Open Source Mechanical Design?

[vtcnc]

You may want to research this site:

Build yours - InMoov

inmoov.fr

Probably the closest organized example of what you are trying to accomplish.

Interesting project. Update with a link once you get it started!


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[7milesup]

Instructables and WikiHow are two of the most worthless websites out there. Just saying.

 

[stupoty]

STM-32 microcontrollers.

The mbed web based IDE has some form of code repository also.

Theirs an open source auto pilot developed in conjunction with a university , just had a look at their website , they are using git hub as the repository but the only physical elements i can see are 3d printed.

Downloads - PaparazziUAV

wiki.paparazziuav.org

Stu

 

[Robo_Pi]

You may want to research this site:

Build yours - InMoov

inmoov.fr

Probably the closest organized example of what you are trying to accomplish.

That's a full-blown company that's selling starter kits for their already-designed robot. They are also heavily reliant on 3D printed parts.

What I have in mind is quite a bit different on many levels. I think I will need to actually build this head to some level prior to starting the GitHub sit. I'd probably do well making a video explaining the project as well.

Interesting project. Update with a link once you get it started!

Well, that's going to be a while. So far all I have are a lot of ideas and no actual drawings. Physically I have the party mask I would like to use as the face. And last night I just drew up a very quick and crude idea for the main frame of the skull structure. It already needs extensive modifications. Here's the quick and dirty 3D drawing of the main frame made from wood. There will be four quadrants that will fit into the four sections. Each quadrant will have shelves that hold the servos. The main idea here is to do everything in modules. This way a person can work on just one module at a time. I didn't have time to draw up the module shelves but I'm thinking I will only need to draw up two of them maximum since they will be symmetrical on the right and left sides. So I'll be able to just mirror them.

So these drawings would be the type of files I'd be working with on GitHub.

 

[stupoty]

One of the biggest problems for opensource hardware is the need to use non propitiatory software for all the design work to allow truly any one to access the data, for sure their could be pdf exports of technical drawings or 3d printer files and gcode exports for cnc but if any edits are required the software has to be available to the user.

Free cad seems fairly good but i'm not an expert on cad software by any means.

FreeCAD: Your own 3D parametric modeler

FreeCAD, the open source 3D parametric modeler

www.freecadweb.org

For any pcb fab requirements the "Geda" suite is pritty good, has it's quirks but is good.

PCB

pcb.geda-project.org

edit >
KiCad is another one but I havent used it, the project does seem to be quite acctive though which is a good thing.

KICAD

kicad-pcb.org

Stu

 

[stupoty]

Instructables and WikiHow are two of the most worthless websites out there. Just saying.

but what if you wanted to know how to thicken broth ????

3 Ways to Thicken Broth - wikiHow

Whatever your cooking project, getting your broth to the right consistency is an important step. If your broth is looking a little thin, there are several ways to thicken it, depending on the ingredients you want to use and the amount of...

www.wikihow.com

Stu

 

[Robo_Pi]

Free cad seems fairly good but i'm not an expert on cad software by any means.

I've been using the free version of Google Sketchup Make 2017. It's been doing everything I need to do up to this point. But I realize that this could be a problem in terms of what CAD software other people might want to use.

I was thinking about contacting Google and suggesting that they might want to think about how they could create (or just use) something like GitHub for Sketchup. In Sketchup you can save individual parts of the drawings as stand alone components. That feature seems to loan itself to open source design really well since contributors can just work on a specific component without having to update the main drawing. One person (or a team) could then be assigned to making sure the main drawing only contains components that are compatible with the complete design.

I think I can go that route on my own, but this would then limit only contributors who are willing to use Sketchup for 3D drawings. Or at least use only other CAD software that is compatible with saving component in Sketchup format.

Which CAD software to use will be a big decision I imagine.

I imagine this is similar with coding. They typically chose a specific computer language for their projects. You're not going to be submitting Python code to a project that's written in C++ for example. Although some projects do allow for multilingual components.

But yeah, choosing the right CAD to work with might be a consideration I'll need to deal with. As I say, right now I'm using Sketchup Make 2017. I'd be just as happy to stick with that. But I can envision potential contributors wanting to use different CAD software.

 

[stupoty]

I was thinking about contacting Google and suggesting that they might want to think about how they could create (or just use) something like GitHub for Sketchup.

Google have (IMHO) an absolutly horrific attitude to open source, their Structure From Motion that they use for google maps 3D system is based on open source code, they employed they guy who created it and kinda hide any contributions, same with android which is based on GNU/BSD license open source. Their are other examples but I will stop my self before it becomes a rant .

Interoperability is an interesting subject as their are examples of code / systems being released to the community for example PDF and AIR run time, not to be just annoying their is the open source 3D software which is a mix of python and C . (Blender)

It does get quite complex trying to be a purist open source system.

Always remember it "Free as in speech not Free as in beer"

Stu

 

[Robo_Pi]

I set up a GitHub page for it. I have no idea where this might go or whether I even have the time to invest in this. But I figure that it can't hurt to get the project started.

Here's a link to the GitHub project I started. It's named "Alysha", since that's what I've named by robot head.

Alysha

 

[Robo_Pi]

Google have (IMHO) an absolutly horrific attitude to open source,

That may be true overall, but they seem to be pretty open when it comes to sketchup. They created a 3D warehouse where everyone can share their drawings and components. What I would be suggesting would hardly be much different from that. In fact, they'd probably just tell me to do my open source designing via their 3D warehouse. The only problem with that is that their warehouse isn't set up for individual projects like GitHub is. At least not as far as I am aware.