Drones, UAV's RC Multi-rotors what ever you call them they are the buzz right now and for the see-able future,so your thinking I want to get into drones I want to have a go at videoing or taking photos from the air, flying one for pleasure or even wanting to have a go at FPV racing but where to begin.

I hope this will help make the first step into the world of flying drone's a little easier.. but be warned DRONE FLYING is very addictive!

There are two routes to the air, the first is to buy an off the shelf pre-programmed ready to fly machine the other is to build one either from a kit or by designing and selecting the composite parts.

Both routes are rewarding but which one...??

Why Buy?

If you are a person that has not got an interest in building, fiddling, tinkering and exploring then the buy route is the one for you. Buying a Ready to fly drone has to be the quickest route up into the air, buy it charge it fly it ( minutes if the battery is already charged). With off the shelf ready to fly most manufactures have proven technology and sometimes could be cheaper than building. It might not do all you want it to and would be difficult to modify or customise but this is the compromise. Repairs or upgrades could be expensive and you are locked into the spare parts from the OEM but for instant out of the box action this is the most attractive option.

What to Buy?

There are are so many ready to fly drones on the market but here we can see the five best selling drones in 2015 strangely despite there popularity ready to fly FPV racing drones are sparse this is probably due to the nature of the activity and the potential for collisions or crashing.

Whilst this is some of the best selling drones of 2015 so far, there are 100's out there to choose from.

Why Build?

A good question... Are you an engineer, do you like to get down to component level details, do you like to adapt improve, customise or upgrade and see how it all goes together then this is definitely the route for you. Please do not be under any illusions that this route will be cheaper or faster than buying a ready to fly drone, but it certainly can be the most rewarding. Also you will inevitably crash , so if you built it you will know exactly what to do to fix it and be back in the air.

What to build?

The most common and and easiest to build and fly has got to be the quadcopter, 4 fixed motors set symmetrical apart, here we see a block diagram showing the key blocks of a quadcopter.

Because you have decided to build a drone, don't rule out buying a small semi-indestructible drone to hone in the flying skills, a small £30-40 drone like the hubsan X4 which will fly in exactly the same manor as the bigger quadcopters and will give you that flying confidence for when your build is ready.

Coming soon: Blog Detailing selection of motor and propeller combinations including considerations for optimal lift and payloads.

Please remember to always fly safe... please read the knowledge item on Flying Drones 

See you in the skies

Greg

Rockingham Manufacturing is a subcontract-engineering company and we recently came up with a unique and patented design for a low-cost boat stabiliser that is designed to provide small vessels, such as fishing boats for example, with enhanced stability when at sea. This project was only made possible through 3D printing and could not have been realised through traditional prototyping methods.

Having a 3D printer has allowed me to to rapid prototype some key parts and assemblies on new projects in significantly less time compared to using traditional methods.

Time I spend typically creating drawings and programmes for machine tools is now bypassed as CAD programmes and files can be directly uploaded into the Ulitimaker 2 for immediate processing and the other machine shop equipment is not interrupted.

No more wasting of metal on machining trials as the m/c tool can be left to run on production work before pre-production runs can begin.

The Ultimaker 2 has completed some parts used in an assembly and it was immediately noticeable that I needed to make some changes due to shape and proportion etc. and this was easily resolved and the 3D printer set to run again on modified parts – very simple.

I think the greater savings are in less waste, less programming and no wasted time on the production m/c tools. The Ultimaker 2 costs next to nothing to run / hour which compared to the m/c tool is saving thousands, It runs virtually un-manned once I’ve set it up. The raw material cost is negligible compared to traditional methods.

Without a 3D printer I would not have progressed my current R&D projects as far as I been able to do so, at the moment it’s a win-win situation for me – one that we are very happy about!

Terms and Conditions

Prize - Mini Mantis Competition

Who May Enter?

• To enter you must be: a registered member of DesignSpark; any individual or group of individuals age 18 and over as of the date of entry and reside in the UK.
• This competition is not open to employees of RS Components, Allied Electronics, or their immediate families.

Rules
All entries must be:

• All entries must be received by June 30th 23:59 GMT
• Your “Entry” refers to your submitted answer.
• Participants may only make one entry
• Entry is free of charge
• Winners will be contacted by the end of July 2015 and will be anounced on this page

Criteria for judging

Entries with the correct answer will be collected and winners chosen at random.  The judge’s decision is final

 

Legal Considerations

• Entries made on the DesignSpark will be deemed made by the authorized account holder of the e-mail address submitted at the time of Entry. In the event of a dispute, potential winners may be required to provide proof that the potential winner is the authorized account holder of the e-mail address associated with the potentially winning Entry.
• By accepting a prize, Participants consent to the use by RS of their name, photograph and/or likeness and statements made by or attributed to them, in perpetuity, in any and all media now known or hereafter developed (including, without limitation, print, broadcast, and Internet), for all legitimate business purposes including advertising and promotional activities without additional compensation, unless prohibited by law.
• The Contest Administrator is not responsible for incorrect or inaccurate entry of information including, but not limited to, technical malfunctions, human error, lost/delayed data transmission, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, line failures of any telephone network, computer equipment, software or any combination thereof, The Contest Administrator reserves the right to cancel, terminate, modify, or suspend this contest
• RS Components/DesignSpark is a facilitator of this competition.
• Use of the DesignSpark website is governed by its terms of use and storage and use of participants’ personal information is governed by the privacy policy

フォーラムでのご質問にあった、オブジェクトを回転して、他のオブジェクトの面と平行にする方法について説明します。ここでは、下の図のように2つの直方体のオレンジ色の面と青色の面を平行にしたいとします。

まず、[移動]ツールを選択して、回転させたい方のオブジェクト全体を選択します。

続いて、左側、メニューの[アンカー]をクリックして、回転させるオブジェクトの平行にしたい面をクリックします。

さらに、左側、メニューの[方向に移動]をクリックして、回転させるオブジェクトの平行にしたい面を再びクリックします。すると、[移動]ツールの座標が面に垂直になります。

メニューから[オブジェクトの方向へ]をクリックしたら、平行に合わせたいもう一方のオブジェクトの面をクリックします。

すると、選択されたオブジェクトが回転して、合わせたい面に平行になります。

Terms and Conditions - Win a Raspberry Pi based LED engine kit

Who May Enter?

• To enter you must be: a registered member of DesignSpark; any individual or group of individuals age 18 and over as of the date of entry.
• This competition is not open to employees of RS Components, Allied Electronics, or their immediate families.
• This competition is open to all DesignSpark Members. Note anyone living in a country, province, or state where the Contest is prohibited, taxed, or otherwise restricted (for example prohibits unregistered contests or requires the Contest Sponsor to post a bond) under national, federal, provincial, state and local laws, rules, or regulations.

Rules
All entries must be:

• All entries must be received by July 31st 23:59 BST
• Your “Entry” refers to your submitted answer.
• Participants may only make one entry
• Entry is free of charge
• Winners will be contacted by the end of August 2015 and will be anounced on this page

Criteria for judging

Entries with the correct answer will be collected and winners chosen at random.  The judge’s decision is final

Legal Considerations

• Entries made on the DesignSpark will be deemed made by the authorized account holder of the e-mail address submitted at the time of Entry. In the event of a dispute, potential winners may be required to provide proof that the potential winner is the authorized account holder of the e-mail address associated with the potentially winning Entry.
• By accepting a prize, Participants consent to the use by RS of their name, photograph and/or likeness and statements made by or attributed to them, in perpetuity, in any and all media now known or hereafter developed (including, without limitation, print, broadcast, and Internet), for all legitimate business purposes including advertising and promotional activities without additional compensation, unless prohibited by law.
• The Contest Administrator is not responsible for incorrect or inaccurate entry of information including, but not limited to, technical malfunctions, human error, lost/delayed data transmission, omission, interruption, deletion, defect, line failures of any telephone network, computer equipment, software or any combination thereof, The Contest Administrator reserves the right to cancel, terminate, modify, or suspend this contest
• RS Components/DesignSpark is a facilitator of this competition.
• Use of the DesignSpark website is governed by its terms of use and storage and use of participants’ personal information is governed by the privacy policy

What is the Yun Mini?

The Yun Mini is a stripped back, bread board friendly version of the Yun, with no SD card, USB host or RJ45 wired internet. These parts can be added later as small addon boards.

It retains the same 400MHz MIPS processor running Linino (a fork of OpenWRT), coupled with the Atmel 32U4 microprocessor (same as on the Leonardo) running at 16MHz.

Linux is installed on 16MB flash with about 6MB left over for your programs. It has 64MB of RAM, which is fairly quickly used up!

There is software support for allowing the 2 devices to communicate in a variety of ways:

• passing messages with the Mailbox,
• running Linux processes with Process,
• reading and writing files with FileIO.

If you used the Yun, then you'll notice that the password/login screen has changed, the password is now 'doghunter', and the hostname has changed to linino.local.

Another difference is that the Yun Mini is one of the new products from Arduino.org after the recent split from Arduino.cc. I also noticed that there were occasional wifi problems when the SPI bus is being used.  

Application: power switch with internet data logging

A system for allowing inducted users to turn power on to various machines.

• Users are authenticated with RFID.
• Usage time is logged to a google spreadsheet.
• Inducted users are managed using the same spreadsheet.
• Tools are turned on and off with wireless mains plugs.

You can download the code, bill of materials, and schematic from the project github

Yun Mini & the internet

Temboo is one of the officially supported services that comes with the Yun. Temboo lets you setup and test the annoying but necessary authentication stuff on their website (so your Temboo account details are used to store all the API keys and secrets of the 3rd party services).

For my application I wanted to fetch all the rows of a spreadsheet, the only way I could find to do this with Temboo was to get columns of data using a json or xml based fetch. Fetching 100 rows of user info ended up being 200k of json! Way too much for a microcontroller like the 32U4 that comes with the Yun.

I made a help request and very quickly got told about adding output filters like this:

RetrieveSpecificRowsOrColumnsChoreo.addOutputFilter("users", "/entry[]/content","Response");

Which filters that 200k down to just the bits I need. That sorts the memory issue. All that happens away from the Yun, so we have a much more microcontroller friendly amount of data to process.

By this time I had protoyped the LCD, RFID, encoder and buttons on the 32U4. That was taking 13k (60%) of program space on the Yun.

The Temboo demo for fetching the user names comes out at 13k (45%). So even with the output filtering I don't think the program size is feasible.

So I split the software into 2 parts: user interface and logging/access control. The user interface, radio transmitting and RFID reading will run on the 32U4, which will be nice and responsive. The logging and access control will run on Linux which will have less stringent memory requirements.

After a lot of messing about I finally found a way of doing OAUTH2 with Python and the limited abilities of the Yun: gdata. This is an older google library that has only a few dependencies.

There are 3 times when the system needs to connect to the internet:

• updating cache of users and tools,
• logging unknown rfids,
• logging tool usage when a tool is turned off.

I didn't want the UI to hang while these are happening. Although the Yun bridge library has support for running shell commands asyncronously I decided to do it on the Linux side by splitting the internet side of things into a script that runs in the background.

To help me test the system I put together a useful little script to capture and time stamp the logging from the Arduino part of the Yun.

After a few hours of testing the different functions I started seeing problems where the bridge.py process (part of the Yun system of communication between Linux and the 32U4) was getting killed.

With the logging in place I could see that the crashing was happening after a network timeout on the internet side of things. The test was logging repeated unauthorised RFIDs to the spreadsheet, which would start a new Python process for each test.

As memory ran out, the oom (out of memory) killer started killing big memory hogs, which included not only my program, but also bridge.py (13% of total RAM, oom_score=45). I put a lock on the process so only one could run at once and that fixed the problem.

I think it's a nice example though of how interprocess communication can be harder than it seems at first sight.

Conclusion

I like it that the Yun mini is breadboard friendly, it's easier for me to develop with and then plug into a PCB when I'm ready to finalise a design.

It was the first time I'd used Linino, and it opened my eyes to the power of a small (10MB!) Linux distribution (I run Ubuntu 14 on my laptop and use Raspbian on Raspberry Pis a lot).

IOT projects need to securely connect to cloud services. This can either be done through a 3rd party gateway like Temboo, through your own server, or if you have enough power on board you can go straight to the service. The Yun is powerful enough to do the authentication and encrypted communication on board while leaving the microcontroller to do what it does best; fast, reliable, timing critical operations.

Multiprocess communication is full of hidden traps, and splitting your programs onto 2 processing cores could be harder that it seems at first sight! It certainly was for me! The bridge software exists to make this process easier.

You can download the code, bill of materials, and schematic from the project github

Save time on your design with the new ECAD Part Wizard from SamacSys.

ECAD Part Wizard (EPW) gives you access to a wide range of high-quality, ready-to-use electronic CAD models, giving you the advantages of rapid design-in and fewer PCB errors resulting in a shorter time-to-market for your latest product design. 

Download for FREE

Why should I use ECAD Part Wizard?

This great new tool gives you:

• Complete control of symbol fracturing, including the number of fractures to be created and the ability to preview them instantly
• User control over symbol pin positions (left, right, top, bottom) and pin order for each fracture
• Layout footprints that are IPC compliant and include the nominal, least and maximum variants
• Import of selected parametric data for your components
• Export in to popular ECAD tool formats including Mentor Graphics, Altium, Zuken, Cadence and DesignSpark PCB
• Ability to request creation of a specific model

And it’s all completely FREE!

See it in action with this great video tutorial

Using ECAD Part Wizard is simple:

     1.  Download and install the EPW tool (you will need MS Excel 2007 or higher)

     2.  Search and download your component (if it’s not there simply request it within the tool and we will add it for you)

     3.  Fracture the symbol (if required)

     4.  Export the symbol & footprint to your preferred ECAD tool (we recommend using DesignSpark PCB but the choice is yours)

How do I request a part that is not available in the library?

Requesting a new part couldn’t be simpler, just select the button and enter the details and we shall create it for you.

Want some more information?

Then visit our FAQs page or download the Quick Start guide

Download EPW today

*Please note you will need MS Excel 2007 or higher to use this tool*

General Questions

Q1. What is ECAD Part Wizard (EPW)?

A1. EPW is a tool developed by RS Components and SamacSys to provide a range of highly accurate ECAD models, offering schematic symbols and IPC Compliant PCB footprints for electronic components.

Q2. What are the advantages of using EPW?

A2. ECAD Part Wizard provides design engineers with full control over the schematic symbol fracturing process. This includes the number of fractures to be created, the placement of pins around the sides of each fracture (left, right, top and bottom), and the order in which each pin is displayed. In addition, EPW provides PCB-layout component footprints, all of which are IPC compliant with user-selectable least, nominal and maximum footprint options.

Benefits of EPW include faster prototype design, fewer PCB errors and significant time savings.

EPW is available free of charge.

Requirements

Q3. What are the operating system requirements?

A3. EPW supports Microsoft Windows 7 & 8.

Q4. What are the software requirements?

A4. EPW requires Microsoft Excel 2007 or later to be installed on your PC. EPW does not require administrator permissions to install. EPW just load into Excel and runs.

Download, Installation and Registration

Q5. Where do I get EPW?

A5. Click the EPW icon in the following link to download the application:

http://www.rs-online.com/designspark/electronics/eng/nodes/view/type:tool/slug:ecad-part-wizard

To report any download issues or for any other support questions please email epw@designspark.com.

Q6. How do I install EPW?

A6. Extract the downloaded .zip file to your preferred location and then rename the extracted file extension from “.ex_” to “.exe”. We recommend saving the icon to your desktop. Double click the application icon to launch EPW. 

Q7. Do I need to register for using EPW?

A7. Yes. On first open of EPW, please enter your registration details including your full name, company, email address and DesignSpark username. If you don’t have a DesignSpark account, please register today.

Function

Q8. What format are the models held in?

A8. EPW component symbol & footprint information is contained within an .epw file that can be downloaded directly from RS or component manufacture’s websites worldwide. .epw files can also be directly searched for from within the EPW application. .epw files are loaded into EPW by using the ‘open’ button on the tool ribbon and selecting the required file.

Q9. How to find a part in EPW?

A9. Click the ‘Find Part’ button. 

Select the manufacturer of the part you require. Enter the manufacturer part number (either full or partial) if you know it. If you don’t, it will list out all the parts from that manufacturer.

Click the ‘Search’ button. Choose the part you want and click OK.

Q10. What can I do if the part I want is not available in EPW?

A10. You can request a part by clicking the ‘Request Part’ button.

Use the drop down menu to select the component manufacturer.

•     Enter the full manufacturer part number.
•     Enter the pin count. Note that thermal pad or tab is also being counted as a pin.
•     Enter the datasheet link in pdf format.

Here are two examples on how to find a part:

Example1:

Example2:

Q11. How can I save the part I modified?

A11. Clicking the save button creates and stores a .epw file, complete with all user customised fractures, pin ordering and type assignments.  By saving .epw files using different names multiple fracturing schemes can be stored for the same component. DO NOT use the Excel save option.

Others

Q12. How to report bugs?

A12. Click on the ‘Bug’ button. Select the type of bug and enter the description. We will promptly acknowledged bug reports and you will receive status updates as we fix them. Users of component models that have been updated will be automatically notified.

Q13. How do I export the EPW model to my PCB Design System?

A13. Click on the ECAD button. This will export the EPW schematic symbol and PCB footprint to the PCB Design System of your choice. User defined fracturing, pin type and pin ordering will be preserved within the target ECAD system. DesignSpark PCB, Mentor Graphics, Altium Designer, Cadence and Zuken CADSTAR are all supported. 

Q14. How do I get further help with EPW?

A14. From within EPW application click the Quick Start or Guide icons. This will bring up full details of how to use the EPW application included a getting started video.

RS品牌PLA線材｜Verbatim PLA線材｜BQ PLA線材｜Beeverycreative PLA線材｜

3D Systems專用 PLA線材

PLA全寫是Polylactic Acid，中文譯名是聚乳酸。PLA是3D列印中常見的塑料耗材，由玉米等植物提煉而成，是生物可降解。列印時氣味較小。

在沒有加熱床的情況下也能列印大型物件而不會翹起。適合用於列印基底面積較大的物品。

列印溫度: 180 - 240度

除了常見的塑料PLA外，現在還有添加木纖維的PLA，列印出來的成品會像木頭的質感。有些PLA能變色，在黑暗中變螢光色，也有會根據溫度變色的PLA。

(Photo from wired.com)          (Photo from typeamachines.com)

木色 1.75mm, 500g

這種PLA線材混合了木纖維，香味和觸感也像木頭，建議配合使用>0.4mm的噴頭。

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螢光綠 2.85mm, 1kg

這種PLA線材在平常有光的時候是白色，但在黑夜中會變成螢光綠。2.85mm適合Ultimaker 2使用。

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深灰色 1.75mm, 300g

這種TPLA線材是會根據溫度轉變顏色的PLA。當溫度高於29度，線材/列印出來的成品便會從深灰色變成自然色。

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紅色 1.75mm, 300g

紅色 1.75mm, 300g

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透明色 2.85mm, 500g

2.85mm適合Ultimaker 2使用

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三種顏色試用 1.75mm

一次購買小量不同顏色的線材試用。

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紅色 1.75mm, 1kg

紅色 1.75mm, 1kg

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黃色 3.00mm, 1kg

黃色 3.00mm, 1kg

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綠色 1.75mm, 1kg

綠色 1.75mm, 1kg

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木色 1.75mm, 1kg

這款線材由70% PLA和30%松木纖維組成。

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紫紅色 1.75mm, 1kg

紫紅色 1.75mm, 1kg

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白色 1.75mm, 1kg

白色 1.75mm, 1kg

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碧綠色 1.75mm, 330g

碧綠色 1.75mm, 330g

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粉紅色 1.75mm, 330g

粉紅色 1.75mm, 330g

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銀色 1.75mm, 330g

銀色 1.75mm, 330g

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紅色CubePro PLA線材

紅色CubePro PLA線材

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螢光綠Cube第三代PLA線材

螢光綠Cube第三代PLA線材

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橙色CubeX PLA線材

橙色CubeX PLA線材

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