Category Archives: Open Source Engineering
Maker Faire UK 2013
This coming weekend, Maker Faire UK is at the Centre for Life in Newcastle. I’ll be exhibiting as part of the DoES Liverpool stall this year. While I initially started going to DoES Liverpool, it was to get some hands-on experience with running a laser cutter, which would improve the work I was doing with [...]
Laser-Cut Elastic-Clipped Comb-Joints
During a makerday, I saw a someone struggling to put together a Raspberry Pi box that they’d laser cut, and were trying to hold together: two pieces of acrylic to make the joint, and the Raspberry Pi board, and a nut into a slot, while also attempting to screw in a bolt, and not drop [...]
Laser Cut Christmas Trees
I had half an hour at the end of the day at the DoES Liverpool makerspace the other day, so I had time to cut out christmas tree decoration from card and mdf that comes out of the cutter fully finished. The cut files are available for you below, or on Thingiverse, to cut your [...]
Have Laser: Will Cut
I’ve been designing parts for the Atomic Duck to be manufacture by laser cutting, so I looked for a makerspace or friendly laser cutter in Liverpool. DoESLiverpool has a workshop with a laser cutter and a makerbot and co-working space, and I’ve been having great fun it their Makernights (two evenings and one Saturday a [...]
Go Technical Innovation!
The 24 Heures du Mans (Le Mans 24 Hours) traditionally has a garage reserved for a vehicle that doesn’t fit the current rules. Though the car runs unclassified and is ineligible for any of the prizes, it’s an opportunity for the selected car to run alongside the rest of the racing field and show how [...]
Kingsbury K-Drive
The video below of the Human Power Team‘s elliptical drive system is the first time I’ve seen a non-circular power system in motion. Functionally identical to the “K-Drive” of the Kingsbury Kingcycle, the mechanism is first described in 1890, so it might be more correct to call it a “Vietor Elliptical Drive”, it’s best known [...]
Best Size for a Capacitor Bank of an Electric Vehicle?
A bit of a look into the future for the first post of this year. I don’t have any immediate plans to do anything electric vehicle, but the Atomic Duck could make a good lightweight EV platform, so I’ve been thinking about how the bits might fit in; specifically: What is the best size for [...]
Lattice Hinge Test Results
Sine last week’s post about modelling Lattice Hinges, I’ve received the test pieces I ordered and also some very kindly cut by .:oomlout:. (the MDF set gave me some good insight into the hinge performance). I’ve had time to bend some, break some (and figure out why) and take some pictures. Probably worth a look [...]
Laser-cut Lattice Living Hinges
AKA: Snijlab-style living hinges, Sninges, Laser cut hinges, or my prefered title: Lattice Hinges After this style of hinge popped up again, this time on Makezine, I was having a look at the linked project guide and at how they worked and I realised that a bit of mathematical modelling could lead to better designed [...]
Wikis, Fora and Q&As
Wiki — Sharing Information From my earliest designs for this site, I’ve wanted to include a wiki to hold technical information, drawings and documentation about Def-Proc projects as part of my commitment to allowing open access to the detail that makes up the engineering behind those projects. This also means allowing user generated content to [...]