Archive for August, 2008
Thursday, August 28th, 2008
Factor e Live – Episode 7
Here is a video update on the solar turbine project and the open source tractor – plus other fruits of Factor e Farm:
Stay tuned for the next episode. The front-end loader is already on LifeTrac, we connected the Factor e Liberator CEB press to LifeTrac, and we’re in the process of making sample production …
9 Comments » - Posted in Factor e Live by Marcin
Tuesday, August 19th, 2008
Solar Turbine, Cast of Characters, and CEB Press
Stuart, Elliot, and I are here on the Solar Turbine:
For the next two weeks we will iron out the details – right now it looks like a set of 40 foot long, 2-foot wide slats – 4 of these in total – with 48x solar concentration. Cost is about $750 for this phase, …
No Comments » - Posted in Challenges,Collaborators,Industrial Swadeshi by Marcin
Monday, August 18th, 2008
Factor e Live – Part 6 – Solar Turbine Beginnings
Here is video documentation for making the first two parabolic reflectors for the Solar Turbine project:
The Solar Turbine Convergence is here – Elliot and I are continuing on the next reflector version, and we are picking up Stuart today.
We’d like to note that we ran into a serious snag with using 4′ …
4 Comments » - Posted in Open Source Technology,Solar concentrator,Solar Energy,Solar Turbine by Marcin
Sunday, August 17th, 2008
Factor e Live – Part 5 – LifeTrac Takes Baby Steps
We showed the construction of our open source tractor frame in Factor e Live Part 3. Here we show LifeTrac running under the power of its own motor:
Next steps: mounting the front end loader, building a rototiller, and mounting a backhoe. In the meantime, the Solar Turbine Convergence is here – Elliot is here, …
6 Comments » - Posted in Factor e Live,LifeTrac by Marcin
Friday, August 15th, 2008
Earth Plaster
Hi, this is Travis. My cousin, Ben, and I had a last minute opportunity to visit Factor E Farm. Ben has been helping with the open source Solar Turbine project and I am trying to get the earth plaster operation started. Last month I had the fortune of working at …
No Comments » - Posted in Natural Building by Travis
Sunday, August 10th, 2008
Rapid Prototyping for Industrial Swadeshi
There is a significant set of open source technologies available for rapid prototyping in small workshops. By combining 3D printing with low-cost metal casting, and following with machining using a computer controlled Multimachine, the capacity arises to make rapid prototypes and products from plastic and metal. This still does not address the feedstocks used, …
3 Comments » - Posted in Digital Fabrication,Flexible Fabrication,Global Village Construction Set,Industrial Swadeshi,Open Engineering by Marcin
Saturday, August 9th, 2008
On Organizational Form: Questioning the Unquestioned
I started the concept of Open Source Ecology back in 2003 when I was finishing grad school. Then we started a non-profit corporation in the state of Wisconsin, by name of Open Source Ecology, Inc (OSE Inc), later that year. Our initial site – see sourceopen.org – is found at archive.org.
Indeed, you can read …
1 Comment » - Posted in Open Source Economic Development by Marcin
Friday, August 8th, 2008
Solar Breakthrough
The trick for making solar thermal electrical generation a reality is to reduce the cost of the solar thermal collector system to absolute minimum. Why? If one familiarizes oneself with the costs of putting such a system together – it becomes apparent why solar thermal electrical generation is not widely used. As elegant as …
1 Comment » - Posted in Solar Energy,Solar Turbine by Marcin
Wednesday, August 6th, 2008
Factor e Live Part 4 – Digging for Water Completed
In part one of “Digging for Water”, we drilled a hole 85 feet deep, hit water, and tried to insert a 6 inch casing (pvc pipe) into the hole. When the 6 inch pipe didn’t fit, we decided to use a 4 inch casing. Although the 4 inch casing dropped much deeper …
3 Comments » - Posted in Accomplishments,Factor e Live,Global Village Construction Set,Open Source Technology,Water Well Drilling by Brittany
Sunday, August 3rd, 2008
LifeTrac Alive!
Yesterday, LifeTrac rolled out of the shop under the power of its own engine. It purred like a cat, turning smoothly over the ground with its articulated steering. Brittany, Jessica, and I celebrated with elderberry champagne. Farm-fresh organic, of course.
That was a great moment for the Global Village Construction Set – as I am …
