Welding

Daniel’s First Weld from D & H Tractors on Vimeo.

Daniel and I spent this morning in the workshop of Peter of Walker Matthiessen Builders. Peter is a Poly parent and wanted to help us out after hearing about the D & H mission. His shop is tucked away but very well stocked. From 8:30 to 11:30, we gained familiarity and exposure to a whole slew of shop equipments we had never seen. We also welded together some scrap with a MIG welder in preparation for important powercube parts (which we hope to take care of this week). The exposure we gained today along with Peter’s explanations of the thought processes and factors to take into consideration when machining and welding is invaluable to us and pushes us a step closer to building a working LifeTrac.

The last, and best weld of the day.

Daniel's First Weld

Powercube Progress

Machining Day 3 from D & H Tractors on Vimeo.

All of the cuts have been made and the holes drilled in the PowerCube steel except for those on the 1/4″ x 6″ x 12″ x 27 1/2″ tube because we do not yet have it. A & M Engineering, a company that specializes in precision parts for aircraft, has been ordering steel for us and they said that this piece is hard to track down. This indicates to me that (unless we are missing something) it would be very hard for a potential LifeTrack replicator in, say a second world nation.

We have all of the internal components except for the  1 1/8″ to 5/8″ solid shaft coupling and the hydraulic oil cooler. We don’t have much experience with this type of thing, so perhaps custom couplings are common- still, though, this part strikes us hard to obtain.

From now on we will use OpenProj to record our work and keep ourselves honest to our timetable going forward. I would also like to get to work revamping the PowerCube fabrication report in order to bring to it the clarity of the LifeTrac one.

First day in the shop

We have obtained almost all the parts- excluding the hydraulic oil cooler and custom coupler- for the powercube.

Today we rose at 5:30 and went out to A & M Engineering in Irwindale which has generously donated us time in its machine shop. We cut and ground most of the steel needed in the powercube, turning this

after a little of this

into this.

Next week we hope to drill all of the powercube steel and begin ordering off for LifeTrac components.

Build approaching

The engine has arrive and we all of the parts barring a few for the power-cube. We will start the build on the first day of our spring break, Monday April second. We hope to have some of the South Central Farmers who work in Bakersfield join us at some point during the break. Pictures of that forthcoming. Also, hats are in.

D & H Fundraiser

On a rainy St. Patricks day, D & H had an excellent night. With a screening of The Garden, the chance to meet Tezozomoc and $3,027 raised. Construction will begin soon, and word is the South Central Farmers will be there.

Initial success and a fundraising event on March 17th

We have successfully met and surpassed our initial fundraising goal $2,000 by March 15!  All of the parts for the power-cube have been ordered and we only await their delivery to start work.

Julie Davis’ Memoir and Social Change Class will be spearheading a screening of The Garden accompanied by a short talk from the South Central Farmers’ spokesman, Tezozomoc, and a silent auction. The event promises to propel us into the second phase of fundraising: to reach $8,000 by May 15. It will take place from 6:00-9:00 on Saturday March 17th in Poly’s Garland Theatre. The silent auction will be significant with items like Red Sox tickets, free professional portait sessions, nights at a house in Mammoth, and a dedicated spot in the Poly parking lot.

Press

D & H was just written up in Pasadena Now. Check it out here

Also, the project is now internationally funded with donations from Brad in Victoria, British Columbia, and Nikolay in Karlsruhe, Germany.

Our first concrete steps

D & H has been hard at work. First came our mention in an Open Source Ecology blog post. Next, we picked up our shirts, tank tops and bumper stickers
and began selling at school during lunch. We have raised over 600 dollars as a direct result of these lunch sales, bringing us nearly up to the $2000 fund raising goal for the power cube. Then we were written up Polytechnic’s student newspaper, The Paw Print.

The next, probably the most notable development, is that Boris Beljak of A & M Engineering has generously offered his welding, drilling, cutting and shipping services, in addition to a sizable donation, which puts us squarely on track for raising the money for the the chassis materials.

In terms of fund raising, the track team has started to and will continue selling hot dogs at Poly sports events with the proceeds going to D & H. We are in the process of planning a nighttime screening of The Garden which will be accompanied by a silent auction led by Julie Davis’ Memoir and Social Change class. Also, we have begun communications with Polytechnic’s boyscout troop, which has expressed interested in aiding the cause.

Tonight Daniel and I will order the most expensive single part of the tractor, the 200lb, 28 horsepower Briggs and Stratton engine (part number 49M777) that will lie at its core.

In the latter part of this week, we will pick up as many parts of the power cube as we have time to.

Background and Poly Presentation

Here is Daniel and my presentation from morning meeting on February 2nd at Poly. In the first four hours after our presentation, we accumulated around $1000 dollars in donations and pledges. Thank you all very much for your continued support. If you are interested in contributing, find Daniel or myself at school, or donate online. Visit our Pledging Options page for more information.

An Introduction to D & H Tractors from D & H Tractors

Here is the full trailer for The Garden- excerpted in our talk

The Garden, theatrical trailer

Here is Marcin Jakubowski’s full TED talk on Open Source ecology – excerpted in our talk

Global Village Construction Set – TED Talk from Open Source Ecology

EDIT: D & H was mentioned in a Open Source Ecology blogpost: http://blog.opensourceecology.org/2012/02/project-progress-and-scaling/

A D&H Photoshoot

Courtesy of Mark Loyola, and our excellent models, a D & H photo gallery

Shirts silkscreened by Grow Your Own Media