Slashdot Mirror
Build Your Robot Online
An anonymous reader writes "Ever needed a custom part for a robot, case mod or hardware hack but
lacked the tools or a machineshop to make one for you? Ever needed a custom circuit board? Well, PC Magazine's Bill Machrone writes about a few websites, Emachineshop and Pad2Pad, where you use their free software to design, price, and order anything you can design with the software. This is more useful to
slashdotters than 3D 'printing' technologies like rapid prototyping since you get real working parts. It looks like they support a number of machines and fabrication techniques beyond traditional machining, like plastic injection molding and waterjet. As Machrone says, this is empowering stuff. This is something that should ignite a creative spark to all you hardware tinkerers out there in Slashdot land."
I have used emachineshop on a few occasions. Mostly for machined aluminum parts for a motorcycle. Its a great service. Easy to design and order. I am surprised /.ers didnt come across this a long time ago.
:-{
Well maybe its my fault, I found them about a year a go, and didnt tell anyone here
Sorry
JBoyce
There must be tens of thousands of people out there trying to build some home-brew device needing custom designed parts. Most of them can design them (or get them designed) but few have the resources to get them made. Something like this will give them the chance to make their ideas and dreams come true. I wonder how many inventors have failed simply because they could neither buy or build the one thing they needed to get their idea to work. Only time will tell, of course, but I'd bet this will be a great help to people who's imagination goes further than their skills can follow.
Good, inexpensive web hosting
Their multiple item prices are pretty reasonable. Remember - these aren't production items or prices - they're R&D. I imagine that aside from the occasional well heeled hobbyist, small companies who need to prototype something rapidly and relatively cheaply would have a field day with this service.
That said, if they were to drop thier prices to where the "mass" of hobbyist robotics fans / modelers / Star Trek freaks could just play with creating fun things, they could get awfully busy.
Faster! Faster! Faster would be better!
I work in the PCB (Printed Circuit Board) industry, and I've looked at the Pad2pad website before. The problem with them is this - they give you software to create a board in, but it only outputs in their proprietary format. That means your design can only be fabricated by pad2pad, not by anyone else. So, once you've designed in their software, you are locked into ordering boards from them. You cannot order them anywhere else unless you re-design it in another software package.
/. people like that sort of thing). This means that you can send your design to any PCB shop in the world, and they can read it as easily as you can work with a *.bmp.
There are older DOS freeware PCB layout packages called easytrax and autotrax available from Protel , as well as a free 30 day demo of their latest. There is also a Linux PCB layout package available. These packages output gerber data, which is the industry standard data format for circuit boards. It is also an open format (rumor has it
You can even send your gerber data to pad2pad, and they can make your board from that, though they would prefer if you used their software. After all, if you don't, you'll be able to get the boards make somewhere else if you don't like their service.
And that would be so unfashionable - doncha know proprietary lock-in is all the rage these days?
I've been reading about how to build a Gingery Charcoal/Gas Foundary and homemade metal-cutting lathe. Today I finally ordered the books from Amazon.
.001" or greater without needed precision parts, and learn a ton in the process.
"All you need is an old metal, 5-gallon pail, about $6 worth of fireclay, some sand, a junk auto heater fan with a coffee can shroud (or a vacuum cleaner), and this book to build a high temperature furnace."
You can use it to melt aluminum, zinc, and bronze which you can then pour/cast into sand molds. The nice thing is that you can assemble the lathe accurate to
Once you've done that, you can cast any other parts you want and machine them to your specifications for far cheaper than using this service. If you didn't make the part quite right, no worries, melt it down and recast it.
I'm planning to build this to machine parts of hobby sterling and steam engines and the ability to construct precision prototypes whenever I have an idea about something. No more tin cans, balsa wood, and RTV sealant! Yay.
Lots of other people have websites chronicling their projects based on these books.
You can buy "blank" boards, covered completely in copper on one side. I did the design in Illustrator, printed it out on a laser printer, and transferred the laser ink to the copper. The ink works as a good resist for the ferric chloride etching solution, which is also cheap and easy to buy.
Then you get a shallow dish that you're not planning on using again (some old tupperware, e.g.), and swish the board around until the extra copper's gone. A 100-watt lamp keeps the ferric warm and makes everything go a little faster.
The etching doesn't take more than half an hour, and the projects I've built have worked well.