Models Suitable for Display

[krenshala]

I believe Dr. Nebel stated (somewhere; I can't remember where, but it was about a year ago) that the alphas almost all exited through the center of the coils, so they exit (primarily) through six cusps not eight.

My recolllection is that Dr.N. wrote that the alphas left "the point cusps" which I took to mean ALL the point cusps from ALL the coils, both real and virtual. Thus, 14.
ICBW.

I was under the impression that the point cusps where the center of the coils, and the "funny" cusps were the corners. Of course, as you mention, ICBW as well.

[ladajo]

Space policy, a world to its own. Who votes for space based radar?

Now that we have that straightened out, what do you mean?

The Colonel was not engaged in space policy. He was responding to a perceived/real shortcoming in coverage.

It is useful to add the Colonel had pulled the same maneuver in his immediately preceding position (pulled a satellite out of storage and had it launched) but I am sure using a different set of contractors. How those contractors did NOT charge the government can perhaps be explained by the USAF having previously paid for the removal, test and launch services.

And I don't believe the USAF would have pre-paid for launch services (here! hand the contractor some money we might/probably will use some day!). And no contractor has a standing corps of employees waiting for a launch opportunity for a stored satellite. The Colonel's performance looks poorer the more I examine it.

The fact that the Space powers that be let him pull one out and toss it up is a clear link to policy. Space Policy lives in a world of its own that reaches all the way to the President. It is an interesting venue if you have never been part of it or investigated its inner workings.

[Giorgio]

Compare that size to the false 200mm cubed (but really 152mm cubed) six-ring part with which Giorgio is tormenting imaterialize.com at 9.4 Mb.

Even so, the price of the half surface is reasonable and doesn't seem to be influenced by the generating file size, which is a relief.

All of which leads me to write, Giorgio, if and when you recover from the sticker shock of the titanium quote and you want a more detailed 152mm six-ring, I'll produce it forthwith. I might do it anyway, just so you can get it in early.

I am still waiting for the quotation... I start really to think that my request sent shock waves inside the company and they are wondering how to handle it.
On one of the chats I had with them I already asked if the model resolution could influence the price, and I have been told that the price is not influenced as anyhow the machine has a minimum resolution and it cannot go under it.
Titanium minimum details is 0.3 mm.
Transparent resin minimum details is 0.1 mm.

By the way, I really like the transparent design, kudos for it!

[rjaypeters]

This e-mail correspondence occured today:

"From: Jan X <service@shapeways.com>
To: rjaypetersXXXXXXXXX
Sent: Thursday, September 1, 2011 10:02 AM
Subject: QA - Your Shapeways Order No. 60881

Dear Robert,

I have your order here in QA and I'm emailing you regarding the "Atomic_Fusion_Wibblefall" in white, strong & flexible polished. A problem occurred during the polishing process, the tumble stones we use during that process got within the model and are now all stuck within. So the whole model is filled with these stones, as you can see in the picture. The wholes in your model are just big enough to enter your model, but now that they are with so many we can't get them out. I actually tried, but this made that the model got slightly damaged as you can see in the other attachment. I am emailing to come upon a workable solution with you. Unfortunately printing and polishing the model again will result in the same problem. So could you let me know if you want to receive this model with a discount? Should you not want to receive this model then I will try to provide you with another solution. Could you let me know what you prefer.
By the way since you managed to place an order I'm assuming everything worked out with your account. Is that assumption correct?

Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience that may have been caused by this.

Best regards,

-- Jan X
Customer Service Agent
www.shapeways.com"







My response:

Dear Jan,

Please send me the Wibblefall with an appropriate discount. The polishing stones add to the storey of the piece. I'm just delighted you aren't going to charge me for the polishing stones!*

And now you can tell you customers to make holes bigger than a certain size or smaller than a certain size, but nowhere in between! I should be compensated for providing you with this discovery (really kidding, now). Or you could use different size stones based on hole size, just a thought.

Regarding my account: Everything seems to have worked fine. I received my other Wibblefall a few days ago and I'm very pleased with it. You guys do good work. I will have further orders for you soon.

Best Regards,

Robert

*Oops, maybe I shouldn't have said that.

[ladajo]

What is a "wibblefall"?

[Giorgio]

Funny picture

[rjaypeters]

The end of the correspondence:

"Hi Robert,

Thannks for sending me a fun email, to start my morning. Just as you I was wondering what would be the cost of those polishing (tumble) stones, but not my problem, since this was done by our supplier themselves. From now on we will do the polishing and yes we should think the size of these wholes. Unfortunately you weren't the first to discover this, I attached a photo of the first model that was struck with the stones madness. This model has very small wholes, so getting the stones out is impossible. But it turned out to be a great musical instrument (Maracas). About the discount, I issued you a coupon below, and I trust that this solves the problems we had. Should you prefer a refund instead, just let me know and I will arrange this for you.

Coupon: X
Value: $10.00
Valid till: 2nd September, 2012
(You can use this coupon/voucher for future orders in the 3rd step of the ordering process on our website)

If you have any questions or comments, you can always let me know.

Best regards,

Jan"

I'll probably cut that stoney wibblefall open and keep it for the story. Tune it with the right number of stones for a maraca and glue it closed, maybe? The red one should provide enough data from flight test.

@ladajo: "Wibblefall" is a whimsical name change to avoid a non-existent trademark infringement problem. The Wiffleball people certainly won't be coming after ECM2 Corp., but they, barely conceivably, could be interested in what I'm doing with these models.

@Giorgio: The titanium printer certainly has resolution limits, but the model imaterialize.com has may have feature sizes larger than their printer resolution. If you tell me which stl file you sent them, I can re-process my model for a reduced feature size so you can have the smoothest possible desk candy.

[Giorgio]

@Giorgio: The titanium printer certainly has resolution limits, but the model imaterialize.com has may have feature sizes larger than their printer resolution. If you tell me which stl file you sent them, I can re-process my model for a reduced feature size so you can have the smoothest possible desk candy.

I sent them these 2 files:

AT_Wibblefall_bin_200mm_dia.stl
6_Big_+_8_Small_Coils_x_200mm.stl (this is the one that is 152 mm)

[KitemanSA]

My recolllection is that Dr.N. wrote that the alphas left "the point cusps" which I took to mean ALL the point cusps from ALL the coils, both real and virtual. Thus, 14.
ICBW.

I was under the impression that the point cusps where the center of the coils, and the "funny" cusps were the corners. Of course, as you mention, ICBW as well.

If you morph the toroid coil WB6 into the straight sided unit of Dr. B.'s patent, you will see that the "funny cusps" wind up where the coils come closest together, the area where the "line like" cusps are. The cusps at the "corner" of the cube are actually distrorted "point cusps" from the virtual magnet coil. See the graphic below.

This series shows a bit what I mean.
The bottom panel is like Dr. B.'s patent. The fields are made by having triangular coils (blue) and square coils (red) as shown. As a convention, the red fields are north in, the yellow, north out. The figure shown is a fully truncated (rectified) cube, called a cuboctahedron. The red star is at the funny cusp. The "funny cusps" are where the the vertices are, the place where the set of 4 fields come together at the point. "Funny" cusps are defined by being at the meeting point of an even number (greater than two) of alternatings fields (noth in-out-in-out).
The middle panel shows a slightly morphed varient. This figure is a partially truncated cube. It replaces the funny cusp with a short line cusp (the black lines) with undefined ends. Same but smaller blue coils, the red coils now octagons.
The top panel is all the way to a toroid, but square minor x-section (lack of great drawing tools, you understand). This is like several of the WB1-5 sections. The "line like" cusp is now the narrow gap between the coils that widens out toward what sort of remains of the triangular areas that are only virtually there. That narrow gap is the "line-like" cusp. That is where WB6 and 7 had their nubs.
The corneres of the "cube" are the virtual triangular magnets that have a point cusp in the center. Said point cusp is distorted, but still point-like" rather than funny. (Sorry, the field colors aren't shown on the top panel, limited tools).

[rjaypeters]

After I determine whether the Wiffleball surface pieces can fit through the opening available from the absence of the top ring, I'll post the .stl files. And if the Wiffleball surfaces don't fit through, I'll have to scale something so they can fit through. Plastic is probably flexible enough to bend, but the connections between the lower rings are minimal and the customer may not order plastic.

Why the funny base? I'm designing it so none of the presumably fragile edges are touched in normal display. A silly constraint, I know.

I am also considering Wiffleball surface pieces with a spherical hollow to represent a core hidden within the Wiffleball.

But first to re-process for Giorgio.

Insomnia is an awful thing.

[Giorgio]

So, i.materialise gave me a first rough estimation of the costs and asked me to check if they are suitable before making the exact quotation.

The "6_Big_+_8_Small_Coils_x_200mm.stl", 152 mm model, will be way more than 10K USD.

The AT_Wibblefall_bin_200mm_dia.stl, 200 mm model, might jump over 20K USD.

I was expecting an high price tag, but not so high to be honest.
I am now checking with our workshop the cost of actually building the "6_Big_+_8_Small_Coils_x_200mm.stl" with titanium tube, and the "AT_Wibblefall_bin_200mm_dia.stl" with titanium tube for the coils and a SS ball for the body.
Just for a rough estimation, we can source 200 mm diameter SS balls for less than 30 USD and titanium tube for 50 to 60 USD/Mt depending on thickness and diameter.
This means that we can probably build it with a cost of at least an order of magnitude less than 3D printing cost.

[Giorgio]

Insomnia is an awful thing.

I know what you mean.....

[ladajo]

Ahh, maybe you should stop talking to each other...

[Tom Ligon]

Ah, the truncube model based on triangles and squares. I fondly remember drawing that one up in 3-D using a 2-D drawing package, then building the model from card stock. This is the form for a single turn water-cooled copper tube MPG magrid. Fun approach.

More interesting is the truncated dodecahedron, drawn up in 3D using a 2D drawing package. Triangles and pentagon, IIRC. This can also be built up from card stock, although it involves significantly more Bad Words.

I have a 3D package now and ought to try this again.

[KitemanSA]

R Jay,
As a slight alternative, could you make the inner unit slightly larger and use it as a place to hang the toroids that have a gap between the individual coils?