Re: Chinese drywall again.

[creative1986]

:

I'll check it out. I've been very taken with this lathe stuff for most of this year. Just yesterday I saw mention on the web something about knitting needles but didn't pursue it. But now I will. Yes, you can turn bamboo on a lathe or any other material, as long as you understand the limitations. The rainbow wood you mentioned is called Dymondwood but also goes under other names. There is a universe of stuff out there now and more being developed all the time. Its possible to make your own pen blanks with kits they make. You use a pen tube, about 7mm dia x 2" long, wrap a meterial around it, say a piece of an old pair of jeans for example, or maybe a $100 bill (a color copy of course) then place it in a mold and pout in the acrylic resin. The end result will be a solid clear plastic square

5/8"x5/8"x2" and after it is turned and drilled it can become a pen. Thats how the cobra skin pen was done for my son.

I have a new little project I am working on that I have never seen before. I just glued it up and clamped it yesterday and about 5pm today I'm gonna yank the clamps and throw it on the lathe. Send me an email and I'll send you a pik that I took of it yesterday right after I glued it. Then I'll send you another after I turn it. It consists of Aspen and Walnut wood. Aspen =3D white, Walnut =3D dark brown, a nice contrast. I'm hoping for ellipses. ;-) Here's what the red cobra pen blanks look like:

Here's what the damascus steel pen blanks look like:

[creative1986]

They go up pretty fast and come in kit form. I helped build one on Useppa right before I moved from FL. The arcs were 2' wide and came in 3 parts to make a 24' dia half circle. You lay the 3 pieces on the ground and bolt them together. They were heavy gauge corrugated galvanized steel. Then you stand them up with a forklift and bolt them to the previous one thats already standing. The first one has to be anchored while building the 2nd one. After 4 arcs they stand up on their own. This one sat on top of a 4' high concrete kneewall along the perimeter. It was 40' long and took about 3 hours to build, not including the endwalls. The 4' kneewalls helped eliminate some of the *difficult to use* space along the sides inside. Not sure how you'd finish the interior for living area, maybe some of that freeky spray on insulation about 6" thick to give it that intergalactic moon look? While the insulation is still wet you can pull a trowel off of it all over the place and create some cool but dangerous stalagtites......big sharks teefs.....

[creative1986]

:

Remember, unlike a gunsafe, a quonset hut will become an oven when put to a flame. Yes, the hut itself will resist the flame but everything inside will

*bake*. A concrete block walled house with a precast concrete flat roof won't do that. Instead of concrete block you can use tilt-up concrete panels and eliminate some construction time. Thats how many of the big guys do it.

[Señior Popcor]

te:

a

Over the short or the long-term, and looking at ALL costs related to the backhoe/200 guys? Also I would want to inquire as to why 200 guys or the backhoe are digging a ditch and what the costs of the ditch, itself, are.

There's "smart technology" and then there's "stupid technology" and then there're stupid ways to use them and resources.

[Señior Popcor]

e:

rote:

ns would

sand'?

The intruder thing was just an echo of someone else's concern I had read just before posting that and so I thought I'd add it in what the hell. I forget where I read it-- maybe a woman's website on architecture-- but it's not really a concern of mine and there's no specific reason why I would want creaky floors. When creaks happen and they do bug people, I'm sure there're ways to quieten them up, aside from shooting the one making the creaking.

[Señior Popcor]

e:

rote:

ns would

sand'?

Like anything-- even some non-inert metals-- and your health, you have to take care of it. Then they will be all that and more in 200 years. And you, you'll die in pristine condition. Then they'll seal you in acrylic for all-time, like a million year old ant in amber.

What about night vision goggles? They're apparently using them in cinemas to spot people filming the films. Yet another reason not to attend cinemas. (What if you could cut out the customer entirely from the money-making scheme? That would be ideal.)

[Warm Worm]

that's "balance" in quotes. :)

[creative1986]

Windy)

but we added x-mas lights to it so they spin.

Wifey does Windy.

[creative1986]

Easy? Possibly. Its that old balance thing again, money vs effort. I toyed with the idea, then did the research, then moved on. I have neither the money, nor the herculean effort, to vest in such a thing right now. I came upon a website where they made the wind generator completely out of salvageable materials and the effort was huge. If I recall correctly the heart of the thing was based on a set of worn out disc brake rotors from an junked Volvo. I think the thing was energized when they put the two rotors together creating a hellacious electromagnet that smashed one guys fingers bad.

Personally, I think gravity and air pressure (14psi at sea level) is all thats needed to do everything, no matter what.

[Warm Worm]

Yes I changed it back to what it was supposed to be before Google Groups decided otherwise. I guess they fixed it.

I think our subthread began with Quonset huts "versus" natural- building houses and your apparent contention about the extra amount of labour involved and mine about looking at that in context with a broader picture. I presume you mean prefab cookie-cutter Quonset hut tracts dotting the landscape like a blight? That's not empowerment, either; it's a corporate/supplier suckup. You've just removed yet more freedoms in exchange for convenience; A fugly hut. ;)

I'm fine with stuff like the backhoe if they work within the broader picture. To use a metaphor; it's no use "efficiently" blocking a huge leak in a sinking ship if, in doing so, you inadvertently allow a whole bunch of little leaks to spring up. Your books might balance (god knows why they should), but the ship will continue to sink, and possibly faster, especially if your pride in your efficient leak- blockage gives you a blind-spot over the new leaks.

I wonder how many tricks the backhoe can do and how it compares to a one-trick pony.

Like hell it does. Anyway, here's this: "The year 2001 witnessed a series of financial information frauds involving... well-known corporations. These problems highlighted the need to review the effectiveness of accounting standards, auditing regulations and corporate governance principles. In some cases, management manipulated the figures shown in financial reports to indicate a better economic performance. In others, tax and regulatory incentives encouraged over-leveraging of companies and decisions to bear extraordinary and unjustified risk."

-- Wikipedia

Maybe as close as we can get to the best of all worlds? Not as in, utopia, but we're not even close in any case. We aren't trying hard enough.

40-hour workweeks say nothing of efficiency, if that's the right expression.

Maybe our kids are already sold, wage slavery and all that. Anyway, more seriously yet, all the best with the proto-mill. I like them. Referring to my previous new-thread post; If they explode, it might mean there's more wind to use and/or they need to be "overengineered". ;)

[Warm Worm]

turns out

I've been to that link a few times already. :)

Seriously, I might be looking for this kind of practical experience. Don't tease me. ;)

[creative1986]

turns out

Tip: Don't build it in a basement.

[Warm Worm]

:

It turns out

ake it so.

ts limp noodle

Someone's been doing their homework. ;)

Do we need a full basement, or can we get away with a smaller utility thing-- even in the north cold?

[Warm Worm]

te:

. It turns out

make it so.

its limp noodle

to account for

et more

Unsure yet, but what do you have in mind? (i.e., co-ownership of the project)

[Warm Worm]

ote:

ote:

hoes. It turns out

sn't make it so.

wrap its limp noodle

, even spirit or

need to account for

bably run them

Fair enough. Compensation? And would you be able/willing to travel?

I want to do that too. I might be your "customer" until I can sort mine out, as I'm a fan of vodka. We could do different kinds for exchanges and "rum-runs". ;)

Of your still? Or the straw-bale post-and-beam-timber-frame home (PABTF)?

Unsure what's required for a still, but for the home, based on what I think I know so far, maybe level stone or concrete sill "platforms" or "pedestals" (two or so per bent, with soil left alone in between?) and a stone or concrete foundation perimeter. The bare inside floor could perhaps be a good hardwood or bamboo planks, or plywood. An earthen floor should be possible at ground level (unsure if it makes sense to have it upstairs). I seem to recall reading somewhere that "in-floor"-style or radiant heating is better placed in the walls rather than the floors... although I know that water lines are no good within straw bales due to the potential extra problems should they leak there.

Today, I read a little more about girts, bents, purlins, summers, various PABTF joints, as well as light straw clay walls (ostensibly a kind of rammed-earth-style way to do walls using clay slip [watery clay] lightly tossed with straw as the ingredients rammed into the forms) Very nice when they remove the form and you see the relatively smooth solid wall and its straw texture. That should also work indoors as far as I can tell and look good with "whitewall" plaster finish.

[creative1986]

8 pm, "Ken S. Tucker" wrote:

Come spring I'll be starting 2 brand new large scale projects, at least large as far as I'm concerned. I'm gutting the kitchen in our house, and I'm going to start my *off grid* sustainable, modular dwelling. I think I have all the bugs worked out on paper finally and the only way to continue is by actually putting it in use. Its a little larger than the 12'x16' I originally spoke with you about so the newest rendition will be

16'x16' not including the external porches. I had to do quite a bit of soul searching and *putting myself in the picture* to get a grasp on this new kind of lifestyle. Make no mistake, living off grid in a *tiny home* IS a lifestyle choice all the way around. A choice I would guess a majority of people today would be unwilling to take on. But I march to a different drum and always have and I'm the one swinging the hammers. Ba-Doomph! My budget is open but I'm pretty certain I can make this happen for less than $5k. The hope is that this project will be successful and complete by next fall, then I will start to set up a manufacturing facility to construct them in kit form that can be delivered by 2 flatbed trucks anywhere in the US. The trick in all of this is many fold, 1st, to make the thing successful, 2nd, to make the thing modular so that it can be easily transported and assembled and 3rd, to make it affordable. On paper I have accomplished all 3. This has been a 3 year research and design project so far and I can't wait to get physical with it. I've already started to assemble some of the mechanics of the thing.

[creative1986]

Compromise is not inherently a bad word. Balance and evaluation are more in line with what I am talking about. For example, in a 16'x16' tiny home why would anyone want a standard

30" wide range when it uses valuable space and will most likely not be fully used? We have a 4 burner glasstop and have never used all 4 burners at the same time, nor have we ever required the full cavity of the oven. In our current house we will continue to keep our full size range for resale purposes but in the tiny house I am going to construct there will be a 2 burner hotplate and a toaster oven (and a microwave), both of which can be stored when not in use. The list of *compromises* goes on and on and thats why I said it takes a careful introspective to see how to design a tiny house efficiently. Have you seen a shower that relies on the weight of the water to provide the pressure? They make 5 gallon camping showers that work under the same principle. Now boost that water weight to 250 gallons and put it on the 2nd floor (inside the roof) and you start to get some decent pressure, plus your water storage is not outside susceptible to the elements or nefarious entities. It starts by understanding how the occupants intend to use the space. In a tiny house living doesn't have to mean just surviving though a web search indicates just that. Lots of people have designed tiny houses but none have yet designed one that is long term liveable. After numerous test runs I'm pretty much convinced 16'x16' is the minimal size that one or two people can live in and be totally off the grid.

[creative1986]

[creative1986]

te:

Primarily solar, but as a side interest I believe the weight of the structure itself against gaia may produce some interesting benefits. Also, back in the early 80's I did some patent drawings for an old gent that came up with a conceptual way to extrapolate the benefits of variances in air pressures spread out over vast areas, say 5 acres. It intrigued me then and now might be a good time for me to revisit that concept. I believe there are a lot of natural ways out there involving physics and climate for example that can be exploited.

I've always been amazed that one of the most amazing inventions in all of history the personal computer is based on something so simple as the most plentiful product on the earth, sand.

Everything we could ever need or want is already here but it is up to us to make it what we need or want.

FWIW I've found ways to increase the output from off the shelf photovoltaic panels so that they will put out 400% more juice than they are rated for. I'm going to reverse engineer a hotplate and make it require less juice. Something else in my line of sight is the inefficiency of deep cell batteries. Yes, I've been busy but plan to get busier. LOL

[creative1986]

te:

BTW, why would anyone want to cool kitty litter boxes?

Peltier =3D cold on one side, hot on the other side. Why not make house walls that way, then reverse them when the seasons change?