Stuart on building a CEB

S S  to	joseph.dolittle@gmail.com, date	Wed, Mar 26, 2008 at 11:25 PM subject	Info about the CEB machine mailed-by	gmail.com Hello Joseph,

I have been quite interested in the idea of building with CEB's for sometime now, and just came across your open source project. I am very excited about it's possibilities and am wondering how it is coming along and when you believe the plans will be ready for use. It is possible that I could soon become involved in influencing the method of construction of a health centre. At present it appears that they would like to build it conventionally but I have been pushing for them to consider straw bale, or even earth bag. However, these days I am favouring CEB's though until now the cost of the machine was the reason for not giving it much serious consideration.

What kind of timeline are you looking at before the plans could be had for use by individuals interested in the project, and how does one go about getting in on this? My father is a metal worker, though he doesnt have the apparenty necessary CNC machine, but that can easily be found at a machine shop when needed.

Looking forward to exchanging correspondence with you about this amazing concept.

Kind Regards,

Stuart _____

Stuart,

Please call me to talk about this. I want to see if we can work more closely on building the 2nd and 3rd prototypes. I'll be testing our machine here by doing actual building starting in about a month. We are presently preparing all the equipment necessary for building.

Marcin 816.645.5779 skype: marcin_ose

hey there...you must be pretty pumpt to start buildin with the proto...congrats...wish i was in the states, or closer at least, so i could come check it out...i actually just moved back to saskatchewan, canada after many years abroad... i will try to give u a call someday soon when i get a little more settled in here, as im just between unpakkin and repakkin at my folks place and about to move to the city to start a job as a carpenter... maybe it would be good to give u a bit of an idea what im actually about so u know kinda what you r dealin with...not sure what kind of involvement you were suggesting...im all for it if possible in some way, but in rereading my email im wondering if it sounded like im more useful than i actually am, hehe... ive been thinking lately about ways that i could help push the project in some way from my location in canada, with what i would like to do...at the moment im not really too experienced in home building, but have many ideas on how i would like to build my own some day and would like to see others going the same way obviously... my decision to take work as a carpenter is in the hopes that it will expose me to many different trades, and allow me to gain some relevant experience and contacts in all of them...the plan ideally would be to use my contacts and experience to eventually put together a sustainable home building company focussing on different building materials such as strawbales, earhtbags, CEB's etc. and obviously focusing on alternative energy, and smart design, etc...i would like to do it both domestically in canada, but also in central america... i think it would be great to build a home with locals, pay them a decent wage for their labour but at the same time teach them the process and after each prject, they could keep the machine as a bonus, and hopefully start their own home building company with it...or somthin like that anyway, i got lotsa ideas rattlin round in my head...(some even seem to make sense!!!) i grew up on a farm so am quite familiar with the various aspects of the things you are doing... my dad is quite an innovative man, and has invented numerous tools, machines, etc in his shop, to improve his farm equipment and other stuff...i wish i had a copy of your prototype plans in the fall, as he spends his winter just thinking of and looking for things to build...unfortunately, he usually doesnt take my ideas for environmentalism and home building seriously and constantly mocks me(im used to it) but im sure he would build the machine with me if i got all the stuff for it and worked on it with him in the fall/winter (o possibly even in the summer when its not busy)....however, it is now spring and its busy time for farmers again, so definitely not now.. i would like to know, if the prototype u r workin on is compressing the brick in only one plane, or is it in both directions?my dad has built a hydraulic press he uses to straighten iron, and im thinking about making a form and just pressing it from one direction to test the strength of the blocks using the soil in my area, and trying to determine the best mix of soil/clay, etc...im thinking about building a small storage shed in the back lot for practice if it turns out to work well to press the bricks like that... i mentioned previously about an alternative health center that is in the works to be built out here just outside the city...my aunt is one of the spearheads of the project, but the land is coming with developers who want to build conventionally...there is a possibility of influencing that decision if one could come up with a convincing plan for a sustainable method however...there is also about 2 extra acres that i am tryingto come up with an idea for that would complement the center, but still be profitable enough to keep it going, as there is not much in the way of a budget for it to be done with....was thinking about aquaponics, but a quik google search, alerted me to a couple who are in the process of starting exactly that in another area not too far away from where this wul be happenin....so either i was too late on that idea, or possibly i could fnd out that there is way to do it cooperatively for the project...time will tell... i am planning on looking into what kind of grants might be available to someone trying to develop this sort of thing, but not sure f thats the way to go about it or not.... anyways, im rambling as i tend do this late at night when i get on topics such as this....but, i guess u know where im at, and can better assess what might be possible in regards to pushin your project, and helpin me accomplish something as well... best of luck, hope to hear from u soon, Stuart p.s....thanks, i love my quote!