[samclem]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cute fuzzy bunny I've discovered that 98% of "must be assembled/operated by two people" issues can be resolved by a few screws or a roll of tape.

True, and finding the 2% share can be a lot of fun. Example: The "two man dirt auger" really can't be operated safely by one person. This is the post-hole digger with the motor mounted on top and the big auger bit. No matter how motivated you are. No matter how much you think the "two man" thang is just something they have to say because of liability issues/personal injury lawyers.




If you DID try to operate one of these things by yourself, it would work just fine. It would dig much faster than you could ever do it by hand, and you might even congratulate yourself for saving the $20/day more that the one-man auger would have cost. You might say, "man, this is going fast, it's great," and give 'er the gas. Then, you'd hit the first tree root of the day and go for the ride of your life. This would happen repeatedly--spinning you into all manner of things. At one point you could be digging a hole next to the phone pole when you hit a rock and go for a ride. And your hand would get pinned between the handle of the auger and the phone pole. And the throttle lever, on the outside of the handlebars, is pinned down also, jammed into your knuckles and in "full gas" position, urging the beast to squash your hand even more and pinning you to the death machine.

Don't ask me how I know.

The one man-dirt auger, with the engine mounted on a wheeled dolly and the auger bit on a simple lever arm, can safely be operated by a child and offers no comparable excitement