Howard Log

This is a work log for keeping track of tasks by Howard Agnew, whom should arrive at Factor e Farm to start his dedicated project visit.

Dedicated Project Visit Pre-planning

I will be focusing on documentation, helping Santa Claus bring the promised gifts of completed documentation sets for a couple of machines by Christmas. Collaboration over the Internet with CADders and other documenters will be required to ensure this goal is obtained, so obtaining full, complete and current specifications for all parts of the machines being built are the highest priorities. Once I have a full set of specifications, I can delegate out development of the CAD models to active volunteers over the Internet and develop the 20+ models required for the CEB Press in parallel with other teams, as well as related information (such as the Bill of Materials) which will also be incorporated into the final, complete draft of manufacturing blueprints/diagrams and instructions.

The fabricators will tend to be very busy, however, and I must not get in their way when it is crunch time on building and prototyping. I will need to really be sharp when it comes to seeing and finding opportunities when work has slowed down.

I will need to also contribute efforts to help with things like building the facilities, which will probably be a temporary focus early on until the current facility expansion is complete. I do not have any carpentry experience, but hopefully my landscaping experience laying a brick retaining wall will be of use in building the Compressed Earth Brick walls that will be part of the construction. I expect I'll be a bit sore, being out of shape for so many years, but no pain, no gain. :)

I expect to arrive sometime Wednesday or Thursday. I am very excited and honored at this opportunity, and hope my plans and intentions bear fruit and I can help bridge the work being done at Factor e Farm with the greater Open Source Ecology community, enabling other teams in other locations to start taking advantage of the work already done by completing integrated manufacturing instructions, diagrams, bills of material and all the other information needed to enable a group to identify every machine and all materials they need to start work, and clear, concise and accurate instructions complete with diagrams to actually build the machines.

I will be driving, leaving Monday or Tuesday and I expect to arrive three days later. I used to take long distance road trips and do so stupidly 10-15 years ago; I will be pacing myself to maximize my safety. I am preparing what I have (for instance doing what I can with my laptop since it will be my only usable computer on-site, as my desktop would hog too much precious power needed for machining), getting ready to buy things I need (steel toed boots and hearing protection, for instance) before going.

Final Shutdown

As of noon PST on Sept. 26, 2011, I am shutting my computer down for the last time to pack it up and haul out.

I expect to arrive at FeF sometime tomorrow or Wednesday. Will try to log my laptop on if I find restaurants or rest stops with free wi fi en route.

I don't know anyone's phone #s at FeF, so I will be calling David who lives nearby when I am closer to determining an arrival time.

Looking forward to meeting the FeF crew in person and joining in! --Howard V. Agnew 21:06, 26 September 2011 (CEST)

Arrived at FeF

I arrived yesterday morning (September 28th) at around 7:30. I was frustrated away from my last attempt at sleep at 11 p.m. the night before at a rest stop in South Dakota when I discovered they outlaw staying at a rest stop for more than 3 hours unless you are in an RV ... so I kept going, drove all night for the final leg, arriving at Factor e Farm at around 8 a.m. I am settling in a bit, still have a bit of road wariness to sleep off, but starting to work helping document the |LifeTrac III with Ian, who is great with video and is actually doing a bigger video documentary project. A little project we started last night was to create one single jig plate that would have all the holes needed for the 4"4" tube frame members for the LifeTrac. He wrote a script, and based on the specs he had in the script, I created a sketchup of the jig plate with the holes (all 27 in one piece!) and decided to go with an alphabetical labelling scheme that could be used for a written documentation set. --Howard V. Agnew 21:44, 29 September 2011 (CEST)

September 30

Dug two inches into gravel for the concrete pillars where Shonda has been toiling away securing frames to stakes. Managed to get caught up with him, primarily because we unfortunately ran out of 2x2 stakes.

Need to get with Ian on video-documenting the wheel mounts for the LifeTrac III, but the facility expansion construction takes priority, FeF can only get into high gear when there's good housing and production facilities. Will collaborate with Ian when its too dark to do anything else.

September 30, Part II

Everyone busted their butts 'til a quarter past 2 a.m. working on the frames. Some had to be reworked. Note for anyone doing this in the future: Stake but do not attach frames to stakes until after the frames are levelled ... otherwise you wind up doing as we did, having to unattach the frames from the stakes and re-attaching.

We called it a night with another 10 to go, plan to somehow drag ourselves out of comas to finish them before the cement mixer pours tomorrow ... err, make that later today.

Its cold, we're tired, but we're all thinking the same thing ... when the Hab Lab is complete, we'll be living in high luxury. :P

October 1

Turns out the cement isn't coming until Monday. I worked a bit on more of the forms until David came over and we decided to replace the "bridge" (a long, flat piece of metal that had folded in on itself) over the trench between the current FeF and the new Hab Lab to the west. Will make walking and wheelbarrowing much easier.

October 2

Worked with Ian on documenting the wheel mount construction and assembly for the LifeTrac III. Unfortunately, have hit a few snags trying to determine scope. Will need to address these with Marcin after I have a clear, specific list such as whether the shaft assembly and brackets on the wheels should be included ... and if so, will need a walk-through.

Have also hit a snag that I lack drivers for the camera loaned to me by Alan, and am unable to acquire video from it. I searched the manufacturer's site, but unfortunately their "support" section has been down with a "500 - Internal Server Error" every time I have checked today. I sent an e-mail to the manufacturer, hopefully they can have the site fixed tomorrow, or at least point me to an alternative site to obtain the driver.

Note to self: When going to check out, in further detail, stuff from a video walk-through, always bring a tape measure and my laptop. Too many times I thought I had all the info I needed, went back to my laptop clear across the current Factor e Farm campus, only to find I had missed something and had to go back to record that, too.