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Learn Processing!

Processing

I had a lot of fun with Processing last year when I joined in with a few other folks and declared May as “Processing Month” and my final project was the Make A Sketch, which was an Arduino + Processing piece.

There’s two other guys at Milwaukee Makerspace with an interest in Processing, and we figured it was worth sharing what we know, and we’ve decided that a 3-hour workshop on the subject would be a good idea, so…

Join us Thursday, February 23rd, 2012 at 6pm to learn about Processing! [Sign up here]

We’ll expect you to have Processing installed on a laptop, basic knowledge of writing code, and a few simple sketches running. If you can do all that, and want to dive a bit deeper into Processing, we’d love to have you there. (If you’re a Milwaukee Makerspace member the cost is $20, otherwise it’s $25 for the general public.)

Besides some basics of Processing we’ll be creating a collaborative team project, so it should be all-around awesome. If you’re a coder who wants to make some interactive art, or an interactive artist who wants to write some code, well… you’ll fit right in. :)

sketch

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No RPM

orange

I had a blast doing the RPM Challenge last year (and if you don’t know, the RPM Challenge is to record an entire album in one month, during February, to be exact.

Here’s a little history: in 2008 I completed the challenge, then did it again in 2009. In 2010 I didn’t manage to do it, but I came back in 2011 and did it again.

Watching the progression throughout the years has been really interesting for me, and I’m glad it did it each time, and blogged about it each time, but for 2012, I’m taking another hiatus, and I’ll plan on jumping in again for 2013. I’ve got a lot going on right now, and too many unfinished projects to consider starting another one, especially one that will put the others on hold. I’m also speaking at a class, teaching a class, traveling out of state, and have a few other things scheduled for February that have convinced me to scale back my commitments.

If you’re interested in all my posts about my past RPM Challege adventures, just browse the rpmchallenge tag.

See ya next year kids!

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CNC Control Panel Progress

It’s a known problem that I take on too many projects, and that tends to make some of them drag out longer than they should… has it really been more than a month since I started this one?

Yes it has. In my UI Mockup/Diagram Apps post, I was working on a control panel for the CNC Router we have at the Milwaukee Makerspace.

First Attempt

The image above was my first attempt to hack something together. I wanted to do a layout with paper to get a good idea of the physical size of things. As you may notice, the buttons are big, and make the whole thing fairly large. Larger than I wanted. So through a few posts I connected with a fellow maker in Madison who offered me some smaller buttons…

Control Panel

Once I had the smaller buttons, I sat down with some paper and the calipers, and started measuring things, and making the new layout. These were, like the previous attempt, just some rough sketches on paper. Once my paper sketches were done, I moved on to Inkscape, and made the digital version of my control panel.

Paper Mockups

I then went back to paper, by printing out my files, to get a feel for the size and spacing of everything. I didn’t go as far as mocking up an actual 3D model, though it would have been easy with some foamcore or matte board, but it’s one more step to take if needed.

Cut Panel

And as long as I was at the makerspace for some laser-related shenanigans, I figured I’d cut a test of the control panel using acrylic. (I’d like the final done in wood, but I had some scrap clear acrylic on hand, and it’s easier/faster to cut than wood.)

As is often the case, I screwed up one bit of the file, and the lower-left cut is too large. The two holes on the right are waiting for buttons I don’t have yet. Right, make that: buttons I didn’t have yet. More buttons showed up, but they are slightly smaller, so I’ll meed to re-size things again before the next cut. Back to the old drawing application, as they say.

And hey, I better finish this project soon, because there’s talk of adding a 4th and 5th axis to the router! I don’t really mind though, because so far I’ve really enjoyed the process, and I’ve learned a lot along the way, so even if this thing is outdated by the time I finish it, I’ll just start on an upgrade. :)

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Laser. Cut. Files. (Part II)

NOTE: See the latest post on this subject: Laser. Cut. Files. (Part III)

In our last adventure, Laser. Cut. Files. I thought I had it down… sadly, I was wrong, and I’ve actually updated that post, and here’s a Part II to share more of what I’ve learned.

Inkscape DXF

This time I once again started with Inkscape, which creates SVG files. From there I export to a DXF file. This is, I guess, not ideal, but it sort of (mostly) works, so I’m still trying to perfect it. Mostly.

The issue I mentioned last time involved exporting a DXF file from Inkscape and then not being able to re-open or import that DXF back into Inkscape. I’d get some weird error, which I thought might be due to too much extension madness in Inkscape. Anyway, I ended up re-installing Inkscape and now I can open DXF files, but they just show up blank, so that’s not much better.

I did however finally find an application for OS X that allows me to easily open and view DXF files: SolidWorks eDrawings. This should help me see what crazy stuff happens to my DXF files between Inkscape on the Mac, and CorelDraw (yuk) on the Laser Cutter.

Here’s my most recent file loaded into SolidWorks eDrawings.

DXF File

Hey, look at that! I can view a DXF file on my Mac! And it was much easier than last time, where I screwed around with OpenSCAD to do it.

DXF File

But wait… as we zoom in, we can see that when the original Inkscape SVG file was exported as a DXF, it did that crazy thing again where it changes curves into lines! (Argh! I know that there are times when you want this for CNC things, but this isn’t one of them… and if I wanted them, I could do it myself. In fact… maybe I’ll just start doing it myself if I have to.)

For this control panel, it didn’t really matter, since the front of the button will be covering up the hole, but I’m still not happy with the results… And just so we’re clear, the results I want involve me doing the digital design in tools I can run on my Mac (that I like using) and then getting those files onto the laser cutter PC with minimal screwing around, and just doing my lazzoring.

A simple, clean, friction-free, non-annoying process that doesn’t involved having to mess around redrawing things in CorelDraw (yuk) because really, it seems like it shouldn’t be this hard.

Oh, and as for the Laser Cutter PC, Inkscape got installed, but I couldn’t get it to work with the Laser Cutter. Illustrator 8 was also installed, which can’t read SVG files, and couldn’t open my DXF files either. So sadly, for now, it’s that damn CorelDraw…. yuk.

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CPAP Progress

CPAP

Back in November of last year I did a sleep study, and as expected, I’ve got sleep apnea, so I ended up getting a CPAP machine at the beginning of December. Since it’s been a little over a month of using it, I thought I’d write up the experience so far…

The first week or so was a bit rough… besides getting used to the mask, I was experiencing terrible dry mouth. The dry mouth issue was due to the fact that we keep it pretty cold in our bedroom (we use a heated blanket) and the nurse I met with told me they would ship me a special heated hose which would help with the dryness. Getting the hose took over a week due to a few mix-ups, but once I got it, things were much better.

Let me just say right now… I never knew I could sleep so good.

For pretty much my entire adult life, I got terrible sleep. When I was younger, it didn’t bother me that much, but it’s gotten worse and worse in recent years. Besides not getting enough sleep myself, I’ve annoyed the crap out of my wife with my snoring. So while I wasn’t sleeping well, neither was she. In the past year both of us have taken turns on the couch just so we’d both be able to get some sleep.

So… the good sleep. Finally, some good, solid sleep. Before the CPAP, I could have “slept” for 8+ hours, and still gotten out of bed completely exhausted, but as it is now, I can sleep 6 hours, and wake up knowing that I can get through the day without falling asleep or even getting drowsy. I’m awake, alert, and more engaged. I even dream now! For years I didn’t dream much, due to the fact that I never got into REM sleep. That’s changed as well, and I’m dreaming quite a bit now.

But it’s not all sleepy dreams and happiness. Even though I’m getting good sleep, my wife is still struggling with my amazing new ability to sleep. Here’s where I get into the bad parts of the CPAP.

You might thing that the CPAP machine itself is noisy, but it’s really very quiet, so that noise isn’t an issue, but what is an issue is the mask I wear. To put it on requires two snaps. “Click! Click!” goes the mask when I put it on. So if I get in bed later than her, I’m making noise. If I go to the bathroom in the middle of the night, I need to remove the mask, and then put it back on, so I’m making noise. Alternately, I can keep the mask on, but remove the hose, and that goes “Snap!” when it attaches. More noise… But wait! There’s also the Velcro adjustment straps. “Rip! Rip! Rip! Rip!” if I need to adjust for air leaks. As for the machine, well, the power button makes a “Click!” though not as loud as the mask, and the LED display is bright enough to light up the room, so I keep it covered with a piece of fabric.

All in all, I’d love to see some improvements in the silencing of the whole process… but ignoring all that, it’s still pretty damn sweet.

Wearing the mask can be annoying, but when I think of the alternative, I’d prefer to wear the mask and actually get some sleep.

Oh, I also talked to one person who said it freaked them out, and they were worried that the power might go out and they wouldn’t be able to breathe and… It doesn’t work that way. CPAP is “continuous positive airway pressure” not a respirator. You can keep breathing (and stay alive!) even if it shuts off.

And yeah, the mask isn’t fun like a Halloween mask, but like I said, it’s worth it for the change its made in my life.

Thanks Mr. CPAP!