- The channel is designing an open-source hardware package system (tentatively called “SKDB”) to let anyone replicate projects like the MechMate CNC router or RepRap by automatically chaining machine-readable build instructions.  
- Participants are experimenting with YAML, RDF, debtags, and “input-output templates” (IOTs) to encode build steps, but have not yet solved how to pass parameters cleanly between manufacturing stages—an issue they liken to needing a “semantic shell” for physical fabrication.  
- A concrete next step proposed is a micro-CNC mill that can cut titanium, built from salvaged CD-drive linear actuators, intended as a small, achievable project to bootstrap the Open Manufacturing community.  
- Compressed-earth construction was debated: durability, cost vs. wood, and the practicality of Marcin Jakubowski’s Open Source Ecology CEB designs were questioned, with links to century-old rammed-earth examples and openfarmtech.org documentation.  
- DIY 3-D printing techniques compared include RepRap’s molten-ABS extrusion, Z-Corp-style powder-bed printing with plaster and edible binders (maltodextrin/guarana-acai), and speculative sugar-crystal printing using inkjet heads and supersaturated solutions.  
- For large-scale rapid prototyping (e.g., cinder-block-sized Lego bricks), participants considered lost-foam casting, vacuum-formed molds, and fiberglass lay-ups, noting that filament printers are too slow and expensive at that scale.  
- Economies of scale were questioned: the group debated whether distributed, garage-level production with identical open-source machines could ever match centralized factories once shared tooling, maintenance, and R&D costs are factored in.  
- Practical resources shared include the Gingery “build-your-own-machine” book set (mirrored at heybryan.org), fenn’s updated 21st-century machine guides at fennetic.net/machines, and the RepRap “Items Made” gallery for inspiration.