The Automobile Directive

Discussion in 'The big picture' started by Peter Clements, Mar 7, 2006.

  1. Peter Clements

    Peter Clements Junior Member

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    Question: What mechanical equipment is cheaply available nearly everywhere on the planet?
    Answer: Automobile Parts
    Directive: Thus design renewable technologies out of old car parts so that people everywhere can build their own.

    Anyone else got anymore "directives" to add?
     
  2. SueinWA

    SueinWA Junior Member

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    You would just have to be careful about how you put them together, or they might roll away! (With or without assistance)

    Sue
     
  3. earthbound

    earthbound Junior Member

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    Interesting topic Peter...

    In many countries they reuse rear axles/diffs/wheels for making a cart to be pulled by a horse/cow/buffalo.

    There was a recent discussion about greenhouses on a different site. Someone had used the electric window winders to make 12V opening vents around the base of their greenhouse. Wiper moptors are also a very strong motor, useful for many low voltage applications..

    Joel
     
  4. SueinWA

    SueinWA Junior Member

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    Joel's reponse reminded me of photos of a man who had build an entire greenhouse with automobile windshields.

    My sister recently sent me a photo of the box and rear axle/wheels of a Toyota truck hitched to six cows. They called it the "Toyota Cowrolla".

    Sue
     
  5. earthbound

    earthbound Junior Member

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    All winscreens for a greenhouse? Interesting..

    I had thought about using other bits of a reasonably modern car in greenhouse construction, electric sunroofs for top vents, along with the electric window lower vent openers, and then the climate control system out of the car to automate the opening and closing of the vents as the temperature changes.
     
  6. SueinWA

    SueinWA Junior Member

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    My car is too old to even RECOGNIZE those things..... :lol:

    Visualize this: An electronic greenhouse with a lower base of stacked, soil-filled tires, glass of windshields (windscreens) and side windows [electrically powered for ventilation], with wiper-powered roof vents, all solar powered! That should get you into a magazine SOMEWHERE!

    And Aquaponics :wav: , of course!

    Would things like that be subject to shorting out due to moisture???

    Sue
     
  7. Peter Clements

    Peter Clements Junior Member

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    car ideas

    Wow guys, these ideas for using old car parts are really cool. I love the idea of the electrically controlled sunroof vent in a greenhouse. I was inspired to post this idea after reading about the hippies who built Drop City in California in the 70s. Amongst them was a guy called Steve Baer, who now runs the company Zomeworks https://www.zomeworks.com He would cut the tops out of old cars with an axe and clad the domes with these sheetmetal pieces.
    Some other ideas for reusing car parts include:
    -using tyres as "voids formers" in concrete slabs in lieu of polystyrene formers.
    -using whole cars as greenhouses or air preheaters (cars get mighty hot inside, even on cool days)
    -using steering wheels as weird doorhandles
     
  8. christopher

    christopher Junior Member

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    Hi Peter,

    Okay, I have one for you: in Belize we have Mennonites, several schools of Mennonites, but the ones I like, the Old Order mennonites, dour looking folks in dark clothes, full sleeves, men in suspenders with straw hats, women in heavy garments with head coverings, shun modern conveniences, having sort of arbitrarily to stop the clock somwehere in the 19th century, and theyget around in horse and buggies.

    They have a colony near us, and there they have a 12 horse power (literally 12 horses) sawmill, with 12 horses on a big wheel, hooked up to some axles and drive shafts, to a transmission, then to some belts, then to the band saw...

    I really like them, and admire them, am attracted to their simple lives, but not attracted to their religeon. Also, I am not a pacifist, and they are.... still, in many regards they are an example of staid fast resistance to practices that destroy our planet, and their ingeniuity, resourcefullness and plain human cleverness inspire me...

    C
     
  9. SueinWA

    SueinWA Junior Member

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    How about using cars as food dehydrators?

    Sue
     
  10. barely run

    barely run Junior Member

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    :lol: Sue you are brilliant....I have several cars at my place all "Projects" for some time in the future.....they are sitting out in a side paddock....would make great dehydrators....free from bugs...and maybe I wouldn't need to take the trays in at night....will try some next week and let you know how it goes... :razz:
    Cathy
     
  11. barely run

    barely run Junior Member

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    Just had another thought.....green house....maybe not in mid winter but how about an early spring starter or night time frost free area???
    I've never used a greenhouse so how would it go???
    Cathy
     
  12. SueinWA

    SueinWA Junior Member

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    Cathy,

    You could keep a large thermometer in there that you could see though the window. If the temp got too high, just roll down a window!

    Sue
     
  13. barely run

    barely run Junior Member

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    Well Chris (husband) and I were talking it over this morning....he reckons the old stationwagon (think USA calls them estate wagons??) would be the go....back seats go flat and take out the front ones for tomatoes to grow high....smaller seedlings on the back tray...spray the roof black to increase temp....and use as a dryer in summer....I thought of putting in a high low temp gauge at end winter to see when the inside temp is correct for planting.....Will be an interesting project!!!!
    Cathy
     
  14. Richard on Maui

    Richard on Maui Junior Member

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    Tee hee hee... No, no they call them station wagons here too... :lol:
     
  15. SueinWA

    SueinWA Junior Member

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    They're estate wagons in England, I think.

    Let us know how it works out?

    Maybe 15 yrs ago, I saw a place that had several old pickup trucks on the property. These would have been collectors items for the right guy to fix up (costing a small fortune). Then one summer, I saw that they had been filled with soil or manure or something, and had squash and pumpkin vines growing out of them. They looked great! (I suspect that someone's husband or boyfriend moved out... and forgot his trucks!)

    I could visualize her starting them in the front seat, then moving them to the back!

    Sue
     
  16. earthbound

    earthbound Junior Member

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    Suddenly old cars seem like a great thing to have, rather than an eyesore to get rid of... :D :D :lol: :lol:
     
  17. barely run

    barely run Junior Member

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    :lol: and I have several.... :D ....anyone want one...come and get it
    Cathy
     
  18. SueinWA

    SueinWA Junior Member

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    I have two, and you can have those, too! But the shipping will be TERRIBLE! :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol: :lol:

    Sue
     
  19. Richard on Maui

    Richard on Maui Junior Member

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    I have been thinking about doing a reverse Johnny Cash car kind of trip with some of the junk cars I have, every time I go to town I could take a different piece and offload it somewhere somehow. The metal recyclers here on this small Pacific Island obviously need to charge a disposal fee for large metal appliances, including cars. So inevitably the roads here are strewn with dead vehicles that people can afford to dispose of more thoughtfully...
     
  20. Alex M

    Alex M Junior Member

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    Old cars can be harvested for useful materials, especially the older ones that are made mostly of metal. Larger panels, eg roofs, can yield good-sized pieces of sheet metal, leaf springs can be cut up to make useful digging tools, among other things (the steel can be heat-treated), and axles and torsion bars have inumerable uses, especially if you have a lathe handy. There's a lot of aluminium in modern cars, which is surprisingly easy to melt and recast in sand moulds. I've made very good use of light fittings, wire and switches, and old bench seats make excellent porch lounges!
     

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