Open sourced machines. To me this seems to be a great intersection between the open sourced community and mechanical engineers who always wanted to get in the game; the push to embitter developing countries with sustainable and cheap technology through good design; and DIY fanatics who love their MacGyversisms. I like to think of this as the combination of all three, plus some heapings of pragmatic design and ingenuity driven by necessity. Think of it as the poetry of klude.
Enter the MultiMachine, a humanitarian, “open source” machine tool project for developing countries. The mechanics of this machine attain a nearly zen-like beauty in simple mechanics. The machine, which starts as a drill press/lathe/mill is designed around using an old engine block and reusing the exact machining and tolerances of the cylinders as a means of making a precision tool. Beautiful.
http://opensourcemachine.org/node/2
If you want to rock it old school, here is text from Farm Blacksmithing from the same site:
http://opensourcemachine.org/files/Farm%20Blacksmithing%20-%20J.%20Drew%20(1901)%20WW.pdf
Does this inspire reusing an old tool in an elegant and uplifting way?
It may be ugly, but it may also be cheap and effective.
