COOL! You can build all your farm machinery for survival using simple and affordable blueprints.

This is awesome.

This guy got tired of buying junk off the market that continually broke down and had to be repaired. He designed and built all of his own farming machinery using cheap, available materials and says anyone out there can do it to.

We know that open source has succeeded with tools for managing knowledge and creativity. And the same is starting to happen with hardware too. We're focusing on hardware because it is hardware that can change people's lives in such tangible material ways. If we can lower the barriers to farming, building, manufacturing, then we can unleash just massive amounts of human potential.

That's not only in the developing world. Our tools are being made for the American farmer, builder, entrepreneur, maker. We've seen lots of excitement from these people, who can now start a construction business, parts manufacturing, organic CSA or just selling power back to the grid. Our goal is a repository of published designs so clear, so complete, that a single burned DVD is effectively a civilization starter kit.

TED.com



Check out his website here: Open Source Ecology

The Construction instructions are available Here

Apparently, you can learn to create you own fully self-sustainable civilization if you follow his instructions.

This is huge! Everyone interested in sustainable agriculture, homesteading and survival should get these plans and if you're one of the talented engineering types perhaps you have something to offer the world as well.

Looking around his shop I'm guessing everything he built can be done with little more than a drill press, welding tanks and band saw.

Thanks for posting this FortAnthem

reply to post by FortAnthem


Really cool stuff, FortAnthem! Thanks for posting this.. already visited the links and saved for future reading. Looks easy enough that I might even be able to do some of this without messing it up too badly!

sorry this was posted about a year ago.
it is still great.

be I Still can not see the infomation to build them???

is it just pre-built kits?
so hes just making money from it.
and not leting people have the desine to build it them selfs.

Originally posted by buddha
sorry this was posted about a year ago.
it is still great.

be I Still can not see the infomation to build them???

I was banging my head about this for a while to. The site isn't very user friendly.

Here's how you find the directions: click on this link which takes you to the Global Village Construction Set page. Find the name of the thing you want to build in the list below such as clicking on Tractor, the first one on the top left. This will take you to a page that describes the tractor, what it is capable of and safty issues. On the top of that page, you will see:

LifeTrac III Home | Research & Development | Build It | User's Manual | Community Feedback

Click on the part that says Build It and it will take you to the directions.

Good luck.

I know its his idea of DIY that OP is showing but why didnt smart guy with broken tractor mower attachment just fabricate a new part instead of buying it when in to end he became commercial himself.

me thinks a government grant was attained for the study and now you too can purchase from him his conclusions...you know, like, how many hydrogen separators did that smart guy sell, and where they in application now?

ok I am done now, may I be excused?

just saw this...

vimeo.com...

here's a pretty cool photo album (~30 pictures) from someone who built one of the machines with the plans from these guys...

imgur.com...

vimeo.com... opensourceecology.org...

First we made shirts

Then we had a photoshoot
www.flickr.com...

$8000 fundraising goal laid out- the device will be donated to The South Central Farmers
vimeo.com... www.southcentralfarmers.com...

and ordered materials for the first phase

along the way we learned to weld
vimeo.com...

and use shop tools
vimeo.com...

We welded a pressure tight hydraulic tank

As well as a gas tank and it's modular housing known as the powercube
opensourceecology.org...

We completed the powercube
vimeo.com...

Then the steel arrived for phase 2


we cut and drilled it

then assembled the frame and put on the loader arms

aligned and installed the bottom cylinders

then the top ones and the quick attach plate

custom wheel hubs

We put together wheel assemblies x4

Put in the hydraulics and wheels and started playing around with it
photos.pasadenastarnews.com... farmers/#name%20here

All but the cab complete

one day before leaving for college vimeo.com...

Daniel down low
photos.pasadenastarnews.com... farmers/#name%20here

The Tractor lifts its own weight

We cast 250lb concrete ballast for the back

A math teacher who helped along the way

A donated tow job sends the tractor to the South Central Farmers

...

I was kind of surprised to see someone might need a set of blueprints to build "farm equiptment".
I am not sawying it would be all that easy. I guess I take a lot of things for granite. When I was small, I "helped" my grand father build a tractor from an old Model A Ford. He also built a big trailer from another car frame and we still use it from time to time.