Keep material in use.
Repair an existing part, recover a known stream, or rebuild useful stock. Choose the shortest suitable route.
Engineering design preview
Give old material
a useful next life.
A modular materials refinery for the independent workshop. Identify what you have, recover what you can use, and put it back to work—with a record of every batch.
- 01Identified feedstock
- 02Contained recovery
- 03Released material
The material problem
More value.
Less material lost.
The useful loop starts before fabrication: knowing what a material is, what it needs, and whether the recovered stock is fit for its next job.
| The job | A common starting point | The Earth direction |
|---|---|---|
| Material identity | A mixed pile with a story you have to reconstruct. | Labeled lots, known composition and a process chosen for the feedstock. |
| Recovery | Repair, scrap and new stock treated as separate decisions. | Compare reuse, recovery and regrowth within one material record. |
| Release to stock | Useful-looking material, with uncertain suitability. | An assay and mass balance before a lot becomes usable stock. |
Follow the material
A route for the material.
A record for the batch.
Five stages connect incoming material to reusable stock. Select a feedstock, then inspect each stage of the proposed loop.
Choose a material stream
01 / Receive & identify
Start with a material you can name.
Weigh the lot and record its origin, alloy and coatings.
Known copper
A reference path for characterized copper.
Copper recovery depends on the actual feedstock and chemistry.
Planning tool
See what the charge
could deposit.
The copper reference starts with a useful piece of arithmetic: current over time puts a ceiling on how much metal can be deposited. Change the assumptions and follow the result.
m = current × time × efficiency × molar mass / (valence × Faraday constant)
Assumes a compatible copper bath and enough dissolved copper. Purity, actual scrap recovery and part geometry require separate measurements. The inputs are calculation ranges, not equipment ratings.
0.676 kgCharge-based copper deposition estimate.
The open workshop
Make material.
Make the means to make.
Inspired by Open Source Ecology’s construction-set approach: useful machines built from serviceable modules, with the documentation to understand, repair and eventually reproduce them.
Make the module repairable.
Removable bins, serviceable pumps, replaceable wetted parts and a controlled recovery cell that can be maintained.
Document the interface.
Record composition, process, yield and permitted use so the next machine knows what it is receiving.
Where it stands
A design to develop.
A clear first step.
Design researchEquipment not yet built or rated.
The notes establish useful recovery, deposition and fabrication methods. A complete feedstock-to-stock machine, its purity, throughput and operating cost remain to be demonstrated.
Diagrams are functional concepts. Calculators and profiles are planning tools, not live controls or measured performance.
- Source reviewExisting metal-recovery and fabrication work indexed.
- First material streamDevelop the known-copper route and its batch record.
- Close the balanceMeasure product, solutions, residue and actual energy.
- Repeat & documentRelease a reproducible module and verified stock.
What goes into it
A module list.
An honest starting point.
Component groups define the scope before hardware is selected. Every group is currently unquoted; there is no complete-system price or retail offer.
Receiving & sortingPROPOSED MODULEUnquoted
Scales, labeled bins, sampling and separation tools.
Select for the first characterized feedstock.
Recovery cellPROPOSED MODULEUnquoted
Compatible vessel, rectifier, electrodes, circulation and filtration.
Chemistry and active area determine sizing.
Containment & extractionPROPOSED MODULEUnquoted
Process-specific ventilation, secondary containment and segregated rinses.
Included in the system scope; not an accessory afterthought.
Verification & recordsPROPOSED MODULEUnquoted
Assay access, measurements and product/bath/residue mass accounting.
A visible deposit is not a purity result.
Reusable stock interfacePROPOSED MODULEUnquoted
Traceable material storage and a documented handoff to fabrication.
Electroforming and Fire casting keep their process-specific requirements.
Notes & precedents
Built from the
work already started.
The materials-recovery and electroforming notes supply the process foundation. Earth develops the feedstock, accounting and reusable-stock side of that work.
Independent Redgold concept. Public references reviewed 28 October 2026.
- Open Source Ecology · Global Village Construction Set ↗
The precedent for a construction set of repairable machines and documentation that supports local production.
- OSE · Induction Furnace Overview ↗
Power electronics, coil, cooling and melt-chamber architecture. Its power and throughput goals are historical design targets, not Earth ratings.
- OSE · Open Source Induction Furnace ↗
Related design pointers. The incomplete build and BOM are research leads rather than a qualified machine package.
- Earth · public design brief ↓
Scope, calculation assumptions, open questions and interfaces with the neighboring projects.