Just looking

[Sepowens]

Thinking of taking up metalworking as a hobby and looking at doing it on a very tight budget. Background is in IT and telecoms so more electronics and electromechanical experience.

[Jon]

Hi Sepowens - welcome to HomemadeTools.net

What are you thinking of building first?

[Sepowens]

More evaluation at this point. Looking at what is possible now and what could be possible with some research/experimentation. I'm trying to determine how difficult it would be to set up distributed manufacturing for humanitarian purposes. Something that could be dropped in a few shipping containers near the front lines of conflict, post conflict regions or disaster areas. It would need to provide a pretty wide range of capabilities from replacing medical equipment to parts for restoring infrastructure such as electricity, water and communications. Also looking at being able to manufacture drones that could monitor conflict or support police services. I know it sounds pretty loopy but the technical roadblocks are surprisingly close to being cleared. Looking here for inspiration on innovative and low cost implementations.

[Sepowens]

Just as a couple quick example to try and make a little sense, research has shown that there can be a short term sharp increase in sudden cardiac deaths after a traumatic event such as a disaster or being caught up in conflict ( Population-Based Incidence of Sudden Cardiac and Unexpected Death Before and After the 2011 Earthquake and Tsunami in Iwate, Northeast Japan ) Hospital facilities are often damaged or overwhelmed. If we could provide automated defibrillators to replace or expand hospital stock or distributed to shelter camps there could be a significant increase in survivors. This would require at least circuit board creation, pick and place filling of circuit board, cutting of an injection moulding die for the case and paddles, cutting of metal contact for paddles and a means of safety testing/calibration.

On the other end of the scale, rapid restoration of basic services has been shown to have a long term impact on the stability of the region. Time is critical because the longer there is disruption the greater the likelihood of migration and the breakdown of social ties that help keep a community from drifting back into unrest. Being able to provide replacement parts such as water pumps, filter housings, etc. can be as important to maintaining the peace as troops were to securing it. In the case of a pump, a wax model cut on a lightweight CNC mill could provide an investment casting mould. An induction furnace could melt stock dropped in, locally sourced or even recycled. This could make the difference between days or months, depending on complexity and remoteness.

I know it sounds pretty far fetched but I think there is scope for making a real difference with tools like those on this site and others.

[Jon]

Very interesting. Like a disaster tool construction kit. You could provide a basic set of parts/tools/instructions for creating a variety of emergency tools.

[Sepowens]

Exactly, sort of like Thingiverse for a growing variety of solutions to disaster, development and conflict problems backed up by ready to deploy manufacturing centers in standard shipping containers. Idea is to work with Red Cross, Dictors Without Borders and others to provide technical support with design and CAD/CAM development of practical solutions to the problems they face. The shipping container factories can be pre-positioned in stable strategic areas for rapid deployment where needed. As experience is developed we would have a growing library of off the shelf designs ready for rapid tooling and at least mid scale mass production.

It's still very much an idea in play at the moment but I am getting some interest with a few academic and commercial players with a lot better idea than I have of what is possible. A large part of it would involve crowdsourcing solutions from the growing expertise of makers and artisans like the ones here. If the academics drive basic research and turn over the promising parts to this mob of mad geniuses we will see a lot more innovation leading to practical field solutions faster.

It's a long shot but one worth at least trying.

[Jon]

Very cool. Keep us posted.