27.02.2016

DIY 3D-printed wall mounts - Part 1

(Norsk)
My first post with a self-made video introduction, sorry about the low sound, I will have to speak up for my next one.



As I mentioned in the video, I will be putting up the dimension I have measured here:


The red measure gives the height from the table top, or the wall once it is finished, and is: 27 mm.
The blue gives the distance from the edge and in to the hole, and is: 6 mm.


The red measure gives the width of the hole, and is: 5 mm at the widest, a bit more than 4 mm at the narrowest.
The blue measure gives the length of the hole, and is 2 mm.
The distance between each hole is about 3.3 mm, and the depth of the teeth on the original tabletop stand is about 1.6 mm.

As I mentioned I intend to do the 3D-modelling in Onshape, which seems to be a good, free tool, at least from the limited experience I have with it up until now. Now I have to find a good screen-capture tool in order to make the video of the CAD process for the next part. If you have a suggestion for me, feel free to comment it, or pm me in any of the social medias you can find me in.

24.02.2016

Public appearance

I had the honor of opening an event yesterday. The event was aimed at engineers, technologist and technician that are seeking new work mostly due to the recession in the Norwegian oil business. My slightly more than ten minute talk was about the different phases we go through as we go from being a valued employee with a safe job and are suddenly forced into a leave of absence due to lack of work or are the victims of downsizing. A fairly bleak subject, but as you can see below, OMG Kitty helped me get smiles on most of the faces present.


Moglegheitsarena er i gang på Stord Hotell. Arbeidssøkar og tidlegare tillitsvald i NITO, Kjell Eivind Helgesen, opnar konferansen.
Posted by NITO Nord-Rogaland og Sunnhordland on 23. februar 2016


It says that I am both looking for work (which I am) and that I am a former union representative for NITO (I am technically still a union representative, but since I am on a forced leave of absence from Imenco at the moment, I cannot really contribute with much anyway).

All in all I believe the event was a success, many investments are being made in different fields than Oil & Gas, so there will definitely be a need for us geeks in the future too.

21.02.2016

Mars Rover Curiosity: An Inside Account from Curiosity's Chief Engineer

(Norsk)
Right! The last space-related post, at least for a while, is about the book Mars Rover Curiosity: An Inside Account from Curiosity's Chief Engineer, written by Rob Manning and William L. Simon, where Rob Manning is the Chief Engineer from the book title.

Picture borrowed from Amazon.com

This book gives the reader fascinating insights into what is, in essence, amazing engineering. The fact that they have created a remotely controlled vehicle, launched it into space, landed it on another planet and now have it roaming around doing science is incredible. Kudos to all the people that have worked on Curiosity and those that still work on it.

Manning gives us an in-depth tour through the project, From the beginning until the present (or at least the present when the book was written). He highlights many of the problems they struggled with, and recounts how they overcame them, everything from developing a brand new landing system, scratch that, not just a new landing system but a whole new landing concept, to the difficulties in getting the rock sampling system right. The latter involved both the drilling system as well as the sample delivery system, where the sample is brought from the drill and into the rover's sample processing gear (another engineering marvel). As a matter of fact, Destin of Smarter Every Day even did an episode about the Curiosity drill:


If you like technical stuff, like me, this book is absolutely brilliant! If you are more interested in management stuff, the book also covers some of that, so it is still good. Grab it from you local library if that is your wont, or from places like Amazon / Audible if that is more to your fancy, and have an interesting read, I sure did!

As mentioned, this is the last space-related post in a while, my next project will involve me filming a few snippets, both with a camera and screen-capture, as I plan and design a part that a buddy of mine is going to 3D-print for me and that I am going to put to practical use in my home afterwards. Stay tuned!