Create a DIY Starter Kit for a Yourself, or MakerBot CupCake Build, Part Two

In Learning How to Solder I listed some of what I learned on soldering before putting together the MakerBot CupCake.  This holiday weekend I was able to start work on the assembly and I made it up to the plastruder (plastic extruder). 

While assembling I learned that buried in the instructions were some tools and materials that were not listed in the initial setup section  Every one of these items make sense to be around the shop of an established DIYer.  However, that isn't the case for a newbie like me.

The key piece of advice for your first project: read through all the instructions to create your shopping list first and don’t assume all the parts are provided.  Don't just skim to understand how the assembly works, understand how the assembly will happen and verify the tools and materials you need are available.  I imagine most experienced folks doing these projects will already have the materials available and so the instructions assume so.

So here is some of what I found I needed that wasn’t listed up front.  I had some around, but I still needed to make a run to the hardware store.

• glue gun
• metric ruler/straight edge
• M3 washers
• 3-in-1 oil
• shop blade
• paper towels
• wire cutters
• coarse grain sandpaper - This was to trim down some of the wood tongues for the build platform.
• very fine sandpaper - I used 1800 grain sandpaper instead of the "super super superfine steel wool" listed in the instructions.  The hardware store person said that should work since they didn't have any steel wool of that fine of grade to polish metals.
• Super Glue - I’ll need to use it for assembling the plastruder.
  

A Brief Review of Design Repositories

So, you come up with an idea, where do you go to put it?  There are several places you could go. Here are a few of them and what they support.

Before that, you should know that there is some research going on at the Automated Design Lab at the University of Texas at Austin for how to share information between repositories. Fabbaloo has a good write up about this with pointers to their slides and site.  The project seems in its infancy, but if it works, the question of where to go should be less of an issue.

These are the sites I regularly hear about.  They are not the special purpose ones.  E.g. special parts for Legos, custom figurines or doll parts, even jewelry from terrain data.  I’m also skipping the sites that are electronic circuit boards only.

• Ponoko has a service where they’ll help you with refining your design.  I’ve seen everything from toys to lamps to jewelry posted.  It appears that the primary restrictions is that a CNC machine a la ShopBot http://www.shopbottools.com/ is how these parts are made.  Once the design is posted others can buy it from the Ponoko site and you’d get a cut.

• Shapeways also has a service to help you with refining your design.  In this cases, the designs are all 3D models.  I’ve seen puzzles to bowls to jewelry posted.  (Yes, jewelry seems common.) The primary restriction with Shapeways appears to be that every item in their catalog is printable with one of their printers.  Again, once the design is posted, others can buy it from Shapeways and you’d get a cut.

• Instructables is much more free form.  This site has everything from how to mod an existing device to building something from scratch. It has step by step instructions and pictures of the processes along the way.  To make something from Instructables you’ll need to purchase the materials and do it yourself.

• Thingiverse is a design repository focused around 3D models and the MakerBot CupCake style of printer.  It has both solid 3D models and designs for lasercutting. This site includes whistles, toys, figures, and parts for MakerBots.  To make something from Thingiverse you’ll need your own CNC machine. Each design usually has a dowloadable model associated with it.
  

So there are several design repositories out there that might fit your needs if you come up with an idea.  More are cropping up as 3D printing and DIY gets more popular.  Finding one that fits your particular needs hopefully isn’t too hard. 

If you know of any you others, feel free to add them to the comments section.

DIY Tinkering on the Rise, Boosts the Economy

I mentioned in my last post that I thought it was not the economy that is giving rise to the increased levels of DIY and innovation, rather it is the decrease in the barriers to entry, from cost to knowledge level.  A recent article in the Wall Street Journal agrees:

Through much of the past century, however, developing new products required increasingly complex and expensive tools that were out of reach of most individuals … As a result, large firms came to dominate innovation.

That trend was disrupted in the 1990s when low-cost computers allowed Internet and software start-ups to compete with giants. But when it came to developing innovative physical products, high prices kept high-tech machine tools and materials out of most tinkerers' reach.

The article continues to point out examples of students and others getting access to the tools and materials that used to be unattainable outside of corporations.

And here’s something interesting that’ll affect everyone: half of an economy’s growth is attributed to innovation.  This is from a paper that won Robert Solow a Nobel Prize.

Apparently, in the US the rate of corporate R&D has slowed, however, the number of hobbyists and resources for them have increased.

So, everyone keep doing what they’re doing.  It’ll help everyone get out of the global economic slump, and we’ll have fun while we do it.

A Theory on the Rise and Fall of Garage Inventing

My observation: garage inventing declined over the last 3-4 decades, but is now resurging in the guise of DIYers and Makers.

To start with, I mean the garage inventing that produces real-world devices.  Not software.  I'm also assuming the decline based on the number of devices that we hear about being created by a home inventor.  You don't hear about that often since the late 60's.  Before then you'd hear of devices made by individuals, not R&D shops.

I could well be wrong on these assumptions, so please let me know.  This could well be based on the "good ol' times" view of history.  Anyway, theories are intended to be poked at.

My theory is that innovators will shift to the technologies that have a lowest barriers to entry.  (Yeah, not very novel.)

As more electronics or machining know-how was needed to make interesting devices folks shifted away from the garage.  They needed a good understanding of the engineering behind but not everyone had access nor the inclination to do that.  Whereas before, anyone with basic mechanical or electrical skills could make something new or innovative.

On top of that, the cost of the base machinery was prohibitive.  The machining tools and base electronic components to do anything interesting grew to be quite expensive.  Most of the innovations I've heard of over the last 20-30 years involved needing full fledged machine shops and the backing of an R&D division with good funding.  I'm not going to get into the intellectual property issues.

So what did these innovators do when faced with these barriers?  They moved from the garage and into the den or wherever the home computer was.

As BBSes and then the Internet were taking off, the innovators shifted from creating with the tools that required a high barrier to entry to tools that they could just pick up.  Commodity computers and simple programming language tutorials.  Look at open source, the numbers of shareware applications that cropped up over the last 3 decades, and now the plethora phone applications.

So where does that leave all the cool new devices that could be made in garages?  Have you heard of Makers or DIYers?

My claim is that they are the new generations of garage inventors.  Why is there a resurgence?  It isn't the economy forcing folks to be creative, this started before the current issues.  I believe this is all due to the increase of commodity electronics that are easier to use.

That, coupled with instruction from the internet, has drastically lowered the barrier to entry. However, I think it is still too high. Time and again I hear friends come up with interesting ideas: "Wouldn't it be cool if ..."  Then nothing happens.  Now, wouldn't it be cool if ... someone could come up with an idea, easily share it, and get help putting it together?

Learning How To Solder

This posting falls under tips & tricks.  You could consider this pointers for the newbie from a newbie.  So you're warned, I've learned all this over a period of maybe a week.

When I started putting together my CupCake 3D printer from MakerBot I found that I needed to learn some soldering.  (I got it a generation or two too soon, not all the sub-assemblies were pre-assembled.)  I took a guess on some training kits and tools, but found from the Seattle Robotics Society (SRS) workshop that I wasn't far off.

I started with a Learn to Solder Kit, turns out the same kit the SRS suggests for folks to learn how to solder.  I found it had good enough instructions to get me started.  However, instead of using the soldering iron that came with the kit I bought a Weller Analog Soldering Station.  Among the folks at the SRS workshop the Weller was considered among the two better versions for circuit board work.  I also bought a work stand since every person doing soldering in the Make Magazine videos has one.

One thing I did learn, the thick solder I bought is not a good idea for electronics.  I learned from the workshop that it doesn't heat through quickly.  One of the folks at the workshop ran with me to Radio Shack and helped me pick out silver-bearing solder.  This type melts fast and wicks better due to the silver.  I had tried the lead free solder that came with the training kit, but found that it behaved like I was told, it doesn't flow as well as well as the other solder.

In addition to which solder to use I learned that I didn't have my iron hot enough.  Setting the Weller at a bit over 600ºF is the best.  It'll heat up the area quickly and let you remove the iron from the components before the board heats up too much.  That also explains why the desoldering wick didn't work when I did the lesson in the training kit, I was operating at too low of a temperature. 

Another technique I learned is to touch the iron to the largest metal part that you're soldering to.  That way the heat is conducted to the largest area helping to melt the solder better.  You still have to heat the other part, but having one hotter makes for quicker soldering.  The goal is to let the melted solder wick into the hole in the board, but not so much that it comes out the other side. 

There are a couple of items I was told that I still need to get.  The tinning technique in the training kit isn't enough.  The tip tinner/cleaner compound from Radio Shack was recommended.  One of the the guys attaches his to the top of his soldering iron power station.  Besides that, a flux pen (Amazon search) would be a very good investment.  Especially for desoldering since it helps suck up the solder into the wick even better.  Unfortunately that's the next thing I need to learn well, since I messed up the assembly instructions.