AbeAnd Logs May

Wed May 31, 2017

Downloaded STEP file from McMaster Carr examined and experimented with simplifying it in FreeCAD. Saved original as freecad file uploaded here:

File:5-8 in bronze bushing.fcstd

Added to Parts Library Lyman_Filament_Extruder_Part_Library#Extruder_Barrel_.2B_Auger_.2B_Flange

Noticed McMaster-Carr CAD Discalimer https://www.mcmaster.com/help/drawingsandmodels.asp#disclaimer

Probably not an issue for purchasing parts, but need may need to label such parts so as to not break this in future if attempts are made to make parts.

Tues May 30, 2017

Received new email from Mr. Lyman about CAD files.

Joined CNC torch and extruder filament winder meeting.

Considered strategy for importing CAD files, while waiting for bulk of files from Lyman.

Mon May 29, 2017

meeting prep. jitsi conference connection problems.

Sat May 27, 2017

searched links for remaining VBOM parts on the winder. Reviewed network and wiki posts. 1 hr

Fri May 26, 2017

checked network, wiki, linking parts, trying to understand typos and errors in PDF BOM (line 13 duplicate and not shown in diagrams).

Wed May 24, 2017

Reviewed network posts.

Added links and updated VBOM.

2 hrs

Tues May 23, 2017

Meeting prep.

Sent Hugh Lyman an email about CAD files.

Mon May 22, 2017

Meeting Preparation.

Work summary:

Monday, post meeting I considered ways to try better preparing for the next meeting. Common concerns to improve are general preparedness, speed and conciseness, communications audio quality due to the chaotic nature of internet quality, and conveying pertinent information to the group effectively. Methods to address these are trying different log organization, flexibility in meetings including different methods of scrum stand-up submission, and taking more time to prepare pertinent work summaries. I continued searching for links and arranging the Extruder VBOM. Commenting on discrepancies in the original Lyman docs and potential issues with parts.

Tuesday Continued considering ways to take better notes while working. Continued VBOM starting on Filament Winder. Corrected assumptions about VRM and noted electronics spec concerns. Found a manual to PID, but it is not detailed. Attempted recording and editing some unscripted video about gdocs use, but quality is not sufficient without more scripting and planning.

Thursday Added more comments on Extruder construction I think I figured out the purpose of that are not well documented in the Lyman PDF. Made more notes about extruder operation.

Friday

Continued VBOM on Filament extruder

Saturday

Arranging Winder VBOM noted discrepancies in Lyman PDF Docs between versions of devices, BOM list, and photo documentation. Noted many questions and concerns about machine operation methods and certain materials functionality can only best be answered through simply building and experimenting with the machine.

Sat May 20, 2017

Working on VBOM. Trying to find and match all parts from BOM list to images and links. Some parts appear unidentified, possibly because of changes and versions.

3hrs

I think the best way to be prepared for scrum stand-up for next week is a simple work log summary and the most important points I've discovered about the winder.

Fri May 19, 2017

Copied BOM data in and start arranging Winder VBOM.

1hr

Thurs May 18, 2017

Added some notes on extruder VBOM.

Considering what to put in a work summary for scrum stand-up. Likely more detailed notes and analysis of the extruder. The main point is building and testing it will be the only way to resolve all the potential questions since existing documentation is sparse.

From Lyman's docs his preferred versions of the equipment lean towards manual operation. So experimentation and further documentation on how to operate the system will be needed. Such as switching on the heater on, first waiting for an alarm from the PID (I think, not a lot of documentation on PID either) then manually turning on the extruder motor.

Continued work on VBOM Filament Winder Part.

Tried to figure out the status log template tag recommended on Dev Team page. Still a little confused about templates and categories usage.

1hr

Tues May 16, 2017

Finishing up extruder parts in VBOM. Some concerns about electrical components and wiring, especially in relation to workshop instructions, reminds me of the NASA Workmanship Standards. http://hackaday.com/2016/11/03/specifications-you-should-read-the-nasa-workmanship-standards/

Also recorded some quick tips related to google docs and my VBOM work, but they need editing. Doing good video on the fly is hard. Scripts are best in lieu of significant experience, but take time so I am trying for a balance with editing magic.

I also thought more about the meeting and scrum stand up. As more global members join meetings need to be more flexible due to time zones etc. so allowing pre-recorded scrum stand up and follow up discussion on the network may be the only viable solution in some circumstances. This may also help with constant intermittent network issues causing inaudible audio between different members. This varies constantly and switching software apps would likely just switch the problems around to different members.

In reviewing the meeting I noticed I made assumptions and did not have good answers to questions. It also sounded like Marcin was expecting more detailed analysis of the machine function where I had focused on just getting the VBOM parts listed and linked and only delved into functionality where necessary for part spec determination. While daily work logs on the wiki could be made a concise guide for a quick scrum stand-up presentation in some cases the everyone gets a slide model could be better. Slides allow more real-time interactive collaboration. Particularly in the case where multiple people are working together on the same project using a slide to present work may be more efficient.

Overall I'd say flexibility for devs to present different types of work will be useful. A summary of work and potential dependencies may be best presented a variety of methods audio and diagrams, with live video screen sharing in hangouts or edited youtube clips with followup discussion on hangouts. Encouraging Dev team members to prepare summaries before the meeting will lead to more concise clear presentations and thinking about what it is critical to inform the rest of the team about. If documentation of work is integrated into daily workflow it will not waste time, but increase efficiency as priorities and potential hangups are constantly evaluated as work is committed.

Found manual for mypin PID, but not a lot of detailed user instructions in there. http://www.mypinchina.com/uploadfiles/201161494651265.pdf

3hrs

Mon May 15, 2017

preparation and meeting.

Meeting reminded how OSE is an education-focused organization and scrum standup is essentially the same for the purposes of educating other team members. I am thinking the log should be organized to document work and serve as an outline to aid in presenting a clear concise scrum standup. The team needs to know what each member is focused on especially when spread out on different tasks where the interdependencies aren't as obvious. Because eventually, all the parts come together to make one machine or system and we need to consider the big picture early and often. I'm constantly reconsidering priorities on the VBOM because I find I've had to go a lot more in-depth and learn the much of the extruder build process just to understand the parts I need to search for the sources. I was hoping to move on to the FreeCAD soon, but having thorough initial documentation is critical to reducing unknowns and questions later on.

I like to take time on meeting day to review and think about processes and critique what I did and how. Also to review what others have done and check up on the discussion on the network for anything I've missed or might add ideas to.

I think the idea of OSE being an educational organization should be taken further into the teamwork and scrum standup. Suggestions have been improving meeting flow and progress is visible, but critical feedback comments continue to be about process protocols, learning curves, lack of best practices and curricula. Therefore, I am thinking about how to improve scrum standup with a focus on documenting work for a quick presentation to educate the team with interdependencies they may need to know for their work. Giving a presentation during the meeting may make it long, but if devs do more pre-meeting prep or design logs as outlined for scrum stand up it will be easier. One other issue I see is audio though. It is often difficult to hear different devs in the meeting and this likely varies for each meeting, member, and network conditions. I was thinking we could do pre-meeting standup videos, but that may reduce interaction and discussion while increasing time. Perhaps each member could record their audio/video for their scrum standup as a backup during the meeting though. I've often been poorly prepared for the meetings, late with time sheet, slow reconfiguring my mic/audio and forgetting to record a backup on my end. These things need to be made easier and prioritized. I'm also trying to think about how I can create educational media to teach others as I learn and do work. If these goals can be integrated into workflow they will be easier and take less time avoiding the cost-benefit curves of documentation versus getting work done. Standardized templates are not always the right fit either. Different work tasks and individual styles need flexibility in presentation. So I think many of these issues need to be taught to new members so they can actively think about how to solve and apply them as they work.

Continued work on VBOM.

As I finish the Extruder part and move on to the winder VBOM I'm also thinking I could record some video of work and for some instructional to add to intro educational material to aid new devs. The efficiency of audio/video versus wiki/doc text, but many people prefer videos. I think a general review of VBOM tasks and google docs might be helpful. Reviewing how work tasks are done for purposes of educating others helps focus priorities and best practices for workflow as well.

3hrs

Sat May 13, 2017

Continued work on VBOM. Nearly finished with the extruder parts, specs and links. https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/1kcEn6w5-6LOj8CaTewjwlmbjYgZwqZvZFs41FcPaXug/edit?ts=590d4fa9#slide=id.g21ab097799_0_62

Fri May 12, 2017

I think I resolved the technical difficulties with my aging dGPU by removing it and using the newer iGPU.

Continued organizing the VBOM. Figured out typos and other confusion from the PDF by studying the steps more thoroughly. Some of the product ID #'s like form McM-C are no longer valid, so finding and using actual specs for general searches on sites like eBay and amazon rather than direct links will be the more useful method long term. Probably important to consider how supplies need to be ordered in bulk for workshops and from more local suppliers in bulk when possible. Links and supply prices change quickly so further research likely has to be done prior to orders anyway. Lots of DIY hand/shop work in the build process that probably needs to be done pre-production to simplify workshop assembly and might be automated or designed out in future prototypes.

Thurs May 11, 2017

Just noticed I seem to have lost some log data from Tuesday. Perhaps caused by hardware/software glitches I've had since changing to my desktop. Probably GPU lockups requiring occasional hard resets.

I have been continuing work on the VBOM and I am close to getting all the hardware parts listed in it, but need more organization and research on several components to verify specs such as power and materials in order to shop for ideal parts.

Mon May 8, 2017

Meeting.

Extruder VBOM

Sun May 7, 2017

Continued Extruder VBOM. Looks like I am over half way through the list excluding plastic parts. Should go faster now that I'm more familiar with the parts and project, but some parts need more thorough review to get the basic specs down so more shopping can be done for new sources. I also need to organize the visuals in a more useful manner.

Sat May 6, 2017

Progress on Extruder Visual BOM

4 hrs

Fri May 5, 2017

While working on redrawing the Lyman extruder parts in FreeCAD a few things have occurred to me. One, it would be great if there was a plugin for FreeCAD that could attempt to draw new shapes based on the approximation of an STL. I imagine this might be possible to do in python. Two, any optimizations to shapes should be made now while redrawing. Looking at the extruder filament winder disc shape I was wondering if there might be a stronger part pattern that uses less material and maybe prints faster. Would a honeycomb hole pattern be better or would that slow printing with complex motions. If the idea is to mass print parts with low res (large nozzles) and fiber reinforced plastic there may be an ideal minimal pattern for maximizing print speed and part strength.

http://network.opensourceecology.org/newsfeed/707295417586425865

Watched/listened to Jose and Marcin's YT video on Lean Scaling. I probably didn't catch everything, but it was interesting.

Got side tracked with a Linux and hardware issue, but I think I got it all fixed now. I see ubuntu is installing a freecad update too. Hopefully, I'll have better performance all around.

I need to consider the cheap 3D printer options and comment on the network.

Examining docs from Marcin and reprioritizing on the extruder.

Thurs May 4, 2017

Working with filament winder STL files in freecad. Conversion of STL's to normal geometry is imperfect at best. Simple files look ok, but are not ideal to work with in every way. I think redrawing the pasrts while time consuming will be better long term.

https://youtu.be/En44XRzCGmk

Tested upload of video recording using oggvorbis audio with 8fps libx264 video. I thought YT had dropped the audio, but it did not, which is fantastic for uploading small video files.

https://youtu.be/ESze2HZgBWM

http://network.opensourceecology.org/groups/profile/706569168643694602/activity

2 hrs

Wed May 3, 2017

Speed reviewed meeting on YT.

Attempted to create Extruder work group on network, but I am not sure it is working right.

Continuing to review Lyman docs and researching easiest methods to convert the existing printer files to FreeCAD.

I just noticed the Lyman extruder spooler is licensed under http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-sa/3.0/ and not exactly per OSE guidelines Open Source Ecology:Copyright.

This means the existing Lyman parts can not be replicated commercially, which I think conflicts with OSE's Distributive Enterprise goals. I think OSE files derived from the original work can be made per OSE Guidelines, but not being a lawyer I'm not sure I understand derivative works and separate licensing.

2hrs

Tues May 2, 2017

Examining Lyman files in more detail.

Mon May 1, 2017

Meeting.

Found and downloaded the Lyman files. Watched the YT video of v6 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H6h1yDzoPMU. I had been assuming we were going to have to redesign something similar to the bioplastic extruder, but it looks like the Lyman extruder is complete and open source.

2hrs