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4 Simple, Cheap OpenSource Tools for AfricanRural DevelopmentNeed to make a plow fromscrap steel?
Need village lighting and cellcharging?
Need easily built machine toolsfor training, shops or industry?
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1. T DR"##$. T%T"%AC"N
'. T (NN)
4. T CONCRT#AT
The lathe and the Multimachine can furnish a wholemachine shop, small factory or trade school. Plus, theGenny can provide power for a village. Every worker orfamily needs one of the drills. They can be all built using
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1. T DR"##
Making a plow or almost anything else, takes a drill. Thisuses a long forgotten techniue and could cost as little as!" #plus some scrap wood$ . %t needs no electricity.
Power drills normally turnthe bit at high speed andlow pressure butblacksmiths in the 1800sused a tool to press downvery hard on the drill bitwhile they turned it slowly
by hand. heir drills !andthis one also" can makelarge holes in very hardsteel, something moderndrills usually can#t do.
&ust ' things to do(
$se a lever to press down%00 to 1000 pounds on thebit
&eep the pressure steady
'on#t let the bit wobble
( simple drill can be made
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$. T%T"%AC"N
An all*purpose +1*in*1- metal*or/in0machine tool that coulbe built for uner 2$.
The %ultimachine is anaccurate all*purpose
machine tool that canbe use as a metal oroo lathe, en mill,hori3ontal mill, rillpress, oo or metalsa or saner, surface0riner an sheet metalspinner.
"t can be built b5 amechanic usin0 6ust
Made from scrap auto parts and
used steel pipe and bar. Shown at
2007 Maker Faire Austin !e"asand 200# Maker Faire Africa and
built all over the world.
A $opular Mechanics 2007 %&'
pro(ect of the year.
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he allpurposemachine can be builtwith an ine-pensiveconcrete bed andcarriage like this.
t can also becompletely built usingeasily available stocksi/es of steel that
reuire no additionalmachining in a shop.( real money saver
A real 8self
bootin09 machine!
%T"%AC"N
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'. T 8(NN)9%nspired by a )**+Maker aire -fricauestion how to usean automobile
alternator togenerate power for avillage orneighborhood/:roblem;2ne person is not strongenough to power an
alternator
%5 solution;( multiperson treadlepowered alternator strongenough to last throughlong, heavy use and built
with materials foundeverywhere. t needs nowelding.
used a orn*outen0ine bloc/with 3 ofthe pistons removed and
the last piston put inupsie onso that it
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0uild one in a day1
&ust dissemble ajunked car engineblock and turn itinto a 2Genny3
4hisel o5 any ironthat gets in the way.
'rill and tap mainbearing and the onerod cap for grease
6ttings.
'rill grease holes inthe bearing inserts.
7ake pulleys and a
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The all
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4. T CONCRT #AT
4ow1 5our 6rst look at aworld7changing idea1
"t?s alrea5 chan0e
the orl@ B 5earsa0o, to be eact. Anthen as for0otten!
"t?s a /in of metal lathebut hat is thatheserigid tools remove material from
a rotating work piece. A latheis necessar5 in theprouction of almostever5thin0. t has been calledthe king9 of machine tools andlathe operators are among themost skilled of all workers.
:athes usually cost thousands!usually many" of dollars andour new design is probably the6rst that#s cheap enough !as lowas ;30" and easy enough forstudents to build forthemselves.
he top drawing is from the1
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CONCRT #ATThe ori0inal esi0noes nee a fechan0es!
2ur ;30 school andsmall shop lathe canactually be built to domore kinds of )obs than
much more e-pensiveones and ours can alsobe scaled up to almostany si/e.
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CONCRT #AT
Chan0e 1;
2ur lathe has alonger bed9 or framethan was needed forthe production of
cannon shells. Notonly can the machinebe made in almostlength, it can also bemade large enough to
6t )obs % feet indiameter
he big change is thissupport bar that letsthe lathe be built any
si/e from # to 30#long and be able to
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CONCRT #AT
More aboutmachine si8e
( hobbyist may needonly a # long machine.
( trade school mayonly have money and
room enough for a few 3@ machines.
( ># long lathe is acommon shop si/e.
( big food mill may
need one 30# long and1% @ high.
The same basicesi0n ill or/for all of themA
( student trained ona small lathe can
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CONCRT #AT
Chan0e $;
he original carriage!the big sliding part"was made of caststeel. 2urs is a simpleconcrete casting.
7any types ofcarriages and tailstocks can be usedand easilyinterchanged to make
more speciali/edlathes and millingmachines. Bust lift oneo5 and replace it withanother.
2ne e-ample couldbe this carriage that
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CONCRT #AT
Chan0e ';
-lignment
Cithout accurate alignment allour machine building e5ortswould end up as )unk. heoriginal machines were built in
factories where everything
could be accuratelyalignedwhile molten type metal waspoured over to hold everything in place.
Ce don#t have factories orfancy alignment )igs but we dohave ;10 dial indicators andthese wonderful devices madeby PrattDChitney in 18E0.
These will work just as well as anyfactory jig and can be made for just a
few dollars. They are shown on different
shaped ways but can be easily adapted
to work on our round ways.
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CONCRT #AT
Chan0e 4;
he original factory)igs held thingstemporarily in placewhile pouring molten
type metal9 to lockthings in placepermanently.
=imple steel wedges
can be used in placeof giant )igs andepo-y or cement inplace of the originaltype metal9 which isno longer made. hewedges would stay in
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CONCRT #AT
Chan0e B;
Threading
he original machineshad no provision forthreading but now
every lathe shouldhave some sort ofthreading capability.
his simple type iscalled a threadfollower and is madefrom bicycle parts.here are manyother ways to get our
lathe to cut threads.
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>hat else o e
have for5ou
#in/s tothousans ofcarefull5 chosenmachinin0lessons, plans,vieos, articlesan full len0th
boo/s are onour )ahoo%ultimachine0roup site
F,G,H movement lathe carriages
Powered au-iliary spindles
Ioller type, low friction lathe
carriages angential !broken drill bit" cutting
tools
( uniue bearing ad)uster
Plywood pulley plans
4heap, simple machining Juids
readle powered wood and metallathes
:athe chucks
Kas engine powered alternatorwelders
Almost ever5thin0 5ounee to buil almost
an5thin0 ithout
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7or much more information about builin0an5 of these machines 0o tohttp;FF0roups.5ahoo.comF0roupFmultimachineF
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/multimachine-
concrete-machine-tools/
7or the (enn5, also 0o to
http;FF0roups.5ahoo.comF0roupFafricapoeranli0htF
7or personal help on an5 of these pro6ects; email
:at Delan5ri0matchG5ahoo com