Factor E Farm Blog

The open source induction furnace project discussed previously is moving forward. We are currently evaluating bids, as you can see at the induction furnace project management site. This marks a point in our organizational history where we are beginning to outsource work, consistent with the proposed open source development pipeline process. Outsourcing is an industry standard for mainstream enterprise, but it can also be useful for scaling open source economic development. In particular, it appears that we found bidders fully capable of handling the project, including possibility of building the actual system. Read the bidding negotiations at the project management site for details.

In its limit, this type of outsourcing process can be an effective route towards open-sourcing the entire economy. All it takes is an organized and funded effort. The technical skill is available, but conversion of technology into open source form requires the nurturing hand of many technologically-literate generalists.

The concept for the OS induction furnace is:

The concept embodies a universal power source for induction melting and heating. The founding principle is (more…)

The open source induction furnace project discussed previously is moving forward. We are currently evaluating bids, as you can see at the induction furnace project management site. This marks a point in our organizational history where we are beginning to outsource work, consistent with the proposed open source development pipeline process. Outsourcing is an ...

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Sweden is not exactly sunny at this time of the year, but the Nordic people are lovely.

So far, it’s been a mind-blowing experience at the Free Society Conference and Nordic Summit (FSCONS 2009). One cannot explain it in writing – not even by watching the videos – because it is the atmosphere of freedom and high level work around it that makes this conference so interesting. The place is exploding with pure passion on the topic, and its flavor seems less academic than the Oekonux Conference.

Here is the talk that we’re presenting today on the work of Factor e Farm. I look forward to cracking the limits of consciousness with it – even though there’s nothing original in it. It is integration of learnings, and an attempt to put them together to a viable pattern for society.

I’ll report more on the findings from the conference later.

Sweden is not exactly sunny at this time of the year, but the Nordic people are lovely. So far, it's been a mind-blowing experience at the Free Society Conference and Nordic Summit (FSCONS 2009). One cannot explain it in writing - not even by watching the videos - because it is the atmosphere of freedom ...

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Here is our formal initial announcement of the 10-day Compressed Earth Block (CEB) Vault Construction Workshop. It will be held at Factor e Farm, in the Kansas City area, Missouri, USA, at the end of September, 2009.

Examples: Modern, earth-sheltered vault homes made of compressed earth have been built in Germany and other countries, but we know of no precedent in America. This is an example from Germany:

Here is another vault home as seen from the inside:

Workshop Description: This is North America’s first workshop on the construction of vaults from CEBs. This is a hands-on, immersion workshop in which participants will work on the construction of a vaulted house with a living roof and solar design. In this workshop, you will get hands-on experience in the entire process of building a CEB vault with a structural, arched roof made of the same material. We will be building a triple-vault structure similar to the one shown in a previous post. We are calling it Inga’s House. We will use wooden forms as guides for the vault to make this accessible to entry-level builders. There is a limit of 25 participants for each session of this workshop, so reserve your space early by filling out the 2009 pplication. Preference will be given to those with experience in building. (more…)

Here is our formal initial announcement of the 10-day Compressed Earth Block (CEB) Vault Construction Workshop. It will be held at Factor e Farm, in the Kansas City area, Missouri, USA, at the end of September, 2009. Examples: Modern, earth-sheltered vault homes made of compressed earth have been built in Germany and other countries, but ...

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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:

Click to play

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.

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 ...

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An automatic water provision system is one of the foundations of a Global Village infrastructure. Yesterday we got one step closer to this with a successful demonstration of an air-powered water pump that Guy suggested. We will install this pump in our well, which we dug last year and which still has a manual pump handle. This will add an automatic sub-surface water source to our existing rainwater collection system, which we pressurize in a water pressure tank for distribution to the solar shower, sink, and dish washing station by the garden. Here are the results:

Click To Play

The good part is that the materials for the pump cost $30 (a bit lower than $600 off-shelf versions), not counting the air compressor or automatic timing. The next step is to add an automatic timer, connected to a solenoid, to turn the air pressure from the compressor on and off at the required intervals. We estimate that the duty cycle may be two seconds on followed by 6 seconds off. The video shows about 2 and 2 second cycles, respectively. We would appreciate any help on electronic timer and solenoids of choice.

Build one for yourself in a couple of hours. Some instructions are found on the OSE wiki.

An automatic water provision system is one of the foundations of a Global Village infrastructure. Yesterday we got one step closer to this with a successful demonstration of an air-powered water pump that Guy suggested. We will install this pump in our well, which we dug last year and which still has a ...

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Found this video some time ago made by the Health Ranger from Naturalnews.com and after speaking with the fellows at Factor e Farm we see having one of these pumps as a top priority. The problem is they cost $600 and that’s out of this budget so my question is do any of you have access to the design for a pump like this or own one that you can take apart and take pictures of the internals so we can make our own?

Any help would be great. Also if after watching this video you choose to buy one a possible option would be having it shipped to Factor e first so they can break it down to understand its design and then it will be put back together and shipped to you

Thank you for your time..

PS by Marcin: We came up with the following design:

See the wiki page on the Compressed Air Water Pump for further details.

Found this video some time ago made by the Health Ranger from Naturalnews.com and after speaking with the fellows at Factor e Farm we see having one of these pumps as a top priority. The problem is they cost $600 and that’s out of this budget so my question is do any of ...

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For the record, we keep log books/journals at Factor e Farm. Anyone visiting for more than one week is required to make a notebook for records, data, pictures, numbers, etc. This is useful for keeping track of Factor e Farm history, passing on work to future team members, and for other development streamlining. See how we make a sample book – a video from last summer with Bob:

For the record, we keep log books/journals at Factor e Farm. Anyone visiting for more than one week is required to make a notebook for records, data, pictures, numbers, etc. This is useful for keeping track of Factor e Farm history, passing on work to future team members, and for other development streamlining. ...

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I’m in the process of designing a simple 3kW steam engine for both a combined heat-and-power gasifier system and our solar power generator system. I can’t help but think about the future possibility of small-scale steam power for both stationary and mobile steam power applications.

In absence of a really suitable open source 3D CAD program, I downloaded a free trial version of Alibre Design Xpress 3D solid modeling software – to do a basic 3D model of the engine we’re building, for which we have a $250 bill of materials:

The basic concept is – as mentioned in a previous post – a high performance modern steam engine of 20% efficiency can be made without much technical difficulty. Remember that our present solar turbine design requires only 5% efficiency to become feasible.

Moreover, a simple direct coupling of the steam engine to a linear hydraulic pump -

means that you have a super-simple hydraulic power source for devices like our open source tractor, LifeTrac. This brings LifeTrac much closer to the reality of being powered by high performance, modern steam – via local production. As such, LifeTrac would become integrated into the local agricultural ecology – capable of being powered by a gasifier or pyrolysis oil from local biomass.

Now I’m busy on the standard steam engine of the 3D drawing above – so if you want to see the latter hydraulic pump hybrid come to reality sooner rather than later – contact us right now and let’s start talking about fabrication. By the way, there is a resurgence of interest in such hydraulic drive in the mainstream economy. (more…)

I’m in the process of designing a simple 3kW steam engine for both a combined heat-and-power gasifier system and our solar power generator system. I can’t help but think about the future possibility of small-scale steam power for both stationary and mobile steam power applications. In absence of a really suitable open source 3D ...

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I have a lot to say about where I am, about what I’m doing, about what I’m feeling and about bricks. And no pictures to say it with. So, please be persistent and listen to what I have to say and perhaps we’ll all be the wiser for it.

After two years of homesteading, the floors of our two small huts are still laid with dusty gravel. As a result, a thin layer of dust hangs on everything. The walls are dusty, the sheets are dusty, the shelves are dusty. On exceptionally dry days, when the dust causes Marcin to sneeze and makes his eyes water, he sprinkles water on the floors, bringing temporary relief to his ailments.

The floors aren’t the only unfinished parts of the living space at Factor E Farm. Mice scurry between the abundant holes in the walls, floor and ceiling. A light sleeper can hear them scratching as they search for bedding and crumbs. The one-person kitchen houses more mice than the rest of the farm combined. They do not care that there is no heat in the kitchen. They don’t care because they love the crumbs. The crumbs that accumulate because there is no water to wash them away. The sink in the kitchen doesn’t work and the crumbs sit where they are dropped along side piles of dirty dishes, pots, and pans. (more…)

I have a lot to say about where I am, about what I'm doing, about what I'm feeling and about bricks. And no pictures to say it with. So, please be persistent and listen to what I have to say and perhaps we'll all be the wiser for it. After two years of homesteading, the ...

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Upon the suggestion of Reto Stauss of the nachhaltigBeobachtet blog, we have installed the ChipIn widget here for additional transparency in our crowd funding strategy. At the time of this post, we collected $1144, and still have $856 left to go in the November Funding Cycle for construction materials. We also have $1400 left to go for the 25-hp chainsaw sawmill prototype. Chip in:

Here are some pictures of our pressing situation:

See more images below: (more…)

Upon the suggestion of Reto Stauss of the nachhaltigBeobachtet blog, we have installed the ChipIn widget here for additional transparency in our crowd funding strategy. At the time of this post, we collected $1144, and still have $856 left to go in the November Funding Cycle for construction materials. We also have $1400 left ...

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