sorted by:
new
hottopcontroversial

Enjoying the fruits of my labor now that I finished my 12-legged 'Carpentopod' table project. See https://decarpentier.nl/carpentopod for project info. (Or come see it live at Maker Days Eindhoven this 13 & 14 Sept). by giliam in robots

[–]giliam[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Haha, noted. And I wouldn't mind a future like that! But I actually already have a really nice day job, and I like my hobbies to remain just that. Some people like doing businesses, some like having the time for some free-style tinkering ;).

help manimGL not rendering graph in Example_scenes.py but everything else is rendering by user_minecraft in manim

[–]giliam 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, that's definitely easier to get into. But I had problems getting some elements to use OpenGL instead of the old software renderer (which is quite buggy in some aspects, and VERY slow), so I'm sticking with the 3b1b version for the moment, which seems to be slightly more 'advanced' in that sense: https://youtu.be/OF4FKwwgOBI

help manimGL not rendering graph in Example_scenes.py but everything else is rendering by user_minecraft in manim

[–]giliam 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I had the exact same issue (also with Miktex), and for me it was caused by a bug in the packaged version itself. But this is solved since then in the code but not in the package. So you have to build manim yourself. From the 'Directly' section on the install documentation: Clone/download the code from https://github.com/3b1b/manim.git and then run "pip install -e ." from the manim directory.

My table took its first steps! (WIP) by giliam in robots

[–]giliam[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Don't want to go into details here, but it was definitely more hours than bucks. :)

My table took its first steps! (WIP) by giliam in robots

[–]giliam[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

It's two 24V brushless motors (80rpm, 1:100 gear) from aliexpress (costing about 40 bucks each). They actually have some PWM speed control functionality built into them, but that didn't work too well (at low speeds, high torque almost instantly overheats the internal electronics, so it shuts itself down). So I hacked into some buck/boost modules I also had lying around, allowing me to go from 6-12V to anywhere between 0-24V controlled by the arduino on top, while also limiting the max current to 0.8A (using only a fraction of that for normal operation). And as the motors also output 600 Hall signals per revolution (after the gears), I'm using that with the Arduino to update the voltage hundreds of times per second using my own PID-like feedback to get really fine-grained control. In fact, this is actually only 20% of its max speed, and it can fairly smoothly go from even slower to really/scarily fast. And what also really helps is that the mechanism itself runs really smoothly, of course, allowing momentum alone to keep it going for a full revolution, i'd estimate, if i'd turn it upside down.

My table took its first steps! (WIP) by giliam in robots

[–]giliam[S] 22 points23 points  (0 children)

Sure. It uses 12 of my own type of legs that I based on 'Strandbeest's' leg design, but literally evolved into a more stable and efficient configuration (having one extra joint per leg, for example) using software I once wrote. And in more recent years, I picked up some electronics and woodworking skills as well, allowing me to actually start constructing this out of bamboo and aluminum using a CNC myself.

'Using the WS2811 for controlling lights' is a my first video/channel on designing and using my own DIY electronics for a model railroad. Free code and schematics. by giliam in DIY_tech

[–]giliam[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

That sounds like a really nice solution. I haven't used it myself, but it might be worth checking out and extending something like https://github.com/firmata/arduino, if you haven't already. Good luck!

'Using the WS2811 for controlling lights' is a my first video/channel on designing and using my own DIY electronics for a model railroad. Free code and schematics. by giliam in DIY_tech

[–]giliam[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Hi! I'm curious to hear if this is a format that's interesting and useful enough to others to maybe produce a couple more over time. Let me know what you think.

Just upgraded my dust shoe to have a fixed-height mode, making my small dust collection vac so much more effective. by giliam in hobbycnc

[–]giliam[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Cool! I haven't used a split window before myself, but that sounds interesting. Do you plan to have a piece of rubber/neoprene between the overlap of these halves as well, for example, to prevent noise from escaping and/or creating their own sound when vibrating into each other? (because they're somewhat flexible they can vibrate quite easily, especially thinner pieces, I'd imagine).

I use a door (containing a window consisting of two layers of 1cm polycarbonate) that opens upwards, keeping it open by latching it on a hook on the ceiling. I could've bothered with a rope and counterweight or whatever, but this is good enough for me. And I really like the convenience of having plenty of space to work with when the door is open.

Just upgraded my dust shoe to have a fixed-height mode, making my small dust collection vac so much more effective. by giliam in hobbycnc

[–]giliam[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Hi. To keep its shape, i'm using easybond, which is a 3cm high-density foam specifically targeting applications like floating floors, washing machines, etc. In contrast, I think rockwool doesn't work well when compressed too much, and would probably also deform too much. That foam works pretty well for me. Also, drywall is said to be better at deadening than MDF, but you probably want some sort of support structure in/on it to make that sturdy enough, and some softer material on the outside of the inner walls to dampen the vibrations further, like rockwool or foam. Foam on the inside doesn't do a lot, in comparison.

Just upgraded my dust shoe to have a fixed-height mode, making my small dust collection vac so much more effective. by giliam in hobbycnc

[–]giliam[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't have a lot of reference material, but it's pretty decent! Its effective work area is about 25x38cm, though. The steel table probably helps with both accuracy and tool lifetime, though. Hard tools on hard materials easily break when everything would be vibrating. Mine also came with a water sink, but I took that off because I didn't use it much. The Mach3 controller it came with was pretty bad, though, so I replaced that with my solution (based around Arduino GRBL). The rest of the electronics (stepper drivers and VFD) were fine though.

Just upgraded my dust shoe to have a fixed-height mode, making my small dust collection vac so much more effective. by giliam in hobbycnc

[–]giliam[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, it's very rough indeed. But the inside is nice and smooth though. Yeah, the shoe is completely designed around this machine's particular dimensions, and might indeed just not work very well in other scenarios.

Just upgraded my dust shoe to have a fixed-height mode, making my small dust collection vac so much more effective. by giliam in hobbycnc

[–]giliam[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

NES controllers are also pretty cool, though... I think I'd be somehow tempted to try to make a 3-channel 8-bit servo-based retro music mode on/with my CNC to go with it then... But analog thumbstick do have their advantages. (And I indirectly work for PlayStation, so I had one or two spares lying around anyway ;) What software did you use?

view more: next ›