Ben's New Instructional DVD!!!

[bennelson]

Hi Guys!

I have a brand new instructional DVD!!!!!

The only thing is... It doesn't exist yet.

Working on instructional DVDs like BUILD YOUR OWN ELECTRIC CAR: CHEAP and BUILD YOUR OWN ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLE has been lots of fun, and helped me earn just enough money from selling copies to help keep me going.

However, it IS a LOT of time and work to make one of these things. (Talking about a year for a project, AND making the equivalent of a feature film on it!)

So, I'm really looking for input on what the next INSTRUCTIONAL VIDEO project should be. I want to make something that people would be interested in - that they might want to build for themself, but need the type of instruction that could be provided by an instructional video.

I have a couple of ideas for potential upcoming projects that might make good instructional DVDs.

SECRETS OF THE EV MASTERS: A documentary film-style video featuring interviews with nearly a dozen electric vehicle converters - asking them how to get started, what they learned, what mistakes they have made. A beggining EV converter would learn all the wisdom of those who have come before him. Most likely wouldn't include the likes of Reverend Gadget, but I would certainly try to get interviews with Dave Cloud, Lee Hart, and that ilk.

BUILD YOUR OWN ELECTRIC RIDING LAWN MOWER:
I've got a buddy who converted his own riding lawn mower to electric. It works great. Simple enough of a project that anyone could tackle it. Great spring project. Did you know that if you drive a Prius, you probably pollute more mowing your lawn on the weekend than you do driving your car all week! Fix that by building your own electric riding lawn mower. I own an old Electak that I refurbished, so I already have hands-on experience in both conversions and EV Mowers.

ADVANCED ELECTRIC MOTORCYCLE DESIGN:
Learn how to build a KICK-BUTT high performance electric motorcycle! This summer, I met a new friend who built his own 100MPH EV cycle. (He also happens to be a mechanic at the Tesla Motors dealership!) The instructional DVD would simply be every step that he took to build his cycle - fast, great acceleration, sexy!

BUILD YOUR OWN HYBRID CAR!:
This one would take a while. I don't have a hybrid car. I would have to spend the better part of a year building the thing, and then make the video using everything I learned on it. Has the potential of being a VERY cool project. I believe there is a lot of interest in plug-in hybrids, if they are kept affordable. Imagine being able to build your own Chevy Volt type car for for scrapyard DIY prices!

Related to a hybrid project would be BUILD YOUR OWN XR-3!:
This is a really cool hybrid (or just diesel, or just electric) three-wheeled vehicle that you build from scratch by using plans you can buy from RQ Riley. A friend of mine purchased the plans and already has the steel cut for the chassis for 5 vehicles. I could observe him working on a step, do that same step myself and film it, and have both an XR-3 AND an instructional video when done. The big downside to this one is it's a relatively expensive project, and it WILL TAKE TIME. At least a couple summers. It's complicated and would have to be done at my friend's schedule, nights and weekends...

Diesel/Veggie Oil Conversion:
I've got a pickup truck and an engine, just sitting around, waiting to be combined to make a fuel-efficiant pickup truck. This is something I'm planning to do no matter what. I'm not sure how good of an instructional video topic it would be or not. For the most part, it's just an engine swap, but perhaps showing all the details to make it a veggie oil conversion would make it worth-while.

Along with that, I know several people making biodiesel, including building the equipment to do it, so I could make a BUILD YOUR OWN BIO-DIESEL PROCESSOR or MAKE YOUR OWN BIODIESEL instructional video. Right now, I don't know much about bio-diesel, but I would absolutely LOVE to learn more.

And related to fuel and energy sources, I have some friends working in "gasifiers" - a straight-forward technology to create boilers, generators, and other useful equipment that uses the volitile gasses driven off of wood and other bio-fuels. You can even use them to drive a car!

Do you have any other ideas on what you would like to see for future instructional videos? What project would you love to tackle if you just had somebody to help you along in the form of a DVD?

Please let me know your comments and ideas!!!

Thanks,

-Ben


PS: I'm going to be distributing an instructional DVD on the Introduction to Blacksmithing soon!

[bennelson]

Oh, here's a couple more:


Solar Hot Water Design:
I'm putting up my own solar hot water system, as is a friend of mine. Easy enough to film that and what we learned from the DIY aspect of it.

Rockets Stoves!
I built my own rocket grill. I know a couple other people who have done them as well. I could make a video showing how to build various types, construction tips, theory of operation, etc.

Graywater laundry system.
I save about $45 a month on my water bill by flushing my toilet with used laundry water. Think of it as a "suds-saver system". I would show how anyone could build such a system. It's really not that complicated. Maybe that could be combined on a single video with other water-conservation projects or even with rocket stoves as a "DIY Home Projects" video.

[esoneson]

Originally Posted by bennelson

Oh, here's a couple more:
Graywater laundry system.
I save about $45 a month on my water bill by flushing my toilet with used laundry water.

Sounds like a lot of crap to me.......

[bennelson]

Originally Posted by esoneson

Sounds like a lot of crap to me.......

Exact same amount of crap, just less water!

[Ryland]

I like the idea of a more in-depth video on electric vehicle building, building a high budget EV or something along those lines, maybe a bit more on battery options, tips on how to make your EV show worthy, as in, how to make it safe for kids to poke at, how to not make it look cobbled together, also talking to people about things like heat, no one knows how to heat their EV! battery gauges and the other finer details would be good too.

[bennelson]

Too true that so many of those "details" - heat, gauges, etc, etc, always seem to be glanced over in conversion information.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by bennelson

Graywater laundry system.
I save about $45 a month on my water bill by flushing my toilet with used laundry water. Think of it as a "suds-saver system".

Do you also collect rainwater for laundry or toilet use ?

[bennelson]

I do not collect rainwater yet. I intend to at a future point for watering the garden.

In the house, my water expense is WASTE-WATER, the cost to pay a pumper truck to come out and empty my waste-water holding tank.

For source water, I have a well, so the only cost there is associated with electric use and eventually wear and tear on the well pump.

Harvesting rainwater for laundry or toilet use would save me only a tiny amount of money, and would be a fair amount of work (and some cost) to modify my gutters, find space for storing the water etc.

Other things factor in as well. For example, I don't have a basement, and in the winter, any water stored outside freezes, so I really don't have any place to even collect water too.

While rainwater harvesting is a good idea from an ecological point of view (I would be using less ground water, could be gravity-fed instead of electrically pumped, etc.) I really don't have any economic incentive to go for it.

On the other hand, rainwater collection for outdoor use would be pretty straight forward. I would only want to do it for the summer anyways, so no issue with freezing. I could have the rain-barrels outside (right behind my garage) and hookup to my garage gutter would be pretty simple.

[euromodder]

Originally Posted by bennelson

In the house, my water expense is WASTE-WATER, the cost to pay a pumper truck to come out and empty my waste-water holding tank.

I see, in that case, there's no financial saving.

We have potable tap water just about anywhere around here, but collecting rainwater has become mandatory for new constructions - which also lessens the burden on the sewer system and water treatment plants during heavy rains.