If the need should arise, don't despair. You can do this.
From Popular Science:
A modular, open-source workhorse to help rebuild civilization
Small and Mighty
The LifeTrac isn’t big like industrial tractors seen on most
farms, but it can pull two tons,
lift four, and work anything from a
backhoe to a brick press.
Courtesy Tristan Copley Smith
Marcin Jakubowski didn’t study fusion physics to become a farmer. But the Polish-American scientist grew more disillusioned with academia the longer he worked toward his doctorate. Researchers withheld data to compete for grants, he says, instead of collaborating to solve big problems. “The further I went in my Ph.D. program, the less value I felt I was contributing to society,” he says. Seeking a fresh start, Jakubowski bought 30 acres of Missouri farmland and a tractor. Life in relative seclusion proved uneventful until, one day in 2008, his tractor broke down for the second and last time, spurring him to start an open-source industrial revolution.If it's a choice between no civilization or re-creating Burgundy with a lovely pinot noir, a regular scamp of the vineyards, and you are the one who has to do it, here are:
To Jakubowski, the tractor seemed designed to fail. Why should he sink more money into fixing it or buy a replacement? He wanted a simple and useful machine, and one he could repair and upgrade on the fly. “It boiled down to lower cost in the long run,” he says.
Jakubowski built the first LifeTrac, as he calls his DIY tractor, in three months for $6,000—about $30,000 less than a comparable mass-produced model. Seeing room for improvement, he built a second prototype in just six days. He posted his progress on the tractor and other machines to an online wiki, which attracted followers, who suggested their own design tweaks. Some even visited in person to help with builds—and Open Source Ecology took off.
Led by Jakubowski, the group now designs open-source agro-industrial machines on his “Factor e Farm.” The fourth iteration of LifeTrac isn’t like the industrial equipment on most farms; it works with a variety of custom attachments, including two removable, office-copier-size hydraulic engines called Power Cubes. The cubes also power other pieces of the Global Village Construction Set: 50 machines—ranging from 3-D printers and CNC mills to bakery ovens and brick presses—that the group deems essential to modern society (see “Multipurpose Power,” next page)....MORE
The 50 Machines You Will Need to Rebuild Civilization (should it come to that)
We post this when things look gloomy. It's been an average of thirteen months between posts.
From Open Source Ecology: the Global Village Construction Set:
The Global Village Construction Set (GVCS) is an open technological platform that allows for the easy fabrication of the 50 different Industrial Machines that it takes to build a small civilization with modern comforts.Key Features of the GVCS:
Open Source - Low-Cost - Modular - User-Serviceable - DIY - Closed-Loop Manufacturing - High Performance - Heirloom Design - Flexible Fabrication
A modern, comfortable lifestyle relies on a variety of efficient Industrial Machines. If you eat bread, you rely on an Agricultural Combine. If you live in a wood house, you rely on a Sawmill. Each of these machines relies on other machines in order for it to exist. If you distill this complex web of interdependent machines into a reproduceable, simple, closed-loop system, you get these:
The GVCS 50:
3d Printer
an additive manufacturing technology where a three dimensional object is printed by laying down successive layers of material, just like a printer except in 3D.
3d Scanner
a device that can generate a 3D digital scan from a real-life object, where the file can be used to reproduce the object in 3D with a device such as the 3D printer or CNC Precision Multimachine.
50 kW Wind Turbine
a device that produces electrical power from wind energy, scalable in units of 50 kW.
