The Farm Hack River of Activity
Stream of Forum Topics
| In 50 characters or less... | Posted by | Post date | Last comment | Number of Comments | # of Comments new to you | |
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Root Vegetable Bedlifter | ClarksonStudents | Monday, April 27, 2015 - 5:56pm | Monday, April 27, 2015 - 5:56pm | 0 | |
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Cost to print? | twbbtf | Sunday, April 26, 2015 - 12:50pm | Saturday, May 2, 2015 - 12:35am | 3 | |
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Shark Wire Connector Outdoor NEW! | Shark Wire Conn... | Sunday, April 19, 2015 - 9:11pm | Sunday, April 19, 2015 - 9:11pm | 0 | |
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How did you manage to keep the plastic walls from touching? | flanarylr | Friday, April 17, 2015 - 12:11pm | Thursday, July 25, 2019 - 3:22pm | 1 | |
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Web Org Call 4/17/15 -- Squash that bug | DGrover | Friday, April 17, 2015 - 12:23am | Friday, April 17, 2015 - 12:23am | 0 | |
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Adding link to project homepage | Darren | Thursday, April 16, 2015 - 8:36pm | Thursday, April 16, 2015 - 8:36pm | 0 | |
| This is awesome! | DGrover | Tuesday, April 14, 2015 - 7:39pm | Tuesday, April 14, 2015 - 7:39pm | 0 | ||
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Practicum Student Program | GrangeFarmSchool | Tuesday, April 14, 2015 - 1:27pm | Tuesday, April 14, 2015 - 1:27pm | 0 | |
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Org Call 4/2/15 | DGrover | Thursday, April 9, 2015 - 8:28pm | Thursday, April 9, 2015 - 8:28pm | 0 | |
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Org Call 3/26/15 | DGrover | Thursday, April 9, 2015 - 8:27pm | Thursday, April 9, 2015 - 8:27pm | 0 |
Thanks Louis. Typical weight range for my project about 500 to 1,500 lbs. I sourced an amplifier chip specially made for load cells, but I found good load cells were expensive - so much so that a scales built with load cells would not be much cheaper than just buying cattle scales. Hydraulics and pressure transducers were much less expensive.
JPL, first of all it is gratifying to me that you actually built the device from my instructions. Regarding your question, I also found the scale does not hold absolutely on 0, but I assumed it was the error inherent in the pressure transducers I used. I think my pressure transducers are 500 psi 1% FS error where maybe I should have used 300 psi to reduce the error. In actual practice by weighing cattle and then seeing the official weight at the sale barn I believe my device is accurate to about 7 lbs, but the weights on my ticket at the sale always are multiples of 5.
I don't think I've had the problem with shifting weight, but you can adjust the ratio in the function if you like. I seem to recall in course of design and testing I felt like I did revise it toward a more permissive ratio, but I suppose you could take it further based on experience.
If you happen to have a printer already it will run you probably about $1 in material. These kinds of things make most sense when there is a critical mass of useful things to print so much that it makes sense for a farmer to buy a 3D printer. At the moment there is not terribly a whole lot on thingiverse tagged for farmers. I'm hoping this continues to evolve swiftly!
Things tagged for farming on thingiverse -> http://www.thingiverse.com/tag:farming
\ RJ
Hi Joel -
Good catch! I'm currently running a test on the front page to see how replacing the video with text impacts engagement with the site. You can still find the video featured prominently at the top of our "Getting Started" wiki page. http://farmhack.org/wiki/getting-started
Some background on the change:
I did a bunch of interviews at NOFA VT Winter Conference a couple months ago and I got a lot of feedback that people did not want to watch a video and then saw that they had a hard time articulating what Farm Hack is. The statement "We are a worldwide community of farmers that build and modify our own tools. We share our hacks online and at meet ups because we become better farmers when we work together." is my best shot at describing us in few words. The traffic and the interviews indicate that visitors mostly just want to see tools, thus the new front page is almost like a new tools landing page.
I do like the video as well, it is beautiful and if someone takes the time to watch it, I think it serves to build their understanding. Perhaps we can come up with a way to have the video and the text on the front page but we have to consider in the context of all other competing elements of the valuable front page real estate.
Competing elements:
- Blog
- What Farm Hack is
- Navigation to other parts of the site
- Tools
- Upcoming events
- Recent conversations
- more....
@Joel Would you like to join us for the FarmHack.org call at 7pm EDT on Thursday? Thanks for the feedback.
\\ RJ
As you say it's just an initial brain dump. I started with the fancy exciting tools.
Wonder whether the weight of this is worth it: http://opensourcemachine.org/
Would solve the bench grinder, drill press & metal saw in one tool. But it is a lot of weight for a mobile unit..
Hi. Good idea. The whole concept reminds me of the mobile machine shop J. Baldwin used to drive around. I saw it featured in a video called "Ecological Design: Inventing the Future".
Your list: Metal working tools
Mig Welder For hand welding, or use with the 3D printer Auto set Mig welder Oxy propane cutting kit For hand cutting metal, or with the CNC table Oxy-propane CNC cutting table For making accurate parts from sheet metal or plywood Opensource Cutting table 3D Metal printer For making metal parts, Opensource 3D metal printer Pipe bender - for bending pipes Pipe benderI realize your list is preliminary and simply representative. Of course, there'd be all sorts of necessary hand tools (hammers, tongs, pliers, clamps, angle grinders, etc). But I thought I'd add a few essentials to the prelim list, based on my experience:
Bench grinder(s) mounted with broadly useful wheels Drill press Compressor Abrasive-disk metal cut-off saw
The first prototype/test chasis is advance enough to create a video for crowdfunding. Hopefully can shoot some video next week. Then editing and uploading the finished video. Capabilities achieved thus far are mobility, drawbar for pulling trailers and equipment, and a working three point hitch.
I thi moderation would be wise but that means somone would nopeed to ge committed to do it. More likely to get volunteers if it was to be on a rotational basis. I am working on forming a manufacturing company for my human powered tractor. Ready now to seek crowd funding to get the seed money. Once that happens and I no longer have to work two jobs then I will be able to nost and moderate something. As for different paths would multiple tags work?
Is to have several road maps with respect to where the reader is coming from... For example, a person looking for technology would be interested in welding, crop practices, livestock practices, ... But a person looking for a community with which to share ideas would be interested in forums, people (usually in a geographical area), ...
I'm proposing different "road maps" to the site for people with different "origins of thought". This lets us address multiple demographics/interests with the same content. In IT parlance, we're just adding indexes to existing content. Also, let the author/reviewer of the content decide which category their content should belong in.
I agree that user blogs would be useful, but the word DGrover used (curated) has a lot of hidden technical details - who would do and how would curating be done? Especially in a community. I think we would need applications (as users apply to curate something) that would need veting (who does that) and/or voting and inviting users to curate. Maybe a moderated forum would be better?
There's also the question of evolution of a curated blog... If blogs are originally "owned" by one (or more) people, then how should they morph from being a single person blog, to a group/community blog?
Note that I think much of the problem is "how do we handle as a group" rather than "what technology do we use".
Flywheel: it will be important to disengage the flywheel when you want to stop or even slow down because it will continue to power the driveline. That is a feature I will be working in the coming months. Options for disengagement include a manual clutch system, electric clutch (think automotive A/C clutch), or electric solenoid. As soon as you want to slow down it will need to be disengaged.
Electric drive: Contemplating that too. Could be expensive. Check out www.offgridworld.com and DIY Electric Car (can't paste the link on this site using my iPad. What is the larger wheel someone is asking about?
If you want others to be able to edit a document on google then someone needs to host a folder on their Drive and give permission for others to share and edit based on their email address. Probably the simplest way. Evernote subscribers can share documents also.
You could consider a larger wheel of the big pennyfathing wheels existed that way due to the uneven roads of its day.
You may wish to think about solar PV and electric motors for less physical fatigue.
Here are a few snapshots of what our project looked like. The 55-gallon drum, long plastic container, and square container designs were easily fit into unused greenhouse space. However, the designs were not large enough to produce our desired quantity of larvae. There were two main problems with the bins. Firstly, the liquid did not drain out well, creating a thick sludge in the bottom that was difficult to remove and had a mild odor. Secondly, many larva did not crawl out the ramps. We changed the angle and placement, but continued to have many larvae pupate inside the bin. I would recommend using a variation on these systems for small scale black soldier fly larvae production. For those looking to feed a few chickens or fish, it would work great. I think the 55-gallon drum has the most potential, the ramp needs to cover the entire bottom of the drum so food waste and larvae are not trapped underneath.
Aha! Alasdair Allan to the rescue! I had heard rumbling about this "cheap WiFi chip" for some time but brushed it off because people were not explaining it for what it really is. It's an Arduino IDE programmable micro-controller with built-in WiFi! Alasdair points out a quote from Brian Jepson...
If it was just a WiFi chip for $7, that's no terrific feat, there are plenty of those out there, and their range and reliability suck big time. On a side note, if you are looking for affordable WiFi capabilities but high reliability and good range, check out TL-WN722N. We use them for Fido and they beat out over a dozen other products we tested.
Thanks for posting that TheHeadlessSourceMan!
\ RJ
3/4" and 1/2" square tube would do the job as long as the pins are beefy enough. I wonder if the way it's done on the Hawthorne Valley model, 1/2" i d schedule 40 tube inside a down tube from a bicycle (perfect sliding fit) might be as good as any way to make telescoping tie rods. Also with most square tube there's that weld seam to broach out or notch around. That go cart design is great - very much a Farmhack solution - and the other kinds that use a bicycle head tube and fork are too. Mine is based on the parts that are easiest to find and maybe modify (bend) a little, with the goal being tight steering, fast disassembly, and adjustability of the length of the steering column. Dan fixed the length problem brilliantly and easily at the Metro Pedal Power event, by cutting the top off a seatpost and welding it to the top of the steering tube: the quick release lever now holds the handlebar at the height you want. So anyway, the 30 degree steering column is about right to accommodate most people, and bending that knuckle is fast, but I'd agree the diygocarts way would be tighter, as long as the design allows fast disassembly.
I see now that the information I sought is on the turner biodiesel website.
Thanks for uploading the diagram of your system, Dorn. Where are the filters and what sizes are they?
It might be helpful for some of us to identify with your effort if we knew what "GNU" stands for.
I've used EZ-Bridge LT devices to send a signal 4-500' feet and it's worked flawlessly with very strong signal and no flakiness. More expensive than the devices noted above, but at $230 it includes both sides of the bridge, and each can act as a wifi access point.
Hi all - As a start, I changed the naming of the document from the
GNU Farm Manifestoto theFree Farm Manifesto. WhileGNU Farm Manifestois nice because it in a way gives attribution in the title, the "Not Unix" thing doesn't necessarily mean much to farms. The important part here is freedom. Thoughts?I also rewrote most of the document to focus on four freedoms I've layed out that are based on, but not exactly, the Four Freedoms as defined by the Free Software Foundation. I rant on the right to know how a tool works in the context of software, we could use many other examples there for both software and hardware. I'm also thinking about a third section that might include some clarifications of things like the difference between Open Source and Free Software and how this Manifesto fits in. I do mention in the explanation of the four freedoms both the importance of freedom (free software) and competitive advantage (open source) but there is still much more to write!
\ R.J. Steinert
That would be great! How many gallons before you need to change the media? Do you have an estimate of cost/gal to use this method? This source says 2-4 cents per gallon with DW-resin. http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/articles/8999/ion-exchange-resin-as-dry-wash-media
The base column was purchased from http://www.turnerbiodiesel.com/ but was then modified so that it could be rotated and reversed to backflow the filter media and also facilitate cleanout. I can post more images of the quick connects and frame that make that possible.
Actually I found some on my own. Where did you buy the column itself?
Check out this post
Definitely wish I could be there.
From reading at journeytoforever.org I gathered that it is good to eliminate water-washing as it leaves the water contaminated. Can you direct me to a resource where I might read more about the polishing column's function? So you put the hardwood chips in the polishing column and press the methyl esters through like a filter? Thanks for your response.
The polishing column takes excess methanol and soaps out and substitutes for a water wash. The advantage is a savings in time, and elimination of the waste water issues. There are several available absorbent materials available on the market. The material I use is based on refined hardwood chips.
Thank you for your inquiry. I am happy to post additional documentation that you would find useful including process flow diagrams, bill of materials and more detailed component photos.
Schedule
Saturday
9-10: Meet and greet, coffee, make a plan for the day
9:15: Put together first culticycle
Once the first culticycle is assembled, we'll pause to do a design review and improvement brainstorm.
10-12:30: Build
Break up into build groups
Build Project Possibilities:
1 basket weeder
1 culticycle assemblies
1 culticycle build from scratch
1 belly mount ordered by Amy (@ Hawthorne Valley)
1 Brush weeder
excercycle project
12:30: Lunch and Lunch Conversation: Commercialization: what might it look like?
1:30-?: Continue Builds
end of build: Farm Hack happy hour either at Wenzaday's shop or out on the town.
Sunday
9-12:30: Continue Build
10:00-11:00: Farm Shop Hacking: Techniques for Low Tech/Pedal Power Fabrication
12:30: Lunch!
1:30-?: Continue Build
Demos (throughout the event):
Grain grinder
lu's culticycle
Hi Devin, I address this issue in my topic here, but have yet to come to a conclusion -> http://farmhack.org/forums/brainstorming-gnu-farm-manifesto
Looking forward to talking about this more. Are you going to be at the Libre Planet conference this weekend?
\ RJ
Wish I could go but I am working this weekend. It is exciting to see the interest and committment people have for this. Will try to make arrangements for the next one. Please post your accomplishments. Have a great time everyone!