NANO-FORGES

          Manufacture of any item used to consist of lengthy production lines for each element of the finished product, even the manufacture of a simple object, for example a metal cogwheel required several different processes, first metal ores had to mined, and then smelted into raw metal, this may have been alloyed subsequently, and recast into blanks, then these blanks would have finally been cut into the desired product.

            This set of processes may be quite acceptable if more than one object would be produced, but it would be dubious to set up a huge blast furnace for the production of a single object. Nanotechnology has opened up new vistas in manufacturing technology, by manipulating matter on tiny scales, it has been possible to reproduce the products of lengthy processes of standard manufacture without the need of creating large-scale processing plants. This means that manufacture can shed loose its dependence on mass production, and batch production, nano-fabrication allows rapid and viable manufacture of one off products.

            Nano-forges is the term given a unit which houses vast number of nanites, though each at any given time is capable of only a few tasks, each nanite can rapidly adapt to pursue other functions, and when the number of nanites exceeds hundreds of billions, a nano-forge becomes a highly adaptable matter processing device.

            However nano-forges can’t make things from nothing, they require material feedstock to produce their products, these feedstocks however need not be refined materials but any crude material about, such as earth, or waste organic matter. The nano-forge’s ability to disassemble matter at the atomic and molecular scale, means that input material can be assorted to conserve useful molecules, or if a whole scale change is needed, then to render down the starting material and assemble new molecules.

            Assembly of new products is coordinated by an overseeing computer, which coordinates the nanite network into forming the required shapes and material. There are very few limits to what can be manufactured, an unsupported nano-forge has limitations in speed of production, and also the workable volume it can coordinate, however with some ancillary equipment it is feasible to create objects of nearly any volume, and with some transmutation equipment elements can be interconverted and rare elements can be synthesized from others in the feedstock.

            Nano-forges have been used for a wide range of applications, they responsible for producing most everyday objects such as furniture and tools, but have been used for much more than this. They have produced microscopic objects, even producing new nanites for other applications, and also making the nano-tools and products in medicine. On the other hand they have produced things on an entirely different scale, things as large as starships and other space infrastructure components have been put together in nano-forges.

            But in certain applications, new technologies have superceded, the challenge is mostly from new matter synthesizers, or replicators, these machines manipulate matter with fields of force rather than by nanites interacting with the matter. This technology has come a long way since it was first realized, its accuracy now surpasses nano-manufacture as it can not only place atoms precisely, but also give them precise quantum states, this ability allows it to produce very high fidelity products, and is widely used to synthesize food, and also to create precise quantum engineered products and medical products.

            However nano-forges still retain certain key advantages they are low power, especially when compared to the very high energy consumption of matter synthesizers. They are also a far more robust technology, and is much more durable than this newer technology, for this reason nano-forging is preferred over matter synthesis where possible.