Thread to discuss positive things in a general manner

[YNM]

The shuttle train that I usually ride on to go home didn't happen at the right time today, but the normal full-route train that was available was somewhat empty, so... good I guess ?

[Bill Phil]

Got a pretty nice permament crown on a tooth. Can barely tell the difference.

Didn’t seem to cost too much either.

[RealKerbal3x]

I forgot to post this on Friday, but my end-of-year exams are all finished now. That means I can focus on KSP and not have to worry about studying anymore!

[RealKerbal3x]

OK, let’s bring back this thread, because I have another positive thing to post here!

The new RAM stick for my laptop arrived this evening (Many thanks to @Geonovast for his help and input on that ). Previously, the computer had had 6GB (despite the seller proclaiming that it had 8 - one of the drawbacks of internet shopping), but now it has 8GB.

The old 2GB stick came out relatively easily, but the new 4GB one needed a little bit of encouragement to slot in properly. Fortunately, Windows immediately recognised the new stick. I have yet to try it with KSP, but I reckon it’ll help with performance at least a little and give me a bit more space for a couple more mods.

I’m keeping the old stick as a spare just in case, but it’s nice to finally get my laptop up to its full RAM capacity  

[NSEP]

2 hours ago, RealKerbal3x said:

OK, let’s bring back this thread, because I have another positive thing to post here!

The new RAM stick for my laptop arrived this evening (Many thanks to @Geonovast for his help and input on that ). Previously, the computer had had 6GB (despite the seller proclaiming that it had 8 - one of the drawbacks of internet shopping), but now it has 8GB.

The old 2GB stick came out relatively easily, but the new 4GB one needed a little bit of encouragement to slot in properly. Fortunately, Windows immediately recognised the new stick. I have yet to try it with KSP, but I reckon it’ll help with performance at least a little and give me a bit more space for a couple more mods.

I’m keeping the old stick as a spare just in case, but it’s nice to finally get my laptop up to its full RAM capacity  

I was trying to go to nearby store to buy more RAM for my PC with my birthday money today, but because the store was closed i went to another store and bought a canvas and attempted to make a painting instead. Painting with a knife is very satisfying! The painting i made is just completely black.

[Shpaget]

8 hours ago, NSEP said:

The painting i made is just completely black.

I like it when artist picks a theme and stick with it and not just draw whatever crosses their mind.

Remember that Bob guy? He couldn't stay on one topic even if his life depended on it. A tall mountain there in the distance, a fluffy cloud here, a happy little tree there,... Come one dude, focus!

NSEP, I appreciate your dedication and being considerate regarding my bandwidth and limited data plan. That Bob guy requires half an hour of HD footage to convey his slatherings. You, on the other hand can do it in a couple of words.

Edited August 4, 2019 by Shpaget

[Cheif Operations Director]

On 5/17/2019 at 12:56 PM, cubinator said:

I'm starting a new job today, at a museum and planetarium! And then later I'm going to see Avengers: Endgame.

What is your job there out of curiosity?

[cubinator]

2 hours ago, Cheif Operations Director said:

What is your job there out of curiosity?

Planetarium and museum educator. I present planetarium shows and museum tours, along with other events and stations the museum needs people at, like telescope viewing events.

People learn about space from me.

Edited August 11, 2019 by cubinator

[kerbiloid]

Just stop calling Mars "Duna".

[Shpaget]

I got back to playing KSP and, boy have I been gone long.

So, it's still an early game and I go on my first Mun mission. Of course, I'm about 500 m/s of dv short to return and end up getting stuck Jeb and Bob in high Kerbin orbit. I quickly mount a rescue op with Valentina and Bill meeting them up there. I want to save all that precious science so I try to push the first rocket back to Kerbin, but without the grabber it's not easy. Plus I realize that I don't have enough dv to deorbit both vessels. Now I have two crews stuck there (well, I could deorbit Valentina and Bill, but they had their chance and blew it) and no pilots back home. There is only Erwlin who is a stray scientist I rescued from LKO. No piloting skills. Anyway, I whisk up a new ship with the reentry module and to fetch Jeb and Bob. I realize I can take the science from the goo and thermometers, so I don't really need the ship. Great! I rendezvous, transfer science and crew, fire retrograde to aerobrake at about 45 km. Mid aerobrake I realize I don't have any parachutes. Turn around and fire prograde to reestablish orbit. Manage to do it with not much fuel to spare. Now Valentina and Bill need to go back because Jeb, Bob and Erwlin are stuck in LKO, right? No. I'm still mad at them. I build another rocket, with reentry ball and a probe core and fetch the trio.

All in all, 510 science got back. That should give me some new toys to go back to Mun and Minmuns and bring more, but boy did it turn out to be overcomplicated.

Oh, I need to build a comnet as well.

[TheSaint]

So, I had my cataract surgery on my left eye a week ago this morning. I had them put in an intermediate lens, it focuses my vision at about 2-3 feet distance, at the expense of not being able to see well at long distances. I initially had some (perfectly normal) issues with floaters and clarity, but those all cleared up around Saturday morning.

Since Saturday morning I have not had to pick up a single pair of reading glasses. It is so freaking awesome! If I'm doing something close, like looking at a computer screen or a book, I focus through my left eye. If I look up, my focus instantly transfers to my right eye and I have my distance vision. I had my doubts that this was going to work so well, but man, it is great.

Now what am I going to do with the half-dozen pairs of reading glasses I have stationed around the house?

[Bill Phil]

I just deadlifted 290 for the first time.

[cubinator]

1 hour ago, Bill Phil said:

I just deadlifted 290 for the first time.

Nice! I bet I could do that on the Moon.

[cubinator]

I had a really good peach for breakfast today.

[StrandedonEarth]

3 hours ago, cubinator said:

peach

 

[YNM]

OH. GOOD. LORD. HE. HAS. EVERYTHING. INSTALLED. (mostly.)

 

[qzgy]

18 hours ago, YNM said:

OH. GOOD. LORD. HE. HAS. EVERYTHING. INSTALLED. (mostly.)

 

I know it's come so far! Though personally, I'm.. Not really dissapointed, but I feel a bit more care and attention could have been paid to that specific part. It's simple and works great(whoch I like) but compared to the rest of it it seems odd to rush (a bit) that specific part. 

[YNM]

2 hours ago, qzgy said:

I feel a bit more care and attention could have been paid to that specific part.

Honestly, what works, works...

I'm more worried on the whole "replaceable vibraphone notes" thing. Seems like it'd be a huge PITA. And we haven't seen any hint of it.

[Shpaget]

Yesterday I powered up my first true CNC machine (I'm not counting the K40 laser in my basement, since it's a locked down toy). It's a DIY thing meant to cut XPS with a hot wire, for an (hopefully) upcoming project. Since the requirements regarding accuracy and stiffness are rather low, I opted to use whatever materials I had at hand, meaning plywood and particleboard for main frame and linear bearings and timing belts for mechanics. I had some steppers in my parts bin and even a gShield that seems to work ok-ish with an Arduino. Like I said, requirements are rather low. Some wonderful people out on the interwebs published a G-code interpreter that works for my purposes. It's actually meant for lasers so it doesn't mind going across the designs, since it assumes it can turn off the laser, which means I have to make some considerations during the drawing part, to make sure it doesn't do that, or the hot wire would cut the workpiece in half.

I'm having some weird inconsistencies with travel which I haven't managed to figure out (sometimes the micro stepping is accounted for, sometimes it is not, so I get about 4x travel discrepancy). It's not really a problem, since I can easily check it on each power up, but it's a bit annoying. I'm also having some issues with endstops, but again, I can zero manually on each power up and after that it's not relevant any more.

The test cuts look amazing. I'm very pleased. I expect the machine will drastically improve the end product, both in overall quality and speed of manufacture. The first prototype, the sample for the customer I cut by hand (also with hot wire, but manually against a plywood guide) and it looked fine in the end, but required lots of sanding and filling. Hopefully his will require just painting. Happy times.

[KerballingSmasher]

7 hours ago, Shpaget said:

Yesterday I powered up my first true CNC machine (I'm not counting the K40 laser in my basement, since it's a locked down toy). It's a DIY thing meant to cut XPS with a hot wire, for an (hopefully) upcoming project. Since the requirements regarding accuracy and stiffness are rather low, I opted to use whatever materials I had at hand, meaning plywood and particleboard for main frame and linear bearings and timing belts for mechanics. I had some steppers in my parts bin and even a gShield that seems to work ok-ish with an Arduino. Like I said, requirements are rather low. Some wonderful people out on the interwebs published a G-code interpreter that works for my purposes. It's actually meant for lasers so it doesn't mind going across the designs, since it assumes it can turn off the laser, which means I have to make some considerations during the drawing part, to make sure it doesn't do that, or the hot wire would cut the workpiece in half.

I'm having some weird inconsistencies with travel which I haven't managed to figure out (sometimes the micro stepping is accounted for, sometimes it is not, so I get about 4x travel discrepancy). It's not really a problem, since I can easily check it on each power up, but it's a bit annoying. I'm also having some issues with endstops, but again, I can zero manually on each power up and after that it's not relevant any more.

The test cuts look amazing. I'm very pleased. I expect the machine will drastically improve the end product, both in overall quality and speed of manufacture. The first prototype, the sample for the customer I cut by hand (also with hot wire, but manually against a plywood guide) and it looked fine in the end, but required lots of sanding and filling. Hopefully his will require just painting. Happy times.

OOOoooooh i don't understand half of what you just said  , but cool!

[StrandedonEarth]

7 hours ago, Shpaget said:

Yesterday I powered up my first true CNC machine

That just makes we want to build one, but I don’t have the parts or electronics know-how. I’m more of a table-or-circular-saw-and-cordless-drill/driver kinda guy. But I really want a 3D printer, even if I don’t know what I’d do with it. 

[Kernel Kraken]

Got my guitar repaired Monday, the output jack was broken. While I was at the Guitar Center I found a sweet Epiphone ES-339 Pro in a nice sunburst, sounded amazing, played amazing, looked amazing, was generally amazing. If I work hard I should be able to afford it in about a month or two if I also get the Katana 50w combo I was looking at. 10/10. Now my current axe works and I can play my sticker- plastered monstrosity again!

Edited September 6, 2019 by Kernel Kraken
Two is spelled two, not to.

[Shpaget]

10 hours ago, Kerballing (Got Dunked On) said:

OOOoooooh i don't understand half of what you just said  , but cool!

Then allow me to ELY5.

CNC machine

A Computer Numerical Control machine is a machine whose movement is accurately, predictably and repeatably controlled by a computer. They come in all sorts of shapes, such as lathes, Milling machines, grinders, laser cutters etc. CNC doesn't refer to what the machine does, only on how it is controlled.

K40 laser is a cheap and small 40 Watt CO2 laser that you can buy on ebay for ~$400. It's not worth much more. Mine can cut (special) 3 mm plywood quite nicely (I don't have any thicker to test it) at around 10 mm/s, which is comparable to a handheld jigsaw, but can keep up that speed while doing intricate curves. It's not all that bad, but control software is severely limited, and electronics are locked to that software.

DIY means Do it Yourself

cut XPS with a hot wire

XPS is Extruded PolyStyrene, similar to styrofoam, but without all the little balls that fall out. It's also significantly stronger. It can be easily cut by a special resistance wire that you heat up with electricity.

requirements regarding accuracy and stiffness are rather low

In machining, stiffness and rigidity of machines are very important since you want to minimize (there will always be some) machine deformation due to cutting forces. That leads to vibration, poor cut quality and increased tool wear.

In this case, the force required to push the hot wire through XPS is very low. In fact, if you go a bit too slow, the wire doesn't even touch the foam as it melts before it touches the wire. In practice this is a bit to slow and the kerf (the width of cut) is too wide. Since forces are low, it is possible to avoid using steel frame.

linear bearings are bearing designed to offer translation, instead of rotation

timing belts are loops with one side ridged to engage with a corresponding pulley. That way they don't slip over the pulley and offer better repeatability.

steppers are special kind of electric motors that move in discreet steps, as opposed to free rotation. They offer accurate angular speed and movement.

gShield is device that connects to an Arduino that interfaces with stepper motors

Arduino is range of microcontroller platforms designed for easy use and interaction with physical devices.

G-code is an industry standard way to control CNC machines. It uses a lot of "G" letters.

micro stepping is a special way to control stepper motors where, by clever control of power, you can make the motor move only partway between the natural discreet steps. It's useful since it offers better resolution, lower vibration and other stuff...

endstops are small switches. The machine, once powered up, starts moving in one direction until it activates the endstop switch which is used to tell the machine where it is located.

zero manually means that since I don't have working endstop switches, I have to move the machine manually (through computer) and when I reach a certain position, I hit a button that tells the machine it is now positioned in it's "zero" position.

 

I hope this clears it up a bit.

9 hours ago, StrandedonEarth said:

That just makes we want to build one, but I don’t have the parts or electronics know-how. I’m more of a table-or-circular-saw-and-cordless-drill/driver kinda guy. But I really want a 3D printer, even if I don’t know what I’d do with it. 

Honestly, I wouldn't bother with building a 3D printer from scratch, unless you need to print bigger parts than what commercial ones you can afford can do. You can buy a ready made one for not much more, or even less than the individual parts. All the hassle excluded.

[KerballingSmasher]

@Shpaget oh wow that makes way more sense now!

[Shpaget]

Lindt Lindor Summer Mix Balls

I'm not entirely convinced anything that good should be legal.