raymw

some AI to play with, the results may make you smile https://www.captionbot.ai/

Used to know it as 'the Woolworth's saucepan finish' . a length of dowel in the drill press, dab on some valve grinding compound, and lightly press rotating grit loaded dowel into the metal for a few seconds, and step it over as required. At the model size, then a cocktail stick instead of dowel may do

There are various 'paints' you can apply to difficult materials, to let them be more laserable. You'll have to search for 'em, and try them, since the wavelength of the emblazer laser is different, afaik, to the more usual CO2 variety.

CRITICAL PROCESS DIED can be caused my many things. Try moving the page file to another disc, it may be trying to read/write to a flaky area, that's about the simplest thing to try, then drivers, ram, processor, etc..

length of straight track, on point, if image is correct, looks to be about 15inches, or so.

not w10, but I think of some interest http://www.ted.com/talks/linus_torvalds_the_mind_behind_linux#t-1282129 Linus Torvalds interview at TED

Dash cams have more or less 120deg field of view, whereas human fov is much less, about 55 deg, but at varying resolution, hence we move our eyes/head to take in the view. Not saying it applies to any case mentioned here, but in a slow moving queue, and elsewhere, you'll most likely be looking directly ahead at the vehicle in front, but the dash cam can show stuff happening to the side, which you may not see at the time. The other aspect of a wide angle lens, it tends to make things look further away, and it is not so obvious on a video from such a cam, that someone has cut you up.

If you want to bunch your cables together, to neaten up the inevitable spaghetti, then this cable wrap is low cost, reusable and easy to apply. http://www.rapidonline.com/cables-connectors/10m-spiral-cable-wrap-04-0400

Ply is a natural material, and will not be consistent in composition, and the middle laminations may not be as even as those on the surface, as you are finding out. If it is any consolation, pro laser cutting firms, those capable of cutting steel sheet up to an inch or so thick (with air assist) and lasers in the kilowatt range, will normally insist on providing the steel, since it is too much faffing about to set the machine for some of the stuff that the customer might want to supply.

iirc originally there was not enough folk wanted the model to make a large enough batch for Rapido to go ahead, but they did so, anyway. If you were to take away the number of models that will be sold on ebay/elsewhere, and perhaps those that will sit on a shelf, or otherwise not fit into some folks idea as to the 'correct' reason for buying the model, then I guess the numbers left would be nowhere enough for anyone to be able to buy the model. I think the major concern would be if the few ebayed models went for half the original price, not double, but either way it should not make any difference to the folk who just want to admire it running. edit cross posted with Vistiaen, above edit -typo

Hi Simon, I'm not sure if you're getting your W and KV mixed up, but anyway, the cutting capabilities of a CO2 laser, compared to the diode laser of the emblazer will be different. (due to wavelength, focussing capabilities, losses in transmission via mirrors, etc). I think you will have to experiment for yourself, you'll find materials you can cut, and they can't (and vice versa, I expect). Best wishes, |Ray

There is a solution on the horizon (if you look in the right direction). Many years ago, Raychem, a very successful USA company, with offices in Swindon (UK), provided heat shrink plastic insulation to the leccy supply industry and others. The shrinking was a one way process, it could not easily be stretched back to the supplied size. However, processes have now evolved so that by applying the correct temperature, plastics can be stretched or shrunk as desired. We could, therefore lay track to 18.0 mm gauge, say, with plastic sleepers, then apply heat, and the gauge shrinks to 16.5mm, and when it cools to normal room temperature -i.e. 22deg C - it reverts back to 18.00 mm gauge. This means that the track looks to scale at 4mm to foot, but when the loco/train runs over it, it can be made to shrink to 00 gauge (but only out of sight beneath said train), provided the correct temperature is applied as the train passes. There are a couple of snags, however. The ballast has to be flexible, else it piles up under the wheels. I had thought the flexible foam Peco ballst strip would be fine, but it tends to melt. You won't be able to lay the track in the loft, due to temperature variations, nor in cold sheds, since at near freezing temperature it sort of becomes gauge 1, and once it 'over stretches', it needs a very high temperature to reset it back to normal working range, so to speak. However, I've currently 3d printed a short length of track for experimental purposes, but I'm stuck on how to generate enough instantaneous heat below the train, without either melting said train or setting fire to the surrounding area. The setting of fire could be quite realistic, for passing steam locos, but maybe not so realistic for other motive power. Unfortunately, I do not think I will be able to make pointwork based on this principle. There is a fundamental problem with 4mm scale pointwork, in that as the gauge narrows, so the checkrail gap widens. I feel a neater solution would be to make the axles of the train from thick 'memory wire', then by applying the correct current through the axles, the axle would change length and the train could be run on virtually any gauge track. The current could be supplied via the track/wheels, of course, and it would work with a ddccc signal superimposed on top of it. I've estimated that about 15A per axle at 1V would do the job, and experiments with a couple of welding transformers may follow. Anyone got a decent loco/train I could borrow, one of those fancy bendy Rapido jobbies would most likely be OK? Best wishes, Ray

Hi Simon, Try this http://www.textualcreations.ca/TurboCAD%20Tips/TurboCAD%20Tip%2017.pdf I'm not a turbo cad user myself, but another imsi product has hatch fill, that I have used. Best wishes, Ray

end of camera development - http://newcameranews.com/2015/04/01/shocking-nikon-canon-to-end-camera-development/

I reckon you need a smoke generator, fed with a mixture of butter, curry powder and dung, to try and get the smell right.

If they sell on ebay at a higher price than from NRM, surely NRM are not charging a realistic market price. Therefore, as NRM is a charity, then everyone who has bought from them should donate to them the difference between what they paid and the ebay price.

the easy way to find anything in w10 is to use Cortana (the circle/bar next to the windows logo on bottom-rh of task bar). simply type in edge/whatever (where it says 'ask me anything', and then you can run it from there (or pin it wherever you want)..

Hi Giles, I've not got one of these lasers, so can't be too specific, but when you rerun the job, do you get the identical faults? I'm not sure if you are running the machine from a pc (serial/usb interface) or from inbuilt memory or sd card, say. If the fault is repeatable, then it would most likely be connected with the transfer of the program, poor usb connection or similar (may be mechanical-poor contacts- or electrical - too much current draw on usb - or software taking a momentary holiday.) when sending from pc to sd card/machine memory. If it is not repeatable, then I would think it is hardware related, bad connection, processor/memory running hot/whatever, within the laser machine itself. Does the head follow the paths, but laser is off, or does the movement skip the paths? Best wishes, Ray

works ok in firefox - the rotating 'buffering symbol' goes on for a while, but click on it and then the play arrow appears, and then it will play - at least for me. edit - it nneds 'flash player', which is becoming unpopular with many web browsers.

more google car stuffhttp://arstechnica.com/cars/2016/02/google-self-driving-car-strikes-bus-in-california/

http://www.networkworld.com/article/3037473/security/nissan-leaf-owners-prepare-to-be-pranked-by-hackers-thanks-to-insecure-api.html trivial way to hack into some Nissan leaf features -Nissan are aware, but have done nothing to fix it.

already has - think mobile phones, twitter, etc.(and for some, plastic injection moulded toys)

https://youtu.be/rVlhMGQgDkY I wondered if it was going to turn around and smack the guy with the stick.

Instead of plasticard, maybe use a suitable grade of aluminium foil, pie cases come to mind...