MicroTrac

6-in-60 Video Update and Optimizing the Development Process

For an exciting taste of the action at Open Source Ecology’s HabLab, follow the ups and downs of the 6-in-60 Campaign in our no-holds-barred video update, part one. Watch Dedicated Project Visitors (DPVs) from Berea College help us to take new OSE...

MicroTrac Challenge

We have recently shown the initial test drive of LifeTrac Prototype II. The 3D model in Blender corresponds exactly to the machine built – the point being that the models in Blender are useful as actual design drawings from which others can replicate...

LifeTrac Prototype II Test Drive

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....

PowerCube on LifeTrac

A universal mechanical power source is one of the key components of the Global Village Construction Set – the set of building blocks for creating resilient communities. The basic concept is that instead of using a dedicated engine on a particular...

Dedicated Project Visits Continued

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...

Zero Turn MicroTrac

MicroTrac achieved zero turn motion. If one walks around rapidly, one can turn the walk-behind tractor around in place. MicroTrac is turning out to be a beautiful freak: Play this freak show. To do this, we added two small, freely-turning wheels to MicroTrac....

MicroTrac Completed

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...

Power Cube – Prototype I Complete

Power Cube is our open source, self-contained, modular, interchangeable, hydraulic power unit for all kinds of power equipment. It has an 18 hp gasoline engine coupled to a hydraulic pump, and it will later be be powered by a flexible-fuel modern steam...