Universities/Open Source Microfactory

Title

Open Source Microfactory - Transforming scrap metal into products of advanced civilization

Description

We can convert rocks, plants, water, and sunlight into the substance of modern civilization. That's what modern industry is doing on the global scale already. We think it can be done better on the scale of a community. Like Shumacher and Gandhi, we think that Small is Beautiful - so we're developing the Open Source Microfactory.

What are the limits of the open source production - for enabling communities to capture local wealth and keep it from leaking out? What if every community could produce its own cars, windmills and solar energy equipment, food, even bioplastics and semiconductors?

What if we could go through all levels of metal transformation locally:

• Scrap metal
  • Start with scrap metal resources, like steel and other metals, melt them down with an induction furnace, followed by process such as casting, forging, rolling, and with that you can generate virgin steel.
• Virgin steel
  • Then you can produce machine parts from it with things like CNC lathing, milling, CNC torch tables for cutting, laser cutter, open source torch welder, iron worker machine, CNC circuit mill.
• Machine Parts
  • Assemble the machines parts and you can make tractors, cars,
• Products of advanced civilization

The full production chain of the Open Source Microfactory includes:

• Induction Furnace - to melt scrap metal.
• Induction Furnace - a metal forming process in which metal stock is passed through a pair of rolls to produce a desired shape, such as flat bar, angle, or u-channel.
• CNC Multimachine
• Industrial Robots
• Pelletizer - a device that compresses shredded pieces of biomass or other substances to compact, flowable pellets.
• Hydralic Motors - a mechanical actuator that converts high-pressure fluid flow into rotation.
• Stepper Motor Controller - to power the RepRap, Laser Cutter, Torch Table, CNC machines, circuit maker.
• Oxy-Hydrogen Generator - generate oxyhydrogen cutting gas by electrolyzing water.
• CNC Torch Table - a computer-controlled cutting table for metal where a moving torch head is used to produce precision metal parts in a fraction of the time that it takes to do so manually.
• Precision Motion Systems
• MIG Welder
• Inverter and Inverter Welder
• Electrical Generator
• Steam Engine
• 150 Ton Ironworker
• Nickel Iron Batteries

Contact

Nikolay Georgiev, nikolay (at) opensourceecology (dot) org