For those of you who do not know, I’ve been hard at work on the design of the open source Ironworker Prototype II and plan on building it this winter at my grandfather’s fabrication shop, Enniss Inc. I’m calling out to fellow fabricators and engineers to help with the Ironworker design, so we can place the design of this very important tool into the repository of common knowledge. For those of you not familiar with the importance of an ironworker machine – it is the heart of any custom metal fabrication shop – a shop that can build any of the mechanical devices of the Global Village Construction Set.
This prototype will be the second version of the Ironworker. As well as having the 120T punch, this prototype will be able to shear 1”x12” flat and 6”x6”x1/2” angle steel. There will be a “tool cavity,” a space below the punching arm to which many accessory tools can attach. This will enable the machine to not only have the features above, but also attachments like brakes, notchers, and rod shears.
Scotchman 120T Ironworker
I had another design nearly developed using a vertical shear, but trashed it when I realized how much better it could be with optional attachments. And now, I’m stuck.
The first design version (1.0) of Prototype II
I need help designing the lower arm and flat shear. (more…)
My background is in Computer software & development, Technical writing, Hydraulics and electrical power control systems. I have a small software consulting business in Dallas.
I found out about OSE mid 2011 and found their “Open Source” principles intriguing, as I have been a proponent of Open Source software for decades.
After corresponding with Marcin, I arrived Thursday, August 4, 2011 to start a Dedicated Project Visit, with focus on Power Cube documentation.
Last year, we have begun work on the automatic, open source chicken incubator – Hexahatch. It did not work well, primarily because the big rotor was too heavy. This year’s design – Hexahatch v2.0 – was changed to a simpler, still-air design, with a flat disk as the rotor for turning the eggs. We finally have a working prototype, after replacing a faulty thermostat and after upgrading the motor to a stronger one. See the incubator in action:
Here is an explanation of the build and issues involved: (more…)
William has been here for 2 months already, and here’s his second Dedicated Project Visit report. Don’t miss this video if you want to see 3D models and a time-lapse video of LifeTrac II – the second prototype of the open source tractor – coming together. You can read about our first prototype here.
So I’ve been here at Factor e Farm for 1 month. I am living and breathing the Open Source Ecology lifestyle and working on different projects. When I arrived at the start of May I had a little Q&A session with Marcin to talk about ideas, visions and how I was going to help out. In this short video we talk about the last months progress and what we look forward to achieving in the next month.
I finally arrived at Factor e Farm for my dedicated project visit. Meet me – and find out why I came here and what I will do in the next 3 months.
As an initial overview for me, and for the rest of the audience – Marcin takes us into the Factor e Farm One Room Schoolhouse and gives a lecture on where Factor e Farm is at the moment and what its plans are for the future. This short lesson provides a breakdown of the inspirational vision of the Open Source Ecology movement:
William took a course on brick laying last week back in the UK, in preparation for the CEB construction adventures of Solar Village 2010 this year at Factor e Farm. Here is some documentation from his course:
We are currently in the phase of fabrication optimization for the high performance, open source, Compressed Earth Brick (CEB) press. This is our route to financial bootstrapping of the research and development efforts. We are looking for people interested in Dedicated Project Visits on flexible fabrication.
Flexible fabrication is a blend of a generally-equipped workshop with the hands of a multi-skilled fabricator. Flexible fabrication in the digital age implies the assist of digital fabrication. To take full advantage of available modern technology, the skilled digital craftsperson has to gain proficiency in the entire process chain from open source design and collaboration, CAD, build, electronics, programming, and other skills as needed.
From the standpoint of resilient communities and the neosubsistence lifestyle, the technology is not the end-all but merely a step to sustainable living. (more…)
William Cleaver will be joining us at Factor e Farm on May 1 for a Dedicated Project Visit. He’s coming from across the big pond – from the United Kingdom – and we are planning for a 3 month stay.
William is not a novice to creative dexterity – he’s involved in repair and demolition of industrial chimney stacks and natural draught cooling towers – at heights. See for yourself:
He has experience with various tools, welding brickwork, ropework, woodwork, and general shop. He’s traveled the world, studied Romance languages, taught English in Chile, and is certified to teach high ropes courses. He is now showing great interest in the deeper message of post-scarcity, resilient community creation.
We discussed the following tentative plan, with both of us working in the shop and as needed:
May – Work on finishing or building Sawmill/LifeTrac II/MicroTrac II/ anciliary implements for construction – all in preparation for building.
June – begin building autonomous, zero energy housing with solar space. Experiment with CEB floors, CEB masonry stove and chimney, stabilized bricks, stabilized reject lime bricks, stabilized brick walkway and driveway, stabilized retaining walls, and others. We plan on winter food garden and sprouting in the solar space. If progress on the steam engine goes well, we’ll aim to install combined heat and power on the masonry stove.
July – continue building until comfortable accommodations for the winter are ready for several people.
We’re looking at building zero energy homes that look tentatively like this:
Other than this, William is learning Kdenlive on Linux for movie editing, as well as and QCad for CAD work. These are staple tools now at Factor e Farm. William will begin preparing some of the technical drawings for the sawmill, so we can collaborate on making that happen over distance until his arrival.
We do want to consider bringing in additional help from the CEB general contractor, Floyd (see last blog post). We will consider hosting a CEB workshop if progress is good. If the CEB fabrication is going well – there could be resources generated to really get things moving forward, and continue to build more structures. I think now is the beginning of really settling into the land – and getting the place to look half-way presentable. We’re open to all kinds of ideas, such as the proposed CEB vault construction and others – but we’d need other people to get involved to push those projects forward. Otherwise, we’re sticking to basics and all types of experiments in the process.
We are farmer scientists - working to develop a world class research center for decentralization technologies using open source permaculture and technology to work together for providing basic needs and self replicating the entire operation at the cost of scrap metal. We seek societal transformation through interconnected self-sufficient villages and homes. This is a stepping stone to transcending survival and evolving to freedom. Factor e Farm is the land-based facility where we put this theory, Open Source Ecology, into practice. More
I think this is a fascinating project, and one that John Robb has highlighted as an example of the potential for community fabrication. — Jeff Vail, Blog
