Cancel that question-just went into the "Learn" schedule and got the answer! Bill

Last night's meetup went pretty well. I hope my random walk through electricity was helpful. Someday I may also figure out how to make it understandable... Anyway.... The next meeting will be at 6 (SIX) pm Thurs Jul 21. I will be conducting a concurrent *Learn to Solder* class -- which is a pay-for-play thing, see the LEARN page to sign up. Hopefully the rest of y'all can caucus amongst yourselves and find things to talk about without me. I noticed a lot of unsatisfied interest in Arduino and Raspi stuff last night so I will be creating some Topics here soon. And this is formal notice that you DO get email notification on a Topic if you have selected the little eye icon "watch" at the top of the Topic. I encourage you to do that on this Topic so you will get general meeting announcements.

Just a reminder. Our next meeting is tomorrow night, July 21 at *6pm*. And you still have time to sign up for the Learn to Solder class (at that same time) if you have always wanted to do that but need a little push.

Hi, Michael, I really enjoyed last night's group! I started a topic on the Forums here on Python programming. Could you post in the forum Leah's full name (the one who is from MIT who does the TED lecture)? Also, are the names of the kits you were looking at CanaKit and KanoKit? What is the name of the LEGO-like kit you were using for robotics, and where do you enter the contests for robotics creations using those? I look forward to your reply! Thanks and Blessings, Jennifer

Hi, Michael, Also, I plan to show up to the next meeting, probably a little late, around 7 p.m., due to choir practice for a choir I am in. Unless the time is moved, I probably will be late and show up around that time consistently until orchestra practice starts around September, at which time, I won't be available for robotics group between about 5:30 p.m. and 10 p.m. on most Thursday nights, due to the combination of choir and orchestra rehearsals. Thanks and Blessings, Jennifer

Thanks for coming by. The problem with the KIN Group schedule is that the Make Space officially closes at 8pm, so in order to have enough time we need to start at 6 or earlier. I encourage you to become a member of Make Santa Fe and avail yourself of the various orientation classes. Leah Buechley is a member and on the board of MakeSFe, Developer of Lilypad Arduino Toolkit, smart textiles expert, former associate professor at MIT Media Lab. Hopefully she will be doing presentations or classes in the near future. I tried to do a robot class using this DFRobotShop rover: http://www.robotshop.com/en/dfrobotshop-rover-tracked-robot-basic-kit.html but it was only an equivocal success. It's a bit hard to assemble and the instructions are minimal. Plus they only have a few simple example (Arduino) programs. It does have all the electronic hardware you need integrated on one board though. Many years ago I used the Lego Mindstorms kits to make experimental robot cars, but skipped the kid-level programming system in favor of a Java implementation I found online. I don't know if any of that is still available. I don't know about Cana or Kano Kits. It looks like some easy-start RasPi stuff, but I don't see any actual robot kits that go with them. To start with RasPi I recommend a basic Getting Started kit that has the Pi, SD card, and power supply, and then working through various online instructions. I posted a couple links in our RasPi topic, but need to find more.

I promised the folks in the recent Learn to Solder class that I would post a list of places to get stuff that you could solder. So herewith, my favorite Electronic and Mechanical parts and tools sources: http://www.etantdonnes.com/MACHINE/suppliers.html

Just a reminder that our next meeting is this Thursday and it is at 6 (SIX) pm instead of 7 because the space officially closes at 8. Hope to see you all there. Last time we did some Raspberry Pi introductions, and I think I'll continue on that topic for this upcoming meeting. Hopefully someone else will step up with topics for subsequent meetings? Bring suggestions!

Will miss the meeting as i'm house sitting in Taos… bill

Hi all. A reminder that our next meeting is this Thurs Aug 18 at 6pm and that Jennifer Elliott has graciously volunteered to walk us through some Python Code. Hope to see you then. MS

Reminder. Our next meeting is Thurs Sept 1 at 6pm. We have some operational changes to discuss and then I will give a brief tour of our (new) electronics work bench, including my (old) Digital Storage Oscilloscope. Bring show and tell items if you gottem!

Meeting Reminder: Our next meeting is Thurs Sept 15 at 6pm. I don't have any agenda items so lets hope y'all bring some!

Meeting Reminder. Our next meeting is Thurs Oct 6 at 6pm. Hope to see you there.

Last night I mentioned that I'd found an online gear design site, here tis: https://woodgears.ca/gear_cutting/template.html Unfortunately it only outputs a raster PDF with all the grid and measurement lines so it's not that useful for laser cutting. However the site has a $26 download program for Widows that claims to have some kind of vector output: https://woodgears.ca/gear/index.html -- which we might consider loading on something? Also the open source Inkscape has a gear design option as described here: http://makezine.com/projects/make-your-own-gears/ I have not tried it beyond the initial drawing yet.

I have used Inkscape's gear design tool and found it quite sufficient. Also there is now a ratchet design extension in the community repository. I think MAKE Santa Fe should always go with the free (libre) software option when possible.

Just a gentle nudge. Make Santa Fe is having its inaugural all-hands members (and friends) meeting tonight from 6-8pm. Come by, meet your compatriots, and find out what is happening! There will be project presentations, so if you've got something to show off bring it along. https://makesantafe.org/learn/make-santa-fe-members-meeting/2016-10-17/

And a reply to AJ Barnes on gears.... I sprang for the woodgears program and have (likely illegally) loaded it on the Zing cutter control computer. It's called gearGenerator, and I cannot for the life of me figure out how contemporary Widows expects me to make an 'app' entry for it so you will have to search for it under Program Files. The inkscape plugin is very limited in scope compared to gearGenerator so I think it's worth the money.

Meeting reminder: This Thurs Nov 3 at 6pm!

I have been using Fusion 360 to make 3-d printed gears, but just recently discovered a plug-in that creates the gear when you give it a dimension, number or teeth, or a gear pitch. it is super versatile in matching any gear criteria you may have. Now, i also discoved another plugin called Slicer that creates the 3-d printed gear into a format suitable for laser cutting. I am still learning some of the subtlties and am sure if we put our minds together, can work out a full solution.

Hey-ya... This forum has been ignored for at least a year, but I got a little email ping for your message and went to look... Thanks for the F360 info, would be interesting to compare to the other gear software. Unfortunately when MSFe moved "they" regrooved the Zing laser computer and my install of GearGenerator was disappeared. I may be able to reload it next Weds (probably), but as I said I still can't figure out how 10-Widows wants me to make an app menu entry for it.