An Elegant 3d Printer Design

Large_Image_1024x1024The math is a bit trickier. But, hey, at least there are no moving parts to wear out in isomorphism. Whether you’re printing human organs or wall sections for building construction, chances are you’ve spent some time thinking about a gantry system. All things considered, a Rostock based 3d printer inspires through a performance that can only be described as graceful.

It stems from the open-source design philosophy and has a dedicated following of innovators together with a huge collection of ready designs courtesy of Thingiverse. If you’re ready to explore the world of desktop manufacturing, take a closer look as you consider the source.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

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When we align our objectives with the Divine will, when we strive for the attainment of a worthy goal, when we begin our work with a well defined plan, and when we have ability to work together with others effectively, we have already achieved the trajectory for success. For we know that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Learn how to enjoy boundless opportunity and unlimited progress!


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Re-inventing the Wheel

SpokeStyles_preview_featuredIf you’ve never explored the Thingiverse, perhaps the best place to start is with the wheel. This is very highly customizable wheel in the way of an OpenSCAD file with 46 parameters that provides a limitless set of combinations and wheel designs. In addition to the spoke options you see here, ou can select tread designs, hub designs, tires, etc.

It can be wide, narrow, big, little, fat hub, skinny hub, no hub, through-hole, servo arm mounted, chamfered, multi-tire, modeled tread, optical encoder-slotted, and more. It even accommodates stretched o-ring tires. It just can’t be square, because our sources tell us that won’t roll well. The code is extensively documented, and traces out helpful information about the geometry of the wheel/tire, as well as encoder slot metrics.

OpenSCAD is a free software application for creating solid 3D CAD objects. It is not an interactive modeler, but rather a 3D-compiler. OpenSCAD reads from a script and then renders a 3D model. OpenSCAD is available for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X. It does constructive solid geometry (CSG). OpenSCAD can also extrude forms from AutoCAD DXF files.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

abstract-rainbow

When we align our objectives with the Divine will, when we strive for the attainment of a worthy goal, when we begin our work with a well defined plan, and when we have ability to work together with others effectively, we have already achieved the trajectory for success. For we know that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Learn how to enjoy boundless opportunity and unlimited progress!




3D Printing – The First Snort is Free

It’s been selling all of us overpriced ink and toner for decades now, while basically giving its printers away. It plans to do the same thing with 3D printers by making them compatible only with proprietary spools and filaments. HP recently told the press that it has already developed a special polymer that its 3D printer prototype uses. If you want to use a Hewlett Packard 3D printer, you will have to buy and use that polymer. HP will then be able to own the market by dropping the price of its printers. The industry will hate it and stockholders will love it. People will buy the printer if it’s easy to use.

This approach contrasts with the home based recycling model pioneered by Filabot. This crowd financed effort will help all of us to recycle whatever plastic is laying around, for unending creativity, while greatly reducing the municipal waste stream.

This is another one of those opportunities for Consumer Sovereignty assert itself, to come of age and open the so-called free marketplace for real.




As Tiny Houses Go, Try Whimsical.

CuteTinyHouse

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Move over C.S. Lewis. You’ve got competition now J.R.R Tolkien. This tiny home studio is one truly inspirational abode for the aspirational writer. Heck, even I could churn out readable stuff from a home like this! The builder describes it as a Whimsical Day Use Shop, Potting Shed or Hideout. But, they must have never met a card-carrying member of the tiny house movement. I know plenty of tree huggers, like myself, that could make this work as a primary residence. This particular model is from a line of Storybook Homes. BC Custom Homes offers the following description:

The exterior finish is predominately stucco, often rough troweled, and frequently with half-timbering. Exteriors also feature rubble stone, crazed brick, or clinker brick; all-stone, all-brick, and all-wood construction are sometimes used. Turrets with conical roofs are a common feature, as are faux dovecotes. Walls can be sloped or curving, hand made or organic looking; wing walls are not uncommon.

Rooflines are usually curved in some way—swaybacked, sagged, concave, undulating or sharply pointed; gables are usually jerkinhead or very sharply pointed; eaves are often rolled; use of catslides is common. Roofs are commonly finished with wooden shingles, wooden shakes, or slate laid down in a seawave or other intentionally irregular pattern; though the original materials have frequently been replaced over time, the irregular pattern is sometimes imitated in the more modern material.
Round-topped or batten, often with a speakeasy – doors are frequently set in an arched frame lined with stone; when a turret is present, the building’s front door typically opens into this. Windows are usually wood-framed with leaded or wavy glass installed; figural insets of stained glass are not uncommon. Wrought iron door hinges, handles, knockers, and locksets are common, as are other wrought iron embellishments.

Most Storybook Homes are fairly small and are based upon a fanciful interpretation of medieval European homes, or traditional English cottage style. Larger storybook homes are often constructed to appear as though built up gradually over time, one addition at a time, or built primarily out of stone with battlements and turrets to resemble a castle.
As befits their faux-rural heritage, many storybook homes are surrounded by trees and shrubbery. The greenery can conceal many homes from the casual observer, and reflect the ‘cottage in the woods’ setting of many homes in storybooks.

― Bob Kalk

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

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“The foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head,” and so it is today for many of his followers. Despite all the warnings about the snares laid by moneylenders, despite the fact that gage mort is literally translated as a pledge to give up one’s life, millions have lost their homes through mortgage exploits, and their quality of life through the service of debt.

Find Out How to Get Your Life Back!




The Most Insidious Symbioses

The United States is the world’s largest grower and consumer of genetically-modified (GM) foods. As of 2010, the United States had 66.8 million hectares of GM crops planted, covering 16.5 percent of our total agricultural area. Because GM foods are made with proteins from organisms that weren’t previously part of the food chain, GM foods have caused allergic reactions in children several years after these foods were made available for public consumption. Additionally, genetically modifying food can result in disease-causing bacteria becoming resistant to antibiotics, leading to widespread food-borne illnesses.
As Americans eat GM foods and get sick, they rely on drugs made by pharmaceutical companies to get well. The relationship between Monsanto, a chief grower of GM crops, and Pfizer, one of the world’s largest prescription drug manufacturers, is insidious. According to Monsanto’s own website, prior to September 1, 1997, the Monsanto Company owned a pharmaceuticals business that later became known as Pharmacia, which is now a wholly-owned subsidiary of Pfizer. Both companies are heavily invested in growing food that makes people sick when they eat it, and selling sick people the drugs to treat those health conditions.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

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In the beginning was the Word, and the Word choreographed an assembly of amino acids into an exquisite array of specific proteins. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” In so doing God demonstrated a penchant for genomic writing, preceeded by an amazing series of prebiotic events, in a highly orchestrated presentation of evolutionary overcontrol.

More about God’s Handiwork!




Ag-gag — When the Law is an Ass

North Dakota, Montana and Kansas were the first to embark on what is known as Ag Gag back in 1990-91. Three more states elected to impair the First Amendment in 2012 when Iowa, Utah, and Missouri lost their independence to big-agri. The Humane Society of the United States (HSUS), Mercy for Animals, The American Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals (ASPCA) and People for Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) say ag-gag bills suppress their whistleblower activities, which often result in criminal convictions for animal cruelty. The six states listed above have clearly defined themselves as protectorates of the criminal class.

This legislative season, the animal groups enlisted a broader coalition of interests against the bill, from country stars in Tennessee to journalistic organizations in Washington D.C. In the end, they’d killed bills in Arkansas, California, Indiana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, New Mexico, North Carolina, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Vermont and Wyoming.

“Ag-gag legislation threatens a wide array of public interests—including animal welfare and food safety—by silencing the very people in a position to document abuse,” said Nancy Perry, senior vice president of ASPCA Government Relations. ”We hope the defeat of these 11 bills encourages lawmakers to shift their focus toward achieving accountability for those who are inflicting abuse on animals and putting consumers at risk instead of focusing on misleading efforts to suppress whistleblowers who want to expose those problems.”

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

abstract-rainbow

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word choreographed an assembly of amino acids into an exquisite array of specific proteins. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” In so doing God demonstrated a penchant for genomic writing, preceeded by an amazing series of prebiotic events, in a highly orchestrated presentation of evolutionary overcontrol.

More about God’s Handiwork!




The Vesper Casa

Another example of Pure Salvage Living from Tiny Texas Houses. The Vesper Casa has a balcony and many repurposed amenities . Take the video tour and spark your imagine.




HVDC — High Voltage Direct Current

HVDC+valve+hallThe company that commissioned the world’s first 800 kilovolt UHVDC systems, the longest overhead HVDC link to go into commercial operation, and the world’s longest underwater and underground HVDC links, is now writing the next chapter in the evolution of this technology.

ABB has successfully designed and developed a hybrid DC breaker after years of research, functional testing, and simulation in the R&D laboratories. This breaker is a breakthrough that solves a technical challenge that has been unresolved for over a hundred years and was perhaps one of the main influencers in the ‘war of currents‘ outcome. The ‘hybrid’ breaker combines mechanical and power electronics switching that enables it to interrupt power flows equivalent to the output of a nuclear power station within 5 milliseconds – that’s as fast as a honey bee takes per flap of its wing – and more than 30 times faster than the reaction time of an Olympic 100-meter medalist to react to the starter’s gun!

The challenge was to do it ‘ultra-fast’ with minimal operational losses and this has been achieved by combining advanced ultrafast mechanical actuators with ABB’s inhouse semiconductor IGBT valve technologies or power electronics.

The new breaker is a ‘game changer’. It removes a significant stumbling block in the development of HVDC transmission grids. These grids will enable interconnection and load balancing between HVDC power superhighways integrating renewables and transporting bulk power across long distances with minimal losses. DC grids will enable sharing of resources like lines and converter stations that provides reliability and redundancy in a power network in an economically viable manner with minimal losses. It will enable the transmission system to maintain power flow even if there is a fault on one of the lines.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

abstract-rainbow

When we align our objectives with the Divine will, when we strive for the attainment of a worthy goal, when we begin our work with a well defined plan, and when we have ability to work together with others effectively, we have already achieved the trajectory for success. For we know that “all things work together for good to them that love God, to them who are the called according to his purpose.”

Learn how to enjoy boundless opportunity and unlimited progress!




Tiny Home – Japanese Style

A teacher built a tiny house in the forest. Brian Schulz recently completed his forest house in the Oregon Woods. He built the home himself, and the design and concept of it were inspired by the traditional Japanese Minka homes, which are built using local materials and steeply sloped roofs to create affordable, open structures. For his house, Schulz used salvaged materials, along with those sourced from within 10 miles of his new home.

The finished tiny house is a 14-by-16-foot home, which coexists perfectly with its woodland surroundings. It cost only $11,000 to build, which was mostly spent on concrete, shakes and insulation. Schulz, who teaches traditional wood kayak building for a living, completed the house in about a year and a half, working in his spare time.

Schulz salvaged a lot of the wood he used to build the house from the bay while kayaking, which he then milled on-site by himself. For the corner posts he repurposed blowdown trees from a friend’s forest. Inside the house, the kitchen counters were milled from a fallen tree he’d collected and kept for 8 years, while the stair railing is made from alder poles that were cut from beside the house.

There are three tables in the house, which were all cut from cedar found on the beach and made in 2 hours. The flooring was made from low-grade reject fir, and using various bits of scrap wood for the trimmings. The house also has several large windows, which Shultz purchased for $40 from the local dump.

The home is also fitted with several traditional Japanese lanterns made from paper that was handmade only 7 miles from his home. Using only recycled or repurposed materials to build his home was about more than just saving money for Schultz. The Minka tradition that inspired him to build the home holds that by turning a log from beside the house into the house itself gives the house certain mystical qualities. But Schultz thinks that even if this is not something you believe, the search for local materials from which to build the home nevertheless connects a person more deeply to the world around them.

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

abstract-rainbow

“The foxes have holes, and the birds of heaven have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head,” and so it is today for many of his followers. Despite all the warnings about the snares laid by moneylenders, despite the fact that gage mort is literally translated as a pledge to give up one’s life, millions have lost their homes through mortgage exploits, and their quality of life through the service of debt.

Find Out How to Get Your Life Back!

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Beehive in a Jar

Beehive in a JarHave the rows of organic honey jars at the farmers market got you thinking about starting your own backyard beehive? If you live in a suburban area, you may think that starting a beehive cannot be done. However a common suburban backyard can be a perfect place for beehives if done correctly and you do a bit of research and planning before ordering your bees and supplies. It is actually a very simple and easy process with the right tools.

Mason jars are a staple of the self-sufficient lifestyle. They can be used to serve, grow, or preserve many things, but this is the first time we’ve seen them used as a home for honey bees. It’s easy to turn some scrap wood and quart-sized big mouth jars into unique hives that allow you to watch the bees as they bottle your honey!

Consider the Source

 Consider the First Source!

abstract-rainbow

In the beginning was the Word, and the Word choreographed an assembly of amino acids into an exquisite array of specific proteins. Then God said, “I give you every seed-bearing plant on the face of the whole earth and every tree that has fruit with seed in it. They will be yours for food.” In so doing God demonstrated a penchant for genomic writing, preceeded by an amazing series of prebiotic events, in a highly orchestrated presentation of evolutionary overcontrol.

More about God’s Handiwork!