It took us more time that we thought to figure out how to make the machines for our unit. Mainly because we couldn’t find the correct place and people to make the machines.
Our first idea was to involve the mechanical engineers’ students, but no one seemed interested to include this into the College curriculum. And waiting for students to get involved in their extra time would mean…never getting the machine done.
Then we wanted to go for local builders, but they were very expensive because they don’t work with recycled material. Everything new means higher price than a new already-made machine, so the whole point was lost.
Then came the idea of using Auroville facilities. One of our workaway volunteers went to Auroville but nothing concrete was done. It’s difficult to make all the pieces from scratch and you need big machinery. So, we concluded that we need to find the complicated pieces already-made, and the rest we can do ourselves on-site.