Fri 27 May 2011
Posted by Chris
Greetings from Factor e Farm.
Life has been busy around here.
We’re in the middle of a production run, so we’re working pretty much round the clock. What’s cool is that as we’re building things, we’re finding all these things to improve about the process. There’s a lot of room to grow, and we’re pumping out a lot.
Here’s a few photos of the past week. (more…)
Sun 22 May 2011
Posted by Chris
Hello everyone. I’m Chris Fornof, the newest member of Factor e Farm.
Well, here was my first 4 days.
Day 1:
Fri 5 Nov 2010
Posted by Marcin
We have finally started construction after spending most of the year developing equipment. We finished the CEB press on Tuesday. The open source Tractor, CEB press, Power Cube, and Soil Pulverizer are now in action. The main obstacle of soil handling has been declared solved.
CEB Construction Time from Marcin Jakubowski on Vimeo.
We began building the columns for the modular construction system as described in a previous post.
We have until November 14 before we cut off our building experiments due to weather. We have an open invitation to anyone who wants to help. We will be out there until Nov. 14. By then, we aim to complete 2-4 modular sections, 16×16 feet each. We have the concrete pads already prepared. Whatever we don’t finish we will take up in spring starting April 1, 2011 – towards a complete workshop as in the former post.
We still need materials for the remailing 3 truss sections and 4 roof sections. We reported that the trusses total $250 per section ($750 total). Sheet metal roofing is $300 per section, for about 400 square feet including 3 foot overhangs ($1200 total). This covers over 1000 square feet of floor space, and the entire workshop will be three times this size – to allow comfortable production of 4 CEB presses or tractors at one time. The workshop is intended to help fund the revolution, under the assumption that we get our ducks in a row with marketing.
The interesting part is that we aim to demonstrate that it takes only 3 full days per 16×16 foot section with only 2 people working, including roof and columns, but no infill walls. We aim to get to this point as a result of the next 9 days of practice. We’re shaking down all the parts of the method, and so far the soil pulverizing workflow is solved. Our optimization includes installing the automatic controls for the CEB press by Sunday. Chip in:
Thu 14 Oct 2010
Posted by Marcin
We have completed Prototype II of the Power Cube – a universal, self-contained hydraulic power source. This power unit contains hydraulic quick-connects so that any other mechanical power device may be connected. A single Power Cube I (18 hp) has been used to power LifeTrac II as shown in the last post. Power Cube II will be added to LifeTrac II – so it will be powered by 2 Power Cubes, totalling 35 hp.
See a brief walk-through:
The Blender file may be downloaded here for anyone interested in replication and collaboration – the 3D design represents the build exactly. The complete build video is this 50 minute piece:
How to build an OSE Power Cube (full length) from Will OSE on Vimeo.
Here is an overview of OSE Specifications for Power Cube II.
We will demonstrate stackability of the Power Cubes shortly. The next larger step in the evolution of the Power Cube is to incorporate our implementation of the modern steam engine, as opposed to a gasoline engine. The advantage is that we could then use home-grown pelletized biomass as a fuel source. We’ve already alluded to lawn mowers being powered by their own grass clippings. That is one of the realities that we believe are forthcoming in the near future – after MicroTrac and our steam engine are deployed.
Mon 23 Aug 2010
Posted by Marcin
This is a rendering of Prototype II of the open source, design-for-disassembly tractor, LifeTrac. You can download the source in Blender format.
This is the reality of the completed frame, with the wheels and wheel motors, minus the PowerCube engine unit.
(download photo shoot in hi res here)
Now hang the 18 horsepower PowerCube I on the rear of the frame, and take it for the first test drive.
LifeTrac II Test Drive from Marcin Jakubowski on Vimeo.
This insane freak purrs like a cat and rips the ground. Major success. (more…)
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Mon 26 Apr 2010
Posted by Marcin
A universal mechanical power source is one of the key components of the Global Village Construcgtion Set – the set of building blocks for creating resilient communities. The basic concept is that instead of using a dedicated engine on a particular powered device – which means hundreds of engines required for a complete resilient community, you need one (or a few) power unit. If this single power unit can be coupled readily to the powered device of interest, then we have the possibility of this single power unit being interchangeable between an unlimited number of devices. Our implementation of this is the hydrauilic PowerCube – whose power can be tapped simply by attaching 2 hydraulic hoses to a device of interest. A 3/4″ hydraulic hose such as this
can transfer up to 100 horsepower in the form of usable hydraulic fluid flow.
You may have seen our prior report on PowerCube as the power source for MicroTrac. The question is – how flexible can the PowerCube be? We ask this question from the standpoint of the PowerCube’s suitability as an essential component for building resilient communities – or, how radically small can your infrastructure tool-set be, if your goal is creating a modern, high quality of life?
To shed some light on this question, we mounted the PowerCube on LifeTrac, our open source tractor – to demonstrate the radical interchangeability of parts. This radical modularity is the key to what we promote as the life-size Lego set for real technology. We mounted the PowerCube on the rear receiver of LifeTrac, and ran LifeTrac with it. Here are the results:
One conclusion is clear. The PowerCube concept of power unit interchangeability is sound. (more…)
Sun 28 Mar 2010
Posted by Marcin
William and I have been hashing out the details of construction for the coming year. Our plan is at this wiki page and further details on techniques to be used are here. We are currently planning on a CEB-straw bale hybrid – a double CEB brick wall with straw bale inside. We expect the R-value to be at least 40 – making it a super-insulated house. Add the solar space in front, and we would not need a pile of firewood for winter, as shown in the following video. The video shows the location for this construction – close to the water well so we can have year-round water without doing too much trenching for water pipe.
Noteworthy features are CEB floor, masonry stove, living roof, rainwater catchment, greenhouse in front, open source air-powered water pump, our own lumber, CEB water cistern, and keyhole growing space right in front. This means that in May, we will build LifeTrac II, PowerCube II, and the dimensional sawmill. In June and July, we’ll test the toolchain – cut lumber, test stabilized and lime bricks, do the well pump and prepare water lines, do site preparation, build trusses from our lumber, prepare brick rollers, test slurry mixes, and other details. If we’re on top of it, we’ll begin the wall-raising on August 1st, and hold a CEB hybrid construction workshop.
In the meantime, we invite open architecture collaboration – coming up with technical drawings and models, as well as working out the details on all the other house subsystems.
Sun 31 Jan 2010
Posted by Marcin
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:
(Credits: Aigars Bruvelis in Blender)
Here is a CEB floor example from Abe at Vela Creations:
See more of his photos here.
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.
Tue 7 Jul 2009
Posted by Marcin
MicroTrac is the craziest power tool that I’ve seen. A powered unicycle? Mobile replacement wheel for LifeTrac, the open source tractor? Universal power source? It’s perhaps best to call it a walk-behind tractor. See the development from the drawing board by Jeremy:
to reality:
Its parts, including the Power Cube, are interchangeable with LifeTrac. We can take the wheel off MicroTrac and put it on LifeTrac. We can take off the wheel motor from MicroTrac, and use it to power shop tools. The even more crazy universal machining center is forthcoming. We’re thinking it may be called MegaRep – the Mega version (8×8 feet) of the cubic RepRap structure – now for handling heavy machining of all sorts.
How much did MicroTrac cost? With design-for-disassembly, modular construction – it’s hard to tell. The Power Cube, wheel, quick-attach motor and cylinder are totally interchangeable with other devices. Does that mean that MicroTrac cost about $125 for the virgin steel, shaft, bearings, and bolts – which went into its basic frame, up to the two quick attach plates. Such ecological economics break norms of standard cost accounting.
With the CEB 2 power source now done, we’re moving on to the soil and slurry preparation equipment, and finally CEB 2.
Mon 29 Jun 2009
Posted by Marcin
Power Cube is our open source, self-contained, modular, interchangeable, hydraulic power unit for all kinds of power eguipment. It has an 18 hp gasoline engine coupled to a hydraulic pump, and it will later be be powered by a flexible-fuel steam engine. Power Cube will be used to power MicroTrac (under construction) and it is the power source for the forthcoming CEB Press Prototype 2 adventures. It is designed as a general power unit for all devices at Factor e Farm, from the CEB press, power take-off (PTO) generator, heavy-duty workshop tools, even to the LifeTrac tractor itself. Power Cube will have a quick attachment, so it can be mounted readily on the quick attach plate of LifeTrac. As such, it can serve as a backup power source if the LifeTrac engine goes out. See the construction of Power Cube, and demonstration of it powering the PTO generator:
The noteworthy features are modularity, hydraulic quick-couplers, lifetime design, and design-for-disassembly. Any device can be plugged in readily through the quick couplers. 
It can be maintained easily because of its transparency of design, ready access to parts, and design for disassembly. It is a major step towards realizing the true, life-size Erector Set or Lego Set of heavy-duty, industrial machinery in the style of Industrial Swadeshi. Via open source, it is now becoming accessible to everybody. With the addition of local biofuel (pyrolysis oil) and steam engines, we await the time where local production is a reality.
