a race of psychotic badasses who while away time discussing the platonic knifiness of objects and wrestling dingos.

[regexcellent]

If you have an explosive then yes. Otherwise you typically need an electical engine to start a diesel.

No. You need a ripcord, like on a lawnmower. That's it. For a big diesel engine you'd have to use a smaller engine to start it. Airplanes use their APUs to start their jet engines; this isn't unprecedented.

[The Mad Monk]

Yep, it's diesels all the way down.

[Dr Strangelove]

The hand cranked diesel back up generator we used was ridiculously big. The diesel engine had two 5 inch cylinders and stood 5 feet tall. The crank was 15 inches long and was geared so you'd actually turn it several time to get the piston pushed to the top of the cylinder.