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Google Hangout + Delta Robot v2

Join me live as I test out this little robot, from 12:30 to 13:30 PST.

Here’s the recap of the important bits. What do you think of my annotations?

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Delta Robot v2 now on Github, Thingiverse

Delta robot overview

I built one ages ago for the first Vancouver Maker Fair. At the time I had to get parts milled from aluminum because I didn’t have a 3D printer. Recently Bahram @ VHS asked me if I would sell this kit. Yes! Gladly! But until it’s ready I’m putting all the plans and code online so that you brave early adopters can get it for free.

Get the Delta Robot on Github.

Get the Delta Robot on Thinigiverse.

The neat thing about Delta robots is that the tip stays coplanar to the base even as it’s moving around. That makes it great for 3D printers like the Rostock or pick-and-place jobs on assembly lines.

I’ll be bringing this Delta robot to the next Vancouver Robotics Club meeting on February 10, 2013. See you there?

Delta robot motor mounts

Delta robot wiring

Delta robot base

Delta robot end effector

Delta robot base assembled

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MemoryFree reports memory usage on an Arduino

Ed – I couldn’t put it better myself, so here it is, straight from the author’s mouth.

Hey Dan,

I’ve attached the free open source Arduino libray called MemoryFree I mentioned to you last night. Add it to your Arduino libraries, then:
[code]
#include <MemoryFree.h>

void printMemoryStats()
{
Serial.println();
Serial.print(F("Available memory: "));
Serial.print(freeMemory());
Serial.println(F(" bytes."));
Serial.println();
Serial.flush();
}
[/code]

You can then scatter calls to printMemoryStats() around your code to narrow down the problem areas. When I was tracking down the problems with the VHS doorbot, I ended up with calls to printMemoryStats() inside each set of curly braces, after variables, in many functions, etc (I also put calls in a number of other libraries I was using, as that’s where it was actually failing).

It let me find the problem *really* quickly (fixing it wasn’t quite so quick though :P). The more calls you put in, the easier you’ll be able to see if something is taking up an unexpectedly large amount of memory – because obviously it may just run out of memory way down in the call stack where it’s not using much additional memory, but only because a higher-level function used a lot.

Good luck!

-Richard

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Google Hangout + Prusa Fixing

Come join me this afternoon as I install a gear on my 3D Reprap Prusa Marlin. Or is that Marlin Prusa Reprap? I only know one thing about three names … Looks like I’ll be listening to Beck this afternoon, too.

Show’s over. here’s a recap.

Later today we’ll be doing another show with the parts that are being printed right now. Stay tuned for the Hangout link!

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Laser cut v9 pen holder test

Testing out the v9 pen holder that I digitized and then laser cut. Looks like there are still precision errors that (I bet) are bobbin related. I changed the pen holder but the error stayed the same so it must be something else…right?