Listening to: Imitation Of Christ - The Psychedelic Furs

The PC has been placed beside the iMac… while the RDC was ok it was basically useless for doing dev work… key combos used to drive intellisense were causing a world of pain. My Solidworks work was also getting hard as screen refreshing over Wifi through 2 walls wasn’t all the crash hot. I got angry and decided I needed to sort the issue out.

On the plus side I have implemented Synergy which works a TREAT (especially when combined with the MacOSX GUI)… it even works with the Mighty Mouse!

The Big Box of Ugly

Listening to:  Revival (Understate) - Pacific Heights

After weeks of very little of progress on Dave5 work I have had a stella 24 hours. I have managed to find, or I have been provided with, a whole bunch of pieces to various puzzles. Yesterday I found Roarockit which make a product that will allow me to move my skateboards forward. Today I got sent a file generated from some 3D scanning I had done a few weeks ago. I am able to manipulate it in EXACTLY the manner that I had wanted (except for the fact that I need to use Rhino3D and not Solidworks… which is a great excuse to learn how to use yet another tool (but sad, as I do love Solidworks)).

Listening to: not too sure… this was computer generated.

Wheel…Software to Objects

A while ago I mentioned that I had been working with 3D Printing. Because I have decided not to go ahead with the idea I thought I would show off my work.

In the upper half of the picture is the design in Solidworks. I emailed that file off to an outfit in Petone and they sent back the objects in the lower half of the picture (yes the things stacked on the drug boxes). The print outs are an exact replica of the design produced in Solidworks. This version of the print out is done in a resin coated plaster, but you can now get the objects printed in plastic.

As you can see below the printing resolves detail quite well… the hub on the right has 1 mm features.

Listening to: Sweet Division - Del Rey System

One of the concepts I wanted to explore with my Dave5 work was the process of developing ideas using CAD and CAM systems. This approach means that I haven’t spent too much time in the lab over the past few weeks. I have spent a good deal of time in front of Solidworks and Freehand. I have spent the last few days prepping designs for components so that I can send them to suppliers. Suppliers include providers of CNC services, laser cutters and embroiderers.

The other thing I wanted to do with Dave5 was to get a No.1 spot in a Google search… both from an ego point of view and as a way of understanding how to do it. I have achieved that goal.

Listening to: Get Right - Pearl Jam

This weekend was another weekend out of the lab and in front of the computer. I am at the stage where I need to get a number of things machined out of steel or aluminium and so I need to come up with designs. I am still in awe of how good a product SolidWorks is. This is software without pain…just inspiring. I have managed to design most of the objects in such a way that I can create design variations without too much hassle. While I don’t have an official timeline I think I am on track for having something to show off in mid Feb.

Listening to: Phobos (Minuit “There’s Sunshine-In-Them-There-Riffs” Remix) - Rhian Sheehan

Other than giving an impromptue tour I spent no time in the lab this weekend. Rather I put my 6 weeks of polytech training to use. I spent most Saturdays of October and November at Weltec brushing up on my Solidworks skills. I picked up Solidworks when I went to stay with my parents in August. So Sunday was a day of designing. The exciting thing is that once I finished I sent the designs
off to the 3D printer to get the models produced. Should have a set of objects in my hands in the early new year.

Think about that for a sec… I sat at my computer, designed up some objects and then emailed them to a company to have them printed out as 3D objects… Welcome to Star Trek my lovelies.

UPDATE: Looks like i might have the end results in my hands by the end of the week!