How to Make a Pipe-Bending Machine

Michael Walsby

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.

How to Make a Treadle-Operated Wood-Turning Lathe

Bob Ingham

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.

How to Make Twelve Woodworking Tools

Aaron Moore

Step-by-step instructions on how to make a: Try square, Bevel square, Marking gauge , Cutting gauge, Mortise gauge, Panel gauge, Mallet, Bow drill, Bow saw, Coping saw, Fret saw and Hack saw.

Scrap Metal Recovery

Colin Relf

A case study of the development of a small business in Papua New Guinea involved in recovering a range of scrap, non-ferrous metals. An income-generating opportunity for hundreds of shanty town dwellers.

How To Run a Small Development Project

This will help the managers of development projects to design and manage their projects well, in particular by emphasizing the importance of forward planning. Covers both starting up and running projects, and working with Northern partner organizations.

Small-scale Soapmaking

Peter Donkor

Making soap in the context of protracted economic difficulties has meant not only the development of a simple method that could meet rural conditions, but one that could survive the temperament of the wildly fluctuating marketplace as well. Peter Donkor’s book describes the development of soapmakin...

Tech and Tools Book

Joanne Sandler, Ruby Sandhu

A research manual of appropriate technologies used throughout the world in women's projects. Includes sections on support systems, credit training, and technology transfer.

Understanding Natural Fibre Concrete

Barrie Evans

A technical rationale of how and why natural fibres reinforce cement/concrete, with chapters on the strength properties, durability, manufacture and installation of natural fibre concrete products, fibre-cement, cement, and concrete.

Water Current Turbines

Peter Garman

Developed from Intermediate Technology (now Practical Action) experience in Sudan, this handbook describes the development and testing of the water current turbine as a simple and inexpensive means of lifting water for irrigation purposes. With detailed technical information on the technology, this...

Women and the Transport of Water

Val Curtis

The haulage of water is one of the most arduous and time-consuming tasks of rural women, and this paper looks at the scale of the problem in general and in particular in Kenya, suggesting ways in which improved methods of transport could help.