50 Machines
50 machines to restart civilization.
From a clay kiln to a relay computer, in the order you could build them. Each one uses only what you already made. Open a guide, drop the parts in, then run it on real numbers.
60 L/s · 1,679 rpm · 14.2 V612 W · open the guide →
50 machines · 5 eras · 50 interactive guides · 1 rule: nothing comes before what it needs
About the project
Why I made 50 Machines and how to read it.
A field manual in building order
50 Machines is a field manual. It shows 50 machines in the order you could build them. Each machine uses only what the machines before it make. The list starts with a clay kiln and ends with a relay computer.
Why I made it
Technology moves forward. One of its main purposes is to help us live better. But we also depend on it more every year. So it is worth understanding what a reboot would mean. New generations need a record of how things are made and how they were made before. That is why I made this site.
The order is my judgement. It comes from published survival and appropriate technology work. Each machine gets a score for lives saved, later machines that depend on it, labour saved, how easy it is to build and how easy it is to keep running.
Not only to survive
The tree starts with what keeps people alive: fire and clean water. Survival is not the goal, though. Part IV of the list is called Living well. The aim is a good life, not only a long one.
Each guide lists the parts, the steps and a check for each step. These are the first 50 machines. The book collects them. The site stays as a record, and others can keep building on it.
The tech tree
Tap any machine to trace it. Brass lines run back to everything it needs; the dark ones run forward to everything it unlocks.
The 50
Survival comes first because everything else stands on it: clean water, fire, soap, metal. After that the list turns toward living well: power, cold, light, and machines that think.
Guides
Each guide is an exploded build. Parts drop in step by step with what you need, what to do and how to check it, then the machine runs on real numbers.
Method
The order is our judgement, built from published survival and appropriate-technology work. The numbers on each card come from those sources.
Scored, then sorted by need
Each machine is scored on lives saved, how many later machines it unlocks, labour saved, how buildable it is and how easily it is kept running. Anything a machine needs is moved ahead of it.
Salvage first, scratch as fallback
For years after a collapse a car alternator, a solar panel or a radio is easier to find than to make. Guides start from salvage where it is realistic and keep the from-scratch route beside it.
Drawn from real sources
Lewis Dartnell's The Knowledge, Open Source Ecology's 50-machine Global Village Construction Set, Practical Action's technical briefs, David Gingery's shop-from-scrap series and Hugh Piggott's wind turbine plans.
The book
The website needs power and a screen. A book needs neither. That is why 50 Machines is also a printed manual.
What is inside
The same 50 machines as the site, in the same order and the same five parts. Each machine has its isometric drawing, its list of parts and the essential steps. A sidebar gives the difficulty, the machines it builds on, the key numbers, the dimensions and the safety notes. The website keeps the complete steps and a check for each one.
Made for the workbench
A4 hardcover, about 240 pages. A spread opens wide enough for the drawings, and the book is made to sit open on a bench. Each copy is printed on demand when it is ordered.
Why paper
I want the knowledge in this project to last and to move from one person to the next. Paper does that well. You can lend it, mark it and keep it for years. It works when nothing else does. English and Spanish editions, shipped from Spain.
59 € VAT included · hardcover · EN or ES
Pre-orders open once the printed proof is approved. Reserve a copy now. There is no payment and no commitment. I will email you when pre-orders open, with the final price, before anything is charged. Printed on demand, ships 2 to 3 weeks after pre-order.
Until then, reserve with no payment. You will see the final price before paying. Ships from Spain.
Contribute a machine
The tree is open. Anyone can add a guide.
An open tree
50 Machines is an open source technology tree. I made the first 50 machines. I want the tree to keep growing, one guide at a time, built by the people who use it. The format, the templates and two reference guides are public, with content under CC BY-SA 4.0 and code under MIT.
The same format
A new guide must match the format of the existing ones. It needs an isometric model, a list of parts, numbered build steps with a check for each step, and the machine running on real numbers. It must also state which earlier machines it needs.
Your own AI, your own checks
You do not need to draw it all by hand. You can use your own AI, Claude or another, together with the templates and the prompt kit. Check every number and every step yourself before you send it. Every guide is reviewed before it joins the tree, marked as community.
- 1 Propose the machine in an issue
- 2 Copy the template, draft, check
- 3 Open a pull request with the checklist
- 4 Review for format, truth and safety
- 5 Published in the tree as community
Support the project
Help the tree grow, and help children learn practical technology.
50 Machines is free to read. The guides, the drawings and the tech tree are open to everyone. Making them takes time and money.
If the project is useful to you, you can make a voluntary contribution. Your support helps me keep the guides accurate, review new machines and grow the tree.
I also make a commitment. ASSEMBLR VENTURES, S.L. will give 10% of the net profit from the book each year to an organization that teaches practical technology to children. I will name it at launch, with its consent. Net profit = book income without VAT, minus printing and shipping, payment and Shopify fees, and refunds. Before 30 June each year I will publish a report with the figures and proof of payment.
Children who learn how things are made can build, repair and improve them. That is what this project is for.
Support is a voluntary contribution, with nothing in return, to ASSEMBLR VENTURES, S.L., a for-profit company. It is not a tax-deductible donation, and buying the book is not a donation. Other ways to help today: reserve the book, contribute a machine, or share the site.