dorn

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Member for
12 years 1 month

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Stream of Forum Topics

In 50 characters or less... Posted by Post date Last comment Number of Comments # of Comments new to you
The forum activity is now at GOATeach.org! Join the conversation! dorn Tuesday, May 7, 2019 - 5:06pm Tuesday, May 7, 2019 - 5:06pm 0
Kubota DC-60 dorn Sunday, October 4, 2015 - 1:08am Sunday, October 4, 2015 - 1:08am 0
small John Deere Chinese Made tracked combine available dorn Friday, July 10, 2015 - 12:14am Friday, July 10, 2015 - 12:46am 1
wired article on farmer data network dorn Tuesday, May 19, 2015 - 11:44am Tuesday, May 19, 2015 - 11:44am 0
iFARM 2015 “Experiencing the Sensed Landscape” dorn Thursday, May 7, 2015 - 10:06am Thursday, May 7, 2015 - 10:06am 0
Useful on-line book for Open Source projects dorn Thursday, April 9, 2015 - 12:19pm Tuesday, November 21, 2017 - 3:58am 1
Wired article opinion about open hardware design dorn Wednesday, March 18, 2015 - 12:58pm Wednesday, March 18, 2015 - 12:58pm 0
Possible tool tabs for organization of tool content dorn Saturday, December 13, 2014 - 2:26pm Monday, January 5, 2015 - 11:20am 3
Farm Hack Open Source Ag on NYTimes Dot Earth Blog dorn Friday, December 5, 2014 - 12:27am Friday, December 5, 2014 - 12:27am 0
ISOBlue approach to a more open precision ag dorn Tuesday, September 23, 2014 - 11:07pm Saturday, October 18, 2014 - 5:17pm 1

Stream of Forum Comments

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The gear ratio varies based on preference - however, on one non-electric version here the crank is 24 teeth and 34 on the rear axle using #35 industrial sprockets and fixed gear. The rails are 24" apart from the inside on a 48" wheel track and there is about 51" from the back of the front cross bar to where the peddles clear.
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Most of the new conversations are at goatech.org forums to consolidate - I recommend checking the forums out over there.   The equipment libraries and posts are still being kept active on farmhack.org.   I personally have built the germination chambers and they have worked quite well even with bellow freezing outside temperatures.  I used an oil filled crockpot as a heater, and a regular humidifier - since the first posts there are many more off the shelf plug in thermostats and humidity controls available.  Most of the work is in building food shelves for the trays. 

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It would be great to point one of the Farm Hack tools at the excellent documentation already started for the project.  I think it would be a good project to profile at the GOAT (Gathering for Open Ag Tech) as well.  Look forward to seeing how this project might crosspollinate with Perdue OATS ISOBlue project. 

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Great contribution!  There is a dynamic Farm IOT conversation that I would love to loop you into.  Check out http://forum.goatech.org .  We are working to link the Farm Hack forums into new tools like Discourse and  riot group chat to facilitate exchange of ideas.  Your data loggers would be a great tool to document in the tools section of the site- which will also make it easier to find.  Look forward to next posts!

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<p> I have also had issues with this model of Hudson float valve.&nbsp; I am ready to try alternatives that have a more positive shutoff in both high and low pressure situations.&nbsp; I have found that the 3/4" ABS waterline is cheaper and more durable than the garden hose, but a bit more difficult to handle.&nbsp;</p>
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I have put this on the issue que and I hope we can make changes to it soon. I think you are correct that there should be an indication of the number of photos and some way to more easily preview before viewing.   The other option is to embed the relevant photos directly into the wiki text, but that has its own issues too.  

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Great to see your first post!  Welcome to the community.  It sounds like you have thought through your design enough to post a tool wiki as and mark it in the  concept phase.  The tool format also will help link your project to others and help refine the problems you are trying to solve.  I look forward to seeing your progresd and I hope others will join in to contribute! 

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<p> You might try contacting the original author (<a href="http://farmhack.org/users/adamappleseed">http://farmhack.org/users/adamappleseed</a>) by clicking on their profile and sending a private message.&nbsp; Some content may have been lost in the transition to the upgraded tool format.&nbsp; I would love to see a detailed sketch-up layout and Bill of materials for this project too!&nbsp;</p>
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Welcome to the Farm Hack Community!  Have you checked out the Open Pipe kit project and FarmOS on Farm Hack?  I think that there is a lot of overlap.  Would be great to get cross pollination going.

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<p> I updated this tool to relate to a branch listed here <a href="http://farmhack.org/tools/sweet-box-germination-chamber-v20">http://farmhack.org/tools/sweet-box-germination-chamber-v20</a></p> <p> &nbsp;</p> <p> that uses a simplified temperature and humidity control using slow cookers.</p>
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We have a group working on the culticycle and finger weeders here at the farm this weekend and will add documenting the bedshaper onto our list of to-dos. Stay tuned!

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We used the tarps to kill covercrops in the spring prior to the first plantings. It enabled reduced tillage and weed pressure - especially for the first month. We used both black and white ones, and they both worked, but I suspect that the black ones are a bit faster.

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We have been using 20x60' used billboards which are a bit heavy to move, but are OK with two people once unfolded. They can be dragged from one section to another fairly easily and are heavy enough they don't blow around if a bit of weight is placed at edges. They cost about $100 plus shipping. I think we got ours at https://billboardtarps.com/. Depending on weather it seemed like we got a good kill in about two weeks.

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Hi Joel,
Please do share! I think most folks have posted links, or embedded the content in a tool forum post. You could also start a stand alone wiki and link to it. If you are up for writing a blog about it, there is a team that is gearing up to generate more blog content which might be a good fit too. We have talked about adding more of this reddit type of function to the social side of the site, so it is great to hear your take on it.

Of course it would be fantastic to reach out to the author and see if they would cross post directly themselves...

The Farm Hack web team is working on some improvements to the tool pages, so stay tuned and look forward to your feedback! The new tool organization may make posting these kinds of links clearer - I think it would be great if we had a space(Skills section) for curating videos of fabrication and other technical skills that the Farm Hack community finds useful.

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Here is a link to the deere industrial engine used in these combines -

http://www.deere.com/en_US/products/engines_and_drivetrain/industrial/ti...

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Took me a bit to respond - but the farm hack font is primer print - which you can find here
http://www.free-fonts.com/font/primer.html

If you download the font, you can create the tag lines in what ever size you need.

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Hi Sam - there are several that have been experimented in within the community but a tool wiki has yet to be created to document them. Your post is a good reminder to get it done! I have the expeller screws which I have been hoping to scan as a 3D model for folks to share and study, but i have not done it yet. The most common around here is are the small Anyang (AGICO) Chinese based presses and the German kernkraft. I have most of my experience with both the 1 ton/day and 6 ton per day chinese models pressing sunflower and canola - the models I have worked with came from http://www.ayimpex.com/Oil-Milling-Machinery/6YL-Series-Oil-Press.html . The Chinese ones are more of a hack because, although they work well, are really much nicer if they are disassembled, sand blasted, repainted and repowered for 220 or US three phase - which is worth doing when they start out at 1/4 or less of the price of the others. I think i got my first one for less than $1000 delivered to the US. You can see a nice comparison of European models in a review done by UVM of small scale presses. here: http://www.extension.org/sites/default/files/2014%20-%20Callahan%20et%20...

Happy to answer questions, and help with documentation!

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The broken link is noted (looks like it is broken on the home page but not others). Thanks for the note about the logo. Here it is.

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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.

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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.

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I used some file conversion plugins for solidworks and posted the part to 3d warehouse here:

https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/model.html?id=ud1172048-8b7e-45d0-941e-...

Also uploaded in in dwx and exported to dwg

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To test, I just tried to post a CAD drawing exported from sketchup. The current forum supports uploading .dwg files, but not .dxf for some reason. We should put a request to expand that. A sample .dwg file is included with this post...

Right now I think the reason folks are posting images of CAD files rather than the CAD files themselves is that the tool wikis do not make it easy to share files other than images. We could do some workarounds until something is coded by linking to other sites, or using forum posts to attach .dwg files.

The current workaround are the sketchup drawings posted to Farm Hack through 3D warehouse links (Here is one collection - https://3dwarehouse.sketchup.com/user.html?id=0892628611291470687637722 ) These can be exported to CAD files fairly easily. I would love to see some more discussion around how we would like to create, link to and archive 3D models within the Farm Hack community.

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Thanks Tom, I will be sharing your web site with a number of local conservation groups. We have been having just this dialog about how farming and conservation efforts can be complimentary. I think we can create better habitat AND viable agricultural production if we can monitor and understand the systems better. I have yet to try the FLIR thermal camera on a UAV yet, but am very curious to do so.

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The Nanos are just a bridge and a wifi router "bubble" is needed for phones etc. to use the signal. RJ and Duggie recommend the TP-Link TL-WDR3500 wireless router to me. It is inexpensive, has a good range and can be modified... A ubiquity Pico or a nano aren't too expensive as an external antenna (say attached to a truck, gator or golfcart), but each device would need one.

Alternatively https://commotionwireless.net/ has firmware that can be loaded onto the ubiquity hardware to create a mesh network and to have the nanos act as a bridge and a wifi hotspot....

We will be expanding our wifi bubble this year, and hope others will try it out as well.

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Great Idea - Some of the events pages have photo pages embedded or links to photos pages, but they should certainly be easier to find! Check out past events links here http://farmhack.net/calendar

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Sounds like a great fit for posting to Farm Hack. There are lots of options option's for promoting it. I would recommend opening an open shop for your organization, write a blog that can be rotated through the front page and perhaps offer to host an open hour or present on an organizers call to profile the project. Feel free to reach out to the farm hack community with questions.

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Hi Julia, It is funny you should mention this. I was just struggling with errors on my 1992 Kobleco Excavator engine CPU - which runs a throttle from a potentiometer through stepper motor and some logic based on engine speed and hydraulic flow. It has been giving me some issues and there is no documentation in the parts or user manual other than a very rudimentary diagram which makes diagnosis very challenging. There is essentially no ODBII type interface for diagnosis. A replacement CPU and all of this tiny logic costs $3500 and the stepper motor for throttle control about $1600. Outrageous for their component value and re- programing and diagnosis would be very difficult, and it may be that there is a bad ground or other issue causing the error rather than the CPU itself. The dealer claims that they would need to bring the whole machine to the shop to run diagnostics. I see no reason why with documentation the CPU could be replaced with an arduino/raspberrypi or similar with open diagnosis and interface - that way it could be easily and cheaply replaced as part of the diagnosis and standard pots and actuators could be fit. I have also been actively replacing filter housings with marine hardware that is less proprietary to make servicing easier and less model specific inventory dependent.

I would love to see a universal engine control unit with downloadable settings that could be retrofit.

I think your service would be a great value to this community. Look forward to following your efforts.

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I like the idea of a tool wiki to document this method of communication for the community- I think you can embed the iframe but the text format has to be in markdown syntax and HTML- here it is:

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Here is the spreadsheet posted by Commodity Traders International for recommended screen sizes

Here it is in google doc format https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1gPdLbwQhalAkxhQ-4isSUErvFHwqkfjdsQsCGFv6b9g/pubhtml

If you want to make your own custom screens, here is another vendor that sells all sorts of screening http://www.mcnichols.com/designer (Mcmaster Carr and other industrial suppliers also sells screen)

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I have some screen size documentation and supplier information that I can post later this week. It would be great to attach this work to the dehuller, thresher and combine tools as well. One of the concepts I would like to see developed is the concept of "kits"/so we can group multiple tools together in different combinations.