Work goes on at windturbe

After fixing/improving the help-construction for setting up the tower (big thanks to Ricky!) we decided to reduce the height to only 8m, because the second lifting-up testrun showed the forces are unrulable with that construction. The weight of the top (120kg) is too heavy in respect of the lever-arm (14m). We plan to remove one 6m-part of the mast.

Some more infos and manufacturing pictures look here: http://stefanraabe.wordpress.com/2009/09/12/windkraftanlage-workcamp-17-31-august/

All systems running!

The Solar roofs are finished and on power-line since 2 weeks. Next step is to close the workshop extension completely. Thanks to Collette, Yo, Maudane and Ernst for bricking the walls and flooring. That was a great help!

Some pictures of the building process here http://stefanraabe.wordpress.com/2009/09/24/dach-gedeckt/

and here http://picasaweb.google.com/kombinatg/BuildingLotsSheltersSolarRoofs2009#

Juice Press building finished

Together with Michi and Thomas (from http://altungna.de) we built the frame press in 2 days for producing juice from local fruits/vegetables. Making wine is also important.

The test run made with old car tyres worked well (we thought, that the tyres show a similar behavior like the used press mats).

We was afraid, that the slide will stuck on the sliding tube, but that will not happen, if the force of the jack attacks exacly in the middle od the slide.

The hydraulic jack can apply a force of 10 tons and the press should be able to bear this.

The height of the upper frame (the workheight) is various and is fixed with pluggable bolts.

(Juice) Press CAD drawings

The CAD Drawings of the self build juice press are finished.

The press is designed to make about 1500 liters of juice a day, depending on the workers conditions and the fruits.

Function:
The apple mud (shreddered before with a machine) is packed in special press mats, between this mats are wooden grids. Other press technologies are thinkable.

Between the lower bridge and the middle slide there is a hydraulic truck jack, that pushes the slide up towards the upper bridge.
There is a tub made of V2A under all, up on the middle slide, the juice runs in that, then in bigger cans.

Between the slide and the upper bridge there is the fruit mud. The way that the jack can make is not as far as needed, so you can lower the upper bridge after the first press run and fix it again with bolts.
The jack moves down of the weight of the slide and fruit mud.

The press is completely removeable, only plugged with bolts.
So it is possible to do a transport with a little car, if the press is needed at another place.

The main frame of press is only made of 4 differnt parts:
2x pipes 88,9mm (3"), DIN 2458, 1400 long (for 800 work height)
6x square tube 100x100x4, DIN 2395, 250 long
6x U-160x65, 800 long
4x Bolts 20mm diameter, ~150 long

The press is also usable for workshop purposes (maybe a more precise slide is necessary). An improvement is to use a hydraulic or pneumatic cylinder to speed up the pressing process.

The press will be built in the next days, then there are practic expiriences, and we what to improve.
After a testing period the drawings will be released as a contribution to Open Source Ecology.
Take a look at http://openfarmtech.org