I remember reading an article featured here which mentioned something about power-tools being some of the most under utilised products purchased by most households with an average usage time of 20 minutes or so in a lifetime.
So my proposal is to have the local DIY/Home Fix store have a On-Demand Power-tools corner with mix-n-match possibilities!
A power-tool in essence consist of these 4 elements which I have narrowed down to:
- A Handle of some sort
- Drill/Tool Bit
- Rotational Drive Shafting
- Power Plant
Of which I have condensed into the 4 modular blocs of the tool:
A. Handle/Power Plant (H.P.)
Cylindrical high capacity capacitor units with nice kraton grips for those sweaty palms. Battery packs are to be charged and maintained by the DIY store (hopefully in a environmentally-friendly manner since the customer rents it for a couple of days and shouldn’t be bothered with this task). This maintenance of the tools can be efficiently carried out and malfunctioning parts and can be easily identified and sent for servicing.
B. Central Hub
The core of any power-tool you require, it contains a multi-directional heavy duty servo rig that can be oriented to any of the 6 connector holes available featuring a dual twist locking system (i.e. twisting right then left and right again… you get the drift)
C. Tool/Drill Bit
Be it saw, drill, screwdriver or any form of tooling that involves rotational drive, it would be part of the arsenal.
Lastly there are the miscellaneous components like switches and hub-covers to patch up unused connector holes etc.
Errata: In the drill drawing, the cylinder in the centre was supposed to be an additional connector shaft in between the the two hubs to provide enough torque to get that hole you want in your wall.
P.S. Come to think of it it must have been apollo/soyuz memories from childhood that provided inspiration XD