Review of 2014

RE: Review of 2014

shabaz — Fri, 02 Jan 2015 16:37:45 GMT

That clock is fascinating.

You know, printing custom Thomas the Tank Engine train-track pieces would appear to be a "killer app" for the 3D printer world : ) The desired curve is always the piece one doesn't have.

RE: Review of 2014

Workshopshed — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 18:04:27 GMT

It's easy to loose motivation, a couple of bad problems followed by a busy period at work and you'll find two months have passed without making any progress. My big mantra for this year was "One thing at a time". The reason for that is that I've a big pile of unfinished projects in the corner of the shed. The clock was a big job so I had to stay focused on getting it to a suitable level of completeness. I was very glad to outsource the numbers to a laser company as that job alone could have taken weeks to get right.

Blogging does take a lot of time but I can research and write most articles in less time than it takes me to get to the office (90-120mins).

My animation blog pretty much died when I stopped doing animation. The problem being that animation as a hobby is a pretty much solitary affair so getting married and having a family put a stop to that. The "Workshopshed" was originally setup to make parts for animation such as metal armatures or sets but it's never actually been used for anything like that.

I've got back into electronics and software a little over the last couple of years because I can't babysit from the shed where as I can babysit from a desk in the lounge or the kitchen table with a soldering iron. The killer for the Stirling Engine project will be shed time rather than too many technical problems although I do plan to cast some parts so that might be a bit weather dependant.

I think all of the projects I've seen from the Top Members think year have been fantastic as have many of the others from around Element14. It's nice to hang our with people minions who think the same way as I do.

RE: Review of 2014

ntewinkel — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 17:31:33 GMT

Wow! Great work, Andy!!

I don't have much to show for this year in terms of finished projects, but I feel pretty good about the amount of tinkering I was able to get in. And while my greenhouse was a flop, it wasn't due to my Arduino based automatic watering system. I learned a valuable lesson about fertilizers this year [View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-a53d6871-fc55-4beb-9447-9a2112654700/contentimage_5F00_3.png:16:16]

I do still at some point want to create a fun project like your Topsy turvy clock.

RE: Review of 2014

Problemchild — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 17:11:36 GMT

Andy how you getting on with your 3d Printer ?

I've got a load of replacement bits from China so will be comparing how they work against the originals.

It took longer for my Ultimaker bits from Amsterdam to come than from China and they were 3-5 times the price!!

RE: Review of 2014

Workshopshed — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 12:40:25 GMT

And the other thing I nearly forgot was to have a play with the Raspberry Pi that Element14 sent me with the Cypress kit.

RE: Review of 2014

mcb1 — Wed, 31 Dec 2014 11:59:41 GMT

Nice summary.

Makes you realise how much you have (or haven't) achieved over the year ...despite the best intentions.[View:/resized-image/__size/16x16/__key/commentfiles/f7d226abd59f475c9d224a79e3f0ec07-a53d6871-fc55-4beb-9447-9a2112654700/contentimage_5F00_938.png:16:16]

I gave up making promises and resolutions as I never seemed to be able to stick with them.

It tends to be the same with projects and new boards ... any spare time gets taken by other things.

Mark