Update May Week 4

Well well well, here we are again.

This time we started by going through the 3D drawings for the X & Y carriages that needed machining out of aluminium. DanW was kindly on the case with this, so with any luck we might be able to have our 3D printer completely constructed by next week.

I also adding this printer back on our network, it’s on 192.168.1.10 or 192.168.1.18 (I’ll have to double check). It’s a Dell Laser 5100 Colour Network Printer. So we used this to print off the carriage models for DanW.

You can use it too.

DanW also very kindly supplied us with some shortbread which he brought down, which were excellent. But then I’ve yet to find a bad shortbread so I’m probably a bit bias.

It goes without saying they went down very well, especially with a new brew (Thanks Si!).

Here’s the current MakerBot setup. As you can see we’ve got ReplicatorG installed on the Linux based laptop and updated the Sailfish firmware on the 3D printer motherboard. Not far off now, I think we’re just having problems with it moving 10mm rather than 1mm. Bugs in the software.

Here’s our new champion who came down with his bluetooth controlled robot. I believe there was some kind of bug, but with a bit of group help I believe the issue was narrowed down, so hopefully we’ll see it in action next time. Perhaps we can have races with the Roomba!

I was determined this time to get the “potbot” broadcasting script I’d written up and running on our CentOS server. Once I’d downloaded the potbot git repo from bitbucket and installed the Python dependencies we were pretty much all up and running. The next step is to monitor the network for my phone and then broadcast then.

Everyone’s getting stuck in as normal. It’s good to see people getting stuff done. Look at the concentration on everyone’s face. Doesn’t it just make you want to get stuck in?

Maybe I should stop taking so many photos… Naaa.

Here’s the makerbot plugged in and moving, but still having problems with distances.

I’ll be sure to have another look at it, I’m hoping it’s something simple that may have been overlooked.

Fingers crossed!

Ah, this is the circuit board that Si was getting stuck in with. I had no idea what he was doing, but apparently he was looking for a particular component to get the bluetooth working on the robot. I’m glad Si knows what he’s doing. At first glance I had written it off as a software problem.

I love it when a plan comes together.

Charlotte very kindly put this donations pot together on the brew table.

Although we do ask for donations on a monthly basis, we also appreciate any loose change you may have.

This all looks very technical…

Check out the hardware, a multimeter and an oscilloscope. Apparently it wasn’t a software problem…

I’m expecting this thing to be moving next time!

Hopefully…

Well, I did stop taking photos and by the end of the night I’d setup the RaspberryPi, installed rasbian OS  and connected this touch screen monitor to a RaspberryPi.

All that remains now is to install Printrun and we’re ready to print to the RAMPS directly from the RaspberryPi using a touch screen interface.

This 7″ TFT Wide Screen LCD Colour Monitor (Pixelon SP-7 VGA/TouchScreen) that was originally planned for a car PC in it’s hay day is now primed for printing a 3D model directly to our 3D printer. Perfect.

A bit like our roomba project, this thing won’t yet operate without cables, but hopefully next time it’ll be all change and we’ll have a video to show what it does.

Excellent!

Although, I’m still not sure what the ultimate goal is…

What’s this? Technical diagrams? Proof that we do actually do some clever stuff now and again…

Anyway, don’t be shy, come down and check us out, see the action for yourself or get involved.

Until next time, enjoy.

Equipment Drive

Hi all,

We’ve got a good bunch of people, a large (but often cold) space and a few projects in mind.

We need your equipment!

What we’re lacking is the right tools and the right equipment to actually get things done.

Some of the guys have started putting together an Equipment Wishlist spreadsheet of stuff we need to get, which looks a little like this:

Equipment

• 3D Printer
• Laser Cutter
• CNC Machine
• Vacuum Former
• Woodworking Lathe
• Metalworking Lathe
• Soldering Stations
• Pillar Drill
• Bandsaw
• Scroll saw
• Chopsaw
• Belt/Disc Sander
• Oscilloscope
• Multimeters
• Bench Power Supply

Tools

• Screwdrivers
• Screwdriver Bits
• Clippers
• Tweezers
• Goggles
• Gloves
• Craft Knives
• Antistatic
• Soldering Iron Holder
• Lighting
• Files
• Drill bits
• Tarpaulin
• Storage Boxes

Consumables

• Solder 
• Desoldering braid
• Flux Paste/liquid
• Tape
• Isoproponol Alcohol
• Soldering Sponges
• Wirewool Solder cleaner
• Tip Cleaner
• Glue
• Paper
• Pens
• Screws/Rawlplugs/Nails

If you have or can acquire any of this stuff or know someone who can, we’d be eternally grateful!

We hope that by sharing what you have it will open up access to other tools you may need for your projects all under one roof.

Please let us know by either adding a comment to the post or contact the group.

Update

Hi Guys,

Just a quick update after our weekly open night.

We’ve got the steel rods now for the 3D printer, so we’ll be cutting them up next week. Must remember to bring down the angle grinder. We’ll just need the hot end and the “extruder” next.

We had a few more people than normal so thanks to everyone who turned up and turned it from a night with no agenda into a real good refresh as to why we’re doing this. I think we all agreed that it’s an excellent resource. We hope that we only keep growing!

Thanks to DanW (@circitfied) for his excellent idea of putting up a “skills board”, putting up our names, skills and goals, which also turned out a great way to introduce ourselves to each other.

There’s still lots to do at the hackspace to make it great and sometimes it can be difficult because of other commitments, however, slowly but surely we’re making progress.

Although the “social area” is warm, a job for next week will be to get the gas heater back in action so we can heat the workshop again.

That aside we’ve now got internet access, working computers, tea and coffee making facilities, lots of workshop and storage space, toilets, plenty of hardware to hack and a real good group of really great people. And this is only the start.

Thanks again for everyone who came down, hope to see you all next week!

Open Tonight

We have open meetings every Tuesday from 7PM.

You’ll find us in the old valeting bay of the former Randles car dealership in Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire.

Whether you’ve got a project you want to stuck in with, or even if you haven’t, anyone is welcome to come down and have a brew.

It’s free to come along, there’s no obligation to donate but it is encouraged (usually £3).

Visit the Potteries Hackspace website for more information.

See you there!