The simple explanation is the belief that (generally) High-end appliances charge too much money for too little thought. The use of material is inefficient and the supply chain could be better.
I'm trying to make (ambition dates to 1990) a computing platform with a 100 year view of usage. The idea is that actual human usable technology can be quite slow becuase the human time scale is long. The churn of current technology is actual vestigial growth.
As soon as I could I registered cogs.com under the belief that in the future we will only understand technology metaphor.
Flash forward 30 years and I have finally established a small run manufacturing facility in an old school. I converted the 7 classrooms into studio apartments to facilitate my design ideas. The idea is rent the apartments for income and develop appliances with my CNC in the 60' x 30' gym/cafeteria/auditorium.
Backyard Metalcasting set me off on building:
wooden CNC with gecko drives from that guy who built the prototype kit in the bathroom with his wife yelling at him in processed unintelligible language with kids crying...
The idea was that I can use it to make molds.
Initial I was going to make appliances in batches of 10 and either stock what didn't sell or make more of what did. The idea of 10 is that technically I'm an industrial designer BSID 91 UArts. No industry no industrial design and I reasoned that by creating 10 of something it was proof of industry as opposed to art.
I got a legitimate CNC for my studio behind my house and with 15 minutes of installation realized I needed to move it to a legitimate location.
Found a school for sale a mile from my house house and decided to flip the script. I would simply make appliances in the gym and use the rental income instead of worrying about all the sales work. 7 was close to 10 and maybe I could get 3 walk sales.
A short 5 years later the school is finally producing income with 2 studios rented one more and I'm either breaking even or a little ahead on an annual basis. I currently break even most months. (tax bills and insurance).
I'm actually at the point where I can truly get started and I have been finalizing my technology stack. I plan to develop a sloppy in-efficient prototype version that considers the entire building as this 100 year computer and the HVAC/Power/cleaning/snow removal will all be managed by this computer. The belief is that the magic of the computers is in the integration of human need and simple experiences.
There will also be a parallel track of development for a streamlined ultra efficient implementation of the same model.
The reasoning between developing along those 2 tracks is that with the building I can focus on the human experience practicalities be damned. The refined version with be resolved experiences in the smallest form possible.
I just 'doomscrolled' through a few hundred of your pictures, incredible what you've done with that building, that must have been a pretty costly undertaking. I've done some work like that but on much smaller buildings and it gives me a bit more perspective on the magnitude of what you're doing and what you've accomplished already in a relatively short time. Best of luck with this whole project, I really wished I still lived in .ca.
Thank you, it was 40% beyond may capabilities. This was a real challenge and I barely made it. I feel like I did a lot prep work and I'm at the start line.
I can't stress how nice it is to hear a complete stranger see my efforts as progress. I'm truly going for it and it is scary. I constantly think that all I'm doing is placing new obstacle in path and lying to myself about being focused.
I had a healthy cash pile that I was saving for my runway and now I have building.
> I had a healthy cash pile that I was saving for my runway and now I have building.
I have a similar tendency to get caught up in side shows, but assuming the real estate market is reasonably healthy where you are once the building is done it is an asset that you could liquidate if you wanted and that should net you more than what you put into it.
But if the market is not healthy then liquidation is not an option but you can turn it into an income generating asset. The hard part will be to rent it out to people that want to have living space whilst still having access to part of it as a workshop, such a mix tends to be quite bad (I lived like that for a couple of years but would not recommend it to others, unless your work is your life it's going to be frustrating).
Regardless of the outcome: you have created something that is absolutely off the scale for a single individual, and that's something to be proud of, your stamina and ability to stay focus during all of that time is proof that you are capable of incredible feats and the experience will serve you for decades to come in whatever enterprise you care to attach your name to. Your biggest challenge will be to choose between several options, (1) cash out, then continue to chase your dream, (2) become a landlord and use the surplus to live off and regroup (assuming the maintenance of the building doesn't eat up your time) and (3) find like minded individuals and treat the building as a shared resource (so allow them to buy in to liquidate some but not all of your capital and end up with shared responsibilities and labor). If it works 3 would be lots of fun, but it will require very careful selection of the parties that you allow to buy in. 2 will be less fun, especially if the building still eats a lot of your time but it may turn into a stable source of income. 1 would allow for a clean break at a (hopefully) slightly higher level than where you were several years ago, and with extra cash and more experience your chances of success for your other project have gone up.
There may be other options as well that I haven't thought of, and given that I don't know anything about the location where you reside (which is the main factor in real estate pricing) it may be a case of throwing good money after bad. But the experience is yours, regardless of the outcome and that is an investment in yourself. Those will pay off, even if not immediately.
Much, much good luck with all this, if you want to use me as a soundboard you're more than welcome to email me (mail in profile).
Many reasons. I tend to overdue things so I spec’s pneumatic devices that required a large 10 bar compressor. I installed that in the basement and managed to muffle the sound with rockwool. I ordered a German machine which was to sensitive for a VFD so I used a motor-gen set which shook the 1879 New England farmhouse.
The space for the CNC had low ceilings and it was cramped. I could have lived with it but considering the other issues I moved.
I thought the move would be fast no way would it take more than 2 years. The money I was saving for runway is now an 8 unit apartment building but I have time and space.
I'm trying to make (ambition dates to 1990) a computing platform with a 100 year view of usage. The idea is that actual human usable technology can be quite slow becuase the human time scale is long. The churn of current technology is actual vestigial growth.
As soon as I could I registered cogs.com under the belief that in the future we will only understand technology metaphor.
Flash forward 30 years and I have finally established a small run manufacturing facility in an old school. I converted the 7 classrooms into studio apartments to facilitate my design ideas. The idea is rent the apartments for income and develop appliances with my CNC in the 60' x 30' gym/cafeteria/auditorium.
Backyard Metalcasting set me off on building:
wooden CNC with gecko drives from that guy who built the prototype kit in the bathroom with his wife yelling at him in processed unintelligible language with kids crying...
The idea was that I can use it to make molds.
Initial I was going to make appliances in batches of 10 and either stock what didn't sell or make more of what did. The idea of 10 is that technically I'm an industrial designer BSID 91 UArts. No industry no industrial design and I reasoned that by creating 10 of something it was proof of industry as opposed to art.
I got a legitimate CNC for my studio behind my house and with 15 minutes of installation realized I needed to move it to a legitimate location.
Found a school for sale a mile from my house house and decided to flip the script. I would simply make appliances in the gym and use the rental income instead of worrying about all the sales work. 7 was close to 10 and maybe I could get 3 walk sales.
A short 5 years later the school is finally producing income with 2 studios rented one more and I'm either breaking even or a little ahead on an annual basis. I currently break even most months. (tax bills and insurance).
I'm actually at the point where I can truly get started and I have been finalizing my technology stack. I plan to develop a sloppy in-efficient prototype version that considers the entire building as this 100 year computer and the HVAC/Power/cleaning/snow removal will all be managed by this computer. The belief is that the magic of the computers is in the integration of human need and simple experiences. There will also be a parallel track of development for a streamlined ultra efficient implementation of the same model.
The reasoning between developing along those 2 tracks is that with the building I can focus on the human experience practicalities be damned. The refined version with be resolved experiences in the smallest form possible.
Here is my studio.
https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0YJEsNWnJEa0eN
Here is the rental site with outdated photos but some pictures.
view.cogs.com
Shameless plug studio 4 and Studio 1 are currently available. The rent includes fiber connection and we can talk about a static IP if needed.
Finally for the doomscrollers out there I have 4000 photos of the whole project here.
Anyone can view this shared album at: https://www.icloud.com/sharedalbum/#B0Y5oqs3qnakFd
HN provides a great survey of old and new technology trends with no ads. I find it is like shouting into the wind and marvel that the site works.
I feel my path has been very consistent and filled with obstacles. I'm aware that I'm my own biggest obstacle.