1CUBIT: cubit-scale formwork from a backyard micro-factory

1CUBIT is cubit-scale formwork a person can lift and set.

Put a small factory anywhere. Print small interlocking formwork units from cheap bulk plastic. People lay them by hand, like oversized bricks. Pour local concrete in the core. Spray or place insulation in a dedicated channel. Repeat.

The name is the method. A cubit is a small, human measure. The factory is meant to be copied: a shed, a container, a garage, a lean-to in any country with electric power, local cement, and pellet plastic.

This page points at the enabling technical note and Core CAD already live on Zenodo. It is prior art. It is not a building-code evaluation, not a franchise, and not a claim that any child company already exists.

Two phases, same block

Phase A, now: people lay cubits. Print, carry, dry-stack on pegs, drop pins, pour, foam, optionally strip outer faces.

Phase B, later: machines lay the same cubits, registering on printed pegs and pin chimneys.

The numbers below are a worked first example, not a fence. Any cubit-scale, human-laid, locally printed formwork cell is the same invention.

Worked first example

Four cooperating parts:

  1. A swarm of LFAM pellet printers (preferred class: Dowell 3D DP-A12; about 1200 mm cube envelope, about 5 kg/h per machine).
  2. A dry PETG pellet chain (preferred: bulk unfilled injection-molding PETG).
  3. A 40 × 16 × 14 in interlocking formwork unit (length × pour height × through-wall depth).
  4. A 10 × 14 ft high-wall metal shed cell.

The preferred unit is three cavities through the 14 in depth: 6 in concrete core with a GFRP lattice; 3 in insulation channel; outer interlocking PETG shells with interrupted sliding dovetails so exterior pour faces can come off after set. Target empty mass under 80 lb. Pour in 16 in lifts.

Live CAD (2026-08-31 review solid, end piece): STEP, STL, build123d source, and review images are on Zenodo v2. Envelope 40×16×14 in. Weather 5 mm, 12×Ø20 pegs, 45° sockets with ceiling cones, one 8 mm square on a 45° helix in the 6 in core. Hardware CERN-OHL-S v2.

CAD files

Architecture note (v1, unchanged): https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22117835

Concept DOI: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.22117834

License

Text CC BY-SA 4.0. Hardware CERN-OHL-S v2.

Author: Michael J. Vredenburgh, One Cubit Holdings LLC.