Darwin STL files

Hi people. I'm looking to get involved in RepRap, and the fist step is making Darwin, I guess. Since I'm a student at an UK University, I figure I can talk them in to fabbing the parts I need - but I can't find the plans I need to fab said parts (stl files, I think?) on the wiki. Can anyone point me to them? I'll stick them on the wiki, if thats a good idea.
Also - you seem to have a decent guide to putting the thing together. Is it worth me documenting anything as I follow it?

Please join Reprappers if you are so inclined. You can find Adrian Bowyer on the list of people and email him asking to be added to the list. Your experiences are welcomed.

Um ... random's already on that list. :-)

More documentation is better. If you find holes in our docs, let someone with write-permission to the wiki know, or ask for write-permission yourself, if you feen gung-ho.

I don't think the STL files are up yet, you may need to bug ed for them.

Doh! I guess I didn't check but I have had my head in code and prototyping.. look for a post from me in contributors. I'm in that pseudo developer mode

Thats the other thing I was going to mention - Can I have access to post there?
I was going to post in the PIC programemr thread saying pretty much the same thing that you did, about integrating into the IOBox module. a few digital lines and a few lines that are settable to arbitrary voltages, which is all programmed under software, would be a really neat soloution and would scale nicely to other interfaces - I'm thinking that once 'pcb fab' is running, it'd be good to have designs using small CPLD's, which are programmed through JTAG, which would be a doddle to support with the same hardware.
I take it the PIC-based programmer subproject is taken now, then?

Also - which 'reprappers' do you mean - the one in this forum, the blogger blog, or the mailinglist?

the stl files should definitely be in subversion. i'm also planning on integrating that stuff with the parts db so it can generate a list of components you need, quantities, and then you just take a zipfile of those and print them off wherever.

in the meantime... you should def bug adrian / eD to post the STL files in svn (if they arent already). its time to get this party started =)

If you or anyone else wants to contribute to the Pic Programmer, please PM Simon and I would also ask that you please PM me so that I know your interest right away.

I haven't heard about any interest from anyone else but Simon might have. He's been real busy lately though. I'm hoping to hear from him soon.

I've just been fairly quiet about the PIC PROGRAMMER till I had something that was a good start. If you want we can start a PIC PROGRAMMER thread in the general forum.

I'm more than willing to share the work and collaborate. Maybe we can even chat on the severely underused reprap chat if we can coordinate the times.

As far as posting in contributors, I just followed the instructions and at some point in time, I found I was able to post there. I think that PM'ing Simon about my interest and talking to him about it might have done it for me.

The reprappers I meant was in the blog.

Awesome - I just found the .STLs in subversion. Perhaps a pointer to svn should be in the building guide on the wiki..?

i agree. in the electronics section, we have a link to the board folder at the top of each section. we should probably do the same at the beginning of each mechanical section too.

also, i definitely plan on integrating it with the parts db. the longterm goal i'm envisioning here is allowing you to browse an open parts db, find something you want to build, click the print link which calls up the reprap interface program. the reprap program can connect and get a list of parts, quantities, and where the stl files are located. it then downloads them, positions them and gives you a final prompt for printing. =)

That'd be awesome..another step closer to downloadable hardware. I'd offer to lend a hand with it but webdev really isn't something I know much about. Still, its something on my list of things to learn more about - I was pondering making a google earth based app that would show the physical closeness of certain reprappers, so that once a few people have the capabilities to fab parts it'll be pretty easy to find one close to you. Don't know how possible that is tho, I might have a bash at it sometime if time permits.
And I've just been poking around in svn and it seems the cartesian-robot stuff isn't there - I'll drop Adrian a PM about it.

thanks. we'll definitely get those links up on the wiki asap too.

ZachHoeken Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> also, i definitely plan on integrating it with the
> parts db. the longterm goal i'm envisioning here
> is allowing you to browse an open parts db, find
> something you want to build, click the print link
> which calls up the reprap interface program. the
> reprap program can connect and get a list of
> parts, quantities, and where the stl files are
> located. it then downloads them, positions them
> and gives you a final prompt for printing. =)

I'm breaking ground on just that sort of project with a few friends right now. We're hoping to get a beta website up by September that will host a searchable database of user-created models. I have a few ideas that should make it very intuitive and user-friendly.

BTW, guys, I PM'ed Adrian and it looks like (unless I misunderstood something) he won't be posting STLs of the extrusion head until the resources are ready to sort out kits. Odd, since everything seemed to have a very 'heres where we are, come help' attitude.. ah well.
*shrug* I won't build one (for now at least) then.

I'm sure i saw the files posted a couple of days ago, but the problem was they needed some conversion doing to them before they could be used.

The extruder is in the SVN repository here: [reprap.svn.sourceforge.net]

STLs and AOIs

yeah, he probably meant he wont be releasing a tarball of them because they are in the repository.

i'm working on getting an automated release system setup to make getting the STL files alot easier. hopefully i'll get that up and running soon. the darwin files are definitely on sourceforge

In the meantime it is very easy to download them. You don't need SVN you can just browse and right click download.

Ah, okay, thanks. Presumably he posted them when I PM'ed him and I didn't check. Got the wrong end of the stick there then, so apologies!

I'd have thought Adrian might have posted something but here's what I sent him about how I updated some STL files that he had made available (The -SE.stl). But since you are asking about it here is what I did.

Visit Adrian's excellent introduction to AOI. [reprap.org]
Down near 8. of this link is where I extracted the main part and added stuff I didn't know but found out how to do all found below.

Need to add plugins
Load all of the plugins (maybe overkill but easy).
Tools -> Scripts and Plug-In Manager
Select Update tab
Select All (you might have to click on a node in the tree,
but if all goes well you should see the categories expand
and green circles with check marks will appear)

0. File -> Import -> STL (.stl) (remember the file you loaded as you will want it when exporting)

1. Select the object and convert it to a triangle mesh (in the "Object" dropdown).
1a. Select object by clicking on it, you'll see some dots appear around the object
1b. Convert to triangle mesh
1c. Object->Convert to Triangle Mesh

2. Select "Solid Editor..." from the "Tools" dropdown.
2a. Tools -> Solid Editor

3. In the new window, both "Optimise" and "Simplify" the mesh from the "Mesh" dropdown. As far as I can tell, the order in which you do these doesn't matter.
3a. "Mesh -> Simplify Mesh" This can take a little while.
3b. "Mesh -> Optimise Mesh" This is fairly quick.
4. Select "Fix -> Fix all" from the "Solid" dropdown. It's at this point that you'll discover if you have made a non-manifold object (first hint above) as the system will complain if you have.
5. Click on "O.K."

6. File -> Import -> STL (select binary, naming it without the -SE)

Here's the link back to Adrian's post of the files. [forums.reprap.org]

cool. do you have write access to the wiki? if so, this sounds like something that would be useful to add to the AoI page. otherwise, i can add it.

Nope, I don't.