An off-grid, flat-packable washing machine

PS: As an example, note the sheet-metal construction. In an industrialized country we would laser-cut all these parts. If you wanted to make this in an area with less infrastructure you might use a template and carbide gas torch to cut out the large shapes, then a hand punch to make the screw holes. More labor intensive, but still doable.

https://youtu.be/iMOkxrdP6kY?si=HWf_Sb-zwk5Vi8ES

(sold for about 10,000 yens https://item.rakuten.co.jp/thanko/000000003846/)

The metal design in the article is still more flexible and durable. I also assumed the Japanese version would be targeted at disaster situations and/or remote mountain areas and be more repairable, but the cost saving part seems to be a major selling point.

https://youtu.be/SgWh-5DsiQM?si=ILozBq9QPSEHd1W2

I understand they had a very good idea to begin with, and more importantly their heart in the right place And then further made it better with more input.

Reading the comments here the better solution for us is probably not to go back to "dumb" washing machines, but to regain control of how these machines are designed, for who and for what.

I'm thinking about Linux, which can be stripped down as small and nimble as needed to run a single board micro controller, or be large as needed to have everything to run an enterprise service. Being able to do the same with a washing machine would absolutely change their usefulness and place in our society.

I don't know how it could start, perhaps with an IKEA washing machine that actually needs assembly, for users to then tweak the parts, start comminities so we get at least in a KALLAX situation ?

https://ikeahackers.net/2025/07/ikea-kallax-hacks-2.html

I lived off-grid and did all of our laundry, a family of four (including a baby in cloth diapers), by hand, even in the winter (below -20F).

You know what works as well? A wash tub and a stick. Or a bucket and plunger. Or a posser if you're really fancy. I used a 30 gallon garbage can and a hand-carved posser. In mild or hot climates you can just stomp on it.

Same principle: Draw water, add cleanser, agitate for a couple of minutes, let it soak, return at some time in the future, agitate again. Remove laundry and let drip dry while you draw fresh water (mangles and spinners speed this up and are more effective, but not necessary). Squeeze wet laundry at lowest point where water has gathered. Repeat entire process with clean water, then lay it out in the sun prioritizing any sides with stains.

The secret sauce of clean laundry isn't how you agitate the laundry. It's just time and chemistry.

Water access, cleansing agents, and patience are fundamentally more important than providing "revolutionary" contraptions. It's the same difference between teaching people about no-knead bread and giving them hand-cranked stand-mixers. One solves the need for intensive manual labor and the other doesn't, but introduces a new point of failure.

And even importing enzyme-containing detergent is unnecessary. Plant ash (a source of alkali) and aged urine (a source of ammonia) are all you need to create what's known as bucking lye which cleans just as effectively and uses byproducts that they themselves produce by default. Residual stains are removed via UV from sun drying.

There's absolutely no need to complicate this.

For many reasons, I expect to see a lot of new products and solutions going against the main trends of locking down the user, planned obsolence, rent seeking from buyers, and limiting their choices.

Imagining a company shipping the home appliances equivalent to Frame.work laptops: open, reparable, hackable, and upgradable. I would happily connect them to my home wifi, program them the way I want, and have one hub that allows me to monitor health, upgrade firmware, control functionality.

I think within no time it will be modded with motors, maybe salvaged from broken electrical appliances and it will come full circle.

Designing stuff for real humans to use, is really difficult, and really humbling.

In my experience, defense contractors really have to take the user context into account. It can be life or death. I used to work for one, and seeing the stuff come back from the field, was a lesson in humility.

"Step forward the ‘fully biodegradable’ shoe that leaves no footprint" - Hilariously awful idea. Which sane person wants shoes which are designed to literally disintegrate?

"The smartphone for children that blocks porn" - AI being used to surveil children phones for nudity. (???)

"Solar project reimagines railway network as clean energy lifelines " Literally Solar roadways again. Which is a idea worthy of so much ridicule.

Washing Machine SCAM EXPOSED! The Truth About SEALED Drums: Naming & Shaming

https://youtu.be/crzZEvFf_L4

Multiple manufacturers (i.e., Bosch, Miele, Siemens, AEG, Zanussi, Beko, Hoover, Hotpoint, Indesit) no longer offering split drums and individual components, instead sealing drums with heat welding and bolts, and selling only very expensive assemblies that cost almost as much as a new appliance.

Video is by an independent appliance repair shop owner in the UK who tears apart old and new appliances showing the difference in parts.

I got something called a "breathing washer" which looks kind of like a toilet plunger and a big tote which I put in the bathtub for use. These breathing washers work really well and in my opinion get your clothes much cleaner than agitating and spinning.

Then I got something called a "spin dryer" that is basically a small centrifuge that spins a lot faster than a regular washing machine and leaves fabrics like light polyester nearly dry coming out.

Finally I got an inflatable plugin dryer.

This setup was more work than a regular washing machine but maybe not more work than bundling up clothes and taking to the laundrymat and sitting there for an hour or two. One thing I really liked about it was short time to process. I could have washed and dried clothes much faster than a conventional washer/dryer setup.

I've been in a house for a long time now and admittedly having a washer and dryer is much nicer and less work, but that setup was acceptable and much better than laundromats for whatever it's worth if someone is in a similar situation.

Good people in the UK spending their time dreaming up solutions to "problems" far away

The people who live "far away" have agency and can solve their own problems, if given the chance.

Westerners do not know better, are not better, and generally should mind their own business. It would be much be much better to work on local problems in their own societies