Laser Update!

[Matt Arnold]

Because I know we're all excited about the laser cutter, here's an
update on the status. Both ours and Sector 67's were finished, and put
on a boat on Thursday, September 27. The estimate for when they are
likely to arrive in Chicago is October 19! (Keep in mind, you never
know what might happen to alter the schedule.)

Then, it will be trucked from Chicago to the door of i3Detroit.
Anybody want to order confetti and streamers? (Or clean them up?) Then
we need to set up the machine, confirm the safety measures work,
determine the appropriate file formats and software, and hold classes.

Please allow for each step to encounter unavoidable delays which we
cannot predict. But we're stoked about it! Until next time, true
believers, this has been a LASER UPDATE!

-Eppcott

[Nathaniel Bezanson]

On Oct 2, 1:24 pm, Matt Arnold <matt.matt...@gmail.com> wrote:
> on a boat on Thursday, September 27. The estimate for when they are
> likely to arrive in Chicago is October 19! (Keep in mind, you never

I don't suppose we have a container number?
http://www.track-trace.com/container

Of course,
http://xkcd.com/281/

-Nathaniel-

[Roger S]

The ship is MSC Ivana.  Container i think is XINU8081972 seal #FEX3093066

[Aaron Dubin]

HAIL XINU! Sorry. I couldn't help myself.

On Wed, Oct 3, 2012 at 3:20 PM, Roger S <surfer...@gmail.com> wrote:

The ship is MSC Ivana.  Container i think is XINU8081972 seal #FEX3093066

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[Paul Kerchen]

IVANA LASER CUTTER! (spoken with Russian accent)

[Ryan Busch]

On Wed, Oct 3, 2012 at 4:07 PM, Paul Kerchen <kingk...@gmail.com> wrote:

IVANA LASER CUTTER! (spoken with Russian accent)

Big laser hugs all around!!!  Yay!!!  

[Nathaniel Bezanson]

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?oldmmsi=370930000&zoom=6&olddate=lastknown
Awesome.

[Ryan Busch]

Found a cool picture of the container ship.  Huge! 

http://7seasvessels.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/DSC_0414.jpg

http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?oldmmsi=370930000&zoom=6&olddate=lastknown
Awesome.

[Paul Kerchen]

Very cool!  After seeing this, I thought it'd be cool to make an app (running on a raspi or something similar) that periodically grabs Ivana's location and updates a display in the space, indicating how many miles away she is.  Perhaps it might make a 'ping' sound every 100 miles, too.  Lots of fun possibilities!  Anyway, this lead me down a bit of a rabbit hole, learning about AIS (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Identification_System) and MarineTraffic's API for getting access to their raw tracking data (http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/addyourarea.aspx?level1=150).  The data supplied by MT is free, but you have to set up an AIS base station and share its data with MT to get access to it.  Equipment-wise, that would require an AIS receiver and a high-gain VHF antenna.   Also, the station would need to be within 10 miles of (presumably navigable) water, which Ferndale may be, depending on how liberally one measures distance.  Obviously this would be way more work than could be warranted for a one-time novelty such as stalking Ivana, which makes it all the more appealing.  However, I don't know much about antennas, so I have no idea how practical it would be to put up a high-gain VHF antenna at the space.  How much does a typical high-gain VHF antenna cost?  Could it be used for other purposes?  Or is this whole idea technically infeasible?

Paul

[Joseph C. Bender]

On 10/4/2012 13:03, Paul Kerchen wrote:
> Very cool! After seeing this, I thought it'd be cool to make an app
> (running on a raspi or something similar) that periodically grabs
> Ivana's location and updates a display in the space, indicating how many
> miles away she is. Perhaps it might make a 'ping' sound every 100
> miles, too. Lots of fun possibilities! Anyway, this lead me down a bit
> of a rabbit hole, learning about AIS
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Automatic_Identification_System) and
> MarineTraffic's API for getting access to their raw tracking data
> (http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/addyourarea.aspx?level1=150). The
> data supplied by MT is free, but you have to set up an AIS base station
> and share its data with MT to get access to it. Equipment-wise, that
> would require an AIS receiver and a high-gain VHF antenna. Also, the
> station would need to be within 10 miles of (presumably navigable)
> water, which Ferndale may be, depending on how liberally one measures
> distance. Obviously this would be way more work than could be warranted
> for a one-time novelty such as stalking Ivana, which makes it all the
> more appealing. However, I don't know much about antennas, so I have no
> idea how practical it would be to put up a high-gain VHF antenna at the
> space. How much does a typical high-gain VHF antenna cost? Could it be
> used for other purposes? Or is this whole idea technically infeasible?
>

We can build such an antenna, probably from stuff lying about at i3.
There's soundcard AIS decoder software, too, but the site looks like
they want you to use a commercial decoder, and those things aren't cheap.

Additionally, we probably won't get further position updates from the
ship until it's within VHF radio line-of-sight of the US west coast. We
may not see position updates for it for the next few days. Might not be
worth the effort, because it might not be visible until it's almost to
its destination port.

I hate to throw water on the idea, but if the distance counter won't
have much of a datafeed, it's kinda anticlimactic.


--
Joseph C. Bender
jcbender at bendorius dot com

[Nathaniel Bezanson]

On Oct 4, 1:03 pm, Paul Kerchen <kingkerc...@gmail.com> wrote:
> how practical it would be to put up a high-gain VHF antenna at the space.
> How much does a typical high-gain VHF antenna cost?  Could it be used for
> other purposes?  Or is this whole idea technically infeasible?

It depends on what they mean by "high-gain", which in some marketing
parlance, can mean "anything better than a rubber duckie". The 162MHz
frequency is fairly low compared to most of the things we're used to
making antennas for, meaning the elements are fairly large, on the
order of a foot or two.

Because Ferndale isn't really surrounded by navigable water, the
directional Yagi antenna is a good choice, and yeah, such a thing
could be constructed without too much trouble. I'm pretty sure we have
permission to mount antenna masts to the side of the building, as long
as we avoid walking on the roof. Clearance to powerlines isn't a
problem, and VHF shouldn't mind a few feet of feedline to get the
signal indoors and over to the ham station.

Assuming that we can set up a radio that will bring a chunk of
spectrum into a computer soundcard for demodulation, can you figure
out if gnuais will feed MT the appropriate data?

Side note: Presumably, the shipping container will be on a train from
Los Angeles to Chicago, so you'll want to check out those monitoring
systems next. ;)

-Nathaniel-

[Paul Kerchen]

On 10/4/2012 1:29 PM, Joseph C. Bender wrote:
> Additionally, we probably won't get further position updates from the
> ship until it's within VHF radio line-of-sight of the US west coast.
> We may not see position updates for it for the next few days. Might
> not be worth the effort, because it might not be visible until it's
> almost to its destination port.
>
> I hate to throw water on the idea, but if the distance counter won't
> have much of a datafeed, it's kinda anticlimactic.
>
>

Hmm, good point. Apparently there are some satellites fitted with AIS
receivers, but that data "is available on an annual or multi-year
subscription with pricing based on factors unique to your needs �
primarily the square nautical miles in your Area of Interest." Perhaps
it's time to turn my attentions to the rail network as Nate suggested. <g>

Paul

[Roger S]

Yeah.  Once it hits the west coast we'll want to track its progress to Chicago!

[Nathaniel Bezanson]

It's in port, just refresh the previous map:
http://www.marinetraffic.com/ais/default.aspx?oldmmsi=370930000&zoom=6&olddate=lastknown#

How will we know when it clears customs?

[Roger S]

It goes by rail to Chicago and will clear customs there.

[Roger S]

Latest on the laser:

The truck is going to deliver Sector67's machine to Madison, WI and then bring ours to Ferndale. There will not be any increase in shipping cost and it will ensure that we each get the right machines.  So it looks like Monday is the day!  Chris (Sector67) is going to give me an update once he talks with the driver.

[digit...@gmail.com]

John mentioned to me last night he wasn't planning to pour the cement if it rained this morning, which it obviously did. Plan was to pour Monday now. If its not poured on Monday do we want to build a bridge and slide it in?

---

From: Roger S <surfer...@gmail.com>

Sender: i3detroi...@googlegroups.com

Date: Fri, 26 Oct 2012 09:52:55 -0400

To: <i3detroi...@googlegroups.com>

ReplyTo: i3detroi...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: [i3detroit-public] Re: Laser Update!

Latest on the laser:

The truck is going to deliver Sector67's machine to Madison, WI and then bring ours to Ferndale. There will not be any increase in shipping cost and it will ensure that we each get the right machines.  So it looks like Monday is the day!  Chris (Sector67) is going to give me an update once he talks with the driver.

--

[Aaron Dubin]

is BNektar's driveway chopped up too? if not, could we fit it through the door between our spaces and would they be cool with us going through their space if we're really REALLY careful? just looking for an easier plan b if needed. also is there any estimate on the time of day the laser will be delivered? thinking about taking half a day off or something to be there to help if it shows up midday.

[Nathan Warnick]

PlanB is to store it at Bnektar down the road or the landlords building.

The unit is the same size as AB's old one so no, wont fit through a man door.

 No rush, we didnt expect this till xmas anyways. YEAHHH EARLY GIFTS!!!

[John Sugg]

The cement is being poured now at future home of BNecktar. 

John

[John Sugg]

I spoke to Landlord John today. He says the cement is hard enough to roll the laser cutter across. He is willing to use his forklift to bring the laser cutter over early tomorrow morning. The cement is not hard enough for the forklift to cross.
Can we put together "team crowbar" to uncrate the laser cutter early tomorrow morning? If so, who can send Landlord John a text message confirming an early am time for the laser cutter forklift move? ( I forgot to get his cell number). I can help starting at 8am. I'm sure at least one of you would like to youtube the un-crating, throw the confetti or crack open the champagne.

John

[Eric Merrill]

I think I could come over (like 8) and help.

-Eric

>

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[Matt Arnold]

I just saw this. I could have tried to ask for time off work if I had known! Oh well. Did this happen?

[digit...@gmail.com]

Eric posted a photo on his Facebook this morning.
They look beautiful!!

---

From: Matt Arnold <matt.m...@gmail.com>

Sender: i3detroi...@googlegroups.com

Date: Fri, 2 Nov 2012 06:36:31 -0700 (PDT)

To: <i3detroi...@googlegroups.com>

ReplyTo: i3detroi...@googlegroups.com

Cc: i3de...@googlegroups.com<i3De...@googlegroups.com>

Subject: Re: [i3Detroit] Re: [i3detroit-public] Laser Update!

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[Roger S]

Yes. Eric is working on setting it up now.

[Nathan Warnick]

https://sphotos-a.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-ash3/665373_798576424347_1089771924_o.jpg

On Fri, Nov 2, 2012 at 9:39 AM, Roger S <surfer...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Yes. Eric is working on setting it up now.
>

[John Sugg]

Another pic