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...
The Liberator Beta 2.0: Machine Overview
Things are looking up on the fully automatic, open source, CEB press – The Liberator Beta v2.0. We finally have the machine ready to run in field tests. The basic operational description is here, from the front: and from the back: Some noteworthy...
13 Bricks Per Minute… and Counting
Today’s goal was to determine maximum pressing rates attainable with The Liberator, the open source CEB press. We obtained data to verify some of the predicted rates shown in italics in this table. To boost morale, we started by pressing thin, 2...
CEB Automation with Sensors
For the last two months, we’ve been developing and implementing Prototype 2 automatic controls for the open source Compressed Eearth Brick (CEB) press. We had initial results from Prototype 1 controls, without sensors, back in November. This time,...
GVCS Project Timeline and Scalability
How long will it take to develop the Global Village Construction Set? It depends. It depends on the level of support that the project is able to attract. The toughest part of gathering support is explaining the project so that people wrap their head around...
Masonry
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:
Swadeshi Dialogues 2: Neosubsistence
Neosubsistence refers to a lifestyle where we bypass commerce or business as usual and replace it with peoples’ true callings. This constitutes a novel economic experiment – one without precedent – one which requires us to drop all preconceptions...
Springtime 2010
A week ago, the first signs of food plants appeared as winter passes away. The pictures show: (1), lettuce from last year self-seeding; (2), garlic; (3), stinging nettles – a great salad green when steamed, or eat fresh after rolling to rid of stingers;...
Budding Out
The fruit propagation workshop went well. Two people showed up. 2 weeks later, these cherry trees are already budding out: We got a donation of 50 more EMLA 111 apple rootstocks, which can be obtained from Willamette Nurseries for under 70 cents each....
