General Stuff(tm)

[stephen_usher]

Well, holding the ALU's reset pin low does nothing at all. The bus activity is the same, so I think that the technical term is, it's knackered.

[stephen_usher]

In other news....

I've fitted the crystal oscillator in place of the broken clock circuit on the OPD floppy interface board and I'm now getting a good clock. I await the ROM image now.

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I've also managed to create a 3D model and print it. After breaking FreeCAD after placing only two primitives I gave up on that and switched to the "free" version of "Fusion 360". After getting past some of the UI quirks I finally made a model of a station lamp based on those I have photos of from Bedford Station in the early 80s.

I first tried printing with the lamp upside down, with the pole pointing straight up. However, the pole kept bending as the print head moved so it generated an unusable model. So I tried slicing the model with it laying down on the surface and success! Needs a little cleaning where the supports fitted.

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[stephen_usher]

After a slight hiatus yesterday due to Christmas Day I'm back looking at 3D CAD software for the 3D printing.

What do other people use? I imagine that the ST case recreation would need something highly capable and reasonably easy to use.

I'm just finding all the packages I've tried so far "get in my way", possibly because I'm thinking in the wrong way.

I also managed to fit a header for the floppy cable on the OPD floppy interface and bodge wire pins 2 and 22 on the ROM socket to ground so that I can use larger EPROMs without having to duplicate the data (as the two higher address lines are held low).

[rubber_jonnie]

After a slight hiatus yesterday due to Christmas Day I'm back looking at 3D CAD software for the 3D printing.

What do other people use? I imagine that the ST case recreation would need something highly capable and reasonably easy to use.

I'm just finding all the packages I've tried so far "get in my way", possibly because I'm thinking in the wrong way.

I also managed to fit a header for the floppy cable on the OPD floppy interface and bodge wire pins 2 and 22 on the ROM socket to ground so that I can use larger EPROMs without having to duplicate the data (as the two higher address lines are held low).

I have been using Fusion 360 (Makers edition, so free) but like you I find the interface a bit of a struggle. I did also try Design Spark CAD, but that was equally annoying to use. I may try Solidworks Community Edition, well if it has a Mac version, but I expect it'll be equally as awkward as the others.

It's very frustrating as I am a visual person, and can easily visualise 3D components, and even sketch them, but translation into a CAD object is another thing altogether.

For slicing I always found Cura to be very good.

[stephen_usher]

Thanks. I've got a similar brain to yours.

I've been trying to use Fusion 360 and going through the tutorial videos. I got a little way further. The main problem is that there's a limit of 10 projects for the free version.

The Bambu slicer is based upon the Prusa one, but with a better interface and profiles for the Bambu printers. It can also talk to the printer and view the real-time video from the internal camera.

[rubber_jonnie]

Thanks. I've got a similar brain to yours.

I've been trying to use Fusion 360 and going through the tutorial videos. I got a little way further. The main problem is that there's a limit of 10 projects for the free version.

The Bambu slicer is based upon the Prusa one, but with a better interface and profiles for the Bambu printers. It can also talk to the printer and view the real-time video from the internal camera.

Yeah, it's not many projects for sure, and IIRC it didn't used to be like that for the makers edition, but they recently (That could be any time in the last couple of years!!!) tied it down somewhat and limited it, probably because people were taking the mickey with the free edition.

As for the slicer, if you have a Bambu one, then definitely best to use that, almost certainly very much optimised for your printer.

[rubber_jonnie]

@stephen_usher I just downloaded Shapr3D on my Mac and it's not too bad. It is a restricted version, but I just ran through the first tutorial and it is a bit easier than Fusion. Probably has similar restrictions in the free mode, but it runs way better than Fusion too.

Worth a look and 25 minutes or so for the initial guide and first tutorial.

[stephen_usher]

Thanks.

I'm having "fun" with Fusion 360 with bodies disappearing and the one I'm using to cut away the internals to allow a PCB to fit (this is a QL ROM case) doesn't change even if I change the sketch, delete the original body and regenerate from the drawing. I can tell it's not changing as the when I redo the cut-outs with the new body the edges match the original dimensions and not the new ones. *sigh*

Also, if I delete a component into which I've copied bodies to work on them then a random body from another component disappears.

[rubber_jonnie]

Thanks.

I'm having "fun" with Fusion 360 with bodies disappearing and the one I'm using to cut away the internals to allow a PCB to fit (this is a QL ROM case) doesn't change even if I change the sketch, delete the original body and regenerate from the drawing. I can tell it's not changing as the when I redo the cut-outs with the new body the edges match the original dimensions and not the new ones. *sigh*

Also, if I delete a component into which I've copied bodies to work on them then a random body from another component disappears.

Rubbish!

[stephen_usher]

Well, this is the work in progress QIMSI case. It would have fitted if I'd noticed the tiny SMD resisitor close to one edge as I'd have made a slot for it to slot into. Oh well, getting there. (Not orange, sorry.)

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