BillySmith

Since the relase of FreeCAD 1.0 in November 2024, i’ve been experimenting with the new software. :D

One colleague asked me if i could find a way of creating a 3d-printable stamp that they could use for analogue printing, and sent me the text that they wanted to use.

So i’ve been experimenting with the Import functions that FreeCAD has for the last 4 weeks. :D

I've finally worked out one method of importing the text into FreeCAD, but it's convoluted... :person_facepalming: :D

Creating a short write-up here, both to remember how i did it, and, to see if someone else has found a simpler method. :D

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The initial process i was using came from the help-files here:

https://wiki.freecad.org/Import_text_and_geometry_from_Inkscape/en

While this was written for Inkscape 0.91 and FreeCAD 0.16, i was using Inkscape 1.2, and FreeCAD 1.0, so there will probably be differences that i haven’t come across yet.

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Learning the basics of using Inkscape was another tangent, and i haven’t gone beyond the basic functionality of this software.

I had to use Inkscape as a conversion tool, by first C&P’ing the text into an Inkscape Text Object, then transforming the Text Object, to Path Objects, so the shape of the font will be retained when importing into FreeCAD.

Ungroup all of the Path Objects, so that each Path Object will import into FreeCAD as a separate data structure, rather than as a single lump. :D

Save the Inkscape file in a Plain SVG format, to have a cleaner Import to FreeCAD.

Open the Inkscape file using FreeCAD, then remove the unwanted extra lines that Inkscape inserts, ( Still trying to work out how to not insert those within Inkscape... Another learning experience to explore later… :D )

Then in FreeCAD, you will see that all of the characters are now imported as Inkscape Path objects. Note that each character with hollows, eg. the character “B”, will have more than one Path object for the complete character, as the internal lines for the holes are saved as separate Path Objects.

Change to the Draft Workbench. Using the Tree View panel, select all of the Path Objects, and use the Modification Menu —> Upgrade function, to change the Inkscape Path Objects into FreeCAD Face Objects.

( The Modification Menu also has some of the transforms such as movement, but i haven’t yet tested out the optimum ordering of the different steps involved. )

Change to the Part Design Workbench.

Create a Body Object that will contain all of the printable structures.

Use the Part Design Menu —> Create A Shapebinder to create a Shapebinder Object for each separate Face Object. Note that you’ll have to keep track of which hollow face goes with which character, so the hollows match correctly.

With the Body Object selected in the Tree Menu Panel, i used the Create A New Sketch function, to add in a rectangle that would act as the main structure for the stamp. I then used the Pad function on the Sketch to add the printable thickness for the structure. I used a Pad upwards of 3mm.

Then after rotating viewpoint in FreeCAD, so i’m looking at the Body from the underneath, i used the Pad function to extrude the Shapebinder Object for the external shape of the character, and used the Pocket function on the Shapebinder Objects created for the hollows. When i set the Shapebinder Pads and Pockets to the same values, it came out cleanly.

The Pad for the Shapebinder objects needs to be done for every character you want to use in the stamp.

While this methods work, it feels like a very brute-force approach towards using FreeCAD.

If you have worked out a more effective way of doing things, please let me know… :D

Another chewy video from YT:

It shows the process of creating tatami mats from the harvesting of the reeds to the weaving and binding of the mats. :D

All of the processes shown in this vid, even though they are on the small-scale industrial, ( a tangent for another occasion :D ), all of the processes were originally done by hand.

Compare the early versions of hand-based weaving by drop-looms, and compare with the newer ( 1750's onwards ) flat-looms, and the difference in production levels is staggering. These processes are no different.

The process-flow is dictated by the materials being used, as there is only so much time after harvesting before the reeds become too hard to work, similar to green wood like willow. ( Another marsh plant. :D )

But the difference in how many people were needed before the mechanisation took place is staggering.

Also, look at the designs of the machinery used. They are all made from stock components from the supply-chains, so are completely repairable. :D

It's a very 1950's machine design approach. :D

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More to chew over… :D

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Edit:

When looking at the final mat weaving, and i realised that the tool the tatami-maker is using to sew the reinforcers to bind the edges, is very similar to the sewing tools used by sailors, fishers, and, sail-makers. :D

Whether it’s sewing sails, or mending nets, or, making straw mats, they all have a need for pushing a large needle through thick sheet materials. :D

The shape of the blades used to trim the straw stands out as well.

Watching the process, the tatami-maker uses different parts of the blade for specific steps in the process of making the mat, and the blade will have been designed for these purposes. :D

Chewy. :D

One of the exercises i have been trying to use, is to have more than one explanation for any phenomena taking place.

When something is happening, there can be a variety of causes, each of which may be likely when operating from incomplete information.

Each of those potential causes has a percentage chance of being true, but until you know for definite, then you have to model all of them, as being potentially real, allbeith with proportional odds of existing.

Note that with a multi-model approach, the combined percentage chances will accumulate to more than 100%, as more than one thing can be true at the same time. :D

Related models, and, allied models, that share the same axioms may be true at the same time, as they all evolve from the same base conditions, but opposing models can be true at the same time as well, due to the potential “internal conflicts”.

Hodge becoming Podge. :D

More to chew over…

I just received a mailshot about another “masterclass”.

This time they’re including, the use of AI “to understand how you can craft highly effective prompts to write the fastest and most efficient grant application possible.”

This is the same part of the Technology Life-Cycle as the classes offered in late-1999/early-2000’s, in “How to improve your Google-Fu“, or “Crafting The Perfect Search-Term”.

In a generation or so, it’ll seem misguided and quaint. :D

I came across the “Digital Business Academy” website when working near Shoreditch.

While there is a number of other stories attached to this project, one of the main narratives that stands out can be gleaned from these 3 web captures. :D

1. https://web.archive.org/web/20150405004911/http://digitalbusinessacademy.com:80/

2. https://web.archive.org/web/20150801064303/http://digitalbusinessacademy.com/

3. https://web.archive.org/web/20171230054929/http://digitalbusinessacademy.com:80/

Note the sales pitch in the last capture. :D

Adding this post here so if Discord has any issues, the conversations aren’t lost.

The people from Sensorica are talking with some partner organisations about a project based in France. :D

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To recap/record from the earlier conversation with @tiberius_b

One of the partner organisations mentioned in the above doc, is the French chapter of Open Source Ecology:

http://www.opensourceecologie.org/

The main project can be found here:

https://www.opensourceecology.org/

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One of the main design tools that OSE uses is FreeCAD:

https://www.freecad.org/

FreeCAD uses a Workbench system for grouping the various toolsets together, so that the tools relating to a specific set of tasks are made available for focused use.

https://wiki.freecad.org/Workbenches

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The OSE approach towards this capability has been to create a Workbench that can be installed as a separate plug-in:

https://wiki.opensourceecology.org/wiki/OSE_FreeCAD_Workbenches

The nicest example (IMO) of how a group can create a Workbench for their own use can be found here:

https://wiki.opensourceecology.org/wiki/OSE_Piping_Workbench

It's a Workbench that is focused on plumbing systems and piping, that contains a wide range of parts that are fully compliant with the USA industrial standards, and the USA building codes. :D

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This was used as part of their Seed Home project via the Open Building Institute:

https://www.openbuildinginstitute.org/

This has fully-open-sourced designs for buildings that are compliant with the most stringent of the USA building codes. :D

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An excellent introduction to the overall use of FreeCAD can be found here:

The first video is an excellent introduction to this software. :D

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Also, just found that there's a new release, 0.21.2 :D

More new things to explore. :D

This is an extension of one of the conversations taking place in the Sensorica Discord server. Due to the limits of the Discord client, this reply became too long for that medium, so I’m replying here as part of the conversation.

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“However, as well as meeting the technical challenges how can the local context of agents in place-based scenarios also factor into the user-driven development?”

- This is a very chewy question. :D

- There are a wide number of ways that you can generate energy from a given area of space. I say “space” rather than “land”, so it can cover marine-based systems as well. There's already the local infrastructure networks in place, as most fishing ports have a maintenance-depot/boat-yard in place already. This gives another extension to the potential range of strategic partners for the overall network, as well as an improved range of potential skill-sets that the network would have access to. :D

- NB: Land-based systems & marine-based systems, while using similar tool-sets, require differing levels of precision, and, durability, of the resulting products. Land-based systems can be designed to be cheaper, meaning less durable, as the energy-cost required to go out to repair them is way less expensive, and, less dangerous than marine systems. :D

- Each area of space has a different range of parameters that will affect the local optima for energy generation. Locally-manufacturable monitoring systems to measure those will be a basic requirement that can be done using a fablab's range of equipment. Weather-station kit's are used to teach basic electronics skills, so an OSHW design for a weather-station would be an effective teaching tool, that would also provide direct data for use in building future systems. :D

- The databases required to receive and collate that data could be another locally-hosted service, with distributed back-up's as well as distributed data-sharing. That the databases would be on a FLOSS-stack is obvious, as it makes the distribution simpler.

- Making the resulting datasets only available under a GPL licence is another obvious step. This blocks bad actors as it explicitly codifies the implicit bargain that you only get to use the base data legally, if you share your data, and you share your results.

- The quid pro quo is that each member of the network gets the benefit of their own work, whilst sharing the results of the work created by everyone else. :D

”Hand washes hand, and we all rise together.” :D

While i haven’t picked up the fiddle in a few years, i’m still good at improvising and playing by ear, though these days i use different means of expression to use those skills.

One of the most important things to listen for is the base notes.

Every chord has a different range of notes that distinguish that chord from all of the other chords out there.

With the simplest chords, it’s three different tones that define the chord, and by extension shapes the chords that you can next change to.

When you start with a basic three-tone chord, you have a root note that is the base tone that everything else flows from. The other tones in the chord are all used relative to the root note.

Once you have internalised the basic chord patterns, as soon as you know which note is the root note for that chord, it becomes simple to shape the flavour of that chord.

Add one note and you get a brighter-sounding chord, but add a different note, and you get a more melancholy feel.

This shapes the overall range of the next-potential-chord that the overall melody can move to. This is used to great effect when jamming, but this approach has other uses.

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When modelling analogue systems in a digital form, we only ever express the analogue systems in an approximate form, that is limited by the granularity of the digital system.

Yes, digital systems are capable of great accuracy when making calculations, but they are limited by being made from switches that are either on or off. There will always be discrete edges where the changes take place, and those are noticeable to the trained senses, and, useful to skilled practitioners.

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More to follow…

Another timeslip in progress. :D

It is said that you never really die until the last echo of your actions stops ringing through the universe.

This means that every time we do anything, we are affirming the immortality of the first monkey to bang two rocks together to see what it would do. :D

I was looking for some reference material about the Tao, and came across a book called the “Chao Te Ching”.

While i have only started reading it, Chapter 2 had some words of wisdom that i have been living for years. :D

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When the people of the world all know Order as Order,

there arises the recognition of Disorder.

When they know there is such a thing as Illusion,

there arises the idea of Reality.

Therefore Order and Disorder produce each other,

Reality and Illusion trick each other,

Authority and Freedom define each other,

Love and Hate fuck each other.

So the wise spags look for balance,

and stick their wrench into the Machine™.

They organize, but they do not Order.

They break apart, but they do not Disorder.

They act, but they Keep Their Fucking Mouths Shut.

And so are able to act again.

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Edit: Thinking more about this, and it’s incomplete.