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Open Source Tractor

opensourceecology.dozuki.com

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Re: Open Source Tractor

#151

Post by kongin »

beckman466 wrote: post #81
rmason wrote: post #51

This project is terrific. People are critical of what it doesn't do, I'm in awe of what it does do. You're going to have little two man shops in Africa and Asia cranking these out and changing agriculture in their part of the world. This demonstrates the power of open source. These engineers are to be commended.

> This demonstrates the power of open source. These engineers are to be commended. if you haven't seen the famous Open Source Ecology pitch by Marcin Jakubowski, you're in for a treat! Open-sourced blueprints for civilization | Marcin Jakubowski , https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6GEMkvT0DEk

Way back when I reached out to them for getting the actual blueprints for a light industry coop - modular open source welders? Sign me up!

Got a reply along the lines of "we are working with our sponsors and will not be releasing any blueprints".

10 years later you still can't get blueprints from their site: https://www.opensourceecology.org/gvcs/gvcs-machine-index/

They seem like the solar roadways of open source hardware.

Re: Open Source Tractor

#152

Post by SuoDuanDao »

namdnay wrote: post #79
rmason wrote: post #51

This project is terrific. People are critical of what it doesn't do, I'm in awe of what it does do. You're going to have little two man shops in Africa and Asia cranking these out and changing agriculture in their part of the world. This demonstrates the power of open source. These engineers are to be commended.

I doubt that IP of tractor designs is a major factor in third world poverty. I’m sure there are factories in Asia pumping out cheap tractors already

There certainly seem to be.

https://www.alibaba.com/products/tractor.html?IndexArea=prod...

Now if only shipping were reasonable!

Re: Open Source Tractor

#153

Post by BenjiWiebe »

Symbiote wrote: post #111
voakbasda wrote: post #103

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In the US, three phase power seems to be completely unavailable in rural areas, except in small pockets of industry.

Doesn't a farm count as a small pocket of industry? (Writing from Denmark, where my small apartment has three phase power. It's standard, I don't know why.)

Living on a rural US farm... In our area, 3 phase was not ran to our farm until we paid a large lump sum for the utility to run it from the nearest substation to us. Before that we only had single phase.

Re: Open Source Tractor

#154

Post by throwaway9870 »

timschmidt wrote: post #148
throwaway9870 wrote: post #146

Earlier quoted context omitted.

They are terribly inefficient and who is going to be servicing all these hydraulics in the 3rd world? Every farming town in the USA has someone who can make custom hydro lines quickly. How many of those shops in Africa?

Petrol engines are inefficient. Solar panels are inefficient. Your and my metabolisms are inefficient. Suitability to purpose matters more in my humble opinion. Alongside modularity and reusability. Please contribute anything you know about custom hydraulic lines to https://wiki.replimat.org/wiki/Main_Page - I will approve accounts for any hackernews folk who request one.

Go look at an old farmall or ford tractor and understand how they solved these problems 70+ years ago. Be careful thinking you are smarter than those engineers.

Re: Open Source Tractor

#155

Post by Wherecombinator »

vasco wrote: post #140
gnramires wrote: post #133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I need to watch that! I'm developing an algorithmically-driven civilization architecture concept. (in the sense of, how to organize society from a blank slate point of view, while maximizing the wealth of experience for all individuals? I think we've gotten a little caught up in ideology and culture wars and stopped looking for ideas to move society forward with more efficient, humane, robust, collaborative (or adver…

What if we could throw what generations of people collectively built for a concoction some random dude came up with on their own? What about using the same time investment to contribute to improving our current systems? Whatever you come up by yourself has zero chances of coming to fruition outside your apartment. Working on your local community to improve lives of real people or joining a political party and influen…

What a negative response. Someone is trying to come up with a new idea and you say you should only work to improve ideas that already exist. Say that to anyone who has ever come up with a paradigm shifting idea. It’s opinions like this that prevent people from trying to break the mould. Their enthusiasm should be encouraged irregardless of its effectiveness.

Re: Open Source Tractor

#156

Post by timschmidt »

throwaway9870 wrote: post #154
timschmidt wrote: post #148

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Petrol engines are inefficient. Solar panels are inefficient. Your and my metabolisms are inefficient. Suitability to purpose matters more in my humble opinion. Alongside modularity and reusability. Please contribute anything you know about custom hydraulic lines to https://wiki.replimat.org/wiki/Main_Page - I will approve accounts for any hackernews folk who request one.

Go look at an old farmall or ford tractor and understand how they solved these problems 70+ years ago. Be careful thinking you are smarter than those engineers.

I really enjoyed working with grandpa's Ford 8N. Thanks for your input!

Re: Open Source Tractor

#157

Post by voakbasda »

soheil wrote: post #47

I genuinely wonder how it can compete against any existing tractors. You can order a brand new tractor for 5 grand [1]. Is this going to cost less or come with more capabilities? [1] https://www.alibaba.com/product-detail/4wd-wheel-farm-agricu...

I started looking at this class of imported machines recently. What is the shipping cost/time on such units? What about availability of spare parts? Or the quality of the service/parts manuals? These questions are not easily answered on Alibaba, but a properly-done open source design that uses off-the-shelf parts should make them almost entirely moot.

Re: Open Source Tractor

#158

Post by vvanders »

cmrdporcupine wrote: post #145
rpmisms wrote: post #78

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Those are nice-to-haves, but realistically most farming tasks can be performed without them. Source: ran a 15-acre veggie farm for 2 years with nothing but a BCS walking tractor.

I priced out BCS and Grillo units when I first moved here and in the end ended up getting a subcompact hydrostatic tractor and it frankly has probably worked out better for me (6.5 acre property ... 1/2 acre vineyard/orchard, 1/2 acre garlic + market garden veggies). It's likely because the importation of the BCS units into Canada just ends up making them and the attachments quite expensive. If I was in Europe, or ev…

I'd largely agree, there's a reason 3PH(and SSQA) are ubiquitous. If you support that standard it opens up a massive market of compatible attachments.

Re: Open Source Tractor

#159

Post by throwaway9870 »

timschmidt wrote: post #156
throwaway9870 wrote: post #154

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Go look at an old farmall or ford tractor and understand how they solved these problems 70+ years ago. Be careful thinking you are smarter than those engineers.

I really enjoyed working with grandpa's Ford 8N. Thanks for your input!

Great example. Compare the traction of your machine to an 8N. That engine will outlast 4-5 briggs engines easy (10K vs 2K hrs). They have an efficient gear drive as opposed to hydrostatic. Lots less maintenance and no need for gallons of hydro fluid. They have a robust 3pt hitch with an excellent PTO drive. They will drag your tractor up and down the field all day long. I really mean to be constructive, sorry if I am not sugar coating it.
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