dorn
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- Member for
- 12 years 2 months
Contributions
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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Tool plan for Open Farm Ecyclopedia of Practical farm knowledge | dorn | Friday, February 15, 2013 - 10:57am | Tuesday, February 10, 2015 - 2:23pm | 10 | |
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FarmHack Event Tool Template | dorn | Sunday, January 20, 2013 - 5:07pm | Sunday, January 20, 2013 - 5:07pm | 0 | |
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Some tool wikis are not showing up | dorn | Sunday, December 23, 2012 - 10:45pm | Monday, December 24, 2012 - 1:25am | 1 | |
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Interest in having the guide de l'auto-construction book translated into english ? | dorn | Saturday, December 22, 2012 - 12:44pm | Friday, February 28, 2014 - 10:23am | 2 | |
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Open source farm skill list- a start | dorn | Thursday, December 20, 2012 - 11:42pm | Thursday, December 20, 2012 - 11:42pm | 0 | |
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Some Design Principles for Open Farm Tools and Questions to Consider | dorn | Thursday, December 20, 2012 - 11:00pm | Wednesday, February 26, 2014 - 10:47pm | 3 | |
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http://openstructures.net/ | dorn | Tuesday, October 30, 2012 - 8:19am | Sunday, November 4, 2012 - 3:44pm | 1 | |
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CAD/3D library | dorn | Monday, October 15, 2012 - 11:30am | Monday, October 15, 2012 - 11:30am | 0 | |
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Reference book - pedal power for work leasure and transportation | dorn | Wednesday, October 10, 2012 - 9:58pm | Wednesday, October 10, 2012 - 9:58pm | 0 | |
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adding images to tool wiki | dorn | Saturday, October 6, 2012 - 10:08pm | Wednesday, December 12, 2012 - 3:23pm | 1 |
I just came across this article that uses range finders (which are fairly cheap) to triangulate and give crop height measurements. I will see if I can get the whole text - here is a link to the abstract.
I am certainly a supporter of keeping the hardware costs of any of this kind of measurement to a minimum, and then do more processing on the backend (which is more easily shared).
We will actually be cutting two one meter samples in each plot, sorting the biomass,drying it and then weighing it. Which is why if we could find a remote way to calculate these values, we could save many many hours of labor.
I think that we might be able to get some rough information on biomass based on growth height which could probably be extracted based on the known scale of the plots and the heights of the plots above the pathways which is a known ground level. It would be interesting to see what kind of resolution we do have.
We will be doing the ground based measurements within the next two weeks, so we could correlate the on the ground data anytime after that is entered.
I had the same issue. Mashlab seems to indicate that is is loading texture, but doesn't ever complete. I was wondering if I needed a little more computing horsepower to get it to display...
I will download this into meshlab - that seems to provide a little higher resolution too. It would be interesting to compare to 123D Catch output.
Here is an screenshot from the meshlab rendering. It is getting a lot more topography which looks more or less right. I am curious to see what Chris's photos do to the resolution when he gets another model built.
Here is a link to the results from the 3D engine. http://www.hypr3d.com/models/4fbe49f52d212a000100009d
I it looks like with some editing I might be able to look at the density of the polygons in the plot area to document some change in cover, but it looks like we might need a little higher resolution to really document actual variation - the plot stakes didn't show up, but the plot boundaries which are a known size do show up well.
Thank you all for such a fun day. I hope we can all get together again in the near future. With all the imaging that took place, I am really excited to see what kind of mapping and analysis can come out of it.
I just created a "sandbox" wiki for us to use http://www.farmhack.net/tools/covercrop-remote-sensing-imaging
I am downloading the single camera images tonight and will get them sorted for sending of for 3d imaging.
We went over to the second site at the woodman farm research station down the road, but the wind was not blowing enough to get a kite up, so that might be a project for another day. I think I may have to get my own rig set up...Perhaps a basic farm hack tool entry could be the basic balloon/kite camera setup from open labs?
I have started a floating wiki to keep the various lists of tools - we can graduate this to a full tool wiki and/or divide it further as it evolves. I think that it might be useful to divide shop tool kits from field tool kits. I know we have recently refined our tractor tool kit lists on our farm.
Here is a link to the "floating" tool wiki for shop tool kits
It would be really cool do do a couple farm hacker's shop layouts and inventory - we might be able to make some generalizations and help each other improve. I know my layout could certainly be much better. This is where a sketchup library might be really fun to do a few shop layouts.
Thank you so much for your tour and posting this information - do you think that you might be able to start a tool wiki for the microhydro systems? I think it would be a good repository for folks starting out on projects - I think I mentioned that I think that micro hydro coupled with a gassifier(or whatever other power source is abundant on site) powered water pump(direct drive or electric) might be a way to even out power storage/generation needs in a farm application - ie. water stored in large farm cistern used to store excess power from generator with microhydro to generate on-demand power when needed. I am thinking about hill side storage ponds etc. which could also double for irrigation and animal watering storage. I would love to work up some numbers on a few case studies...
There was a recent tool posting of just such a machine -http://www.farmhack.net/tools/small-scale-thresher
Here is a link to another one
To get things started a little - here is a 3D warehouse collection that I put together quickly with some sample models and here are several of the models and collections linked individually. Some of these are more than components, but may have detail that would help in building a new project.
3 point mounted box
rotary mower
Wood Splitter
backhoe
Scraper blade
Small tractor
dump trailer
Collection of bobcat equipment
tool bar with shanks
three point blade
basic farm shed
tractor bucket
farm trailers
Combine collection
double bale forks
hay wagon
pallet fork
General farm collection
3ph mounted snowplow
harrow
3 point easy hitch
hay rake
three point hitch log splitter
I think what the OSE folks are doing is great, but the documentation is largely geared toward their own projects. Last I looked they had CAD files for the pulverizer, earth press and tractor. I will have to check it out again to see if there are more. It would certainly be great to cross pollinate. What I would like to see that hasn't been created yet, is a repository for universal sketchup components which could be used when designing, say, a new tool bar or three point hitch attachments etc. For example, I know Ben Shute has an Allis G cultivating tractor modeled already. If that were in a library, it could be used as the basis for designing not only new implements (like low cost tine weeders, finger weeders etc). I think that some of the universal hitches (bob cat/john deere/triangle/3ph) might also be a good place to start. Here is an example of a good library component The nice thing is that if we have CAD files we can import to sketchup and vice versa. I think the good thing about standardizing on sketchup right now would be that it is free and easy to use.
I am thinking that for now I might move this type of post over to a floating wiki just to test the concept and until we have another place to put it. I think it would be good to encourage this type of wiki post, but as I mentioned before if we have too many of these types it dilutes the physical tool meta data model.
I do think it is a good conversation to have. Documents and templates I think could follow the same development pattern as they move from concept to a robust and well documented template - so our model does not have to be tweaked much, but just run in parallel, just as you say above. I think that will be a valuable feature...thanks again for all the great work!
The library could start out as simply a list of links to good collections in the 3D warehouse, or to individual models. Linking to models would also address the issue of not being able to upload sketchup files to the tool wikis yet.
Possibly both - a repository of components that would be relevant to building farm tools. Just like you have bins of stuff at the hardware store. If you are working within sketchup it would be awkward to go to individual tool pages, but I think that tool pages should definitely list relevant sketchup models right on the page as well. This could be managed by using a collection within the 3d Warehouse which would make it more publicly accessible. An example of the type of collection we might build is here
Thanks - I think this is a helpful approach. I would maybe suggest we try going without color at first, and see what design folks would like to to do later. Could you add the above syntax to the Quick Tips? Any objection to using html color in forum posts?
I agree that the html kind of makes editing a little more complex to edit, but I didn't think it would be too bad. Happy to back it off to other means to make the headers pop out a bit, and I agree we should work towards a standard look too. What do others think about colored section headings?
The difference in editing is
Header Text
or
Header TextOne way around this, depending on the crops you have in mind would be to do no-till planting or transplanting, and use heavy mulches instead of cultivation for weed suppression. Generally an additive approach rather than extractive. It would have the added benefit of not bringing up new weeds seeds as well. You can see some of the equipment to make this work on a larger scale at Steve Groff's farm. On a half acre you would be able to do this approach easily by hand.
We should talk with RJ about posting sketchup files. Until he gets it figured out you could post it to the 3D warehouse and then post a link to it in the listing. Here is a link to a sketchup Kubota I will start another thread to discuss our own sketchup library....
Good idea. farm fabrication tools as well as components would be great to add too. This might fit in with the marketplace concept. we had talked at last meeting we talked about fabricators subscribing to tool listings if they would be available to build entire tools or components.
I think this will be a good education for the community as we get it sorted out.
I was hesitant to publish the template without consulting the original poster first, but I did put revision comments. I think we can develop gentle language to cheer along new entries. I agree that there should be forum posts along with changes like this. Good suggestion.
It would be great to get documentation like user manuals and screen sizes used by the fanning mills for various crops. I wonder if the Johnny's folks would be interested in sharing some of that information? I think tracking down plans, or making plans from an old fanning mill would be a great project to post on this forum too – anyone have one they might be willing to document? Owners manuals etc. to scan? I think one of the "clipper" AT fanning mills is one of the next purchases for our farm – I have started cruising e-bay looking for good examples with lots of screens. Gravity separators, sorting tables and other similar devices seem fairly simple and not too difficult to document for the farm builder.
I will see if I can get my brother inlaw to post. He has a brand new single horse treadmill which has a pto output which he has used for corn shelling and grinding - and another friend has one hitched to a thresher. He also has a belt driven grain grinder which is human powered based on a modified stationary bicycle. If nothing else I can get photos of the setup.
Right on...An online marketplace to move R&D to a next step could bring together enough folks to both demonstrate need if outside funders (kick starter/foundations/other grant makers) would like validation/documentation, and it would reduce the development cost if the project is funded internally by coordinating orders, doing small production runs etc.... I especially like the idea of tapping into university projects. I could see projects going both ways - some originating at the university and finding legs to get to the next stage on farm hack, and projects that are stuck (eg. technical barrier, documentation, testing, prototype needed etc.) on farm hack moving forward because of assistance from student projects, university machine shops etc.
Many grants require public posting of results, and Farm Hack could be written in as the dissemination method for grant funded projects. It would also be a good place to cruise to get ideas for new projects to work on for funding proposals.
I think we talked at RSDI about something that might be a cross between an etsy type market place for farmhack tools and kickstarter type function for funding R&D? Cool stuff...
it is fixed
Hi Tim, I am so glad that you posted. I think your post is already a valuable contribution. You have just illustrated where we are with the Farm Hack site - you are on the leading edge of helping to develop the standard for documentation and templates. It was on my "to-do" list to try and post a sample template for community review this week, but I think that a good guideline might be that each entry eventually reach a stage where anyone, anywhere would be able to reproduce and operate the tool using the tool wiki and forum. Some standard components will be a bill of materials, cut lists where appropriate, materials sourcing, and as many technical drawings/CAD/sketchup type files as possible, and then use of sequential photos/videos for the "how to" use and build sections which would follow an instructables like format.
I am facing some of the same organization questions as I start to post several projects from my farm- some of which have many sub-components to them. I would recommend that you try to post separate entries for each section of your design - say one for the movable tunnel as a whole, then one for the wheel assembly and another for the hoop bender. The more descriptive you can be in the titles of the tools and entries the better. The movable tunnel as a "meta tool" could then link to the sub-components that you have developed. I think this would enable others to start new threads for other approaches which could also be linked to the original mobile tunnel entry. I hope others jump in on this conversation too - I think it is important.
There is a general discussion going on in the forum discussing how the community wants to handle the approval process, structure, sorting, searches etc. I would encourage you to jump in to the dialog there as well!
http://www.farmhack.net/forums/do-we-want-tool-approval-process
I think that this starts to overlap with the tool sorting/searching function discussion. I think it is important to have really low barriers to posting, and agree that it would be valuable to have a space where people can post and tag tools they find even with very thin documentation - sometimes that is all it takes to spark an idea, and we SHOULD promote that as much as possible. I also think that we need to not lose projects that are active and underway in the the middle.
For example, I think that the Root washer, FIDO, and oat huller are all tools that have users actively involved in farm hack and are projects with activity behind them. I think that these should maybe be in a different category and highlighted. Perhaps we list "tool browsing library" for casual listings and "tool documentation kits", or "tool projects" or something along those lines to indicate that there is member activity moving from concept to some type of action by the community?
There could be no barrier or permissions for posting to the browsing library, but if there are on-going projects then there might be a sponsor for moving the project - which would have the benefits mentioned above. I would suggest not adding any permissions requirements at all at first, but at some point I think the tool wiki should be editable by subscribers to the tool? This should not be not very complicated to manage, but just add one step to commit a little more to the project.
I think just as there are stages of development for tools, we have stages of development for the forum/wiki/site. I agree that as we get a longer list of tools we will likely want to search by function and application, but I think as we are establishing standards for tool documentation that it would be helpful that the first few tools people see are well documented with a lot of activity around them. As we have more to choose from, we will be able to highlight them in the blogs for this purpose, and depend on a more advanced menu/search function later. So I would see sorting/listing by stage and documentation level as an early stage approach as we are building and then moving to something more advanced?