Wednesday, November 12, 2014

Getting started

Hi all.

I've been meaning to get this blog going for quite a while and have now finally taken the time to write the first post. Why? Because I have gained a great deal of knowledge by following the global open source community and I think it's time for me to pay it forward. This will also be a good platform to create awareness about open source projects, hacking and the variety of facets to playing around with, breaking and then (hopefully) fixing stuff. 

My name is Stephan and I am ... (not an alcoholic, although I am in the best place to be one due to my proximity to the world renowned Stellenbosch Winelands) ... an engineer. I studied biomedical engineering in Stellenbosch, South Africa, did some R&D project work for the university, worked in the industrial control environment and am now heading into the mobile app development arena. But most of all I like new technologies and how one can utilise (yes, I spell it with an 's', blame colonisation) the vast amount of online tools available today to create awesome stuff.

My goal with this blog is to shed some light on the projects that I have done before and those that I am currently working on. And where possible to help, share and collaborate through this process. It will initially take the form of three main ideas: 3D printing, the e-NABLE project and Arduino-related projects. I will elaborate a bit:

3D printing: a friend and I recently acquired an open source RepRap printer DIY kit from OpenHardware.co.za in KZN, South Africa. They are the leading local RepRap developers and manage a well-kept support forum with a wide range of discussion topics. I did an informal review of the available 3D printer options, with price, support and local availability being the important discerning factors (price on top), and then decided on the Ecksbot-ZA 4.0 DIY RepRap kit (picture below). It is now almost functional with just a few kinks to sort out. I want to share my experience in building this printer and working with 3D printing in general, which will be the topic for my next main post.

My Ecksbot-ZA 4.0 in its current state - 12/11/2014


e-NABLE: one of my main reasons for acquiring a personal desktop 3D printer (apart from it just being awesome) was to use it in support of the e-NABLE G+ community. Also known as Enabling the Future, e-NABLE is a "community seeking to develop a distributed pay-it-forward network for design, customization and fabrication of 3D-printed prosthetics." Pictured below you can see one of the community's standard devices (the Raptor) fully assembled from 3D printed plastic parts and a few everyday materials and components.

The Raptor hand (source: http://enablingthefuture.org/)

e-NABLE is one of the coolest initiatives ever as it combines several of my hobbies with the ability to help many people worldwide. Over the past few months I have learnt much from the growing number of volunteers in the community and I am now striving to contribute to e-NABLE on a daily basis. If you have some (or lots or any) skills that you want to add to the pool of volunteers, feel free to join the community through links on the G+ page or website or send me a mail at enablematcher.euroafrica@gmail.com. Throughout the coming months I hope to become more involved in mobilising a local chapter of e-NABLE, the process of which I will document on this blog.

Arduino-related projects: my enthusiasm for everything open source actually started when I was introduced to the Arduino platform and my first Arduino Mega (picture below) a few years ago. I have done a variety of hobbyist-type projects, from creating an infrared remote to interfacing with Android devices to the control of a six axis robot arm, with the Mega and other Arduino development boards and I hope to be able to share much more of these projects with you.


The Arduino Mega 2560 R3 (source: http://arduino.cc/)

So these three topics will definitely feature a lot in my upcoming posts. I can't really say for sure when my next post will be released, time being what it is and all. But I'm aiming for about two weeks so let's see how that goes. Some other points to note:

  • My blog's name coincides with the open source vibe, or at least that is my intention. Treat it like an open house, walk in, have a look around, ask questions, join the discussion. Importantly, though, respect other people's opinions. If it is based on facts, that is. If not, respectfully disagree. I don't want this blog to host a gladiator event.
  • I don't claim to be the authority on all facts, so please help me create an awesome blog by pointing out any errors that I might have made. If I then turn out to have been right all along, the joke will be on you :)
  • Feel free to post comments or contact me if you need more information than what is or will be provided in my blog posts.
Thanks for reading. I hope to be of more value shortly.
Peace.

3 comments:

  1. Epic first post, my friend, let's get started!

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  2. Awesomeness! Keep the posts coming

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  3. Great post! I have an Ecksbot that i haven't used in three years. I replaced the faulty power supply, and reloaded the firmware from the Marlin website. Unfortunately, the firmware doesn't have some of the codes setup the way it was from Eckertech (who are now defunct). Would you happen to have a copy of the original firmware that you could send me? I hate to ask, but I'm desperate to get the printer working again. Cheers!

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