CAD Alternative

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I've been using Creo Elements (CoCreate) for all of my CAD so far. Every Friday in the pub Nophead tries to convince me of the virtues of OpenSCAD but I just can't mesh with it.

Creo Elements has always bothered me though in that:
1. It uses a file format incompatible with any other CAD package and,
2. It must phone home every 3 days or it stops working.

So I've been looking into Autodesk 123D. It shares similar operation with Elements. I'm working my way through the tutorials.

It Was the Heat of the Moment!

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Bugger! One of the resistors on my heated bed has gone OC and I don't have any spares. Dammn!

Milestag Rocket Launcher

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I've started assembling my Milestag rocket launcher after printing the grip and trigger assembly. I mounted these to the 'rocket tube' with some mounting plates that I also designed:

More Axis Of Evil- X this time!

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Steve from Operation Lasertag came around the other night and asked me if I could build a Milestag version of this:

It's a prop. Looks good but none functional. The base for the copy is going to be some PVC drainpipe from B&Q:

Being up for a challenge I agreed and after playing with Creo Elements for a few hours I came up with this:

It is a combination of PVC drainpipe, Maplin project box and 3D printed parts, the hand grip being from my existing gun models. I started printing the the first parts today, but after an hour or so I was met with this:

The X axis was completely jammed. I had to undo the idler bearing to allow me to move it:

The problem was caused by the pulley on the X axis stepper motor slipping along the motor shaft, so far that it jammed the motor:

Unfortunately I had to disassemble the motor bracket as the pulley had stopped with the grub screw in a position that was inaccessible. I managed to fix it in about an hour and I'm re-printing the parts. If successful, this will be a kit at Tagbits.

Sensor Dome Kit

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I've just added a sensor dome here to the Tagbits range

Included in the kit:

Sensor PCB

3 x TSOP4856 detctors

Resistors and smoothing capacitor

Super bright surface mount LED with excellent viewing angle

Acrylic dome and base of your choice

Mounting hardware for PCB

Here it is with the Tagbits stud mounted dome base after assembly: