tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-33763302592106383832024-03-19T00:16:14.311-07:0023B ShopThe funnest hackerspace in Fullerton, California, USAArclighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15178083540578827617noreply@blogger.comBlogger127125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-41694393537777522242016-09-11T21:36:00.002-07:002016-09-12T09:10:34.368-07:00Build a better Hot Tub with Open Source Hardware!The ancient mechanical control in my hot tub (Craigslist find under "You haul it away") officially died last year. I got tired of running it manually after a timer bypass, and decided that there must be a better way. <br />
<br />
I'm becoming less and less enthusiastic about "Internet of Things" products that are really just a thinly-disguised way to sell software-as-a-service. <a href="https://internetofshit.net/">This blog</a> pretty much sums up my feelings on the matter.<br />
<br />
If you've never designed an industrial control system before, this kind of project is an easy way to get started.<br />
<br />
The first step was to decide what I wanted it to do. The basic requirements were:<br />
<br />
<br />
<ul>
<li>Maintain all hardware safety features in the existing system. This included over-temp cut-off, a secondary over-temp by way of the existing mechanical thermostat, pressure-switch to enable the heater, GFI/earthing protection.</li>
<li>Include a high-accuracy real-time-clock (RTC) to trigger the outdoor lighting and maintance events.</li>
<li>Run a daily maintenance cycles to filter, chlorinate, and pre-heat the tub</li>
<li>Provide basic user controls for the jets, inside and outside lighting</li>
<li>Provide a a timeout feature if the jets are left on.</li>
<li>Allow for remote monitoring, logging and control at a later date.</li>
<li>Use hardware that is robust enough for 24/7/365 use outdoors, in an electrically-hostile environment.</li>
</ul>
<br />
<br />
Fortunately, I already had a head-start. I have a <a href="https://www.accxproducts.com/content/">small company</a> that does open-source electronics, a business that started out of our <a href="http://23bshop.org/">hackersapce</a>. My Open Source RFID Access Control board, the <a href="http://accxproducts.com/wiki/index.php?title=Open_Access_4.0">AC400</a>, is a pretty good industrial-grade microcontroller device that is hardened and ready to use for stuff like this. You can get one of these at <a href="http://www.wallofsheep.com/collections/accx-products/products/ac400-open-access-v4-standard-assembled">the Wall of Sheep Store</a>.<br />
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<br />
When starting a project like this, I first take the details of what I want and make a "Pin Budget." This is a <a href="https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1WLzgfIKuUVRO3asZopU9r8S2sU3hPrlJlA1HjOFBIzM/edit?usp=sharing">spreadsheet</a> that matches each project need to a specific pin of the microcontroller or board I am using, based on the capabilities.<br />
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Next, I take measurements and get the physical space constraints I need to fit the device into, including all externtal modules, switches, power supplies, etc. Here is the start:<br />
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In this case, I cut out a piece of cardboard that fit inside the old control box. I salvaged the pneumatic button switches from the old control and added a terminal strip from the junk box. I chose a 40A Crydom solid-state relay specifically rated for AC motor control. Some excellent notes about sizing and choosing SSRs is available at<a href="http://www.crydom.com/en/tech/tips.shtml"> Crydom's site.</a><br />
<br />
In operation, SSRs get hot. Since we would be space-constrained, I decided to go with a combination heatsink/mounting plate and use both sides for parts mounting. For about $10, I had a 1/8" thick Aluminum plate sheared to a custom size at <a href="http://unicornmetals.com/Contact%20Us.html">Unicorn Metals</a>, one of my favorite new and used metal dealers in Southern California. <br />
<br />
This place is an Aladdin's Cave of new and used materials including sheetmetal, pipe, motors, fans, circuit breakers, fasteners, and large items like giant industrial tanks and restaurant burners.<br />
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After coating it with Dykem layout fluid, I began scribing lines and drilling holes to mount everything.<br />
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Getting closer. I tapped all of the mounting holes to avoid having nuts on the backside, which makes servicing a nightmare. The high-voltage items connect to the bottom strip, while the low-voltage connections happen on the small Euroterm strip at right.<br />
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In order to drill the mounting holes properly, I marked up the 1" spacers with a paint marker and stuck the unit in place. <br />
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<span style="text-align: start;">The witness marks allowed me to drill the enclosure with an aircraft-length drill. </span></div>
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And here it is with everything mounted:</div>
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The final article used a 10K thermistor mounted in the original location, the new control board and wiring in front, the switches, SSR and a 12V, 5A DC power supply designed for outdoor lighting in back, and a dedicated ground bar tying all components together.<br />
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Here is the thermistor and the hacked control box being calibrated. I used a random thermistor I had laying around, so I needed to expose it to a couple of known temperatures to calibrate it. Here is a <a href="http://www.daycounter.com/Calculators/Steinhart-Hart-Thermistor-Calculator.phtml">handy on-line tool for running the Steinhard-Hart equation</a>.<br />
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I rewired this box for low-voltage operation and replaced the 110V Neon bulbs with LEDs that are controlled by high-power GPIO outputs from the board. <br />
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Note that the SSR and thermistor input need a small hardware change for best results: The 2.2K input-protection resistors were swapped out for 0-ohm parts. The ATMega 328P is still protected with TVS diodes, so this isn't a big deal.<br />
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<br class="Apple-interchange-newline" />
And the Chlorine dispenser. It's a Rotochem unit that dispenses approximately 20cc per minute of operation. I'm using liquid Chlorine, and currently have it set to deliver 60ccs of Chlorine everyone morning at 0600, followed by 30 minutes of filtering.<br />
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And here it is under current test. Even though this SSR is rated to 40A, pump motors have a high startup current and the SSR must be derated to account for this.<br />
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The control program is event-driven. The original pneumatic hot tub buttons activate momentary switches, which trigger an interrupt servicing routing (ISR). One turns the jets/pump on and sets a 30-minute timeout variable. The other button changes the state machine for the interior and exterior lighting. <br />
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Temperature is checked every 30 seconds. This way, the gas heater isn't cycled excessively and it can allows the water in the pipe to equalize in temperature prior to the next check. There is also a 50C thermal switch that interrupts power to the heater, in case the other safeties fail. You can pick these up on Amazon for about $5, as they are a common appliance part. <br />
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There is also a "safety block" that runs on first bootup. It checks all of the LEDs and determines if the thermistor is reading a sane value (i.e. is not shorted or open). It will freeze the unit and go into an alarm condition with flashing LEDs if it detects this.<br />
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One issue: the thermistor is mounted in the equipment piping on my unit, which is exposed to the sun. If no water has flowed in a few hours, it can get hot enough to trip the safety code or switch. I recommend relocating the thermistor to a place that stays closer to the actual tub temperature if possible.<br />
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Interested in building one? Here is the<a href="https://github.com/accxproducts/OpenAccess_Spa_Control"> Github link</a> to the source.<br />
<br />
Arclight<br />
<br />
<br />Arclighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15178083540578827617noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-80938253369200326272016-08-24T13:15:00.000-07:002016-08-24T13:15:24.013-07:00Cyber Cassandra Complex"While your faith in technology is endearing, <br />
it will ultimately be your undoing"<br />
<br />
Arclight has an old <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2600:_The_Hacker_Quarterly" target="_blank">2600</a> tshirt with a friendly robot on the back, uttering this stark phrase. <br /><br />When was the last time you looked around you at this technological society that has sprouted up around us, within our lifetimes? If you're under 30 years old, you barely remember a time before the internet; a strange far-off land where payphones and <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Guide" target="_blank">Thomas Guides</a> helped us stay connected and get to where we were going. <br /><br />
Remember when "Information Forever" wasn't reality? Some time around 2008, roughly when humanity crossed the terabyte hard drive threshold, suddenly everything you've ever said and done online has been recorded, with metadata, for some kleptomaniacal reason that not even Edward Snowden understands. <br /><br />
Never before have humans ever been required with wrangling and maintaining a digital personality. Sure, you can go live under a rock somewhere without FaceSpace or Gmail, but the mere fact that you're reading this implies otherwise. There are enormous philosophical and psychological components of this tool that we can barely comprehend, much less plan ahead for the inevitable <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Technological_singularity" target="_blank">technological singularity</a>. <br /><br />During <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DEF_CON" target="_blank">DEF CON</a> earlier this year, <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DARPA" target="_blank">DARPA</a> <a href="https://cgc.darpa.mil/" target="_blank">sponsored an event</a> that is edging us closer to true artifical intelligence than humanity has ever seen. Luckily, SKYNET didn't wake up at that moment, humanity is safe for now. <br /><br />Do you think humanity is going to be satisfied until we get to that point? Do you think we even have a choice in the matter? <br /><br />Remember not long ago when your cellphone was a single purpose device? No malware, no Angry Birds, no Pokemon? Now you're carrying around a general-purpose computer that not only makes phone calls, shows you around town, spies on you, is connected to billions of devices over the internet, with more computing power than supercomputers from a generation ago! A question to ask yourself is, what do you think these devices will look like, and how will they behave in unintended ways a generation from now?<br /><br />All it would take is a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_1989_geomagnetic_storm" target="_blank">simple solar flare</a> to ruin everything we hold dear. What happens if the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geomagnetic_reversal" target="_blank">earth's magnetic poles decide to flip</a>? Imagine, if you can, if the Internet were to go down for some mysterious reason, and stay down, for a month. How would people transact buisness? How would people communicate with each other over vast distances? We'd be instantaneously sent back to the 1950s. Who knows how to make vacuum tubes anymore? <br /><br />Self-driving cars will kill at least as many humans as human-driven cars, but with far less personal culpability and moral decision making ability than ever before. <br />
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You go on ahead and catch those pokemon. I think I'd rather stay right here with my books and tinfoil hat. machinisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08904006748254468652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-39699667573539381122016-07-28T21:27:00.000-07:002016-07-28T21:27:38.661-07:00better CAD, better life, the same 3D printsHave you always dreamed of having a more meaningful way to interact
with your 3D printer, other than exclusively printing things you found
on Thingiverse? Have you ever needed to conjure a specific shape out of
thin air? The quickest way to up your 3D printing game is to learn a
flavor or two of Computer Aided Design.<br />
<br />
Freshly returned from the Mandelbrotian fractal shores of <a data-mce-href="http://www.siggraph.org/" href="http://www.siggraph.org/">SIGGRAPH</a>,
my heart swells with 3D printing. Although primarily a computer
graphics conference, all the major players in Additive Manufacturing
were out in force: Stratasys, 3D Systems, and <a data-mce-href="http://formlabs.com/" href="http://formlabs.com/">Formlabs</a> (Thanks for the coupon code). Arguably, 3D printing isn't as much of a hot topic today as it was two or three years ago.<br />
<br />
Why do you think that is?<br />
<br />
Hypothesis: lack of hobbyist CAD users.<br />
<br />
By
now I'm sure you've heard my plastic Yoda head tirade. TL;DR - When
given technology reminiscent of Star Trek replicators, why is it that
most users produce junk inferior to that from a <a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mold-A-Rama" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mold-A-Rama">Mold-A-Rama</a>?<br />
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<br />
Worthwhile CAD tools have traditionally been equal parts unaffordable and challenging to learn.<br />
<br />
There
was a time, not long ago, when you had to be a degreed professional,
backed by a corporate bank account, to access CAD tools. Hell, it
wasn't until the late 90's that desktop computers were fast, small, and
economical enough to run CAD applications, which still to this day can
cost thousands of dollars. One of the most widely-accepted CAD tool
today, CATIA, isn't widely taught at the university level, despite
having thousands of installations at major corporations like Boeing and
GM.<br />
<br />
Today is a totally different world. Off the top of my head I
can think of a handful of very powerful CAD tools that are available to
use for free, or nearly free. I grew up on Solidworks, so moving to <a data-mce-href="http://www.onshape.com" href="http://www.onshape.com/">Onshape</a>
was like moving from Coke to Diet Coke; the general flavor is similar,
with less calories. Recently, I've spent an awful lot of time in <a data-mce-href="http://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/overview" href="http://www.autodesk.com/products/fusion-360/overview">Autodesk Fusion360</a>
lately, and I must say, the more I use it, the more I like it. Where
else can you find such powerful CAD/CAM tools that will take your shape
and output code to your CNC machine? The price is definitely right,
too.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AsHwVzAYsxI/V5rYY-cNUXI/AAAAAAAABx4/_e_cPwgksT4VnkVMijcQe1kneCka76UvwCLcB/s1600/long.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-AsHwVzAYsxI/V5rYY-cNUXI/AAAAAAAABx4/_e_cPwgksT4VnkVMijcQe1kneCka76UvwCLcB/s1600/long.jpg" /></a>For the more masochistic types out there, there's always <a data-mce-href="http://www.freecadweb.org/" href="http://www.freecadweb.org/">Freecad</a> (huh?), <a data-mce-href="http://www.sketchup.com" href="http://www.sketchup.com/">Sketchup</a> (no thanks), and <a data-mce-href="http://www.openscad.org/" href="http://www.openscad.org/">OpenSCAD</a> (nope nope nope). K<span lang="EN-CA">eep
in mind that 3D software breeds cliques that put teenage girls to
shame. Alls I'm saying is that there are options nowadays.</span><br />
<br />
On the left, you see
the same basic design replicated in many different CAD environments.
From the top, you have: Solidworks, Autocad Inventor, Freecad,
OpenSCAD, Sketchup, and Catia. That's only naming a few of the choices
out there.<br />
<br />
They all will make the same part, the difference is in
approach. Every single one of these softwares will output the fabled STL
file, universally accepted by 3D printers everywhere*.<br />
<br />
So far
we've only covered CAD tools for engineering-type modeling. We haven't
begun to explore the world of Direct Editing. Instead of designing
parts in terms of dimensions and absolute shapes, Direct Editing, also
known as Subdivision Modeling, is more like sculpting a statue out of
clay. I don't have any personal experience with any of those yet, I'll
get back to you when I do. To rattle off a few names: Maya, Zbrush,
Blender, Rhino.....<br />
<br />
Wise grandfather say - "The best time to plant
a tree was twenty years ago. The second-best time to plant a tree is
now." Whether you cut your teeth on Autocad '88 or have never touched
CAD tools before, today's availability and accessibility of such tools
is unprecedented. It certainly won't be a burden to your life to have a
smattering of CAD, I promise. <br />
<br />
<br />
Imagine what tomorrow can bring,
considering that software development isn't going backwards any time
soon.machinisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08904006748254468652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-16863227015580231432016-05-19T18:52:00.000-07:002016-05-23T11:22:01.809-07:00Photogrammetry, or, 3D scan with a plain ol' camera<br />
After a few years of plodding along the hackerspace / shadetree engineering path, I have encountered the same problem multiple times in multiple forms. Once in a while, you need to translate an object which exists in the real world, into the digital world. <br />
<br />
Let's say you need a 3D model of the members of your band for a cool video. <br />
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In the old days, this was a tedious and manual process, to digitize anything, lacking any pre-existing tools that could easily facilitate the project. Take <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rebecca_Allen_%28artist%29" target="_blank">Rebecca Allen</a>, for example. She worked for TWO YEARS to create the above 1986 Kraftwerk video. Here she is pictured with a reference model of drummer Karl Bartos, plotting each point by hand with a digitizer, using homebrew software. </div>
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VEeVuLFxWqc/Vz4JBgKmXqI/AAAAAAAABP8/FIeV0Ojy87o4AJaPTikiRr_2z6yVnsJ8ACLcB/s1600/Reb-Wolf-Model-crop.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="625" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-VEeVuLFxWqc/Vz4JBgKmXqI/AAAAAAAABP8/FIeV0Ojy87o4AJaPTikiRr_2z6yVnsJ8ACLcB/s640/Reb-Wolf-Model-crop.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">Even if robust digitization tools existed 30 years ago, computer processing power at the time was generally unable to adequately handle the sheer volume of computation required for rendering even the simplest of 3D scenes. </span><br />
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In 1982, it was even HARDER to digitize objects. Remember Tron?<br />
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The <a href="http://www.es.com/" target="_blank">Evans and Sutherland</a> Picture System 2, which was used to render Tron, had a whopping 2 Megabytes of RAM, and 330 Mb of disk space. A large percentage of the effects in this film were actually <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rotoscoping" target="_blank">Rotoscoped</a> by hand, rather than using a computer to add visual effects. </div>
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Today, you can buy a <a href="https://www.google.com/atap/project-tango/" target="_blank">Google Tango</a> tablet, designed specifically for 3D imaging, with 4 Gb of RAM, a flamethrowing nVidia processor, all sorts of bells and whistles, for ~$500. Put in relative terms, an iPad2 has equivalent GFLOP processing power of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cray-2" target="_blank">the most powerful Cray supercomputer from 30 years ago</a>. </div>
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You carry this around in your bag, like it's no big deal, and use it mostly for Flappy Bird. </div>
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But I digress.<br />
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The point I'm trying to make, is that we are now carrying enough processing power around in our pockets to be able to accomplish sophisticated 3D imaging, which was previously computationally prohibitive. <br />
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Beyond the absurd availability of computational power today, lots of research has been performed in the last 30 years in the field of computer simulation, ray tracing, and <a href="https://github.com/pmoulon/CMVS-PMVS" target="_blank">other relevant algorithms</a>. All this research adds together to allow this deluge of computer power to be specifically focused on the task at hand, in this case 3D imaging and reconstruction. <br />
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In <a href="http://blog.shop.23b.org/2015/02/3d-scanning-on-cheap.html" target="_blank">previous blog posts</a>, we covered a low-cost scanning technique using the Microsoft <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kinect" target="_blank">Kinect</a> sensor. Initially not intended for use as a 3D scanner, massive development of the <a href="https://developer.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/kinect/develop" target="_blank">Kinect ecosystem</a> by Microsoft and others has created a wake of alternative uses for the Kinect hardware.<br />
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One challenge with scanning using the Kinect is the trade-off between scan volume and resolution. The Kinect is capable of scanning physical space<span style="font-size: small;"> ranging from 0.5 to 8 meters in size. Instead of pixels as you would have in a 2D environment, the Kinect tracks "voxels" in a 3D environment, in an array of roughly 600 x 600 x 600 elements. In the highest quality settings, this makes for an minimum tolerance of +/- 1 mm of error, about 1% overall, in the resulting scan data. This is great resolution when scanning items about the size of a shoe box, 0.5 m^3, but sometimes you want to scan larger objects that the Kinect would struggle to visualize with high enough resolution.</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;">What about scanning objects smaller than 0.5 m^3? The Kinect has a miminum scanning distance of ~600 mm, and has a difficult time visualizing small features on small parts. <br /><br />Using <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Photogrammetry" target="_blank">photogrammetry</a> (specifically, stereophotogrammetry), all you need is an array of photographs from different angles of the same scene, and a properly configured software stack. <br /><br />There are a few photogrammetry solutions on the market ranging from <a href="http://www.123dapp.com/catch" target="_blank">free</a> to <a href="https://www.capturingreality.com/" target="_blank">very expensive</a>. Most of these softwares essentially do the same thing, the main distinction being that <a href="http://www.123dapp.com/catch" target="_blank">123DCatch</a> performs remote processing on the cloud, where <a href="https://www.capturingreality.com/my" target="_blank">CapturingReality</a> performs the required calculations locally. Due to this fact, your choice of software boils down to what quality of hardware you're using. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: small;"><br /></span>My toolchain of choice for this process is twofold: <a href="http://ccwu.me/vsfm/" target="_blank">VisualSFM</a> and <a href="http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/" target="_blank">Meshlab</a>. Both of these tools are free, mostly open-source*, and quite robust once you know how to coax the proper filtered data out. The main benefit of this toolchain is that they're freely available for Linux / Mac / Windows. It can even be done without <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CUDA" target="_blank">CUDA cores</a>, although it seems that <a href="https://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-toolkit-40" target="_blank">some optimization for the process</a> is achieved with using CUDA architecture GPUs</div>
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VisualSFM is used to sort an array of images, and apply the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scale-invariant_feature_transform" target="_blank">SIFT algorithm</a> for feature detection on each image. This processes each image using the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Difference_of_Gaussians" target="_blank">Difference of Gaussians</a>, one method for computerized feature recognition, along with a comparison between each frame. The software is then able to infer a relative position and orientation for each camera.<br />
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Meshlab is
used to perform a mathematical reconstruction of the VisualSFM output.
VisualSFM outputs a cartesian point cloud, and it's your job as the
creative human to make sense of that data (turns out <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3-dimensional_matching" target="_blank">3 Dimensional matching</a> has been proven to be <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/NP-hardness" target="_blank">NP-hard</a>). </div>
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A point cloud by itself isn't
inherently useful. With Meshlab, we perform a conversion of the noisy
point cloud to a high quality, watertight triangular mesh which can then be used in all sorts of applications like reverse engineering, 3D printing, VR and AR, computer vision, et cetera. </div>
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We first perform a Poisson surface reconstruction to create a solid, triangular-faceted surface with a high quality alignment to the original point cloud. The resulting mesh can tend to be noisy, so a few filtering algorithms are applied to smooth the surfaces and edges and clean the outliers. Essentially, all you're doing is noise filtering.<br />
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Mesh size is of crucial importance for computability. Sometimes the meshes reconstruct with millions of faces, which can be challenging to process on anything but modern gaming rigs with giant GPUs. Furthermore, our resulting reconstruction is rough, aesthetically approximating a surface, rather than being a 99% dimensionally accurate representation of the surface. Such a high quality of reconstruction is approachable using strictly photogrammetric or structured light techniques, but probably better suited to <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/3D_scanner#Time-of-flight" target="_blank">Time-of-Flight</a> laser scanning techniques like that of the <a href="http://www.nextengine.com/" target="_blank">NextEngine</a>. TOF scanners can achieve micron-scale resolution, unlike triangulation scanners like the Kinect. </div>
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Do we need to reconstruct a scene in a video game, requiring a low quality model with a high quality, registered texture? Do we need to recreate a shape with a high dimensional accuracy, with no consideration to texture or color? Photogrammetry can accomplish both, but is better at the former.</div>
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Meshlab is used to robustly modify the reconstructed mesh surface with mathematical processes (you should probably also look at <a href="http://www.meshmixer.com/" target="_blank">Meshmixer</a>). Some of the more challenging, opaque problems can hide deep within the mesh, like a single non-manifold vertex which may never appear in the visual rendering. This can be solved with a quick selection filter, and deleting the offending geometry. "Quadric Edge Collapse Decimation" is used to reduce the polygon count of the resulting surface. My favorite filter lately has been "Parameterize and texturize from registered rasters" which creates an awesome texture map with VisualSFM output. <br />
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Once you have the clean, reconstructed surface, save the file somewhere memorable. VisualSFM has an output file called "bundle.rd.out" which is a sparse reconstruction of the surface, along with "list.txt" which is the list of registered raster images we're going to use to apply color to the reconstructed surface. By importing the reconstructed surface into this new workspace, we can superimpose the aligned raster images with the reconstructed mesh, then projecting the color with a little software magic. <br />
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The resulting surface can be further refined by applying different shaders and lighting schemes. <br />
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Granted, there is a small amount of visual distortion in the resulting reconstruction and texturizing of the mesh. I'm sure with a few dozen more images of this scene, along with more processing time, that would result in a more accurate volumetric representation of the scene. To achieve a higher quality texture map, a little more love needs to be used when parameterizing the raster images onto the mesh. </div>
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One thing to remember is that photogrammatically reconstructed surfaces have no inherent relation to scale. This can be corrected with a comparison to a known reference dimension. We could probably look up on Amazon the dimensions of the "Pocket Kanji Guide", and appropriately scale the data. In this instance, accuracy in scale isn't the main intent. If inserted dimensionally accurate references into the photo, rescaling should be reasonably accurate. Meshlab's default output unit is in millimeters. </div>
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Compare the result of our quick, admittedly low-quality reconstruction (using a dozen VGA-resolution images), versus one with hundreds of reference photos and processed overnight using expensive (but very good) software. These images are probably taken on something with better than VGA resolution. <br />
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<b><span style="font-size: large;">A few limitations - </span></b></div>
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Since we're using visible-light techniques, we have to deal with optical restrictions. Reflections and shadowed surfaces are troublesome to reconstruct. Diffuse, even lighting conditions are optimal for photogrammetric reconstruction, so try taking pictures outside on a cloudy day. Lens choice is also important, with a 35-50 mm lens most closely approximating the human field of view with the least amount of distortion. <br />
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Objects scanned with photogrammetry techniques should typically remain still while capturing data. It's possible to assemble a camera rig with <i>n</i> cameras in various orientations around a common scene. Multiple instantaneous views could then be processed using these techniques.<br />
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The SIFT algorithm works best when applied on images with lots of orientable visible features, like repeating vertical and horizontal lines and contrasting color; not so well with objects like a plain flower vase where all sides appear the same. </div>
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The toolchain is painfully disjoint, requiring extensive domain knowledge and a mostly undocumented software stack to make sense of the subject. We have yet to attempt importing the resulting mesh into engineering software like Solidworks, which would require conversion of file type using yet another piece of software. We've used <a href="http://www.freecadweb.org/" target="_blank">FreeCAD</a> to convert the mesh to IGES format, but this can also be done with propietary software packages like <a href="http://www.geomagic.com/en/" target="_blank">GeoMagic</a>. The conversion can be non-trivial and lossy, akin to making vectors from rasters. </div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A few benefits - </span></div>
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Apart from being a non-contact reconstruction method, photogrammetry lends itself well to scaling. Very small or very large objects can be reconstructed with similar ease. Your only limitation for mesh size is how much horsepower your workstation has. Meshlab / VisualSFM can also be configured to run on AWS cloud, which has options for choosing GPU heavy machines. <br />
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You can also grok crowdsourced images from Google, and use people's vacation photos of visiting the Coliseum in Rome, feeding the resulting data into VisualSFM with impressive results. Screen captures from videos? No problem. In fact, you could walk by your scan target with your cameraphone recording a high definition video of the target, and reconstruct these things later. Soon, this is a process that will happen on-the-fly.</div>
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Only recently has technology become affordable enough and accessible enough to whimsically perform these types of operations on a large data set like a complex, textured 3D object. Although Moore's law is tapering off, processor power continues to get cheaper and smaller. It's exciting to consider what will develop in the near future as people continue to discover more efficient algorithms, better sensors, and more creative applications. </div>
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What kinds of interesting things can you think of to use this technology for? </div>
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*VisualSFM, by Changchang Wu, is a closed source program developed from scratch. SiftGPU is Open sourced. The SIFT algorithm, by David Lowe, is patented in the US to the University of British Columbia. Meshlab is released using the GPL license. <br />
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machinisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08904006748254468652noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-75147262137732848672016-02-07T00:09:00.001-08:002016-02-09T22:33:47.509-08:00Bobby the Biker, hacker of all the things, needs our helpIf you've ever been to an event at 23b Shop, you probably know Bobby, the loveable biker dude from a few doors down.<br />
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<a href="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AKguY37EMMM/Vrbk1ULVCtI/AAAAAAAAAu0/ycnTcvjyQ1M/s1600/IMG_20160205_180827.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="https://3.bp.blogspot.com/-AKguY37EMMM/Vrbk1ULVCtI/AAAAAAAAAu0/ycnTcvjyQ1M/s640/IMG_20160205_180827.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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Bobby has been to nearly every <a href="https://calendar.google.com/calendar/embed?src=b53v41s5fic08f17ceosnq35a4@group.calendar.google.com&pli=1" target="_blank">hacker potluck</a> in the last four years, every single <a href="http://hackaday.com/2016/02/03/sparklecon-crappy-robots-better-robots-hammer-jenga-tesla-coils/" target="_blank">Sparklecon</a>, and is always willing to lend a hand in causing some random mischief. Ever crank handles on our <a href="http://blog.shop.23b.org/2011/12/new-toys-at-shop.html" target="_blank">old Bridgeport mill</a>? That came from Bobby's shop. <br />
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Bobby isn't a hacker in the sense that he's writing bash scripts (although he's using Linux Mint as a daily driver, with a microwave bridge hooked up to our NAS device). Bobby is more of a life hacker. <br />
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Bobby works on Harleys, a trade he learned from his <i><b>Ex</b></i>-Father-in-Law, Neal. Neal has operated a Harley shop in Orange County since the 70s. Neal is now in his 70s himself, and is falling apart slowly from Parkinsons and dementia. Bobby has taken it upon himself to look after Neal over the past few years, at immense personal cost. Bobby is Neal's full-time, unpaid care giver. Bobby has a heart of gold, and is self-describes as being "patient as a rock".<br />
<br />
Neal used to be a real bad dude, 6'4" of big mean biker gruff. Now, Neal is 98lbs soaking wet, hunched over, barely able to speak, requiring 24-7 live in care to help manage things like catheters, gastric tubes, showers, going to the bathroom, back and forth transportation to the local VA hospital for numerous procedures and appointments, and all sorts of things like that. Neal is also a stubborn old coot who would rather die on his terms in a motorcycle shop than rot away in a frog pond. Bobby does his very best to indulge Neal's wishes. <br />
<br />
<br />
<br />
Except now.<br />
<br />
They have to be out by the end of the month. The landlord denied a renewal of their lease on their Harley shop.<br />
<br />
<br />
This would be an inconvenience to anyone, for sure. Beyond the decades of accumulated stuff they have scattered about their shop, there's another complication. Their shop is also their home. <br />
<br />
Bobby has a bit of a Catch-22 on his hands. Neal would qualify for some more assistance through the VA if he had a residential address, but they live in a <i>commercial </i>space. The business doesn't make enough money to support an external residence, and Bobby has been spending so much time caring for Neal that no real meaningful work can be done in the shop. <br />
<br />
<br />
Bobby is the resilient sort, he will be fine and land on his feet somehow. It's how to take care of Neal that is the concern. Neal would be homeless were it not for Bobby, but it's beginning to look like that hand is being forced. <br />
<br />
Short of taking care of Neal myself which I am completely unqualified to do, I believe we can come together as a community to give Bobby a little monetary boost to help him in his time of need. He has some good stuff in exchange as well. <br />
<br />
Neal's big old Hendey lathe is for sale. <br />
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<a href="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nSdD-eo-UVA/VrbvkLKTB8I/AAAAAAAAAvU/2rfnVC1-OXo/s1600/Hendeya013.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="424" src="https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-nSdD-eo-UVA/VrbvkLKTB8I/AAAAAAAAAvU/2rfnVC1-OXo/s640/Hendeya013.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
This lathe is a <u><i><b>BIG </b></i></u>boy, a very fine example of machinery worth preserving.<br />
<br />
I'd like to get Bobby a good price for this lathe and move it over to 23b Shop. That money would be enough to foot the bill for an apartment for a month or two, long enough for them to get on their feet and the wheels cranking for VA benefits that would apply to them now that they would have a residential address, or to find Neal more permanent skilled care and free Bobby so he can find work himself. <br />
<br />
But wait, there's more - <br />
<br />
The lathe that is currently in heavy rotation at 23b Shop would be moved to <a href="http://www.maglaboratory.org/" target="_blank">Mag Lab</a> as a hand-me-down, but still a quite excellent machine no less. There's even a whole slew of tooling that will come along with both machines, so no one leaves empty handed. I've already worked out the details with Trent and Arclight, this plan is a go once we put some much-needed cash in Bobby's hand. <br />
<br />
I started out at 23b Shop on the lathe. All the success in my adult life I owe to the things I've learned at 23b, and I'd like to give back to you guys. If anyone donates $100 or more, I'll make time to teach them a half-day, hands-on lathe class at their hackerspace of choice. I also do 3D CAD, 3D printing, 3D scanning projects, services and lessons as well, all of which I'd be happy to exchange for donations toward this worthy cause. Anything helps, cash is best since bikers don't really do Bitcoin, but we can certainly take a Paypal donation in their name. Let's make this happen by this month's Hacker Potluck on February 20th.<br />
<br />
Can't make a monetary donation, but are able to lend a hand? We'll need a few strong backs toward the end of this month to help sort and process and package their inventory before it gets sent off to storage. <br />
<br />
Perhaps someone out there has some insight to social services that we aren't aware of that would make their challenges less painful?<br />
<br />
By helping Bobby and Neal, we also can up our own game and hack better by putting more of Neal's good old machines back in the hands of hungry hardware hackers, where they will be loved and fostered as their original owner fades away into the inevitable, never-ending night. <br />
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<form action="https://www.paypal.com/cgi-bin/webscr" method="post" target="_top">
<div style="text-align: center;">
<input name="cmd" type="hidden" value="_s-xclick" />
<input name="hosted_button_id" type="hidden" value="EK9NCJBKFCJSL" />
Hey! Remember me? Your friendly 23b Paypal donate button? From back at the beginning of this post? Well if you feel so inclined, please do click on it now. All of us here at the 23b shop will greatly appreciate it if you are able to give.<br />
<br />
Thank you.</div>
<div style="text-align: center;">
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machinisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08904006748254468652noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-46143016817172540052015-12-02T11:39:00.001-08:002015-12-03T14:23:31.477-08:00Computer Aided Design for the modern world - meet OnshapeMuggles generally don't use CAD software because the good stuff is expensive, and the free stuff sucks. No matter what, it's always a pain to learn to use, and rarely geared toward more casual use. You get what you pay for, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Information-Doesnt-Want-Be-Free/dp/1940450284" target="_blank">information doesn't want to be free</a>. <br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iX9ISq7YfX0/Vl6hPlsXG8I/AAAAAAAAAok/4bxLFliPSZ8/s1600/swfail.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="158" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iX9ISq7YfX0/Vl6hPlsXG8I/AAAAAAAAAok/4bxLFliPSZ8/s400/swfail.PNG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">"<i>THAT'S</i> never happened to <i>ME</i> before"</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
Last March, after spending nearly every waking moment of the previous three months at my tech support job un-fuckleing people's D.I.Y. <a href="http://www.solidworks.com/" target="_blank">Solidworks</a> installs, I ran across something on the 'net that exploded my head. <br />
<br />
Professional grade CAD on the cloud. For free. <a href="https://www.onshape.com/" target="_blank">Onshape</a>. <br />
<br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pvphMMPHq2M/Vl6oJoepRLI/AAAAAAAAAo0/yfhAgNKm-_s/s1600/Crank-Piston-Jim-Shaw.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="360" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-pvphMMPHq2M/Vl6oJoepRLI/AAAAAAAAAo0/yfhAgNKm-_s/s640/Crank-Piston-Jim-Shaw.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
<br />
I know what you're thinking, "There's no such thing as a free lunch! There is no such thing as the cloud, it's just someone else's computer..." But that's just it. Virtualization is exactly what the CAD industry needs. <br />
<br />
You see, Solidworks, just like every other big piece of software, is a jealous stampy elephant. "<i>That elephant cost me thousands of dollars</i>!" How right you are, Homer. This is a great clip, you'll know of my my plight immediately. "<i>And now I'll get my hands out with my face."</i> <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://i.ytimg.com/vi/xe5YWvvn4d4/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/xe5YWvvn4d4?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe></div>
<br />
Professional CAD software is capable of doing a great amount of work commanded by a skilled mahout, but be very cautious during musth season. For Solidworks, typically 90 minute long, 5 GB installs of byzantine configs and unknowable dependencies can make for a lot of headache during software upgrade season for those <i>experienced </i>with the process. Now imagine what happens when every Barney Fife in the engineering department takes a stab at the same software update on their own? *shudder*<br />
<br />
The problem is, Solidworks essentially forces everyone to upgrade at the same time, since new files aren't very backwards compatible with old versions. If your customer sends you a part file in 2016 format and you're still on 2014, you're faced with a nontrivial maintenance fee if you want to ever see your customer's files (thanks for <a href="http://www.practicalmachinist.com/vb/cad-cam/solidworks-changing-renew-policy-307402/" target="_blank">changing the policy</a> this year, D'assault!). With Onshape, you're always on the latest greatest version, no matter what. <br />
<br />
We all have our own <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/talesfromtechsupport" target="_blank">tech support horror stories</a>, so I won't bore you with mine other than it saddens me to consider how much of my life has been spent watching status bars slowly creep across a screen. <br />
<br />
My biggest complaint has been the physical size of the hardware. Yes, we've come a long way since the days of <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Programmed_Data_Processor" target="_blank">PDP-8</a>, I should be grateful for the 15 lb monster of a workstation laptop I dragged around. When nVidia mailed a <a href="http://www.nvidia.com/object/nvidia-grid.html" target="_blank">Grid Server</a> to my office a few years ago, I couldn't be more excited. "Wow, now I can do my CAD on a thin client!".<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wzuVf73USN8/Vl6bepv_PpI/AAAAAAAAAoU/pQhDWHlrbrY/s1600/1490718_10202853814525402_189570921_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-wzuVf73USN8/Vl6bepv_PpI/AAAAAAAAAoU/pQhDWHlrbrY/s320/1490718_10202853814525402_189570921_o.jpg" width="240" /></a></div>
<br />
I never got to use the damn thing, the project was canceled only a few months in. It would have made one helluva bitcoin miner.<br />
<br />
During my travels to San Francisco this past April, I made my pilgrimage to the infamous <a href="https://www.noisebridge.net/" target="_blank">Noisebridge Hackerspace</a> to teach a CNC machining class. Their machine is pretty much what <a href="http://blog.shop.23b.org/2014/04/helping-hackers-hack-better.html" target="_blank">got me started</a> down this crazy hacker journey a few years ago. <br />
<br />
While visiting, I was showing off Onshape to one of the local denizens. "Oh wow, it works on ChromeOS," he remarked. I didn't notice at first the Chrome terminal I was using for Onshape. That's when it all hit me. "Why in the world am I carrying around this Death Star laptop when all I need is a connection to the internet?"<br />
<br />
I totally understand that Computer Aided Design is number-intensive, requiring unobtanium graphics cards that are optimized for doublelong precision numbers so your designs remain accurate to half a wavelength of ultraviolet. I <i>don't </i> understand needing two hard drives in a laptop anymore, like my workstation came equipped with. When you think about it, though, most of the machine is pretty much unnecessary at this point in history, if you've got enough AWS space to throw at it.<br />
<br />
"But the cloud could go down", or, "I want all my data to be mine, private and nobody else's." Yes, that's one small price to pay for this awesome "freemium" tool. You're not Boeing, you don't need 100% uptime, iron-clad data control for your trinkets. If you do, Onshape offers services just for that. <br />
<br />
<i>"Back in my day, I had to scrimshaw custom ring tones in raw MIDI, and I was happy about it!"</i><br />
<br />
We simply don't live in those dark days anymore. <br />
<br />
After a few years as a professional Solidworks user, I find that Onshape meets most of my needs about 80% of the time with 80% the package (subjetive, i know). I also feel that at least 80% of the basic skillset between Solidworks and Onshape transpose, even some of the hot keys are the same (that's more objective). Here's an interesting fact, the founder of Onshape, <span class="hs_cos_wrapper hs_cos_wrapper_widget hs_cos_wrapper_type_rich_text" data-hs-cos-general-type="widget" data-hs-cos-type="rich_text" id="hs_cos_wrapper_board_members">JON HIRSCHTICK, is also the founder of Solidworks, which he funded with his earnings from his time on the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/MIT_Blackjack_Team" target="_blank">MIT blackjack team</a>.</span><br />
<br />
Don't get me wrong, Solidworks is a great program, there's a reason it's a de facto industry standard. What I'm saying is that maybe you don't need the ultradeluxe simulation package if all you need to do is make some trinkets for your mom on your Makerbot. The nice thing about using Onshape is that when you're ready for more, you can go straight to using Solidworks with a existing skillset.<br />
<br />
Working in the machine shop, my job is to make shapes defined by their size and dimensions. "I need a half inch thick gasket three inches around with four quarter inch bolt holes evenly spaced around the perimeter"<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WFxBcwIEpug/VmC2tYncHyI/AAAAAAAAAqY/GuxSyJJPKbs/s1600/likethis.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="531" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-WFxBcwIEpug/VmC2tYncHyI/AAAAAAAAAqY/GuxSyJJPKbs/s640/likethis.PNG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Here's your gasket, maybe you'd like to describe it more fully, there's some dangling dimensions</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
That's why I think the 3d printer is so nifty, it trivializes what used to be a long arduous process to make a complex shape. The 3d printer can easily produce shapes that traditional processes can't begin to touch. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wyZUYKBlYoU/Vl6qaTyPdxI/AAAAAAAAApA/jqLM4-Evh5Y/s1600/736806_10200535305444124_1310899727_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="380" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-wyZUYKBlYoU/Vl6qaTyPdxI/AAAAAAAAApA/jqLM4-Evh5Y/s640/736806_10200535305444124_1310899727_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br />
Powerful CAD is the <i>only </i>way to interact with 3D printers, unless you like scrimshawing megabytes of raw G code. <br />
<br />
If low level is your thing, there's always OpenSCAD. See that script on the left side, that's how you program in OpenSCAD. Not graphically, <i>in raw code</i>. No thanks. Nope.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v2DeoCgdOAw/Vl6r_1oDRMI/AAAAAAAAApM/KFPzi_qKSa4/s1600/screenshot.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-v2DeoCgdOAw/Vl6r_1oDRMI/AAAAAAAAApM/KFPzi_qKSa4/s640/screenshot.png" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
While writing this blog, I grabbed a random complex model from <a href="https://grabcad.com/" target="_blank">GrabCad</a>, in this case a 3D printer assembly, in a neutral file format, and imported the same file both into Solidworks and Onshape. Onshape cleverly integrates a file management system, with many models already uploaded and available for everyone to integrate in their designs. For this test, I used a file from another source, in a non-native format.<br />
<br />
In a dramatic show of mettle, I raced the two side by side, and even let Solidworks have a head start on rendering the file while the same one uploaded (200+ MB) to Onshape. This is the result. <br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yaOEPP8A-kM/Vl6zdpnUBmI/AAAAAAAAApo/LpvwWQ0P00Q/s1600/wow.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="292" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-yaOEPP8A-kM/Vl6zdpnUBmI/AAAAAAAAApo/LpvwWQ0P00Q/s640/wow.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
<br />
After 30 minutes of waiting, Solidworks still could not render the file. I'll be honest and say I'm not using an Solidworks-approved graphics card, but isn't that type of problem what we're trying to move away from? I'm pretty sure that Sketchup, TinkerCAD, etc., would also fall flat on their respective faces, assuming they can handle <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_10303-21" target="_blank">STEP files</a> at all. <br />
<br />
When Solidworks crashes, it can be catastrophic. Your data is lost, your setting are buggered, hours of work vaporized. At the very least, you probably have to restart the program, or reboot your computer.<br />
<br />
With Onshape, if EVERYTHING goes wrong, all you do is reload the browser window. After about 40 hours of solid use, I have yet to run Onshape so hard into a wall that it seemed unstable in any way. I'm sure if I tried hard enough, I could DDOS myself by dividing by zero in a variable somewhere, but truthfully it's an amazingly robust program. When you make an error that would cause Solidworks to puke buffer overflow all over itself, Onshape politely stutters, and simply refuses to render the last command (consistent architecture on the cloud is a bit more predictable?). <br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-51FiyMaNBjA/Vl9DHh1wgFI/AAAAAAAAAqE/ANUFlfNypWE/s1600/compare.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="270" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-51FiyMaNBjA/Vl9DHh1wgFI/AAAAAAAAAqE/ANUFlfNypWE/s640/compare.PNG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">These are using the same data, Onshape on the left, Solidworks on the right.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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Your 3D printer is useful for so much more than printing Yoda heads you downloaded from <a href="https://www.thingiverse.com/" target="_blank">Thingiverse</a>. Combine the printer with some baseline 3D CAD skills, and suddenly your lowly <a href="http://bukobot.com/" target="_blank">Bukobot</a> is a much more capable machine. If you have a little bit of motivation to learn modern, powerful CAD like Onshape, then your only limitation is your imagination and patience. Plus, you get a neat transposing skill set, having basic Solidworks skills without the Solidworks price tag.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QLxyDA573Xc/VmC8iUBttAI/AAAAAAAAAq0/xZn7YbhgpA8/s1600/evolution.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="344" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-QLxyDA573Xc/VmC8iUBttAI/AAAAAAAAAq0/xZn7YbhgpA8/s640/evolution.png" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">evolution of a combat robot</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
As with any piece of software, there's still a bit of a learning curve involved. Luckily, there's THOUSANDS of Solidworks users sprinkled throughout the world who can give cursory advice, lots of resources available online to learn the software, and we're starting to see Onshape classes being offered at hackerspaces around Southern California. It's mostly a matter of getting out there and using it. Everyone has stuff they want to 3D print, this is one more excuse to make the cool things you've always dreamed of. <br />
<br />
Have you ever struggled with needing a part of a specific size and shape, that doesn't exist anywhere in the world? Using your 3D printer, along with Onshape, can easily solve those problems which has haunted many nearly-finished projects that only needed a simple PCB standoff with offset holes. Onshape isn't perfect, nothing is (what IS perfect?), but it's a great way to get your feet wet with industrial-grade 3D modeling software without getting hosed.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6t9J74TxJYM/VmC6gEVu6VI/AAAAAAAAAqo/c-wnFBLPkDc/s1600/Wharrgarbl.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-6t9J74TxJYM/VmC6gEVu6VI/AAAAAAAAAqo/c-wnFBLPkDc/s1600/Wharrgarbl.jpg" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /></td></tr>
</tbody></table>
machinisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08904006748254468652noreply@blogger.com185tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-23762927861740854512015-08-30T12:36:00.000-07:002015-09-02T00:48:50.644-07:00n00b hacks harder<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gF_NaFwhrqQ/VeM8Lk2w1fI/AAAAAAAAAhE/MWNiZXVRbNg/s1600/Capture.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"></a>This is Tim:<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gF_NaFwhrqQ/VeM8Lk2w1fI/AAAAAAAAAhI/8CWlnAH8-eQ/s1600/Capture.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="318" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-gF_NaFwhrqQ/VeM8Lk2w1fI/AAAAAAAAAhI/8CWlnAH8-eQ/s320/Capture.PNG" width="320" /></a></div>
<br />
Tim's only <i>somewhat</i> a n00b. Tim is an electronics expert, and music hacker; so much so, he created a <a href="http://www.rhythmcorealpha.com/" target="_blank">synthesizer for the Nintendo DS</a>. Sometimes he just needs a little help with the hardware. <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-84Q_Fmuc3vM/VeNADEmMw_I/AAAAAAAAAiA/Yunrzaob908/s1600/rca.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="176" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-84Q_Fmuc3vM/VeNADEmMw_I/AAAAAAAAAiA/Yunrzaob908/s400/rca.PNG" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
Tim sometimes needs help with his hardware hacking game, to build
electronics enclosures and stage accessories for his performances. Tim
frequently visits 23b Shop, <a href="http://www.maglaboratory.org/" target="_blank">Mag Labs</a>, and <a href="http://032.la/" target="_blank">Null Space Labs</a> to do just that. Clearly a hackerspace connoisseur.<br />
<br />
<br />
Tim uses his product to perform live chiptune compositions, you may remember one such performance from <a href="http://www.sparklecon.org/" target="_blank">Sparklecon</a>.<br />
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://vimeo.com/85220180" target="_blank"><img alt="https://vimeo.com/85220180" border="0" height="265" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-M2xpmm2E13E/VeNBK6ShlXI/AAAAAAAAAiQ/7VZbwUqMOXc/s400/sparkle.PNG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
Here's a sample of some of Tim's trial-by-fire exploits. <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I5IWnk0K778/VeNCNC8o8fI/AAAAAAAAAiY/cWU9LQje304/s1600/snip6.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="353" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-I5IWnk0K778/VeNCNC8o8fI/AAAAAAAAAiY/cWU9LQje304/s400/snip6.PNG" width="400" /></a></div>
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<br />
Tim has even gone through the trouble to learn Solidworks to up his game. The process was non-trivial and sometimes painful, but it paid off with awesome looking results. <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cz2iYENbsGc/VeNJml71ROI/AAAAAAAAAj8/hvte6_YNMOk/s1600/ouch.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Cz2iYENbsGc/VeNJml71ROI/AAAAAAAAAj8/hvte6_YNMOk/s1600/ouch.PNG" /></a><a href="https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9xGffZ_E970/VeNE_9o_lSI/AAAAAAAAAi0/6ILELcrhRmo/s1600/boss.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-9xGffZ_E970/VeNE_9o_lSI/AAAAAAAAAi0/6ILELcrhRmo/s1600/boss.PNG" /></a></div>
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<br />
Recently, Tim asked for advice on how to hack is new things. "Maybe I can use the CNC mill to make the holes in this enclosure?" <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OY0Bbkm2vIE/VeNDb3X3zNI/AAAAAAAAAik/hmfsv0d_pk0/s1600/Twister-Back.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="435" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-OY0Bbkm2vIE/VeNDb3X3zNI/AAAAAAAAAik/hmfsv0d_pk0/s640/Twister-Back.PNG" width="640" /></a></div>
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The Bridge Troll scoffed, "You've only got a dozen holes! Carefully measure and lay out the panel, and drill away at home! You don't need us to do this child's job!"<br />
<br />
CNC milling can be a challenging option, and certainly not one for the inexperienced. CNC is a great option when you're making many copies of
the same thing, or if something needs to be quite precise. This is a
box with some holes for big knobs, it probably doesn't need to be
engineered to aircraft-grade standards. "Go drill that on your drill press, and stop bothering me," I think to myself. <br />
<br />
Turns out, the <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dunning%E2%80%93Kruger_effect" target="_blank">Dunning-Kruger</a> effect also works in reverse. "Their research also suggests that conversely, highly skilled individuals
may underestimate their relative competence, erroneously assuming that
tasks that are easy for them also are easy for others."<br />
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Oops.<br />
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<br />
"I started off taping the design to the box so that all of the holes
would be properly lined up. Then I used a punch to make sure every hole
had a proper center point." <i>Too bad we didn't think to mention a center point doesn't do much good without a subsequent center drill (before the real drill)</i><br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PJbyvC0SiuE/VeNHWAF6khI/AAAAAAAAAjU/hI75xGo1TNQ/s1600/20150819_222316.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="475" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-PJbyvC0SiuE/VeNHWAF6khI/AAAAAAAAAjU/hI75xGo1TNQ/s640/20150819_222316.jpg" width="640" /> </a></div>
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"Some of the holes could be made on the drill press, but because of the
side of the part and the bends in it, some of them had to be done
"freehand". That's what really gets me into trouble!" <i> NO, DON'T DO IT, TIM!!!</i> </div>
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gXOVMUSn9Hg/VeNHWPvjb4I/AAAAAAAAAjY/uU0UAY2IMZA/s1600/20150819_222532.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-gXOVMUSn9Hg/VeNHWPvjb4I/AAAAAAAAAjY/uU0UAY2IMZA/s640/20150819_222532.jpg" width="640" /> </a></div>
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"Even stuff I drilled with the drill press was not immune to wandering, somehow." </div>
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<br />
As I begin to sarcastically joke, "I remember <i>MY </i>first time drilling thin aluminum," it dawns on me that it wasn't so long ago that it was in fact my first time drilling holes in thin aluminum, and they looked every bit as gnawed and chewed by robotic zombie rodents. <br />
<br />
Unfortunately, the diagnosis for recovery on this part was not good. It's much more difficult to put metal back on than it is to take off, and the top half of this enclosure seemed beyond salvation. <br />
<br />
Undeterred by so much tilting at windmills, Tim came back to the shop last night with a flat, laser-cut panel of acrylic, determined to replace the now-scrapped curved top by bending a new one. <br />
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"Roh'kay Raggy" my inner Scooby-Doo taunts from just beneath my conscious level. Let me guide you, Tim. <br />
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We improvised a bending jig by comparing the scrapped top panel to some pieces of wood and bar stock we had laying around the shop.<br />
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Getting ready to bend, I ask Tim, "Do you have any pieces to practice on?"<br />
<br />
"No..."<br />
<br />
"Allow me to get you something to practice on first, before we scrap the one good part you have." Good lesson to learn right here, if you're going to make one single piece, you might as well make three, because you're going to scrap two in the process.<br />
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Turns out propane was a little too aggressive</div>
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<br />
Aaah, much better with the Harbor Freight heat gun. <br />
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Bend one went well.<br />
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<br />
Another one of those voices bubbled up from my subconscious once again. <br />
<br />
"Did you consider a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bending_%28metalworking%29#Bend_allowance" target="_blank">bend allowance</a>?"<br />
<br />
"What's a bend allowance?"<br />
<br />
*Sigh*<br />
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xe7YPqm2BuI/VeNVonpqMBI/AAAAAAAAAlQ/jefTqGzMIc8/s1600/bend.PNG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-Xe7YPqm2BuI/VeNVonpqMBI/AAAAAAAAAlQ/jefTqGzMIc8/s640/bend.PNG" width="504" /></a></div>
<br />
When you make a bend in material, a portion of the material on the outer edge of the bend is stretched around the bend, while the material on the inner edge is compressed. <br />
<br />
When this happens, the material deforms, stretches, and shrinks in predictable ways, based on the magical "K factor" of the material. Copypasta for clarity - <br />
<br />
<i>"K-factor</i> is a ratio of location of the neutral line to the
material thickness as defined by t/T where t = location of the neutral
line and T = material thickness. The K-Factor formulation does not take
the forming stresses into account but is simply a geometric calculation
of the location of the neutral line after the forces are applied and is
thus the roll-up of all the unknown (error) factors for a given setup.
The K-factor depends on many factors including the material, the type of
bending operation (coining, bottoming, air-bending, etc.) the tools,
etc. and is typically between 0.3 to 0.5."<br />
<br />
<br />
Fortunately for Tim, without knowing the K factor (or needing to know, for that matter), his bends were PERFECT. <br />
<br />
Unfortunately for Tim, he didn't account for the bend allowance, making his part a little bit short across the top. He made the executive decision to cut a slit down the top of the part, and will patch it later with another flat piece of acrylic bonded to the top. "It's not a bug, it's a feature!"<br />
<br />
Nice save, and a VAST improvement from his first attempt a week or so ago. <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gjNtls-d0Ts/VeNWquswOkI/AAAAAAAAAlY/ueVLgyna7z8/s1600/11947633_10153606504312042_7584104007238941918_n.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-gjNtls-d0Ts/VeNWquswOkI/AAAAAAAAAlY/ueVLgyna7z8/s1600/11947633_10153606504312042_7584104007238941918_n.jpg" /> </a></div>
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Well done, Tim. machinisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08904006748254468652noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-66286981822257024282015-05-12T12:56:00.002-07:002015-05-12T12:56:18.756-07:00Today's knotsI tied a few Turks Head knots for some knot tool handles today.<br />
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These were all tied on a plain old wooden mandrel without a diagram, pattern, or other visual aid, just following the rules of the knots to make them right.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xJQkcUPleMs/VVJZl-L1diI/AAAAAAAAIsM/dQ_idiabpho/s1600/20150512_122844.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="180" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-xJQkcUPleMs/VVJZl-L1diI/AAAAAAAAIsM/dQ_idiabpho/s320/20150512_122844.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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I used 2 or 3 tightening passes to dress the knots, which are tied with thin seine twine of both tarred and untarred nylon. Super durable, and it looks better with age and patina.<br />
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The pineapple knot on the right is 1 inch in diameter. I tied a black Turks head with 8 bights and 9 parts. Its pattern is Over 1, Under 1.<br />
Then I tied a white Turks head knot with 8 bights and 7 parts intermingled through that knot, with pattern Over 2 Under 2. <br />
<br />The thin black knot is a 13 bight Spanish ring knot raised from a 3P Turks head.<br />
It has an Over 2 Under 2 pattern.<br />
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The big white TH has 8B 7P, in an O2U2 pattern, and is doubled the easy way; I tied it with a doubled strand and was careful not to twist it, as opposed to using one strand and following the knot around twice, which is the more frequently used method of doubling a knot. Either way you do it, the finished product is practically the same, but with the easy way the tightening is quicker and better suited to production work. You can use multiple colors either way.<br />
<br />danozanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14338627080481051900noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-44297539412232727312015-02-27T12:54:00.000-08:002015-10-14T11:43:16.600-07:003D scanning, on the cheap<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l3fY_mPswq0/VPDEhxRZLhI/AAAAAAAAAeQ/ZDGMYDQwBzQ/s1600/1973251_10202461497751604_1369209369_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="326" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-l3fY_mPswq0/VPDEhxRZLhI/AAAAAAAAAeQ/ZDGMYDQwBzQ/s1600/1973251_10202461497751604_1369209369_o.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
I have this friend, Mr. Bot, he always has some cool magic trick up his sleeve. Sometimes, it's <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X7weoQRFmc0" target="_blank">sabering the tops off of wine bottles with a wine glass</a>. Sometimes, it's a mobile pool in the back of his Toyota truck. This time, it was a brand new Microsoft Kinect. <br />
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"What's that for?" I asked him. <br />
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"3D selfies" <br />
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<br />
My curiosity had been piqued. <br />
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<br />
After a half hour of downloading, installing, and fiddling around on the shop computer, the system was finally set up properly. Some troublesome googling yielded the correct Kinect SDK, and the black box Kinect was now ready to grok all the 3D information put in front of it. <br />
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Showing me how to use the system, Bot poked around at some scan settings, sat down in front of the sensor on a swiveling chair, and spun himself around slowly so Skanect could build a 3D model. This is accomplished by sampling many single sided depth maps and stitching the result together (which is why it's important to set preferences in the beginning, determining the depth of field to scan).<br />
<br />
Before configuring the system thoroughly, <a href="http://skanect.occipital.com/" target="_blank">Skanect</a> was able to sample at 3-5 frames per second, requiring us to swivel on the chair at about 1 RPM. This low sample rate is due to a few variables, primarily having a misconfigured graphics card. I'm using a nice PowerColor ATI card (thanks CharlieX), but it seems that Skanect prefers the Nvidia family of cards to take advantage of their <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CUDA" target="_blank">CUDA drivers</a>. My machine ran fine without the precisely specified card. I've heard of Skanect running on a real flame-throwing computer at nearly 30 FPS, allowing the system to record detailed depth information in nearly real-time, and also mapped in full color!<br />
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<a href="http://www.openni.ru/wp-content/uploads/ces-2013-flyer.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.openni.ru/wp-content/uploads/ces-2013-flyer.png" height="226" width="320" /></a></div>
Regardless of a little bit of lag, the Skanect software performed admirably. One challenge with 3D models (and the resulting STL file) is continuity of surfaces. Since STLs (and the raw data coming in from Skanect) consists soley of a very large point cloud, you can imagine that there's a few vertices which are malformed or unconnected. Unconnected vertices pose a problem for 3D slicing programs, when the program is tracing the perimeter of a slice and suddenly sees a small but disconnected vertex, the slicing program usually vomits all over itself and forces you to tweak your model ever so slightly, which is usually a big pain when you have a million-plus vertices to inspect. Not with Skanect, though. <br />
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Skanect has a few tools built into the software to prepare the model for printing. In addition to unconnected vertex problems on the model, the depth of the resulting surface is also an important consideration. 3D modeling programs are quite picky about whether your model is either a surface (with no volume), or a solid model (with volume). Depending on how you move around the scanner (you can also move the scanner around you) will determine whether the resulting model has a continuous surface, or it may miss some geometry at the top of your head, leaving you with a big gaping hole at the top of the model. The "hole in the head" jokes get tiresome quickly, so be prepared.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9AQtaeEEMas/VPDLkVqJXnI/AAAAAAAAAeg/OdZyzbO8cLo/s1600/hole.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-9AQtaeEEMas/VPDLkVqJXnI/AAAAAAAAAeg/OdZyzbO8cLo/s1600/hole.jpg" /></a></div>
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Here's those "disconnected vertices" that can cause hell for your slicing program. Luckily, Skanect contains some handy tools to solve those problems for you. There's a "Watertight" command available which auto-magically fills in any gaps on the model, eliminating some of those missing, floating, enigmatic vertices. <br />
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If you're using the demoware version of the software, you're limited to outputting models with 5000 faces. That may be enough resolution for you, and it also keeps the files down to a manageable size. Should you decide to spring for the paid version ($150) of the software, you can now save a much more complex model, sometimes surpassing a million vertices.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5IqbADLdCgU/VPDW8Bwc6ZI/AAAAAAAAAfU/qh3Sh1uGvZY/s1600/10661859_10205162282755665_4351672001267727094_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-5IqbADLdCgU/VPDW8Bwc6ZI/AAAAAAAAAfU/qh3Sh1uGvZY/s1600/10661859_10205162282755665_4351672001267727094_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">5000 polygons</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lID355IKtrA/VPDOyIpS_BI/AAAAAAAAAes/42-uOaAmdis/s1600/10847511_10206098255074388_5774881978576751578_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="640" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-lID355IKtrA/VPDOyIpS_BI/AAAAAAAAAes/42-uOaAmdis/s1600/10847511_10206098255074388_5774881978576751578_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">1 Million Polygons</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q-r8Yq7BVRE/VPDQap_A5VI/AAAAAAAAAe4/mDJy2v9WNLs/s1600/selfie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-q-r8Yq7BVRE/VPDQap_A5VI/AAAAAAAAAe4/mDJy2v9WNLs/s1600/selfie.jpg" width="300" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Striking resemblance, no?</td></tr>
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It's hard to see in the image, but the sensor was even able to detect the fuzzy texture of my sweater that day. The brown you see is undissolved support material (I was in a hurry to see this, and didn't wait around for the cleaning tank to finish). The above model was well over a million vertices, and the file ended up being about 100 MB. I never cease to be impressed with the fine rendering of organic curves by my <a href="http://www.stratasys.com/" target="_blank">Stratasys</a> <a href="http://blog.shop.23b.org/2013/03/3d-printer-introductions-shenanigans.html" target="_blank">3D printer</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3bbC_LfqMC0/VPDVS6CiXFI/AAAAAAAAAfI/b31-2kZX6kQ/s1600/cars_high_2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="248" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-3bbC_LfqMC0/VPDVS6CiXFI/AAAAAAAAAfI/b31-2kZX6kQ/s1600/cars_high_2.png" width="640" /></a></div>
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Depending on how much of a graphics oriented computer you're using, and how well developed the slicing software is, that can put an unruly load on your computer. Skanect also allows you to simplify the model to any number of target vertices you specify. There's definitely a fine balance to be struck between resolution and file size. One useful target is <25,000 faces, under which you can easily import the shapes into <a href="http://www.solidworks.com/" target="_blank">Solidworks</a>, for more powerful 3D manipulation. <br />
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<a href="http://www.blacksunengineering.com/pics/man1s.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://www.blacksunengineering.com/pics/man1s.jpg" /></a></div>
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For those of us on a budget, there's always <a href="http://meshlab.sourceforge.net/" target="_blank">MeshLab</a>. <br />
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An interesting command to know in MeshLab to change the face count of your model is "Quadratic Edge Collapse Decimation". This command allows you to simplify your mesh to a target number of faces. You lose some resolution in this process, but also may lose the unwieldiness of a humongous file. This allows you to reduce the resolution on a model to the point that you end up looking like Max Headroom, glitches and all.<br />
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MeshLab also has some limitations for opening unwieldy files, so keep that in mind when you initially export the model from Skanect. I've found it's easier to reduce the size of the file when initially processing the scan, rather than upon exporting the STL. <br />
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Come by the shop sometime for a 3D printed selfie. In the meantime, stay tuned to part 2 when we test the dimensional accuracy of the scanner against known references.<br />
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Bonus: if you're an LA / OC local, the Long Beach Public Library has a <a href="http://www.lbpl.org/studio/" target="_blank">free 3D printing studio</a> open during the week. I HIGHLY recommend that you swing by and check it out, that's where I made the green print above. The entire process from scan to print to walking out the door took about an hour. They also have a seat of Solidworks on a public computer there (!), as well as some other powerful photo and video editing software. It's a great way to get started with the scanning / printing process without spending a single dollar. machinisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08904006748254468652noreply@blogger.com13tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-42333054168882729052015-02-23T17:24:00.000-08:002015-02-25T13:48:59.799-08:00Angry Electric Pickle<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">
Years ago, my dad pulled off a memorable trick for a Halloween party.
He cut an extension cord in half and stripped the wires back a bit.
After connecting the hot and neutral wires to dinner forks ("What's he doing?" I thought), he set
up an electrically isolated jig to hold a pickle which is now impaled on
either end of said forks. Plugging the extension cord into the wall
gave us a 120 volt pickle-colored light show, something like this one. </div>
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<iframe allowfullscreen="" class="YOUTUBE-iframe-video" data-thumbnail-src="https://ytimg.googleusercontent.com/vi/q3RxAeXh4Aw/0.jpg" frameborder="0" height="266" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/q3RxAeXh4Aw?feature=player_embedded" width="320"></iframe><br />
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Okay, maybe our light show that evening was not quite that scale, but you get the idea. The yellow-green glow is actually the spectral emission of sodium, through a pickle filter. (Would this be called an <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/OLED" target="_blank">Organic Light-Emitting Diode</a>?) Think of the color of the Sodium lights we all know from streetlights.<br />
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<a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Na-D-sodium_D-lines-589nm.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0a/Na-D-sodium_D-lines-589nm.jpg" height="184" width="640" /> </a></div>
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One of the perks of hackerspace patronage is that you get access to things like bigger and better power supplies, and you can use those tools to facilitate thinking "out of the box". </div>
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There is a 15KV neon sign transformer sitting on the back bench, but after some consideration, I worried about the pickle <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bEPjg-Z_-Vk" target="_blank">lasing onto my bare retinas</a>, or emitting energetic x-rays if I used the wrong thoriated tungsten electrodes. I wondered if I was thinking in the wrong direction. <br />
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"Hey, that big TIG/Arc welder in the back is essentially a big low-voltage transformer that can handle a lot of abuse..." </div>
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A few months ago, me and Harald were trying to solve a problem. We had a hundred or so lengths of 3/4" mild steel bar that needed to have 90* bends in them. There were too many bars for the amount of acetylene that remained squirreled away in the tanks, so we had to consider a heat source other than oxyfuel. In his stereotypically overbuilt fashion, Harald remarked, "Maybe we could use carbon gouging rods" <br />
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<a href="http://victortechnologies.com/images/stories/News/gouging.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://victortechnologies.com/images/stories/News/gouging.jpg" height="400" width="266" /></a><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carbon" target="_blank">Carbon</a>'s melting point is roughly 6500F, it can surely handle the amount of heat from the torrent of electrons flowing through an arc. Using a single electrode attached to a welding stinger, you can generate a powerful enough stream of electrons and photons to cut through thick chunks of steel. Carbon electrodes are also used in electric arc furnaces, the heart of most modern foundries. Giant electrodes flow tens of thousands of amps to melt large cauldrons of steel and aluminum. Serious heat generating capability, for sure. </div>
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<a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LmkrfkKoSE8/VOvNKX5MNHI/AAAAAAAAAeA/ga1ZAnk3tlk/s1600/o-CARBON-ROD-NUS-facebook.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-LmkrfkKoSE8/VOvNKX5MNHI/AAAAAAAAAeA/ga1ZAnk3tlk/s1600/o-CARBON-ROD-NUS-facebook.jpg" height="304" width="320" /></a>So what happens, we thought, when we connect two of these electrodes
together? Better yet, who remembers the inanimate carbon rod that saved
Homer Simpson and all those astronauts many years ago? The inanimate
carbon rod was also given the "Worker of the Week Award" in recognition of his long overlooked
"tireless efforts" which the plant could not function without, earning a managerial position above Homer. Heh heh heh. </div>
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Have you ever seen a carbon arc lamp attached to a searchlight? That's
the type of brilliant photonic emission we're talking about. Pure
bright white light from a large electric arc between two carbon
electrodes. For a second, consider the vast amount of visible light
emitting from this beam. There's also a healthy amount of infrared
photons, which is far easier to detect when you're up close and
personal.</div>
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Harald and I put on our P.P.E. (safety third), connect the electrodes, flip the welder into AC mode, and strike an arc between the carbon rods. It took a moment to get the hang of scratch starting them together, and getting the arc gap set just right between my hands. Playing around with the gap and the orientation of the electrodes allowed us to controlthe shape and the brilliance of the arc. <br />
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We could only do this for about 30 seconds at a time before the residual oil on the backs of the welding gloves started to vaporize from the sheer intensity of infrared radiation of the arc. Even after wrapping our gloves in aluminum tape, the heat was still too intense to bear for more than a brief moment.<br />
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I'll never forget the neighbor's surprise. He saw our silhouettes outlined on the opposing building's wall and came over to find out WTF we were up to. "I was wondering what you guys were doing" he remarked with a chuckle.<br />
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Harald and I wound up cold-working the steel bars. Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world.</div>
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Problem solved, but now we have a bunch of useless carbon gouging rods. <br />
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Or are they....<br />
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The arc welder and accoutrements are rolled out into the parking lot, along with the beefiest extension cord known to man. A makeshift pickle jig is hastily cobbled together from a milk crate, duct tape, and pvc pipes. We get the pickle and electrodes assembled on the rig, excitedly twisting knobs and flipping switches on the welder to get the AC settings just right. After some fussing, gloriously brilliant results burst out as jets of plasma along the pickle's major axis. <br />
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Unlike the parlor trick from Halloween from many years ago, this monstrosity is a significantly different energy source for the pickle light, causing a distinct "dual mode" effect. ar the Halloween trick, at 120 volts coming out of the wall (15 amps at most), you're looking at 1800 watts of electric power. Max. With dinner forks, operating in low-energy mode, there's not so much of an electric arc as a dull glow reminiscent of a nightlight. When attached to the welder, pushing 48 volts at 200 amps max, that's nearly 10 kw of pickle-colored goodness running full blast.<br />
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Here's another vantage point, from a previous event...<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdba67KyR-s">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Qdba67KyR-s</a><br />
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(for some reason, blogger isn't letting me embed this video). Note in this one the jet of fire shooting out the sides of the pickle before it takes off with super-bright mode. <br />
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Here's Trent from MAG Lab running the pickle rig. Note the brilliant white light projected on a wall from the hole that the arc has burned through the pickle, directly emitting arc light. <br />
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A diagram of our electric pickle jig -<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3TZXn1ZBS-Q/VOvH_s49XWI/AAAAAAAAAdo/9NbcOnEiqxQ/s1600/PickleOLED.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-3TZXn1ZBS-Q/VOvH_s49XWI/AAAAAAAAAdo/9NbcOnEiqxQ/s1600/PickleOLED.jpg" height="414" width="640" /></a><br />
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The trick was in setting the arc gap <i>just </i>right. Sometimes, the pickle would only steam, without generating any light at all, this usually happened due to misaligned electrodes. Other times, it would only fizzle a little bit of light and give up; a dud. After some experimentation, we found the more coaxially aligned the electrodes were to one another, the better the results. It also helped to get the electrodes located correctly the first time, as subsequent stabs would turn the pickle's innards into mush. When set just right, for the first 30 seconds the pickle emitted a nice gentle sizzling glow. Once warmed up and excited, it would suddenly take off into arc lamp mode, and emit what must be at least a million times more photons. Once in this excited state, raising the amperage makes the pickle go into overdrive. </div>
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A gap between the electrodes of about 1/4" seemed to be optimal, but sometimes I'd have to tease the electrode ever so gently to scratch-start the arc. Use caution, as this is a deadly amount of energy should the arc cross certain parts of your body. Handling the pickle left me soaked in brine, which gave me a temporary but much-needed OCD hand washing complex. Also, don't adjust the electrodes with both hands while the machine is running, only use one hand at a time, that will prevent stray current from crossing your heart. <br />
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One mistake I should share, we initially made a pickle holder out of stainless steel, trying to get the weight off of the electrodes. After ignition, a stray arc made quick work of the holder, quickly slicing off a support arm. You can see remnants of it in the second video on this page. <br />
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The Angry Electric Pickle is a neat parlor trick, and was a definite draw for the <a href="http://www.sparklecon.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page" target="_blank">Sparklecon</a> crowd. Try it at your next party to win friends and influence people. If you don't electrocute yourself, let us know how it goes. If you DO electrocute yourself (and survive), let us know how it goes. Whatever you do, make sure that you have a buddy standing by with a <u>wooden</u> baseball bat to slug you to safety, should any electrical mishaps occur. <br />
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Happy scienceing!machinisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08904006748254468652noreply@blogger.com26tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-61453335431033537782015-01-01T12:30:00.001-08:002015-01-03T18:42:32.266-08:00Sparklecon 2.0: A group project for 200 Many of us have been to hacker conferences like <a href="http://www.defcon.org/" target="_blank">Defcon</a>, <a href="http://www.securitybsides.com/" target="_blank">B-Sides</a>, <a href="http://www.hope.net/" target="_blank">HOPE</a> or <a href="http://www.layerone.org/" target="_blank">LayerOne</a>.<br />
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Most of the time, these are held in a hotel and cost a lot of
money to put on. Especially if there is a conference giveaway, such as a
<a href="http://www.layerone.org/events/hardware-hacking-village/" target="_blank">printed circuit board badge</a>.<br />
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<a href="http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/23b_Shop" target="_blank"><br /></a>
<a href="http://hackerspaces.org/wiki/23b_Shop" target="_blank">Our hackerspace </a>decided to host <a href="http://www.sparklecon.org/" target="_blank">Sparklecon</a> again this year. This is a free, informal event for infosec and hacker topics. It's going to be held at <a href="http://shop.23b.org/" target="_blank">23b Shop</a> January 23-25th. Events will include talks, contests, and a hacker BBQ.<br />
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This time around, a <a href="https://www.miltonsecurity.com/" target="_blank">local security firm</a> was willing to sponsor us, and thought that in addition to the above, it would be fun to do a group project everyone could participate in.<br />
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Enter the Sparklecon badge. I wanted to create a build-it-yourself soldering kit that would teach basic SMT soldering and circuits, while costing as little as possible.<br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w6EZsEwy694/VKWme6i5UEI/AAAAAAAABH8/STeXACmC4FM/s1600/PC311435.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-w6EZsEwy694/VKWme6i5UEI/AAAAAAAABH8/STeXACmC4FM/s1600/PC311435.JPG" /></a></div>
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I started with an inventory of the surplus SMT parts we had lying around. Between a half-reel of 1206 LEDs I bought in Shenzhen for the <a href="http://www.accxproducts.com/wiki/index.php?title=Open_Access_4.0" target="_blank">Open Access 4.0</a> and several reels of SST2907 transistors, 0805 resistors and caps, I was pretty sure there was enough to build something cool.<br />
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Consulting the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Getting-Started-Electronics-Forrest-Mims/dp/0945053282" target="_blank">Forrest Mimms Green Book</a>, I found a nice alternating LED flasher circuit with only 10 parts needed. The only thing we didn't have was a power source. Fortunately, the sales rep at <a href="http://www.we-online.com/" target="_blank">Wurth Elektronik</a> was kind enough to ship us 100 samples of their VERY nice
CR2032 battery holder.<br />
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We worked with Mitch at <a href="http://hackvana.com/">Hackvana.com</a> for suggestions on how to keep the cost down. He recommended a PCB 50mm or less on a side and 1.0mm thickness.<br />
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After triple-checking things, I put in an order without having a working prototype. About 9 days later, a box showed up with 200 nice-looking PCBs. <br />
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Our friend Natalie was in town when they showed up and we asked her to try building one to gauge the difficulty.<br />
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Fortunately, I got everything right, and we ended up with 200 functional PCBs after a bit of debugging.<br />
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A happy hacker!<br />
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The total cost per kit is just over US$1.50 with the donated parts. It also has the advantage of no programming required.<br />
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The 'B Side' contains an assortment of 1206,0805,0603 and 0402 practice parts to hone your skills.<br />
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If you'd like to come, please check the <a href="http://www.sparklecon.org/wiki/index.php?title=Main_Page" target="_blank">Sparklecon Wiki </a>and consider speaking, sponsoring or helping. This should be a great free event, with a local SoCal flavor!<br />
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Full Eagle PCB files and info for hacking are <a href="http://www.sparklecon.org/wiki/index.php?title=Sparklecon_2.0_Badge">here.</a><br />
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Arclight <br />
<br />Arclighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15178083540578827617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-10652147761538377452014-12-29T00:31:00.000-08:002014-12-29T13:23:11.894-08:00Six things I've learned about 3D printing<span style="font-size: large;">1. 3D printing saves lots of time (even if printing seems slow)</span><br />
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In those dark days before 3D printing, when I needed a custom set of vise jaws for my milling machine, producing them was a non-trivial process. Either I needed to keep some blanks on the shelf, or I'd have to make them from scratch. To do so, I'd have to: Find some material, remove any setups already on the machine, indicate all the straight edges, square up the stock, accurately drill and counterbore the holes, and THEN I can finally worry about producing the functional shape of the jaws.<br />
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Today, it's only a little bit of effort with some CAD tools to model up the same set of vise jaws. The benefits of digital fabrication are manifold: not only do we have the exact shape in an easily duplicated digital format, but we can easily create iterations and derived models, small little tweaks, just as quickly (or all of them as a batch). You also know that the parts from the 3D printer will come out true, flat, straight, and dimensionally accurate. What's more, producing said shape no longer requires the devoted attention of an artisan - <u>anyone </u>can produce almost any complex shape, printing overnight and unattended. That frees up the machine shop (and the machinist) to do what they do best, instead of your best employees toiling away to produce these trivial, but troublesome shapes that we seem to need all the time. <br />
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Added benefit - when relying on digital designs, you never have to backstock parts, you can simply print them as needed, using a Just-In-Time or Kanban system. <br />
<span style="font-size: large;"><span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />2. Iteration is trivially easy</span><br />
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Using 3D printers in combination with your existing set of tools gives you a higher, augmented level of versatility to solve problems. I had to mate up a bolt pattern for a motor bracket, but didn't have a quick way to measure the spacing between holes. Using some clever CAD trickery, I was able to take a picture of the hole pattern and make an estimation of the size, so I could print out a gasket (rather than the whole part). The first iteration wasn't quite right, it needed some adjustment before printing out the final bracket. Also note the 3d printed shaft coupler with the square internal broachway, a very challenging shape to produce with otherwise limited tooling.<br />
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Utilizing the power of digital fabrication and modern, innovative tools, we can quickly go through several design changes, even over the weekend when most of the manufacturing staff has gone home. <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">3. It's an indispensable tool for (Reverse) Engineering</span><br />
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Not quite sure how big your widget needs to be? Use your printer to find out, before you go through the trouble of making part from metal. In this case, I had to guess what the size of the T slot nuts needed to be, and I used the 3d printer to double-check my dimensions. Everything mated up, except the wide part of the base, which was about .010" too tall, due to a troublesome measurement. After gently lapping the bottom of the nut, it was a perfect fit, which we then used to produce the nut from metal. Use lessons 1 and 2 to your advantage, while you're at it. Also notice the orientation of the part - that was crucial in regards to proper dimensioning. My FDM machine prints with an accuracy of +/- .002" along the X and Y axis, and perfectly accurate along the Z axis, although in .010" or .013" layer thicknesses. In other words, I had to consider printed part orientation for optimal printer resolution and tolerancing. <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">4. The 3D printer industry needs a "killer app"</span><br />
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How do we make 3D printers useful to everyone?<br />
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I know how these tools are useful to me, but manufacturing is kind of my bag. I have 3D CAD skills, machine shop skills, and a workshop that requires said skills from time to time. I can't begin to tell you how many times producing a little 3D printed trinket has turned a project completely around. It seems the problem lies in that intimate-enough knowledge of the extensive tool chain can be troublesome: between multiple pieces of software (CAD and Slicers), and multiple pieces of hardware (3D printer and a whole machine shop). Most of those tools and skills are simply not within reach of most people, especially as a stack. When I need a quick little doo-dad to hold a switch on a machine, no problem. Typically, most people using 3D printers are stuck printing Yoda heads downloaded from Thingiverse.<br />
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I always like to compare 3D printer technology to how computers must have been in the mid 70s. You either have these tremendous industrial boxes that only large businesses can afford, or you have these hobbyist toys built at home by geeks, programmed in Assembly language by flipping switches. However, the gap between the two is rapidly closing, blindly stampeding toward ubiquity. What was it that brought computers out of the nerd's garages and into the mainstream? I'd say it was the word processor. Once the average joe discovered that typing documents electronically was far superior to even the most sophisticated typewriter, there was no more denying the awesome power of the microchip. In the 30 years since then, computers are so ubiquitous that we're often relying on many different interconnected computers with many millions or billions of transistors, EACH, some of which live in our pocket, so disposable that soon smartphones will be appearing as the prize in our breakfast cereal. <br />
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It's difficult to predict how 3D printing technology will change our lives in the coming years and decades, but it almost goes without saying that this is only the beginning. 3D printing has been around for roughly 30 years now, and it took about that long for the microchip to become a mainstay in everyone's home. <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">5. 3D printed guns are NOT the "killer app"</span><br />
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In fact, they outright stink.<br />
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People have been engineering firearms for hundreds of years, and many competent people have lost life and limb in that pursuit. We've all seen enough Elmer Fudd cartoons to know what happens to malfunctioning firearms. Also a few things worthy of note:<br />
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3D printed firearms are generally a novel legal situation, lacking any real legal precedent. I'd hate to be the guy who goes through the wringer while the lawmakers use my case as a guinea pig to develop case law. <br />
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As far as the BATF is concerned, the distinction between a pistol / rifle barrel and a short-barreled shotgun (read: VERY BAD) is rifling, or lack thereof. Have you looked down your 3d printed barrel to see any discernible rifling? These machines are good, but not THAT good. <br />
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Do yourself a favor: save yourself the time, the trouble, and the plastic, and avoid this one. <br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">6. Let it go (figuratively speaking)</span><br />
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In the old days of making a part, I would have spent many hours of my dedicated focus and attention to producing a specific shape. What would stink is that after all that time, the part doesn't fit, or the new guy on first shift breaks it, or the designer changes it enough to warrant making a new one. We've all been there, and it's a very frustrating position to be in. All that effort, down the tubes. Kinda makes you want to scream, sometimes.<br />
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<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdIQDxP-rvk&feature=youtu.be" target="_blank">3d printer show and tell (and cry)</a></div>
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When you make parts on the 3d printer, and the new guy immediately drops it on the floor, don't get mad, don't take it personally. Take a deep breath, take a moment to consider your predicament, then calmly hit the start button on your printer one more time. <br />
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All you have to do at this point is wait for the next print to finish.
<!-- Blogger automated replacement: "https://images-blogger-opensocial.googleusercontent.com/gadgets/proxy?url=http%3A%2F%2F4.bp.blogspot.com%2F-iVpxqjcNPLQ%2FVKD7l4khYSI%2FAAAAAAAAAbw%2FbYzYcuuWbqo%2Fs1600%2FP4160084.JPG&container=blogger&gadget=a&rewriteMime=image%2F*" with "https://4.bp.blogspot.com/-iVpxqjcNPLQ/VKD7l4khYSI/AAAAAAAAAbw/bYzYcuuWbqo/s1600/P4160084.JPG" -->machinisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08904006748254468652noreply@blogger.com30tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-13965130627252733972014-12-04T13:49:00.001-08:002014-12-04T13:52:03.351-08:00Sparklecon 2.0 - Site is live and Call for PapersThe Sparklecon 2.0 site is now up and the call-for-papers and speakers is open.<br />
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<a href="http://www.sparklecon.org/">http://www.sparklecon.org</a></h2>
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<b>Where: </b>23b Shop, 418 E. Commonwealth #1, Fullerton CA 92832<br />
<b>When: </b>January 23-25th<br />
<b>What: </b>A 3-day security conference with a local flavor. There will be embedded electronics, physical security and the usual wireless, mobile and network stuff.<br />
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<b>How to sign up:</b><br />
If you are interested in speaking or volunteering, please e-mail us at: 23bshop @ 23b.org.<br />
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Twitter: #Sparklecon23b<br />
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Hope to see y'all there!<br />
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ArclightArclighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15178083540578827617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-64090958846130096722014-12-03T11:15:00.000-08:002014-12-03T11:15:43.278-08:00Sparklecon 2.0 - January 23-25thToday we are announcing a call for talks and papers for <a href="http://www.sparklecon.org/" target="_blank">Sparklecon 2.0</a>. This will be the second iteration of the successful "hit-and-run" format hacker conference we pulled off last year.<br />
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It will be running on a Friday-Monday schedule. There will be food and entertainment Friday and Saturday nights, contests and a full schedule of 10-minute lightning talks, alternating with 30-60 minute hands-on sessions and presentations.<br />
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We're also looking for entertainment on Saturday night. We will have a stage available and can work with you on getting set up.<br />
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Please e-mail 23bshop@23b.org if you are interested in presenting. There will be open slots reserved for walk-ups, but it would be great to get you on the schedule ASAP.<br />
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Also of note, <a href="https://www.miltonsecurity.com/" target="_blank">Milton Security</a> has generously offered a sponsorship to help offset the cost of this evenbt. Thanks Milton!<br />
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More to come...<br />
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ArclightArclighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15178083540578827617noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-2193270996038439572014-11-30T18:37:00.001-08:002014-12-08T14:39:52.647-08:003D printed lock picksDano was messing around the shop the other day, and came up with a really interesting concept. He took the end of a zip tie (the part that isn't serrated), and trimmed the profile to be the shape of a lock pick.<br />
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Sure enough, it worked, but not terribly well. I could only get a few uses out of it before the zip tie became too floppy. The shape is easy to make, yet difficult to reproduce exactly. <br />
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I encounter the same challenge when making metal picks. They're easy enough to form quickly by hand, but they're impossible to duplicate precisely. When the performance of the pick is so dependent on the exact shape of the pick, consistency is king. Also, the <a href="https://forum.defcon.org/archive/index.php/t-12922.html" target="_blank">TSA</a> sometimes has difficulty with metal picks in my luggage, perhaps plastic picks can solve that. <br />
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After a few days of simmering on those thoughts, something dawned on me. "Hey, those fancy 3d printers, I bet those could produce some awesome lock picks!"<br />
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Creating the shape was no problem, due to a quick Google search and a really neat, obscure Autotrace tool in [redacted modeling software]. <br />
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Although Autotrace wasn't flawless, the resulting sketch was easy enough to modify to get any sharp, unusual edges out of the model. After a quick extrusion and some geometry modification, here's the resulting 3D model<br />
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Dimensioning the part is critical, and ironically, my fancy Dimension 3D printer simply wasn't up to the task. <a href="http://www.southord.com/" target="_blank">Southord</a>'s picks are .023" thick, which is smack dab in between the layer thickness available for the Dimension printer (with layer thicknesses of .010 or .013 and dimensional accuracy of +/- .002", typically). Two little filaments of extruded plastic didn't seem like it would be enough for producing a pick of any significant structure, which is why I chose to make these parts on the Objet 30 Pro, with a .001" layer thickness and 600 DPI resolution (!) <br />
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My package arrived in the mail Saturday afternoon, and with a singleminded focus, I dove straight into the play locks. Within a few moments, the good ol' Defiant lock gave up the ghost, and my compounded excitement manifested in screaming "Got it!" at the top of my lungs.<br />
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Of course, these picks were far from perfect. Scaling was a bit of a problem, as only about half of the picks were appropriately sized to fit the locks on hand. One neat thing about designing these digitally, is that making scaled copies is a piece of cake. I also successfully broke two picks within 15 minutes, far from ideal. <br />
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This exercise may seem reminiscent of trying to kill a mosquito with a cannon. Why would I use such an expensive technology to produce a simple plastic shape? Consider this, once I have the precise digital shape tuned, and I'm able to produce perfect copies time after time, then perfect lock picks are nearly trivial (after a little research, of course)<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ihWqWgwG-ME/VHvN-MFqQnI/AAAAAAAAAZo/dTOOXMGNJ-g/s1600/PB050267.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ihWqWgwG-ME/VHvN-MFqQnI/AAAAAAAAAZo/dTOOXMGNJ-g/s1600/PB050267.JPG" height="300" width="400" /></a></div>
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The next step is to try a few iterations of these picks, perhaps including some new designs, to get a kit of a dozen or so nice picks of different sizes and shapes. Once we have that, then making an <a href="http://www.stratasys.com/solutions-applications/digital-manufacturing/injection-molding" target="_blank">injection mold</a> shouldn't be much more difficult. Then we should be able to produce many perfect copies at a trivial cost.<br />
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Stay tuned for part 2!machinisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08904006748254468652noreply@blogger.com67tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-44737009684482716102014-11-05T12:11:00.000-08:002014-11-05T12:15:03.468-08:00Singing CNC mill is fully operationalnow with limit switches! after years of passive work and weeks of rather intense hair-pulling, the machine is now bootstrapped into a functional state. <br />
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<a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-csX_unWrwWs/VFqDvU_LobI/AAAAAAAAAY4/AXSdVRp0E_M/s1600/mill.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-csX_unWrwWs/VFqDvU_LobI/AAAAAAAAAY4/AXSdVRp0E_M/s1600/mill.png" height="278" width="400" /></a></div>
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<a href="http://youtu.be/ZX0ewZqCctA" target="_blank">http://youtu.be/ZX0ewZqCctA</a><br />
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also, gauging interest for a CNC milling class. CNC class would NOT be for tourists. plan on spending two days on the Tree mill for foundational work, before. if you're interested, hit me up. machinisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08904006748254468652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-47953524639134479292014-10-24T08:51:00.001-07:002014-10-24T08:51:19.955-07:0023b and MAG Labs at the Inland Empire Mini Maker Faire<a href="http://www.qgits.org/innovate/23b-mag-lab-members-inland-empire-mini-maker-faire/">http://www.qgits.org/innovate/23b-mag-lab-members-inland-empire-mini-maker-faire/</a><br />
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Nice little video interview with Machinist, and Trent from MagLabs, along with a writeup on 23b Shop and MagLabs at the IE Mini Maker Faire.<br />
(Thanks to Matt for the coverage!)<br />
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Probably want to turn the audio down just a hair, it sounds like they were recording next to the Magical Steam-Powered Noisemaker and Tin Stamper Machine Hobbyists' tent, which I regret missing since it sounds like their Enraged Octopus 1000 tin sheet mangling machine was working overtime. <br />
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<br /><br />danozanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14338627080481051900noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-62970109282122419372014-10-03T12:51:00.000-07:002015-09-21T19:08:43.923-07:00Boo-boo in the machine shopFinding these surprises around the shop makes me sad. This was one of my most useful tools.<br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ApIA-xHT4Bw/VC78QHtLboI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/LgNZkIKR-uo/s1600/parting.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-ApIA-xHT4Bw/VC78QHtLboI/AAAAAAAAAYQ/LgNZkIKR-uo/s1600/parting.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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If you EVER need help with the machine shop, please don't hesitate to ask me. I am more than happy to help. It's easier for me to go out of my way and show you proper technique than to replace broken tools like this. <br />
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That's also why I keep the nice insert tooling in a special place. <br />
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In fact, I'll make you guys a deal. If you <u>ever</u> want to know anything about machine shop, I will be happy to teach you, personally, one on one, if you're willing to make a deal with me: teach me something in return. <br />
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I don't care if you only have underwater basket weaving to show me, i'd be happy to learn new things if I can teach you new things in exchange. <br />
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Here's an example of stellar worksmanship. Grace is cranking handles like a pro on our new Tree Mill. <br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LuuND2HU0k4/VgC3wH8TN1I/AAAAAAAAAl0/TV09LDYZAo4/s1600/10257911_10204241325012297_8642731263087788801_o.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-LuuND2HU0k4/VgC3wH8TN1I/AAAAAAAAAl0/TV09LDYZAo4/s640/10257911_10204241325012297_8642731263087788801_o.jpg" width="640" /></a></div>
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<br /><br />machinisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08904006748254468652noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-10075468907137269982014-09-03T11:32:00.002-07:002014-09-03T11:32:36.658-07:00STARE NOT INTO THE BARBECUE lest it stare back into you<div style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
Thanks Chosen1 for the excellent and very shiny </div>
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new propane grill you have given to 23b Shop.</div>
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The shop is well pleased with it, for behold! </div>
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it shines like a mighty obsidian wonder of grilling majesty.</div>
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Plus, it has a burner on the side for pan-like objects!</div>
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<a href="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-61FLKsUZExA/U_fIeseRWeI/AAAAAAAAB0Q/n7nYCxjKKtw/s1600/20140821_173427.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" target="_blank"> <img border="0" height="225" src="https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-61FLKsUZExA/U_fIeseRWeI/AAAAAAAAB0Q/n7nYCxjKKtw/s400/20140821_173427.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
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So, everyone please feel free to bring grillables to the
potluck,</div>
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to welcome the barbecue grill to its new place at the shop.</div>
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(Update: Grilled items succeeded well at feeding potluck visitors!)</div>
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Comments from shop list members follow:</div>
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Does it need souls to feed its searing obsidian stare?</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Yes, occasional offerings of propane are welcome. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>We are using a big 5 gallon tank; it costs about $20 to fill it up. </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>I think it can use little cans with an adapter as well, which we do not have.)</i></span></div>
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Oooo... Nice. Consider SYN Shop jealous of the grilling awesomeness. We may
<br />have to do something about that....like get our own grill.</div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>(Highly recommended. This will obviously increase the goodness of all foodish events, </i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>and will even create events where there were none before!)</i></span></div>
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<span style="font-size: x-small;"><i><br /></i></span></div>
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Chosen1: </div>
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I wept because you saw no BBQ message,</div>
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until I met a man who had not yet subscribed</div>
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to our 23b Shop mailing list. </div>
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http://tinyurl.com/23bmail/ shall set you free! </div>
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All you other people who also aren't on the mailing list, </div>
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and are reading this on the web, <u>what</u> are you waiting for? </div>
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Unsubscribe from a spam email or two, and get on our list. </div>
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You'll be glad you did it back in August, when the BBQ was the new hot thing.</div>
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danozanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14338627080481051900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-75398293716343014792014-04-27T04:10:00.000-07:002014-04-27T22:06:53.694-07:00Helping Hackers Hack BetterWork put me on a detour for first thing on Monday up in Sacramento. That means I got to spend a random weekend visiting <a href="https://noisebridge.net/wiki/Noisebridge" target="_blank">Noisebridge</a> in San Francisco. <br />
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The last time I was here (which was also the first time), I felt a familiar sense of awe, not unlike the first time I set foot at 23b. The vibe is indescribably unique, I like the way they hack, <a href="http://shitnoisebridgesays.tumblr.com/" target="_blank"><i>mostly</i></a>. The one thing that gets to me more than Hacker Stackers, or an overwhelming need for consensus, was that their machine shop was looking sad for lack of love and attention. I decided I should change that. Since this is a "Do-ocracy", I guess the job is left up to me.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NlpBZhNe144/U1zLeQJbJ0I/AAAAAAAAAWQ/qlrErVdsxX4/s1600/P3300002.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-NlpBZhNe144/U1zLeQJbJ0I/AAAAAAAAAWQ/qlrErVdsxX4/s1600/P3300002.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A pile of 3D printers in various states of entropy at Noisebridge<br />
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</tbody></table>
The CNC mill at Noisebridge is strikingly similar to the one we have at 23b. Both are the <a href="http://www.maxnc.net/" target="_blank">MaxNC </a>model. However, this one seems to retain the original closed-loop control, which keeps track of the position of the stepper motor's rotation. This is
to accommodate for step loss which could occur while heavily loading the
<a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spindle_%28tool%29" target="_blank">spindle</a>. Also, it seems like the hackers here have figured out how to
interface <a href="http://www.linuxcnc.org/" target="_blank">LinuxCNC</a> with the mill, sorting out the dreaded config file to twiddle the pins on a parallel port straight into the CNC control. An impressive feat, except, they didn't get it quite right.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tOtKsJET8x8/U1zL9XVe10I/AAAAAAAAAWY/jjivzU-ZUOU/s1600/P3310006.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-tOtKsJET8x8/U1zL9XVe10I/AAAAAAAAAWY/jjivzU-ZUOU/s1600/P3310006.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Noisebridge. See any disparity between backplot and actual cut?</td></tr>
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7mRUnMmU5kU/U1zMBjC-czI/AAAAAAAAAWg/t1uicsLADBI/s1600/P6230001.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7mRUnMmU5kU/U1zMBjC-czI/AAAAAAAAAWg/t1uicsLADBI/s1600/P6230001.JPG" height="480" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">23b </td></tr>
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<br />
Without knowing, I'd guess some VERY intelligent programmers figured out the interface between machine and computer. I couldn't reverse-engineer the pinout on the magic "black box" on my own, so I ended up tearing it off completely and replacing with a set of <a href="https://www.geckodrive.com/" target="_blank">Gecko Drives</a>. What Noisebridge missed was something very elementary to a machinist, but maybe not so much for a programmer - the X and Y axis were flipped.<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pk9G0CVQIls/U1zNRtMNHbI/AAAAAAAAAWs/c6CHWkE6DOQ/s1600/righthandruledisliked.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-Pk9G0CVQIls/U1zNRtMNHbI/AAAAAAAAAWs/c6CHWkE6DOQ/s1600/righthandruledisliked.jpg" height="400" width="352" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Hold your right hand out like this. Your fingers point toward the + direction in each axis. Z is usually parallel with the spindle</td></tr>
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<br />When I set up the machine, I expected the cutter to start nearest to the front left hand corner, which was set as my G54 origin. But, when the mill began by traveling to the opposite side of the workpiece, I panicked and hit the emergency stop button. "What the hell!?", I cuss as I try to sort out what's wrong. The code checked out and backplotted fine. Ah, I know, I've seen this before. The world is reversed! After a quick googling, flipping a signed digit in the config file made the control behave as expected. CNC machines are only trustworthy when they go where you tell them to. Otherwise, they may try to drill a hole in the table at 10,000 miles an hour. Okay, hyperbole a little bit, but CNCs are fantastically dumb machines. They'll happily destroy themselves, if you let them (or tell them to!)<br />
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Once all that axial confusion was straightened out, the machine happily repeated cuts for the rest of the day. Still, the machine was VERY slow. Since this is a tiny, bantamweight duty machine, we could never expect a whole lot in the way of high feed rates, but the 6 inches per minute that this machine was running at was excruciatingly slow. Not entirely sure of the upper limit of the speed on this machine, I seem to remember reading somewhere that these controls barfed when they were pushed beyond 20 IPM. Digging back in the config file, I found a MAX_VELOCITY variable that needed a tweak. Now set at 15 IPM (a <b>250%</b> increase) max travel rate, I doubt this machine could get into a whole lot of trouble before it had a chance to prevent CNC seppuku. <br />
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<br />
After a few confidence-inspiring test cuts, eventually the kinks got works out of the code and the machine. Gibs were tightened, syntax was changed, and ways lubed. The machine is now working more properly than it ever has .<br />
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<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Uk2Qioq1nRE/U1zRL-UiZmI/AAAAAAAAAW4/ooJ6OCTRrS8/s1600/noyse.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-Uk2Qioq1nRE/U1zRL-UiZmI/AAAAAAAAAW4/ooJ6OCTRrS8/s1600/noyse.JPG" height="634" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">traced in Solidworks, plotted in CAMWorks</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1gDa_fdTztY/U1zRX9fKe2I/AAAAAAAAAXA/CerGJUGD2tA/s1600/nyan.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-1gDa_fdTztY/U1zRX9fKe2I/AAAAAAAAAXA/CerGJUGD2tA/s1600/nyan.JPG" height="454" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">inspired by a sticker on a nearby laptop</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
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While this is all a bunch of fun (and also a big component of my day job), why would I spend my weekend at Noisebridge fussing around with an esoteric piece of equipment? It's because I live for <a href="http://lolhacking.blogspot.com/" target="_blank">the love of hacking</a>. For the adventure, for the skills, for the lulz. Also, after reading <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deschooling_Society" target="_blank">Ivan Illich's <u>Deschooling Society</u></a> recently, a point has stuck with me: <span style="font-size: large;">I feel compelled to contribute back to the society which created me. </span><br />
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Spending time at 23b and other spaces has given me a chance to shine among brilliant peers and mentors; I stand on the shoulders of giants and all the work they've done before me. Most of these hackers, for some reason, rarely dabble in the physical realm, or if they do, it's not to the level of sophistication required to get these finicky CNC machines running under optimal conditions (does that explain the pile of non-functioning 3d printers?). Not everyone has the technical background to get these disparate hardware, software, and artistic systems integrated well enough to do what is commanded of them, but once in a while, putting a few heads together yields impressive results. Two half wits make a whole wit. <br />
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<br />
You may think, "So what? G code is difficult to generate anyway!" Yes and no. While the method I was generating G code was from a fancy (read: expensive) software suite, it looks like LinuxCNC offers a few options to generate toolpath from a greyscale image, or from a DWG file, and a few other format types. While there's a little bit of nuance in the code that's missing from this whole exposition, the thought is generally this: the softer the material, the easier it is to machine. Wood machines fine under many sub-optimal conditions. If I didn't have the spindle speed set just right, or the feed incorrect, in many materials that would break tools and scrap parts. Here, all we wanted to do is make a silly engraving of Nyancat in wood. There's nothing technical or tightly toleranced here where we'd have to invoke the CNC gods to get the tools to perform crazy magic. Keep it simple, stupid.<br />
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While this little CNC isn't great for building your next AR lower receiver, it would be perfectly suited for milling circuit boards, or a custom license plate frame for grandma. These machines are essentially useless without proper instruction, which could be a challenge at Noisebridge. The high level required to operate the CNC keeps it more in the arcane knowledge realm. But, now that some of the hardware and software bugs have been worked out, the machine is a <i>little </i>more accessible. Baby Steps. <br />
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It's difficult to send a n00b to a CNC mill and say, "Okay, time to make good parts!". If G-code is unintelligible to you as a programming language, then you better get help from someone before you go running a CNC. It's not difficult at all to understand g code, especially for such a simple machine like the MaxNC. It's simply 3d connect the dots (think <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Logo_%28programming_language%29" target="_blank">LOGO</a>, from Mr. Wizard, remember???), with about a dozen extra commands operating the spindle and other things.<br />
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In fact, 3d printers speak a dialect of G code that's not much different from CNC mills. Perhaps the CNC mill was neglected for much of the same reasons that the 3d printers remain in disrepair - too many levels of nuanced information to synthesize in order to get the machine to cooperate using limited human resources. <br />
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<br />
What CAN be done, though, is for me to provide more thorough documentation of setup and operation of this milling machine with my newfound knowledge, which is in the process of being updated on the <a href="https://noisebridge.net/wiki/MaxNCMill" target="_blank">Noisebridge wiki page</a>. That might help a few people become self-sustaining. However, after a few successful machine shop classes at <a href="https://noisebridge.net/wiki/MaxNCMill" target="_blank">HeatSync Labs</a>, as well as a few sessions at 23b Shop, I think it's safe to say the way to get the shop to a lower state of entropy is to bootstrap the community into activity. Teach them just enough to be self-sufficient. There's a few things about machining that cannot be replaced by anything except for sheer experience, but with focused training, it would be interesting to see the way the Noisebridge community could come together and solve their own problems, figure things out in their own way. <br />
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<br />
<br />
That's a part of the hacker ethic, right? <br />
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<br />machinisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08904006748254468652noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-54990931685295194332014-04-16T14:58:00.001-07:002014-04-16T14:58:54.365-07:00Circuit Bending and Pot Luck!When: Saturday, April 19th, 5:00pm<br />
Where: 23b Shop, 418 E. Commonwealth, Unit 1, Fullerton CA 92832<br />
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What: Monthly Pot Luck. Bring something delicious to share. If you are lacking creativity, downtown Fullerton has a plethora of restaurants.<br />
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The theme this month is "Circuit Bending." Details are below.<br />
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Via Danozano:<br />
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Circuit bending is happening <span class="aBn" data-term="goog_1218813261" style="border-bottom-color: rgb(204, 204, 204); border-bottom-style: dashed; border-bottom-width: 1px; position: relative; top: -2px; z-index: 0;" tabindex="0"><span class="aQJ" style="position: relative; top: 2px; z-index: -1;">this Saturday</span></span> for sure, so go to the swap meet, or garage sale, or garage, or Filipino 98+ cents store, or dumpster, bring some electrical or electronic toys or objects that can stand to be improved, and we'll void some warranties.<br /><br />Reed Ghazala has a great site which is loaded with some basic ideas and theory about how some things work: <br /><a href="http://www.anti-theory.com/soundart/circuitbend/" style="color: #1155cc;" target="_blank">http://www.anti-theory.com/<wbr></wbr>soundart/circuitbend/</a></div>
<br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><span style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;">and here is his book:</span><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Circuit-Bending-Build-Alien-Instruments-ExtremeTech/dp/0764588877/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1397593266&sr=1-1&keywords=circuit+bending" style="background-color: white; color: #1155cc; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" target="_blank">http://www.amazon.com/Circuit-<wbr></wbr>Bending-Build-Alien-<wbr></wbr>Instruments-ExtremeTech/dp/<wbr></wbr>0764588877/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&<wbr></wbr>ie=UTF8&qid=1397593266&sr=1-1&<wbr></wbr>keywords=circuit+bending</a><br style="background-color: white; color: #222222; font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px;" /><br />
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There's a lot of info on the web about bending, but we can jump right in with no prior knowledge and do fun stuff, in many cases.<br /><br />It's hit or miss, we'll talk about that... we'll talk about how to make a circuit do interesting things, how to find new jobs for old gear, and I will have several very wise and sharp electronics people breathing moist vapors down my neck whilst I flout the very foundational rules of electronics and electrical engineering before your eyes!</div>
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We will also probably talk about making little battery-powered amps like that mint box thing, input and output caps, diodes, ckt protection, resistor code, and lots of core foundational electronics stuff, so you can feel good about that. This is probably not an accredited class suitable for transfer to higher learning institutes. but you'll still know more than they do.</div>
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<br />A few points:<br /></div>
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- If you want to make things that make noises, maybe start with some noisy things?</div>
<br />- We won't be modifying anything with wall power, we are working on devices with batteries only. So if someone brings a pack of AA or AAA batteries, that's a good plan to make friends.</div>
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- We have tools<br /><br />- We have components, (which we might maybe ask you to consider donating something if you want an expensive thing, or the last one), several soldering stations, and a variety of materials, but if you want something special please do bring it (and a spare if you have one to spare.)<br /></div>
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- Doll parts make great knobs for electronics, especially arms and heads, but don't let me fence you in here... go nuts, we have hot glue.</div>
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- Newer electronics, and those with very few internal components (like just a chip blob plus a couple resistors) may be very hard to bend. Old analog stuff is super easy to work with, but harder to find. Shop wisely and inexpensively with this in mind.</div>
Arclighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15178083540578827617noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-42231879244718845832014-03-10T11:27:00.001-07:002014-03-10T11:27:53.795-07:00Fix-it night: This Wednesday, 3/12/14 at 7:00pm<div>
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Where: 23b Shop, 418 E. Commonwealth #1, Fullerton CA 92832</div>
<br />When: Wednesday, 3/12/14 at 7:00pm</div>
<br />What:
Bring your broken TV, musical instrument, whatever. We will be helping
folks learn to troubleshoot common problems with consumer electronics
and learn how to use test equipment. We will also have the welding room
available if anyone has something needing more stone-age repairs.<br /><br /></div>
Hope to see y'all there!<br /></div>
ArclightArclighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15178083540578827617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-27792987358545990342014-01-23T14:51:00.003-08:002014-01-23T14:52:53.471-08:00Sparklecon - Update and scheduleHere is a quick update on this Saturday's Sparklecon festivities (Saturday, 1/25/2014)<br />
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<b>10:00am
- 12:00 </b>- General shop cleaning and setup. If you show up before noon,
we will hand you a mop or send you to the store or something.</div>
<b>12:00 noon</b> - Things officially get started.<br />
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<b>12:00-6:00pm </b>- Open Mic for talks and workshops<br />
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I'll
be doing a DIY tear-down and repair workshop where we try to fix a 50"
flat-panel TV. Feel free to bring other dead electronics if you are so
inclined.</div>
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We have some malware and defense talks also scheduled to
appear, and more hardware stuff as well. If you have a topic, we have a
projector and table space to present it.</div>
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<b>3:00pm</b> - I
will start the BBQ. A limited amount of burgers and veggie options will
be provided. Feel free to bring your favorite meat to throw on.</div>
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<b>6:00pm - 8:00pm</b> - The "Hacker's Cup" home-brew contest
is happening. Bring your favorite home-brew and try to win the cup.
Bring enough to share.</div>
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<b>8:00pm - LATE</b> - Entertainment featuring special Chip Tunes live performance. Bask in all that 8-bit, square-wave glory</div>
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Also, just announced: We'll be having a SOLDERING CONTEST
to raise money for Nullspace Labs. In case you haven't been to NSL,
they are our sister hacker space in downtown L.A. Their landlord just
told everyone in their building they have 30 days to move, so they need
to raise some funds. Shit is more difficult and expensive around L.A.
than it was 5 years ago, when grimy, run-down buildings in the hacker
district were plentiful and inexpensive.<br />
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Here is a link to their IndiGoGo campaign:<br />
<a href="http://www.indiegogo.com/projects/save-nullspace-labs" target="_blank">http://www.indiegogo.com/<wbr></wbr>projects/save-nullspace-labs</a><br />
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I'm
suggesting a minimum $10 donation to enter the soldering contest. We
will provide materials. Bring your favorite iron or solder if you like,
but not necessary. You can get in on this any time on Saturday, until
midnight. There will be a special prize for the WINNAH.<br />
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Finally, I want to emphasize that this is a free event.
If you can help out with plastic cups/plates, food, etc that would be
lovely but no requirements on y'all.<br />
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Arclighthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15178083540578827617noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-53096406701600891242014-01-22T08:05:00.001-08:002014-01-22T08:10:25.581-08:00SPARKLECON<br />
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<u><b><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">SPARKLECON</span></b></u></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">SAT 1/25/14 </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">NOON to LATE</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">at 23b SHOP </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">DRINK!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">LISTEN!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">EVENTS!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">BEER!</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"> MUSIC! </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><br /></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">THE EVENT YOU CANNOT AFFORD</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;">TO MISS</span><br />
<br />
<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;">sparklecon23b.wordpress.com</span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span class="event-description">Sparklecon
is sparkly! Come enjoy extra sparkles at all times.
Saturday 1/25/2014 </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span class="event-description"> </span></span></span><span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span class="event-description"> </span></span></span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span class="event-description">Sparkly mini-talks (signups on site), sparkly clown bike rodeo.
Sparkly killamajigs. Sparkly flash drive with sparkly rootkit.
Sparkly power outlet, sparkly pickle firejets.
Sparkly 3D printer, sparkly fistfighting, sparkly hamburger (kawaii!)
Sparkly jet engine, sparkly wild animal, sparkly cassette tape.
Sparkly too many exclamation marks! Sparkly beer brewing!!!1!!!
Sparkly non- orientable surfaces. (For rills.) Sparkly bronies.
Sparkly pdf files, with sparkly exploit payloads all in a row!
Put sparkles on a hobo, just don't get caught!
Shoot glitter in your eyes and ears with an air hose.
All at Sparklecon! </span></span></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "Courier New",Courier,monospace;"><span style="font-size: xx-small;"><span class="event-description">TL;DR:
Sparklecon is a one day party at 23bshop in Fullerton, California.
Show up after noon, not before, unless you like to scrub and clean and
set up.
We will have beer (and a brewing contest), a few talks, and whatever
funny mischief you bring. It’s free to come listen to talks, and we are
asking for donations if you choose to drink.
So gird your loins and mark your calendars for Saturday, January 25th,
2014.</span> </span></span></div>
</div>
danozanohttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14338627080481051900noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3376330259210638383.post-25183148881534111042013-12-16T13:07:00.001-08:002013-12-16T13:07:32.672-08:00Adding fasteners to 3D printed parts<br />
Working in the machine shop the other day, curiosity got the better of me. I was thinking about how to add fasteners to my printed part, but with a minimal amount of work. Fasteners can be <a href="http://blog.stratasys.com/2012/03/12/incorporating-screw-threads-into-fused-deposition-modeling-parts/" target="_blank">drilled and tapped, Helicoil-ed, or ultrasonically welded</a> into ABS parts. If the thread is large enough, it can even be modeled on the part directly, but what about smaller fasteners? <br />
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<a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IsVzYEp3DW8/Uq9VL61hlqI/AAAAAAAAATg/SIsWnUvO7oM/s1600/PC100358.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="480" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-IsVzYEp3DW8/Uq9VL61hlqI/AAAAAAAAATg/SIsWnUvO7oM/s640/PC100358.JPG" width="640" /></a></div>
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Typically, to create a threaded hole on a 3D printed part, we'd need to add a few operations with the mill or the drill press. First, the part and the hole position would need to be located precisely, straight and true (“tramming and indicating”). Second, three tools need to be used – a center drill for the pilot hole, a tap drill of a specific size, and finally a tap. All these tools need to be used in the exact same location in order to generate an accurate screw thread profile. This is standard operating procedure in the machine shop. However, you're probably using a 3D printer to avoid the machine shop in the first place. You can save a few steps by inserting the tap drill size directly into the 3D print, with impressive results.<br />
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<a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wPGO45OVamg/Uq9WsLOa3HI/AAAAAAAAATs/nV44A-JWAmM/s1600/tap.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="271" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-wPGO45OVamg/Uq9WsLOa3HI/AAAAAAAAATs/nV44A-JWAmM/s400/tap.png" width="400" /></a></div>
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By printing parts with the tap holes already modeled in, we can save several steps in the process, eliminate the need of using a separate machine and several extra operations. We can hand-tap the precisely located holes. <br />
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After tapping, the 4-40 thread felt a little loose, indicating an oversize minor diameter. To remedy that, the tap hole can be made slightly undersize. The slop wasn't so dramatic of a concern on the larger threads (the largest here being 1/2-13). Loose fit wasn't a problem at all with the two tapered threads, 1/8-27 NPT and 1/4-18 NPT. <br />
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By printing the tap holes directly into the part, we avoid several steps typically needed to insert threads into 3d printed parts, only needing threading. All of these threads were created with a hand tap, and as long as the tap goes in relatively straight, it produces quality threads without all the usual effort.<br />
<br /><br /><span style="font-size: x-large;">BONUS ROUND </span>- captive nuts<br />
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Don't have any taps handy? Well, if your printer can handle the geometry, I suggest using a "captive nut" like so. <br />
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<br />Measure the size of your fastener, and add a little bit of tolerance to the hole size to accommodate any dimensional error (in this case, I added .005" to the size of this nut, which I believe is #8-32). This allows the nut to slip in and out of the recess, but without any extra slop. You may also want to consider a small interference fit, to make sure that the nut stays put when there's no bolt attached. Be sure to add clearance in the through-hole, as well. Also note the boss surrounding the nut - this is to add strength to the part. For more information on fitment and tolerancing, I HIGHLY suggest you pick up a copy of <a href="http://new.industrialpress.com/machineryhandbook" target="_blank">Machinery's Handbook</a>. <br /><br />If modeled correctly, using a calibrated printer, your results will be impressive. <br />
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<br /><br /><br /><br /><br />machinisthttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08904006748254468652noreply@blogger.com42