This is a good video if you are creating lots of things that are similar but not identical.
Category Archives: News
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FreeCAD Beginner Series
The FreeCAD beginner series has reached #8 – Our patrons already have access to #8.
The videos are
- FreeCAD for Beginners #1 – Download to First Model
- FreeCAD for Beginners #2 – Sketching and Constraints
- FreeCAD for Beginners #3 Offset Sketches and Datum Planes
- FreeCAD for Beginners #4 Modeling Revolves
- FreeCAD for Beginners #5 Lofts and Sweeps
- FreeCAD for Beginners #6 Golf Ball Marker project
- FreeCAD For Beginners #7 Spreadsheet Driven Fully Parametric Table
- FreeCAD For Beginners #8 – Boolean Operations
FreeCAD Beginner Video Series
We have created a beginner series of videos for FreeCAD. It’s great to be able to share our experience with the software and help others with their journey through Adventures in CreationÂ
You can find the beginner series playlist on our YouTube channel at this link
Don’t forget to give us feedback once you have had a chance to review the videos.
Keeping up with the changes
It’s been a while since we posted a new update. FreeCAD has become our go-to CAD/CAM package. It’s working out nicely as a tool to create 3D models for either CNC routing or 3D printing. The Path module is good but not 100% complete yet. It continues to improve with time.
We are working on creating some helpful videos for other users that want to get the most out of FreeCAD and their maker experience. Check out our channel http://www.youtube.com/adventuresincreation
MPCNC inlays
I am still working on creating a flawless inlay. I have found some wood that I can use but now I have to find a good subject. I am starting to get a feel for the type of graphic that would make a good inlay candidate.
Take a look at this page MPCNC vcarve inlay technique it should give you a good idea of where I am with this.
I have created some videos on the subject you can find them here YouTube video
Home Automation
As you may have seen I have the Amazon Echo at home. I liked the potential to make the echo the hub for home automation. The first step is to get something you can control so I set out to find something that works with Alexa natively so there would be no issues with integration. I searched Amazon for the a switchable plug that I could plug my living room light in to. I found the TP-LINK HS100.
This is a wifi enabled smart plug. You plug it in and from an Android app set it up on your wi-fi network. Once it’s set up you just ask Alexa to look for new devices and it will find the smart plug. Through the set up you designate a name for the device so now you can say something like “Alexa turn on the living room light” and it will switch it on and say “OK”. This is cool and how I work my living room light today. Of course the light is just one thing you can turn any item on that is plugged in to the smart plug. It is just a simple way to power on and power off. This is the beginning of automating the home of course, the smart plug is about $30 so this could be an expensive way to avoid turning a light switch. I will admit that I got mine a lot cheaper than that, it was on sale and I had a gift card from a survey so I ended up paying about $4 out of pocket.  Since we have had that light operated by Alexa we have wished that we had one for the bedroom light so that it would be on when we go upstairs. Now imagine, instead of saying “Alexa turn off the living room light” at the end of the day we could say “Alexa its bed time” and have her turn off the living room light, turn off the tv and the tuner, turn on the bedroom light, set the alarm, check the garage door is closed, and start the sounds of the sea music. – Well, this is possible if you introduce something like Openhab. What is this you ask, here’s a brief description of Openhab
Cat Wheel Chair
I met a sweetheart little cat who had been hit by a car and injured his spine. Regardless of this horrific injury he is a lively and inquisitive little fellow that can move his front legs and scoot around on his bottom. This can cause issues with wear and tear on his rear end. His back legs appear to have some feeling but are not working as they should. He needs a “cat wheel chair” so I thought how can we create something light enough, strong enough and cheap enough that we can make it a reality for him. How about some some plastic plumbing pipe and pair of wheels?
Here’s the first attempt. The idea is his back legs will sit in the sling and the front of the wheelchair will be attached to a harness.
Here he is trying it on for the first time. It needs some adjusting, it’s a little too tall for him yet. We will get that right and do a final fitting then hopefully, he will be able to move himself around without hurting himself.
Great news! Thanks to the dedication of the folks at Hoof and Paw Vets this little guy is able to walk again… Â Just look here.
Water Softener issues
The brine tank is filling up, that’s not good!
Here’s a cool troubleshooter, I will have to use this to see what’s up.
The Amazon Echo
I saw the Amazon Echo online and thought that it looked like a cool device, it’s essentially a smart blue tooth speaker. How is it smart you ask? Well, it can understand some of your spoken questions/commands. Take a look at the Amazon page here Amazon Echo
Or simply search for Echo on Amazon.com – I was intrigued by the capability and wanted to see how hard it was to build an “Alexa” skill so I researched a little and it turns out that you build a skill from a template. Although that sounds simple, it’s anything but simple. There are several parts to the creation and publishing. I decided to create one that could provide some car insurance facts. The template gives you all the code that you need you just need to carefully follow the instructions and replace the key words and facts with the data you want to share. Having done that I was able to successfully publish my first Alexa skill and it is now available from the ever growing skills library on Alexa.
You can ask Alexa things like, “what’s the weather today?” or “give me an update” and it will give you whatever it can. You can also ask it to add things to your shopping list which can see on your phone when you are at the store. It’s very cool that way. Where it really falls down is it’s not linked to a regular search engine so if you ask it something that you think Google can answer you may stump Alexa! It is improving daily, there are more “skills” being added daily. I am very interested to see where this technology goes. I suspect that Amazon is going to integrate Alexa into many other devices.
One of the other cool features of Amazon Echo involves home automation. You can use “Alexa” to automate things at home check out my page on home automation.