Power Cube Workshop

July 4-6, 2014

Maysville, Missouri, USA

Build Yourself. Build Your World.

This 3 day workshop – led by Marcin Jakubowski, founder of Open Source Ecology (OSE) – and Thomas Griffing, OSE’s Lead Power Cube Developer, shows how Extreme Manufacturing techniques are used to build a complete Power Cube and Micro Power Cube (µPC) – in One Day.

This is the first OSE workshop where participants can purchase and build µPC kits (limit 12 kit builds / workshop).

Workshop immersion involves concept and practice, and includes crash courses on key elements of hydraulic power unit design, fabrication, CAD, open source hardware documentation, and open enterprise models. As a participant, you will be helping us to improve the machine and produce documentation – to realize viral replicability of our libre hardware.

The three day workshop includes a one day build of the Micro Power Cube – a 2 horsepower, electric-powered hydraulic power unit of one cubic foot in size, and under $300 in materials cost. We will also build a full-sized, 27 hp, gas-powered hydraulic power unit. Most of the build will involve welding, followed by assembly – and involves producing parts for the assembly. This workshop is intended for people interested in immersion, hands-on training for practical results.

We are inviting entrepreneurs interested in creating Distributive Enterprise based on open hardware: radically open, libre, collaborative, ethical enterprise ecosystems that accelerate innovation. We are also inviting dedicated documentors to participate in documenting the build.

The overall workshop is designed for people interested in transitioning from Zero to Maker. Can’t weld? We’ll give you a crash course. This course assumes no prior skills outside of general body awareness. Some people will be given documentation tasks if appropriate.

If you can’t attend the workshop because you need financial assistance, email us and we will put you on the waiting list. We will select you if a Sponsor provides funding.

• Weekend Workshop (July 4-6): Design, Build, and Get Skills.
• Documentation Track (July 4-6): Document for viral replication.

Have questions? Drop us an email: marcin at opensourceecology dot org

Design

• Design for fabrication, scalability, and flexibility
• Welded frame construction
• Computed-aided design – Sketchup, FreeCAD, LibreCAD, warehouse parts, and file interoperability
• Computer manufacturing file generation
• Basic Mechanical Design
• Fundamentals of hydraulic system design
• Basics of safety engineering
• Power/fluid flow calculations for horsepower to hydraulic fluid power
• Workshop and workflow design

Build

• Fundamentals of welding and custom fabrication – drilling, metal shearing, shop press
• Use of MIG welder and angle grinders
• Parallel build techniques

Documentation

• Collaborative editing, use of wiki and cloud editing/li>
• Modular Documentation and Development Spreadsheets
• Sketchup basics
• Realtime video and instructional production

Note: schedule is being refined and may change slightly.

Day 1 – Crash Courses

• 1PM: Pickup from airport
• 2PM: 4th of July celebration with grilled hot dogs, hamburgers, etc. BYOB.
• 2PM: Introduction, goals, methods, documentation.
• 4PM: CAD – Sketchup, FreeCAD, LibreCAD crash course. Converting, modifying, importing, and manipulating files for collaboration and interoperability.
• 5PM: Documentation and video production crash course – Remote editing, uploads to a repository, etc.
• 6PM: Workshop walkthrough and Safety + Quality Control Crash Course
• 7PM:Crash Course on Welding and custom fabrication – Cutting, Drilling, Grinding, Ironworker Machine, hand tools – extensive list.
• 8PM: Dinner and continued 4th of July celebration
• 10PM: Crash course on Hydraulic Fluid Power. Design of the Electric MicroCube, 2 hp. No cooler. Cuts 1″ steel slabs as example of raw power.

Day 2 – Micro Power Cube (µPC) Fabrication, Testing, Data Collection

• 9AM – 1PM: Extreme Build
• — Physical Structure, Hydraulics, Paint Job
• — Concurrent Docuementation
• 2PM – 4PM: Testing and Data Collection, µPC
• — Quality control checklist
• — Initial break-in
• — Testing – punching hole in 1/2″ steel. Cuts 1″ steel slabs as example of raw power.
• 4PM – 8PM: Build / Test µPC kits

Day 3 – Full-size Power Cube Fabrication and Testing

• 9AM-1PM: Build Power Cube
• — Physical Structure, Engine Install, Hydraulics, Paint Job
• 2PM – 6PM: Testing and Data Collection, PC
• — Quality Control Checklist
• — Initial break-in
• — Powering a LifeTrac open source tractor

Please plan on arriving at Factor e Farm between 1-2:00 PM on July 4, 2014. We will have one pickup at 1 PM from the Kansas City International airport. Please book your flights to arrive before then. Others may need to rent a car, and we will facilitate coordination with others for logistics. Workshop starts at 3 PM sharp. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner will be provided. People are expected to cover their own lodging. You are welcome to camp out at our facility if you bring your own tent.

Registration Fee for 3-day Workshop: $400
Registration Fee for a Single Day: $150
µPC kit: $300 (in addition to Registration Fee), limit 12, must purchase 10 days prior to workshop
Registration Fee for Documentation Track (4 days): $200
Sponsor another participant: Sponsor $300 to fund attendance of someone who is on the waiting list for financial assistance, or purchase a µPC to donate to a participant
True Fans of OSE: Receive a 25% discount on all of our workshops. If you are not yet a True Fan, you can sign up as a True Fan now to become eligible for the True Fans discount on future workshops.
Donate to OSE: We are a nonprofit organization. You can make tax-deductible contributions to us.

If you would like to attend but cannot afford the admission, we can put you on the wait list. If the workshop does not fill up or if there is someone willing to cover your fee as a donor, we can accept you. Please email us.

Cancellation Policy
If for any reason you can’t attend a workshop you registered for we will be happy to (a) transfer you credit towards another Power Cube workshop in the future; (b) or equivalent credit towards any other other OSE workshop; (c) substitute the name on your ticket and have a friend take your place.

Pay with Check

For payment with paypal/credit card see below. If you’d rather pay with a check, fill out this form. Please make checks payable to Open Source Ecology, and mail them to 909 SW Willow Rd, Maysville, MO 64469. Write “Power Cube Workshop” along with the type of signup in the memo line.

Pay with Paypal / Credit Card

To pay with paypal/credit card, please use the the Eventbrite form below. Note that Eventbrite charges a fee for the service in addition to the workshop fee – if you wish to avoid this, see check payment instructions above.