Farnell Collaboration

[Gyrobot]

I have just received this via my website contact form from a company called "Forward3d" dotcom , anyone have any initial thoughts,/ideas? Name and email address removed for privacy.

Comment
Hi Steve,

My name is xxx and I’m currently working with uk.farnell.com on a number of projects and partnerships.

I’m looking for groups and independent hackers and makers who are keen to get involved with electronics, such as yourself!

I noticed that you were very active with the Swindon Hackspace.

I wanted to know if you and the rest of the Swindon crew, would be keen to run some projects with Farnell or potentially receive some new products for a roadtest.

We're always keen to try help out upcoming maker/hackspaces and I look forward to hearing what kind of projects you’d like to work on.

Kindest regards,

[Damian Axford]

sounds interesting... and potentially a good basis to raise the profile of the hackspace.  

In terms of projects - my preference would always be on tools, so anything from the wishlist would be good.  Perhaps related to PCB manufacturing?  

[Jamie Osborne]

If legit*, then I agree; it does sound interesting.

*Checking out their website, they come across as a startup with lots of buzz words and the obligatory shot of "guy working in communal workspace on a MacBook"; this turned me off a bit, as did their ownership by an investments/acquisitions firm, but they seem to be involved in outreach programs here and abroad so perhaps my initial impressions were unfair (it took four web domains to reach that conclusion though, and most wouldn't bother)...

> In terms of projects - my preference would always be on tools, so anything from the wishlist would be good.

I think farnel's interest would be in getting publicity and feedback on new products, projects and kits etc. This is pretty much stated explicitly in the email, and implicitly by the response to Steve's activities. ;)

Jamie

[Robert Longbottom]

Hmm, I guess if they wanted to send us free toys to try out and we respond
with feedback / write ups on the hackspace website, or elsewhere, that
could interesting. :-)

[Jamie Osborne]

I'd agree, assuming the toys are of practical use and we get to keep them (else it'd be of limited benefit to the Hackspace, just the members involved while testing).

However, re-reading the original email (last para) and Damian's (last line), they may be interested in developing products / kits based on Hackspace ideas. The mutual benefit is something that can be looked into when we know more, but our back burner PCB fab idea I've patiently been waiting to rekindle would be a great candidate (and product).

Definitely interested in learning more.

Jamie

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[Damian Axford]

:)

it was the "projects we'd like to work on" bit that interested me...  

[Jamie Osborne]

Ditto that!

Jamie

[Jess Robinson]

Certainly sounds worth investigating, I wonder who else they've contacted?

Jess

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[Jess Robinson]

I just checked on the London Hackspace IRC channel, and it seems they do
at least exist, Russ has visited their offices and had contact. He said
the LHS "may lead them along a little" ;)

Jess

On Mon, 24 Mar 2014 15:43:02 -0000, Jamie Osborne <snhac...@gmail.com>
wrote:

[jmeosbn .]

That's good to know, thanks Jess!

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[Gyrobot]

I intend to point him in the direction of this topic so he can glean our ideas/requirements (he may already be here), rather than everything come translated second hand through me. After all it is a public group, so edit any post for bits that you don't want him to see.

Cheers
Steve.

[Jamie Osborne]

It may be better for him to have a contact to deal with directly, so long as you don't mind being volunteered!  You can still direct him here though..

Jamie Osborne

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[Gyrobot]

Here is what I wrote back :
 

Thank you for your contact form submission. Your request certainly has roused some curiosity and sounds very interesting.

Swindon Hackspace has a google group topic running since you made contact. I would like to direct you to it so you can see some initial thoughts/questions from some of the Hackspace members. If you have any questions or wish to alleviate any concerns, feel free to post there.

https://groups.google.com/forum/#!topic/swindon-hackspace/LRz8wmzxe88

I am happy to be the conduit to formulate any "official" replies from the Hackspace to yourself and visa-versa.

The Hackspace members have a varied skill set from, CAD design, software programming in various languages, electronics, mechanical assembly etc. We are a relatively new Hackspace who are looking to grow our toolset. Current projects include upgrading our 3D printer and hoping to use it (and other processes) to get into PCB making.

[Gyrobot]

And their reply  :

Hi Steve,

I assure you we're legit :)

I think Robert had the crux of the idea with this:

"Hmm, I guess if they wanted to send us free toys to try out and we respond 

with feedback / write ups on the hackspace website, or elsewhere, that 
could interesting. :-) "

For an initial partnership, we could send some products of interest which you could tinker with/do a write up on. They would be yours to keep at the hackspace, also.

Moving into the future a bit, we might think of doing an event at our London agency offices with people from various Hackspaces - maybe that could be of interest too?

If you wanted to get some feedback on what components you might need, then I can look at getting them ordered for you.

Let me know,

Content Marketing Executive

Forward3D.com
+4420 3476 3729

19 Mandela Street
Centro 3, Floor 2,
London,
NW1 0DU

[Jess Robinson]

Yay free toys! If only they'd tell us what sorta toys they're offering...

Jess

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[Gyrobot]

Some answers lifted out from last email :

• "Budget is about £60 for new partnerships."
• "This is the first sort of outreach we've been doing to hackspace groups but we have done some projects with individuals. e.g. <http://www.electronics-base.com/featured-components/power-supply/ect-310-performance-test>"
• "I'd in no way expect a biased review, 100% transparency is preferred - We would ask that you mention Farnell and link to appropriate product pages in the writeup, however."

If anyone has any particular requests then tonight hackspace meetup is a good time to make them.

Cheers,
Steve.

[Robert Longbottom]

Cool, better get surfing the Farnell website then :-)

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[Jamie Osborne]

Sounds good, and should result in some nice posts going up onto our website. :)

Jamie

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[Robert Longbottom]

I've been having a dig around on the Farnell website.  There are a couple of interesting looking Raspberry Pi add-on boards that we could try some projects with if that's they way we were thinking of going.

PI Face – Control and display – I/O board with LCD 

http://uk.farnell.com/piface/piface-control-display/i-o-board-with-lcd-display-for/dp/2344458 

We could maybe install one of these on the 3D printer Pi and try to get some stats out on the LCD (temperatures, print time remaining, tv remote control to drive the head around??, etc) and maybe try to get some of the buttons to do something useful - heaters on / off, extrude now to prime head, ??, etc.  I would be quite interested in having a go at this.

Along a similar vein, I was also looking at this http://www.coolcomponents.co.uk/pitft-mini-kit-320x240-2-8-tft-touchscreen-for-raspberry-pi.html but Farnell don't appear to have them.  This would be cool if you could rock up with your usb stick, plug it in, and use the touchscreen to start the print job, but thats quite an ambitious project, and maybe we could do that with the I/O board as well...

FREESCALE SEMICONDUCTOR - XTRINSIC-SENSE-BOARD - MEMS SENSOR EVALUATION ADD-ON BOARD
http://uk.farnell.com/freescale-semiconductor/xtrinsic-sense-board/mems-sensor-evaluation-add-on-board/dp/2365353
Not sure exactly what we could do with this one, but it just looks like it has a few interesting sensors if someone wanted to put it on a robot, or some other robotic device, maybe revive the Hero?

Rob.

[Gyrobot]

All good :

 

There are two RPI cameras as well

Standard :
http://uk.farnell.com/raspberry-pi/rpi-camera-board/raspberry-pi-camera-board-5mp/dp/2302279#

Low light Infra-red :
http://uk.farnell.com/raspberry-pi/rpi-noir-camera-board/raspberry-pi-noir-camera-board/dp/2357308

Steve.

[Jamie Osborne]

All good stuff to base a project off of.  I really like the touchscreen though! :)

Jamie

[Jamie Osborne]

I'm also quite interested in the Intel x86 arduino compatible dev boards (32 bit and around £45) - but Farnell only seem to have Intel processors (rather than dev boards)..

http://arduino.cc/en/ArduinoCertified/IntelGalileo

http://www.intel.com/content/www/us/en/do-it-yourself/galileo-maker-quark-board.html

http://uk.rs-online.com/web/p/processor-microcontroller-development-kits/7919611/

Jamie

[Jamie Osborne]

Here's another link with a bit of commentary:

https://www.sparkfun.com/products/12720

And a video overview at http://www.adafruit.com/products/1637

I guess the Pi and WiringPi library can serve a pretty similar function though.. Main benefit would be using standard arduino expansion boards etc. and having the linux environment available (instead of arduino + some PC).

Jamie

[Gyrobot]

We need to try and make a decision at tonight's meetup, otherwise I am sure the opportunity may disappear.

[Robert Longbottom]

Yes, I agree.  Lets make a decision about what to try and get tonight and what project(s) those items could be used for and who would be interested in doing that and writing it up for the website.

[jmeosbn .]

We can always fallback on the items I mentioned.  Otherwise, I'd like to put an order in for those bits soon..

Jamie Osborne

[Gyrobot]

Here is our final List : I have taken the Raspberry Pi off, as we already have one, so I replaced it with the LCD display board which brought it under £60.

The only issue maybe is the Resistors which are US warehouse stock, so they maybe off limits? 

PIFACE - PIFACE CONTROL & DISPLAY - I/O BOARD WITH LCD DISPLAY, FOR RPI	1	UK	http://uk.farnell.com/piface/piface-control-display/i-o-board-with-lcd-display-for/dp/2344458	http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/	Swindon Hackspace	x...@gmail.com	£21.42
RASPBERRY-PI - RPI NOIR CAMERA BOARD	1	UK	http://uk.farnell.com/raspberry-pi/rpi-noir-camera-board/raspberry-pi-noir-camera-board/dp/2357308	http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/	Swindon Hackspace	x...@gmail.com	£18.65
KINGBRIGHT - L-154A4SUREQBFZGEW - LED, MULTICOL., RGB 5MM, X-BRIGHT	10	UK	http://uk.farnell.com/kingbright/l-154a4sureqbfzgew/led-multicol-rgb-5mm-x-bright/dp/2290375	http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/	Swindon Hackspace	x...@gmail.com	£8.80
KINGBRIGHT - L-154A4SURKQBDZGW - LED, MULTI-COLOUR, RGB, 5MM,	10	UK	http://uk.farnell.com/kingbright/l-154a4surkqbdzgw/led-multi-colour-rgb-5mm/dp/2290374	http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/	Swindon Hackspace	x...@gmail.com	£6.60
MULTICOMP - MCMF0W4FF2200A50 - RESISTOR, METAL FILM, 220 OHM, 250mW, 1%	100	UK	http://uk.farnell.com/multicomp/mcmf0w4ff2200a50/resistor-metal-film-220-ohm-250mw/dp/1126953	http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/	Swindon Hackspace	x...@gmail.com	£0.60
DURATOOL - 3360568A - CUTTER, TRACK	1	UK	http://uk.farnell.com/duratool/3360568a/cutter-track/dp/3360568	http://swindon.hackspace.org.uk/blog/	Swindon Hackspace	x...@gmail.com	£1.68

[Robert Longbottom]

Looks good.  I'm sure they must sell resistors in the UK :-). We have loads in the cupboard anyway if we can't get those.

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[jmeosbn .]

Steve,

Although we could make use of 20 (equal to 4 kits), we only need one kind of the KINGBRIGHT LEDs.  The choice is yours as to which ones we get (the more expensive ones are brighter).

We did order a small pack of resistors over a range values, but it would be handy to have more of the commonly used values, such as the 220Ω (to be used with LEDs).

I know there were some other resistors we didn't purchase, do you know if they included a bunch of 220Ω??

No worries if they can't be included due to US stock (!?), I just hoped to avoid shipping on resistors some time in the future!!

Jamie Osborne

[jmeosbn .]

Steve,

Here's a non US supply, over 2x more expensive at £1.30 for a 100 !!!

http://uk.farnell.com/te-connectivity/lr0204f220r/resistor-metal-220r-0-25w-1/dp/2329900

Jamie Osborne

[Gyrobot]

Hi all,

The Farnell order has landed, I will bring the bits in next week and we can have a play.

A bit thank you to Farnell and Forward3D.com

Steve

[Robert Longbottom]

Looks good. I've already had a look at how I can get the information I
want out of Repetier to display on the piface and it looks do-able.

[Gyrobot]

With reference to conductive ink post, over on the PiFace thread :

Tim has attached an outline of what they have got proposed to Farnell :

We’re looking to launch a competition centered on conductive ink. If you've not heard of it before, it’s a way to prototype or draw circuits by hand using nickel or silver-laced "ink".
 
We’re looking for artistic use of conductive ink and components to make an eye-catching piece of art. It doesn't have to be technically complicated, we’re just looking for artistic flair.

Does this sound of interest? Albeit a bit more rigid.

Anyone interested in this, we could also try the conductive ink in our pen plotter?

[Jamie Osborne]

It'd be cool to get that working on the pen plotter.  I don't know if it'd be an effective replacement for a PCB, but could make for some interesting signs.

Jamie

[Gyrobot]

I have been asked by Tim (who gave us the Farnell stuff) on our opinions on what to supply as possible kit for an upcoming conductive ink competition.

The basic brief is :

We’re looking to launch a competition centred on conductive ink. If you've not heard of it before, it’s a way to prototype or draw circuits by hand using silver-laced "ink".

We’re looking for artistic use of conductive ink and components to make an eye-catching piece of art. It doesn't have to be technically complicated, we’re just looking for artistic flair.

 

He has created a sort of short-list for the kit, but he is a marketing guy and self declared layman when it comes to circuits and electronics :

Battery

LDR

Resistor

Sounder

MCU

Timers

LEDs

Tape

pen

Is it best to just supply the ink and possibly the tape for drawing onto and let entrants choose their kit? Maybe with Farnell vouchers etc?

Your thoughts please. (And get thinking of competition ideas).

[Robert Longbottom]

Its hard to say what people would want really.  Certainly most of the kit there would be useful.

The only things I'd say is that rather than the MCU that is linked (which is just a bare atmega chip) it would make more sense to offer something like an arduino nano (which Farnell sell) because you don't need a separate programmer, and its easier to get started with arduino.

Also if you have an ardiuno, you probably don't want/need the 555 timer chip because the arduino will do timing for you.

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