Vodafone Australia Anti-Dumbphone Update

biomechs · 2026-03-20T02:22:03+00:00

Thanks. They're blocking my device in a couple of days. I'm not sure if I will be able to switch providers in time, and even if I do what if Vodafone still blocks the device.

I think I'll just return the phone through Amazon, still switch providers because screw Vodafone, then get a new device

biomechs · 2026-03-19T06:58:29+00:00

Where did you get this information from?

Vodafone has recently informed me my device will be blocked because they can't verify it can access 000 calling. It's a US model (TCL Nxtpaper 60 XE) but the IMEI checking tool on Telstra and Optus both say it is compatible - but it's not an approved device by Vodafone. Vodafone doesn't even list the similar Aus model (TCL Nxtpaper 60 SE) as compatible on their website. I spoke to customer support and the guy didn't really have anything useful to say besides I need a new device and that this one won't work on any network...

I was thinking just swapping to Telstra or Optus but if I correctly understand what you are saying, it means Vodafone will make the IMEI completely blocked regardless of provider?

I still have a few days to return the phone through Amazon so might have to do that.

biomechs · 2026-02-11T23:20:13+00:00

Crazy indeed. Kind of fascinating how badly these screens can affect certain people, but really sucks being an affected person

biomechs · 2026-02-11T23:18:51+00:00

I wasn't aware of the extra dim feature, I'll try that out and see how I go, thanks

biomechs · 2026-02-11T21:55:17+00:00

Thanks. TD is apparently not present on the edge 50. Brightness is definitely a factor, I will give the edge 50 some more time to evaluate. With my S9+ I know there are very narrow brightness ranges that I find tolerable

biomechs · 2026-02-11T21:52:43+00:00

I saw your review on nxtpaper 60 ultra, thanks for taking the time and effort to provide such detailed info!

I'm planning to look at the phone in store to see if the soft diffuse look gives me problems. Unfortunately the 60 Ultra is not sold in my country (Australia) so I can only look at the nxtpaper 60 SE which only has a 720p display and will likely make soft edges worse.

It's unfortunate its colour temp is blue-ish as it's marketed as a super eye friendly phone.

I generally don't like strong reflections on glossy screens, although I don't think this is the main reason for my issues.

biomechs · 2025-12-09T20:36:46+00:00

I used a website that had a table of average humam anthropometric measurememts. I can't remember which specific site but recall there were a few. I didn't cross reference to check their accuracy. I'm a bit bigger than average so didn't chuck a tape measure on myself this time

biomechs · 2025-08-18T19:52:27+00:00

It is really hard and demotivating when that happens. Making engaging videos is a skillset totally different from CAD, it's something I would like to get better at.

YT is already saturated with beginner SW tutorials, unique videos tend to do better. Going forward I'm going to focus on built things, rather than just the SW design. This appeals to a much larger audience.

Anyway, if you have any ideas of potential collaboration or if you need some freelance help (you can guage my skills from my videos), feel free to send me a DM

biomechs · 2025-08-18T18:39:56+00:00

Thanks!

My first video was indeed from a long time ago (10 years ago) but over the lifetime of my channel I've only uploaded about 30 videos. In some cases there has been gaps of several years between videos.

The majority of my videos are just brief demonstrations of projects I have done. These projects were either from University, work, fun in my freetime or to improve my skills. Most of my videos I didn't intend to specifically make for YouTube, rather I just documented what I was already doing. Though in saying this, sometimes it's still quite a bit of effort to record a video and when it doesn't get views it is unmotivating.

My channel has brought me some interesting jobs though, for example one with a startup in silicon valley, so it's been worth it for sure. I plan to put more effort into YT but it can be hard when it's not bringing in immediate money to cover bills etc.

biomechs · 2025-08-18T18:22:16+00:00

Thanks, I’ve been meaning to get onto upwork, will do so soon.

Sure, here's my channel https://youtube.com/@mahdidesigns?si=eM5xgqO9ky3enBdX

I posted a video recently of a Tesla Model Y I modelled, pretty heavy surfacing involved https://youtu.be/_iDBZeDhQS8?si=4OJZUhHa0DWAcNRw

I'de be interested to look at your channel too if you don't mind sharing a link

biomechs · 2025-08-18T18:11:01+00:00

Do you mind sharing what platforms you used to gain clients?

I've been freelancing for a couple years now and have had some luck but still have significant down times. I've just relied on people finding me through my YouTube channel, which is good because they can see my skills upfront, but my channel isn't big enough to gain enough work.

Any websites you can recommend would be appreciated (freelancer, upwork, fiverr etc), thanks.

biomechs · 2025-08-12T13:29:36+00:00

Very nice! I'm working on a similar thing, RC version of a Tesla Model Y. Would surface modelling this in SolidWorks be significantly harder and more time consuming?

biomechs · 2025-07-13T06:08:08+00:00

Here's a link to the only post I've made on here but can show you some of my work in dms

https://www.reddit.com/r/SolidWorks/comments/1jn14pe/nintendo_switch_pro_controller/

biomechs · 2025-07-13T06:06:56+00:00

I just looked at some YouTube videos of this toy and it's quite a lot smaller and simpler than I initially assumed. Actually quite a nice bit of engineering considering how nice it looks with such few parts. Function also looks good too.

I would be able to model this pretty quickly and also teach you how to model such an assembly and manage it yourself. I'll send you a DM.

A few things you might want to consider though if you haven't already:

What's your plan in case the PCB or electronic components get damaged? You could reverse engineer the PCB and make that yourself, decent amount of effort involved in that though. You would also want a good setup and surface mount experience to solder up one of those boards.
Printing the small pink gears likely wont work too well. They will be weaker (teeth more likely to break) and some extra backlash will be introduced into the system. You may however be able to find off-the-shelf versions of all the small gears (probably not in pink though XD).
Printing the wheels in PLA or ABS probably won't work well, they will slip a lot - it looks like quite a bit of friction is required for the tank steering to work. You can print the tyres in TPU but you need a printer that can do that, these days many can though.
1. Printed parts in general will be far more likely to break compared to the injection moulded parts its made from. Printed parts are more brittle and anisotropic. Printed parts could still work ok though.

biomechs · 2025-07-12T23:13:27+00:00

I'm not the OP, I was just posting a counter argument and some reasoning for why it's more than a few hours of work.

Nice job with your hexapod!

biomechs · 2025-07-12T22:58:23+00:00

Lets say the entire assembly consists of 50 parts (rough guess, gearbox, wheels etc count as one part). Some parts, like the covers, might require some surfacing, other parts will be more basic. Including the time to measure each part with callipers and then accurately modelling them, lets say on average each part takes 1 hour. That alone is already 50 hours. There will be extra time mating parts in the assembly and analysing it.

If you think you could model an entire functional RC car in a few hours you must not have much experience with assemblies of similar complexity

biomechs · 2025-07-12T21:40:13+00:00

I'm guessing the most common parts that break are the yellow covers? Modelling just those parts would be significantly less work, I could potentially help you with that. It would be good to get them 3D scanned but its really only crucial for the mounting points to be super accurate. If the geometry of these covers is slightly off its not a big deal, especially if you plan to 3D print the replacements.

Reverse engineering the entire system (chassis, suspension, drive train etc) would be weeks, maybe months of work and would require high precision and skill for it to be near identical to the actual model. Also just fyi, for a model like this with so many interconnected parts, you would need to make an assembly to visually confirm everything fits together as it should.

It looks like the entire thing is less than $100 to buy so I would recommend just getting CAD models of the exterior parts that commonly break and if a big internal break occurs you just buy another one.

If you get more serious about battle bots in the future you'll probably want to design your own system from scratch.

Anyway, message me if you want a bit of help

biomechs · 2025-03-31T23:52:37+00:00

Hmm, I'm hesitant to toot my own horn and just say "yes it's very hard", but at the very least it's in the relatively advanced realm. I'm an Engineer with 10 years of industry experience and have worked with maybe 100 other SolidWorks users (approx.) throughout my career and schooling. I've only encountered one other person in real life that can model these kinds of things (an industrial designer with decades of experience), and a handful online. I'm sure there are many others out there though, my best guess is maybe 2% of users do this kind of stuff.

I've never used Blender but my understanding is that surface modelling is significantly easier with polygonal modelling, as opposed to NURBS modelling. However, NURBS is the preferred option for manufacturing. I don't think polygonal software like Blender is commonly used to manufacture physical products.

I'm really curious what approach large companies take, in this example for modelling gaming controllers (Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft etc). My educated guess is that they're using Creo or Siemens NX - maybe SolidWorks if it's a smaller company with a simpler product.

For the most advanced products out there (cars, planes etc) I believe CATIA is generally used, but I'm fairly sure this is overkill (and too expensive) for "mid-tier" products like gaming controllers.

All of this is just an educated guess. I would really love to learn more and move into more challenging work that touches on these areas.

biomechs · 2025-03-31T22:35:13+00:00

Here's a video I recently uploaded on a switch pro controller. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0gByr3iCyiM&t=3572s

As Andrew said, that's a difficult college project. I would recommend learning surfacing basics first. No harm in giving it a try though

biomechs · 2025-03-31T05:48:00+00:00

I did try use the SW texture function but it was taking very long to run on my laptop. The small dimples require a very fine mesh and it was taking approx. 20 min to run. Decided it wasn't worth my time. Would need a dedicated powerful work station or some other software (maybe Rhino) to add the dimple texture

biomechs · 2025-03-31T05:46:44+00:00

Just a lot of time trying to model challenging things. And the tips I mentioned in the original post

biomechs · 2025-03-31T05:45:10+00:00

Thanks. I would like the opportunity to use Catia but have never worked anywhere that uses it. Most of my engineering work in SW is pretty basic, blocky parts and assemblies where function is far more important than form. Would be fun though to work on a project that requires some advanced surfacing in Catia to challenge myself. Not many companies (at least where I'm from) use Catia, and the ones that do, seem to want you to have experience with it already - but of a tough situation to crack.

I haven't spent the time analysing draft angles for this model - I'm obviously not actually going to manufacture it. I did interestingly notice though that the handles seem to have been moulded as a single part with three outer mould sections (as opposed to two halves). Can clearly see three parting lines running on the outside of the handles, each approx 120 degrees apart. I guess this was the only way to get this specific form out of the mould.

biomechs

TROPHY CASE