Practical Action Publishing
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How to Make a Folding Machine for Sheet Metal Work
Gives full details on how to build and use a versatile machine for working sheet metal
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How to Make a Foot-Operated Workshop Drill
Describes how to build a drilling machine appropriate for rural workshops, and gives full assembly instructions. The machine, which is a vertical drill for use with either metal or wood, can drill holes up to 12mm in diameter in 12mm steel plates.
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How to Make a Hand-Operated Hole-Punch
Describes the process of building a machine for punching holes in sheet metal, with full dimensions and instructions. Designed for construction from readily available steel sections, this machine can be built by most workshops or blacksmiths.
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How to Make a Metal-Bending Machine
Using simple plans and photographs this booklet describes the construction and assembly of a metal-bending machine, whose main feature is the ability to form wheel rims from cold flat mild steel; this wheel can be used on farm carts and other basic equipment.
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How to Make a Pipe-Bending Machine
Articles such as hospital and school equipment - bed frames, chairs, tables, handrails - all require the bending of pipe. This manual gives full instructions on how to make a pipe-bending machine, which could be made by most workshops or blacksmiths.
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How to Make a Rolling Machine for Sheet Metal Work
This manual describes how to build a machine for rolling sheet metal into curves and cylinders and gives full dimensions and assembly instructions.
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How to Make a Rope and Washer Pump
Shows how to make a simple, cheap, pump suitable for small-holding and garden use, a pump which can raise water from rivers or wells, with lifts of up to 30 metres. A simple clear text, with line drawings, showing how common materials can be used.
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How to Make a Treadle-Operated Wood-Turning Lathe
This machine would be a useful addition to any woodwork shop, enabling new products to be made without the use of electricity. It could be the basis for a village industry, and can be built by most small metal workshops and blacksmiths.
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How to Make and Use the Treadle Irrigation Pump
The treadle irrigation pump is able to lift up to seven thousand litres of water per hour using the power of the human body, and can be made locally at low cost in small-scale metalworking shops. Its acceptance in Bangladesh where it was first developed in 1984 is extraordinary, with over 500,000 pu...
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How to Make Basic Hospital Equipment
There are parts of the world where the amount of money available for health care services is pitifully small. A dollar a head a year buys very little when it has to cover not only salaries, drugs, etc., but also the building and equipping of health care facilities. Prices in the catalogues of even...