[chbot] CHCH Robotics Group, meeting notes 18 April 2016

[Mark Atherton]

Hello everyone,

Very well represented turnout, with 20 members, and possibly one of the 
best evenings for quite some time.

$35 collected and transferred to BR05 account, with balance in the 
donation box. Total donations to BR05 from the Robotics Club stands at 
$254.10.

With thanks to BR05, on behalf of the group,
Mark Atherton

Evenings presentations, in no particular order:

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[Spencer T] has been playing with an old analogue PBX. He has 
successfully configured the unit using a PC, and attached a couple of 
POTS phones for his kids to play with. Needs to assign extension, so 
calls can be properly placed from the tree-house :)

===========

[Mark A] made a start on the 3D printer project. A 19" rack has been 
mounted on casters, and been fitted with mains distribution and a 12V 
55A PSU. Printer sits on plywood top. Most of the 3D printer wiring has 
been labelled. Schematics have been printed for the RAMPS and motor 
control boards. PC has been loaded with MatterControlSetup-1.5.1, Win 7, 
and Remote Desktop has been enabled. Current plan is to connect Printer 
using RDP over Ethernet and mains only. Winston donated a Heated base 
for the project this evening, many thanks. Next step is to work on 
heated base, then start learning about software with help from Marek and 
Winston.

===========

[Andrew M] a first time visitor brought along a pair of home-made 
autonomous model cars. Each unit is loaded with CPU, multiple GPSs, and 
multiple telemetry radios. Backup control is via a 2.4GHz Taranis R/C 
link. He has also been part of a team involved with the ‘Outback 
Challenge’. Most interesting projects.

===========

[Robin G] gave us an update on his many projects, including the 
walnut-picker-upper, and the multi-kilowatt invertor. Lots has been 
learned with his experiments. A whole evening could be devoted to 
details of his work.

===========

[Geoffrey I] gave us an update on his $4 WiFi controlled car. Entirely 
programmed in Python, he is very happy with progress with this 
remarkable project.

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[Richard B] brought in two CNC mills. The homemade unit, which has taken 
him just over a year to build, is looking for a new home. The commercial 
one (iSTi F1000) is a bit of an unknown quantity. Any help finding 
details of the unit by the group will be appreciated.. Actual model is 
F1000 V4.2 MPV50. Excellent start to a high quality CNC router

===========

[Mark A] Having spent some time learning basic Cisco switching and 
routing, it is time to build a home-made layer 2 switch. Fabric is a 
Microchip/Micrel KSZ8895. Port 5 runs reverse MII, and is attached to a 
Wiznet W3150A+ hardware TCP stack. PCB also supports SPI over USB and a 
Micrel developed switch configuration tool. CPU is an STM32F103C8, 
running a bare-metal application, but may need to upgrade to an 
STM32F103CB with 128k FLASH if code space becomes scarce.

Next step is assemble PCB (went out for fab 13 Apr 2016). Currently 
building a prototype bare-metal Telnet server using the Wiznet W5100 
(which appears to be a W3150A+ and Ethernet PHY). Finally, plan to build 
multitasking FreeRTOS based Web, Telnet and USB configurable interface, 
as time permits.

===========

[Mike B] brought along a small device to convert 12VDC into something in 
the order of 0.5MV. Quite an impressive spark generator. Surprisingly 
most of the cameras that were used to take video of the demo still 
worked afterwards.

===========

[Andy G] brought in a 12GHz/10W transmitter for inspection.

===========

[Charles F] brought in various exhibits he had created using his NZ$800 
3D printer (Wanhao i3), with designs created using Design Spark 
Mechanical. He also demonstrated the results of his Red Sail X700 laser 
cutter, and associated AutoLaser software.

===========

Finally, one of our regular members (sorry, forgot your name) brought in 
a box of Ali heat sinks, for either the trading table, or for BR05 to 
sell as scrap. Thank you.