[Arm-netbook] mendel90 3d printer arrived

[Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton]

On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 2:17 PM, joem <joem at martindale-electric.co.uk> wrote:
> On Tue, 2014-09-02 at 13:27 +0200, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
>> On Tue, Sep 2, 2014 at 1:10 PM, joem <joem at martindale-electric.co.uk> wrote:
>> > On Mon, 2014-09-01 at 12:12 +0200, Luke Kenneth Casson Leighton wrote:
>> >> also the mendel 90 kit arrived last week, i am about 20% through a
>> >> build, it is... challenging shall we say: around 200 nuts/bolts/screws
>> >> which i really wasn't expecting!  i'll likely be done by end of this
>> >> week and can start experimenting.
>> >
>> >
>> > If you do 3D modelling in scripted parametric openscad,
>> > I'm in with whatever is doable to help.
>>
>>  i'm using pyopenscad, it auto-generates openscad files based on
>> python classes: it is as weeird as the openscad language :)
>>
>> > Maths, formulas, etc, and anything that can be
>> > done up xmaxima + surfaces that can be done in K3DSurf
>> > surface generator, doing test prints etc.
>>
>>  okay!  cool, i'd not heard of k3dsurf.  awesome.
>>
>>  ta joe.
>
>
> pyopenscad i believe is used to script up complex functions
> to generate objects surfaces because openscad is relatively simple
> language and doesn't have the giant features of python.

 relatively simple... still incredibly awkward to understand: it's the
"container" notation.  which way round should it go? what should
contain what? should an object be added to a union or a union added to
an object?

 also the language is not NP-complete so is, by definition, extremely
limited for doing anything beyond what the designers of the language
envisioned - and therefore forced onto its users - what it should be
used for.

 so the fact that the openscad language has a special feature for
doing parametric screws has me alarmed, _not_ impressed.  what's next
to be added?  what special extra feature?  now fast-forward a decade
and now the "relatively simple language" has become something that
should be avoided at all costs.

> Anyway lots of designs released in openscad at thingiverse.
> Search for parametric designs - reduce chance of re-inventing wheel.

 do they have 3D spine surfaces yet, where the surface may be specified
 by a 2D array of 3D points and the intermediary points created to a required
 level of detail using bezier splines?

 the answer should be *no* because it is a slippery slope to add such
 functionality to the base language.

l.