2011-04-13

(EN) some more CAD (audio remote for camera rig)

Well, I had a long evening in the hotel before I walked over to CCC Munic and did some more CAD work...

The first one is an adapter to attach this:


to this:

>

Without these cumbersome rubber-straps that come with the Digifinder and without loosing the outer 10% of the display (where e.g. the battery-indicator is shown).

So it looks like this:



and is supposed to simply clip onto the display.



The second design is an attachment to hold an RC4 remote for a the famous Zoom H4n audio-recorder onto the handle of my shoulder rig.

This way you can control the audio with your left hand while holding the camera-rig.




Both are not yet printed, so I do not post them onto thingiverse just yet.


Indeed, I may take the time to dismantle that remote (4 bolts on the back side)
and print myself a completely new case for it, that directly attached to the rig.

2011-04-07

(EN) Vespucci finaly moved

After nearly 1 year Google support finaly managed to work a ticket we submitted mid 2010.
Back then I took over as the new maintainer of Vespucci.
The OpenStreetMap editor for Android.
It took Google a year and now finaly Vespucci is in my (Google) Android Market account and I can release versions.

A quick group call on the mailing list showed a concensus, that it is stable enough, that I can release a new version.
Hopefully this weekend.



2011-04-06

(EN) Opened a shapeways shop

For all the people out there without access to a home 3d printer like a RepMan, RepRap or Cupcake I am offering my last designs on shapeways.
The prices are quite high compared to printing things yourself but it's an offer.

The first parts I uploaded are
* my simple shoulder rig and
* the follow focus attachment for it

2011-04-03

(EN) Accessory holder for shoulder rig

The last part of the shoulder rig that I wanted to design this weekend was an attachment for accessories that come with a 1/4" tripod nut or a hotshoe (tripod to hotshoe-adapters are cheap).

* see this design on thingiverse
* the photo album of this project
* my notes in my personal wiki



2011-04-02

(EN) Counter weight for shoulder rig

I just managed to construct and build a working counter weight for my shoulder rig.
A standard training weight is secured to the 15mm industry standard rig system using either 4 M5x16 wing-bolts or (if you live in imperial-hell) 2 1/4" wing bolts.

See:
* the design on thingiverse
* the original rig on thingiverse
* my project notes in my personal wiki
* photo album of the shoulder rig -project





(EN) My YouTube channel

After the current shoulder rig with it's accessories is finished,
I'd like to try something new and start a video-channel with howtos.

Content:
The content will be mainly things I make but maybe I'll also do reports of cool events like the camps and congresses of the Chaos Computer Club.

Quality:
I'll try to keep the quality up and the rate low.
With the video- and audio equipment I've build and gathered it should be possible.
I just don't know if I'll manage to actually pull this of.
I also don't know yet if I'll even be able to keep such a thing going.

Mission statement:
I'm a fan of DIY videos but often their visual, audio and narrative quality is lacking.
That's what I'm trying to improve by example using a proper script, green screen, lighting, color correction and audio leveling.


So, visit



THE CHANNEL

and hope that it will have some first content in the following weeks.


update:(2011-04-12) added the youtube-channel to the right side of this blog.
I'm still waiting for the final audio equipment but a draft of the introductory video is already done. (I'll redo all the talking when the audio equipment is here)

(EN) hackerspace for Chos Computer Club Freiburg

The Chaos Computer Club - Freiburg is looking for a location to create a Hackerspace for some time now.
Last night I was out, meeting 3 other club members at the local airport.
Aparently the amateur radio operators have a house there that we may use for events.
They are discussing it with thei administration and we with ours and in may or june there may be a decision.

(EN) more tools

I have more tools then I need but...
What should I say.....I couldn't resist after noticing how I could use these of these last night in my tiny workshop.
Now I no longer need them in my hand but I just couldn't resist.

2011-04-01

(EN) Printing a gearless follow focus



The prototype of my shoulder rig worked fine so far.
Improvements to the T-connectors are possible but it works.

Now, inspired by this DIY Gearless Follow Focus on DVXUsers, I'm printing my own improvised follow focus for this rig.

update:
The follow focus works but the skateboard-wheel I tried first has little grip.
So I replaced it with a larger inline-skate wheel. That works much better.
+ softer wheel has better grip
- larger wheel means gear-ratio of about 1:1 instead if 3:1
- heavier wheel means printing the follow-focus again with 60% instead of 20% infill for added mechanical strength

I've posted the design on thingiverse for others to print and improve.
You can see all photos in my picasa album.

Update 2:
I also added a
* counter weight this same weekend

Update 3: The printed parts are also available on shapeways. (If you can't get access to a 3d printer yourself)

Update 4:

UPDATE: geared follow focus





















Update: The printed parts are also available on shapeways. (If you can't get access to a 3d printer yourself)

(DE) Handy zerbrochen

Heute ist irgendwie nicht mein Tag. :/



2011-03-30

(EN) just a bit of CAD in the morning

Managed to do some CAD work on the shoulder rig I'm currently working on.
The holes in the end pieces note go all the way through.
There are 2 models of the handle, two models of T connectors (Model B has issues with mechanical stress, so I introduced model A), two models if the overall assembly and the existing model B of the T connectors leaves more room for the wings of the wing nuts.
Also uploaded new renderings of both variations of the assembly and corrected the bolt sizes in the BOM.

...all before (hotel) breakfast.

(EN) shoulder rig: got the right bolts

Finally got toys if the way too long bolts and assembled the shoulder rig prototype with bolts if the right size. (M5x16mm wing bolts...I just love Schrauben Preisinger for having pretty much all nuts and bolts ever made in stock)
Looks much better this way.
Some last changes to the design and I hope that I can call it a finished version one after this weekend.
(after printing the changed parts)


2011-03-26

(EN) making progess on my Shoulder Rig



I'm still short 2 T-connectors, 1 end-piece Version 4 and 2 handles but I'm getting somewhere...

* project page
* want to build one yourself? See here
* want to talk about it? See here

2011-03-25

(EN) Shoulder rig






* project page
* want to build one yourself? See here
* want to talk about it? See here
I already posted, that I designed a 3d printable shoulder rig this week.
Now the printer is working behind he, while I do my own work to make this rig a reality.
...I just love home 3d printing as a tool.

Half of the parts are already printed now.
Several parts got small improvements after I tried t fit them but all did their job in their very first version.
I guess it will take another day for the rest of the parts and I hope to start developing a simple inline-skate-wheel based follow-focus without gears tomorrow too.


Update: The printed parts are also available on shapeways. (If you can't get access to a 3d printer yourself)

(EN) Eye-Fi SD-card with wifi-enabled computer

I got an Eye-Fi Pro X2 from ebay...
Problem is: I can't use it.
It asks for username+passwort and does not let me
register a new accoount.
According to support these cards are fixed to their account and I cannot reformat that card without username and password of the old owner.
It takes them about a day to do that on the server side.
...someone in product management seems to have f***** uo big time at Eye Fi.

* see their forum
* see an Eye-Fi card dissected
* see eCos patches eye-fi made
* see free Eye-Fi server written in python
* German: Eye-Fi mit Android
* coverage for automatic geotagging

2011-03-23

(EN) Basic Shoulder Rig



http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:7278
Just published the basis rig.

I hope to print the rest of the parts this weekend.
Then I'll iterate the test-print->update->test-print
cycle a while. ;)

2011-03-22

(EN) progress on shoulder rig





It's slowly taking shape. :)
All 3d printable of cause.
And of cause all will be published for anyone to print on Thingiverse later.

Update:
* Design on Thingiverse as Creative Commons
* The printed parts are also available on shapeways. (If you can't get access to a 3d printer yourself)

2011-03-19

(EN) assembly of shoulder rig started

I got the first parts and the first plastic pieces are in the 3d printer.
It feels good to have some personal project to work on. :)
I hope to have a first basic rig tomorrow.
..as long as the printer keeps up.
For it may be that it is miscalibrated and holes are shrinking too much while cooling down.
(deadly for things made to measure)


Update: I disabled the Skeinforge Strech-plugin and holes are fine now.

2011-03-17

(EN) Remote File Manager fro Dropbox v1.1

I finaly got around to working on my Dropbox FileManager for Android again.
Added some trivial features that have been bugging me for a while when using it.

2011-03-15

(EN) 3d printable lense-flanges



Inspired by the Canon FD Flange b< Neil McNeight,
I started designing my own oned:
* my improved Canon FD Flange and
* my Micro-4/3 Flange

Just a building block to create lense-hoods, lens-adapters, pinhole-lenses,...

2011-03-14

(EN) K9 filter folders

A while ago I commited a patch for K9 (Android Mailer) to add a menu and allow filtering in the SelectFolder -activity.
Since noone else has done it and it bugs me I now added the filtering -feature for
the FolderList too. It was just inconsistent.

2011-02-09

(DE) Besuch beim CCC München

Gestern mal Gelegenheit gehabt die Räume des CCC in München zu besuchen.
Geil!
So stelle ich mir das sich für Freiburg vor.
Gemütliche Sofa Ecke, gut ausgestattete Werkstatt, kleine Küche, Serverraum und ein großer Tisch zum ruhig Arbeiten am Laptop.


Hab die Werkstatt gleich mal genutzt um den Gimbal an der Steadycam etwas tiefer zu setzen.
Ist jetzt bei gleichem Gewicht durch die größere Hebelwirkung besser ausbalanciert.
Mal sehen ob ich heute dazu komme, Test Aufnahmen zu machen...

2011-02-05

(EN) 3d printed steadycam - Mark I DONE!






It is done!!!
My Steadycam Mark I is working!
The handle broke during assembly. I had to drill a large hole and "fix" it with an M8x70 nut for the time being.
The 4 M8x20 are too long. I will need to replace them with shorter ones.
But it actually works.

Project homepage:
https://sourceforge.net/userapps/mediawiki/marcuswolschon/index.php?title=Projects/Camera/Steadycam

3d printed parts and design-drawings on Thingiverse:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:5646

(EN) 3d printed steadycam - Mark II

After some feedback in the HBS -forum I'm currently printing an improved
version of my steadycam-gimbal:


The X-sled is doing some funny noises but it seems to still work well.
Had to abort a first attempt after some bend up edges of the object collided with the print-head, it lost some steps and tried to print the upper layers next to the object in mid-air.

2011-02-02

(DE) Schrauben

Schrauben-Preisinger GmbH

Kann ich nur empfehlen.
Wenn die hier eine Schraube nicht haben,
dann existiert sie nicht.
(oder ist von Apple)
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.6

2011-01-31

(EN) found cool Grip for steadycam gimbal

Just found this cool Grip to use in my steadycam. :)
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.6

(DE) Schrauben

Beide Häuser zusammen sind EIN Laden.
Und erst verkauft Schrauben ....alle Arten von Schrauben.
...hier bin ich richtig. :))))))
.oO(und ich dachte Wörth hätte eine große Auswahl.)
Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.6

2011-01-30

(EN) the largest object, I ever printed

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.6

(EN) the largest object, I ever printed

Published with Blogger-droid v1.6.6

(EN) 4 days left befor IPv4-exhoustion reaches next level

http://penrose.uk6x.com/


There are 4 days until IANA Central Registry IPv4 address exhaustion.


Regional registry IPv4 address exhaustion in 243 days.

So...how well is IPv6-support with your DSL-provider, cellphone-company, place of work, hotel/fastfood/café hotspot?

(EN) 3D printed steadycam




This weekend I am working on my gimble for a homemade steadycam. (That was long overdue. I've been postponing this for weeks alreay.)

I improved the design from v0.2 to v0.7 so far. (See the design on Thingiverse.)

I actually printed v0.2-v0.7 . In fact, I posted my lessons learned in the Thingiverse Google-Group to inspire others to do the same with the design-principles and hints they learned designing their things.

And I created some assembly instructions in my wiki.

Hopefully next week in munic I'll be able to get the last required parts and actually test the setup.

PS:
I just saw that someone forwarded my posting to a google-group openmanufacturing. I think I'll monitor that group for a while. Sounds interesting.

2011-01-29

(EN) SourceForge.net passwords reset

It seems that someone tried to sniff Sourceforge passwords.
SF has proactively disabled all passwords and people should
set themself new ones. Just in case.
At the moment login and password-reset are not possible.

2011-01-28

(EN) ADB wireless

http://www.helloandroid.com/content/connect-your-android-phone-adb-wireless


With this small application, you can connect your phone to the ADB via wireless network only using IP number. There is no need for cable, vendor id settings or anything else...
Important note: This application requires root permission!

(EN) Your Dropbox API App has been approved!





In my Dropbox Folder Sync -app for Android I started integrating an NC-style file-manager a while ago.
I now factored this out into it's own project and will offer it soon as a standalone program too.
The full name is:
"Remote File Manager for Dropbox"
(due to the trademark on "Dropbox")

Due to the rise of the Android tablets, I also provided a new layout-large-land.
Now it switches to a true 2-windows NC-style display on landscapes on tablets (-large instead of the new -xlarge to support the Galaxy Tab)
and uses the existing virtual 2-window mode on smaller displays and portrait-orientation.
Of cause this feature will find it's way into Dropbox Folder Sync too.


2011-01-27

(DE) Piraten: Mannschaft wartete vergeblich auf Marine

Piraten kapern Schiff: Mannschaft wartete vergeblich auf Marine

Wirklich unschön wenn man vom Schutzraum aus Hilfe ruft und auch nach 2 Tagen keine Marine kommt um einen zu befreihen.

(DE) Neue Vespucci-Version


Ein paar super Patches bekommen und gleich eine neue Version raus gegeben:

http://code.google.com/p/osmeditor4android/downloads/list

Ist nicht im Android Market, da Google es einfach seid EEEEEEWIG nicht geschafft hat
mal auf das Ticket des alten Maintainers einzugehen und die Anwendung in mein
Konto rüber zu ziehen.

(EN) Open Source Creativity: Hackerspaces

Just found this cool short introduction to hackerspaces in a tweet by the Chaosupdate (CCC):

http://www.kqed.org/quest/blog/2011/01/26/open-source-creativity-hackerspaces/

2011-01-24

(EN) Dropbox referral status

"So far you've earned 8GB of the 8 GB maximum bonus space possible from referrals. "

cool! :)

2011-01-21

(EN) TMC

Cool,
sounds like my import of TMC into OpenStreetMap (courtesy of BAsT) is having fruits:


Hello Marcus,
FYI first version of germany_osm*.mca with TMC support is now available for NavigatorFREE (data are from planet-110105).
Thanks for your help
Martin

2011-01-20

(EN) Thingiverse has Flattr

It seems that Thingiverse started to integrate Flattr.
So now you can give a lithttp://www.blogger.com/img/blank.giftle bit of money to the designers who's things you like.

I'm using Thingiverse a lot to publish 3D-CAD-designs I made. Mostly of practical things to print on a 3D-printer.
(And I am not using Flattr yet.)

2011-01-19

(EN) Your Thing Has Been Featured

Dear MarcusWolschon,

As a citizen of Thingiverse, you are receiving this email to keep you updated with activity on your things in the Thingiverse. Your SteadyCam Gimbal with grip V0.2 thing has caught the eye of a Thingiverse Admin and it is now being featured! Revel in the glory and check out the other featured things on Thingiverse.com/featured.


Cool. :)

2011-01-18

(EN) SteadyCam Gimbal with grip V0.2

SteadyCam Gimbal with grip V0.2: "

This gimbal converts a sturdy car-mount for a laptop/camera into a steadycam.



The current version does not have a bearing for the vertical axis, so you can turn the camera by attaching a large handle to the side (use both hands to control the orientation of the camera).



TODO: I may improve the handle to have a bicycle-handle fit around it for added comfort.



TODO: I did not yet print it and check if it is stable enough for the serious weight of the car-mount.



It's a work in progress and my internet is not very good on this train, so I'll describe it in more detail later.



Details:

sourceforge.net/userapps/mediawiki/marcuswolschon/index.php?title=Projects/Camera/Steadycam
"