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Good Sunday morning! It's 55°F and mostly clear.🌤️
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Have a great day! ;)
 
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Bruette said:
And we have yet to see the Nightmare Before Christmas. Maybe this year, I don't like the title of that movie.
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It's worth your time to watch, but it's more of a fun halloween romp, than a Christmas movie. Watch it in Oct. It's only scary to little kids. Some adultish themes, but nothing I wouldn't block a 10 year old from seeing.

Well, howdy there internet peeps, and those waiting on the wine by the box trucks to head to DC.

It's Troy again

Today is game store day. No clue what will happen there. I've begun painting the old Roman Undead Legions. Here they are in "Zenithal Primed" state, before applying speed paints.

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I glued a few shield on upside down. If my opponents complain about it, I'll remind him they legions are undead. Their memories are a bit janky.
 
insomniville said:
The obvious answers that I know of (assuming you want free software) are FreeCAD or OpenSCAD.

FreeCAD as of 1.0 is... usable. It's been... over a year, I think, since I've updated (or even used it), so they've probably knocked a lot of bugs out by now. It takes a bit of mindset adjustment, but it does work pretty well, all things considered, and there are lots of YouTube videos to teach you how to use it. Supports output to STL, of course. It's been too long for me to remember what else it supports.

OpenSCAD is what I like to think of as "CAD for programmers"; this is what I mostly use. You write code to create your objects, by adding and subtracting geometry bits. For example:

$fn = 100; // Make sure circles are high resolution
function inches(x) = (x * 25.4);
difference() {
cylinder(d = inches(2), h = inches(1));
cylinder(d = inches(1), h = inches(1));
}

This will create a 1" tall pipe with a 2" outer diameter and a 1" inner diameter, assuming that you're working in millimeters (which I do, since most slicers use millimeters by default).

The simplicity is deceptive, though; it is *NOT* that simple in practice. That little purple bridge from the other day? 112 lines of OpenSCAD code, of which only around twenty are for variables (such as the number of bores, tunnel height, ...); if you want to see it, I can easily throw it out for you to look at.

You can export as STL, 3MF, or any number of other formats. If you know what you're doing, you can even create multi-material 3MF's if you have an AMS-style system for your printer. That's a bit advanced, though, and far from perfect.

Needless to say, there is a steep learning curve, especially if your brain isn't compatible with programming, or so I figure. It works for me because I've been programming for a long time and I can visualize that kind of geometry in my head, so long as I have the patience at the time.

WARNING: You will likely need to know your trigonometry if you go there to any great degree. That's one thing I struggle with because it's been so long since I had it in school (and I was good at it back then!). Google is my friend, and calculating angles and the lengths of triangle sides is certainly not, at least not anymore.

But I digress...

If you want to go with commercial "free tier" stuff, OnShape or the Autodesk one whose name is currently escaping me for some reason (Fusion, maybe?), both offer free hobbyist solutions I think. They're both tied to the web, though -- and OnShape I think is entirely web based -- so you can potentially end up in the same boat all over again somewhere down the line.

I've also heard of TinkerCAD, but I know nothing about it.

And thus ends my CAD-related brain dump.

Hope it helps. :)

[edit: yeah, it's late. I missed the bit about importing being a primary use case the first time through. OpenSCAD won't help you with that at all, and I doubt that FreeCAD will do much for you there either. Not sure about the commercial options. I'll leave this here anyway, just in case it's still helpful.]
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I have been playing with tinkercad, freecad and fusion. Been watching the computer voice videos and getting nowhere with freecad so far. I can import, do all the steps to make the stl file editable, and then not be able to do anything with it. Tinkercad has been the most useful so far. I can put a box somewhere and delete stuff with it. That's about it. Fusion I was able to make holes in an existing fusion file that someone had given me. If it was an stl, then stuck again with not being able to do anything with it.

Onshape - i heard of this one. Will go look it up now.

As for programming, I used to be good at machine language, but those brain cells were in the back of the herd and the beer monster got them haha.

Definitely appreciate the info!
 
Kusojiji said:
Definitely appreciate the info!
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No problem!

It also occurs to me that Blender may actually be much more useful to you than most others if it will import (edit: and export!) the STL's, which I'm almost certain it will. IIRC, the UI had a bit of a learning curve last time I used it (which was almost a decade ago now I think), but it's much more oriented toward editing meshes, which seems more what you want.

I'm not actually sure how well it handles stuff like CSG-style geometry subtraction (eg. making holes in things by subtracting a cylinder); it's been too long. I definitely recommend looking into it though.

Editing STLs is almost dark magic IMO. CAD is easy if you get the source files; if all you have is an STL, "good luck" seems to the most common sentiment offered. And woe betide you if that STL has non-manifold geometry or worse issues.

Who TF comes up with terms like "non-manifold geometry"? Bah.

In any event, you might google for mesh editors rather than proper CAD programs. I can't say for certain, but you might find more useful tools for your workflow that way. :)

Either way, good luck!
 


insomniville said:
No problem!

It also occurs to me that Blender may actually be much more useful to you than most others if it will import (edit: and export!) the STL's, which I'm almost certain it will. IIRC, the UI had a bit of a learning curve last time I used it (which was almost a decade ago now I think), but it's much more oriented toward editing meshes, which seems more what you want.

I'm not actually sure how well it handles stuff like CSG-style geometry subtraction (eg. making holes in things by subtracting a cylinder); it's been too long. I definitely recommend looking into it though.

Editing STLs is almost dark magic IMO. CAD is easy if you get the source files; if all you have is an STL, "good luck" seems to the most common sentiment offered. And woe betide you if that STL has non-manifold geometry or worse issues.

Who TF comes up with terms like "non-manifold geometry"? Bah.

In any event, you might google for mesh editors rather than proper CAD programs. I can't say for certain, but you might find more useful tools for your workflow that way. :)

Either way, good luck!
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Yeah, I don't have the vocabulary for that stuff, so watching videos is confusing sometimes, most times, all times... haha

I just signed up for on-shape and just washed my hair, can't do a dang thing with it :)

Will check out blender next.

Thanks! And happy sleep hunting!
 
Good morning all!

Another really nice day in store weather wise. Currently 63F heading up to a high of 80F. Should be mostly sunny all day with
no rain chances.

Today will be the weekly grocery run. Usually do that Saturday, but we were gone all day yesterday. I also have to mow and
run the trimmer when everything dries out later this morning.

No train time yesterday, but will get back down there this afternoon and tonight.

Have a safe day everyone!
 
insomniville said:
one
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Bruette said:
The Orioles and the Cubs are playing some great baseball out there in Chicago's historic Wrigley Field. A magnificent place to play ball. Trevor Rogers pitched an impressive 8-inning complete game for the Birds in their 1-0 loss on Friday. Since Roders retuned from the Injured List, he has the best ERA of any starter in the American league! Second in MLB behind the Pirates' sensational Paul Skenes.

On Saturday it was Tomoyuki (Tommy to me, 🤪 I can't pronounce his first name) Sugano starting for my Birds. I love watching the 35-year-old master pitch. He has been struggling with his command recently, but the old master keeps my Birds in every game he pitches. What more could you ask for? My Birds rewarded his effort by scoring 4 runs in the 8th inning. It not only got Tommy off the hook for the loss, but it was also enough to top the Cubs 4-3. There aint no quit in my Birds!

Keegan Akin came in to close the door and pick up the save in Saturday's win. He made it interesting by allowing two baserunners. And needing to throw 27 pitches, but he got it done. He filled in as closer for the former Reliver of the Year, the Bird's superstar closer, "The Moutain" Felix Bautista. I have never seen a team so riddled with injuries and so many star pitchers on the Injured List.

Tommy Sugano's recent struggles with his command may have diminished his trade value. But I see that as a bonus. I'm elated that the Birds didn't trade him! Watching the master pitch will help the young guys on our pitching staff. Tommy is both a player and unofficial coach, a true mentor. He may not speak English, but watch him work, it speaks for itself. It only proves what I already knew; they play serious, high-level baseball in Japan.

Today is the rubber match between my Birds and the Cubs in this 3-game series. Brandon Young will take the hill for my Birds. His numbers don't show it, but this rookie pitcher is learning his craft and has pitched well recently. He has been watching Tommy.

The media is saying my Birds had a "fire sale" at the trade deadline. They parted ways with several established (old*) MLB players. But in return they picked more than a dozen top prospects. Also a few more prospects under the radar. Those guys are big horses who look like legitimate MLB players, you can't teach size.

* 30+ is old in today's MLB. It's a young man's game.

I like the fact that my Birds cleared some room on the MLB roster. It gives them a chance to show off what Earl Weaver liked to call "Deep Depth" My Birds have plenty in AAA to fill the void. One of those young guys, Jeremiah Jackson, had two hits in yesterday's win. Including one in the 8th inning comeback. If not for a fielder's choice he would have been on base when Gunnar Henderson hit a "Weaver", a 3-run homerun to take the lead! Earl Weaver loved the 3-run homerun. Earl's philosophy: pitching defense and the 3-run homerun. Earl would have loved this team.

My Birds may no longer be contenders. But I assure you no team will overlook my Birds on their schedule. Soon the Bird's former Ace and Cy Young candidate, Kyle Bradish will return from the Injured List. My Birds have yet to show just how good they really are. I haven't completely given up on this season. A 10-game winning streak and my Birds are right back in the hunt! You never know, why not?

Injuries derailed this season for my Birds. But with those trades at the deadline my Birds have set themselves up to be contenders next year and for many years to come. To borrow from you gun guys; my Birds are "locked and loaded"

Did I mention I love baseball? 😁
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Louis, the Brewers were a joke 6 weeks ago. An 11 game win streak righted the ship and they haven’t looked back. So yes you never know. The other thing is everyone in Baseball knew the Cubs with the most injured starting rotation couldn’t play at the pace they were going. Coming back to earth now they are 2 games back of the Brew Crew. Should be an interesting finish to the season pitching and defense will beat Offense most of the time
 
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Kusojiji said:
Toe Moe You Key

A - ahhh!
E - eh?
I - eeek
O - oh?
U - oooh (like ulala)
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Thank you, but I'll stick with Tommy 😁

My son's name is Tamas, Hungarian version of Thomas. I call him Thomas. I'm from Bawlmore hon, it how we do!

troyphoto said:
It's worth your time to watch, but it's more of a fun halloween romp, than a Christmas movie. Watch it in Oct. It's only scary to little kids. Some adultish themes, but nothing I wouldn't block a 10 year old from seeing.
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I'll take your word for it and look for it on one of the streaming services we have.
 


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