Cube30xx Log

April 16-17

When I wasn`t helping prepare for the Microhouse (MH2) workshop, I spent the first couple of days watching Sketchup videos, learning how to use the program.

April 18

Did a bit of yardwork preparing for the MH2 workshop. We removed the concrete form for the MH2 location and set up the assembly belt for the Compressed Earth Brick Press (CEBP). Measured around the MH2 foundation, The north, west, and south (plan views, not directional) sides measured 14". The east side measured 14'-3/4". The SW to NE corners diagonal measured 23' and 6-7/8". The NW to SE corners diagonal measured 23' and 8-1/4". This was acceptable at foundation height, but by the time the last course is laid the diagonals need to match within 1/8".

Two ideas were proposed by Chris. The first was to place the CEB's flush with the outer edge of the concrete form, with equal dimensions. The second option was to increase the size of the bottom course so the bricks would be flush with both the inner and outer perimeters of the concrete form. The second brick course would be slightly thinner than the first, and the third slightly thinner than the second. The fourth course will match the standard brick size all the way up to the top of the main floor.

Meet and greets were had when everyone arrived. A lot of cool people with different backgrounds have come together.

April 19

This is the first full day of the workshop. Meeting started at 8:45. Everyone was divided into two groups. The first group worked on Main Floor Carpentry, which included a door frame, a window frame, and structural beams. The plans for this are on Dozuki. The second group went to set up the CEBP. I went with them to start dumping in soil and clay to produce bricks. James gave a brief tutorial on measuring the integrity of the bricks:

-Know your local land, its proportions of clay, silt, soil, sand. -Mixing concrete with silt and sand works great, you get a robust brick. -Clay and concrete work against each other. Lime should be used. In particular, use Hydraulic Lime; it comes in a fine powder. You will get a solid brick.

The clay on site has hardened to the point where it would be difficult to work with, so in Marcin and Catarina's new place they are using pure soil, so I'm sure that even without any recipes using mixes these bricks are going to work just fine. The HabLab was built with the same, and it is a sound building.

Difficulties began with the CEBP, James had to tinker with it to correct the automated sequence, so I started checking out the other modules. Later I helped James with re-assigning the pins for each of the hydraulic circuits. One pin wasn`t needed and one was incidentally missing, so we had to make the pins match between the female and male connectors.

The CEBP still wasn`t doing its sequence properly, so James started looking at the C code (saved in .h format) to adjust the delays between automated tasks. Once the delay was calibrated it started to work.