Welcome to FirePick

[Karl]

We recently added some new members who may be wondering what's going on, so here's a recap.

FirePick Delta (FPD) is a rotational delta factory robot being developed for pick and place.

Rotational deltas are non-linear, which makes them aggravatingly fun and interesting.

They also have a reputation for speed and precision. Lastly, rotational deltas are mounted

over a workspace, which eliminates workspace clutter.

* If you've joined looking for a turnkey PnP, this is actually not the right place for you. 

FPD is research in progress and certainly not turnkey.

* If you've joined looking for an easy DIY PnP, this is probably also not the right place for you.

FPD is much more complicated than a simple cartesian PnP. You'll have better luck following OpenPnP newsgroup.

* If you have time to spend working on figuring out complicated non-linear challenges with other like-minded folk, welcome!  :D

[Dustin Kasel]

And if you're interested in an assembled system, let the group know. There are several of us, myself included, that have gotten too caught up in our day-jobs and such to be effective contributors and would be happy to work out a deal to sell you our system.

[Karl]

Also...we have been trying to avoid the odd spambots who apply for membership, so adding a human paragraph of text in the "reason to join" can be a big help to prove that you're hooman. :o

[Steve Wiseman]

On 12 May 2016 at 01:53, Karl <ka...@firepick.org> wrote:

> * If you have time to spend working on figuring out complicated non-linear
> challenges with other like-minded folk, welcome! :D

Hah, that's actually why I joined!
I run a couple of Versatronics RV1S placers like this (not my video)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZaqvEftw7aI
and I'm now pushing them to the point that I want better calibration.
I was wondering how you guys were getting your precision / accuracy,
especially given your mix of materials.
We've got a slightly more constrained problem, which is almost solved
by calibrating against a printed dot-field placed on the bed in what
seems to be a tedious manual procedure.
I think you're on the right track with needing calibration - and the
more automated the better. A quick 10 minute warmup check before use
(while you load feeders or whatever) is no showstopper, and having the
calibration marks permanently on the bed, or loadable as a fake PCB,
rather than some special messing about, seems better than a manual
process.
Heck, even a real PCB, covered with a grid of fiducial marks, might do.

Anyway, I'm watching with great interest, I'm a hardware guy, can't
help much with the software side, but up for any hardware assistance I
can offer.

Steve

[Karl]

Steve, welcome to FirePick!

Thats a classic Scara you have there. Very nice machine. Douglas and Armin are Scaranatics also. Heck, I might try one too if I can get more desk space!

And yes I would like to see firenodejs see utility beyond FPD perhaps in machines like yours acting as an adaptive gcode filter. 😀