Shop Holmes

[svt923]

Originally Posted by JohnRobHolmes

What to do with another 1200sq feet of open space?

On site daycare

[JohnRobHolmes]

Lol, just what I want, more butts to wipe!

I’m thinking of making the 3rd bay my personal bike and project shop since I am back up to about 20 of em and they kinda litter the fab shop. That will open up the 2nd bay (fab shop) for another CNC machine. First bay will stay holmes Hobbies production and shipping. I really miss having the lathe, but would want something without a payment so I’m not forced into minimum operation time to cover it.

I’m not rushing though, need to focus on school and programming right now and not being a machinist. I can resume being a machinist at any time, but the window to learn programming becomes smaller by the day. New skills like programming are not so easy to just jump into at 36. I have no prior experience and it’s like learning a new language. Machining is like 2nd nature at this point though, I could hop on a CNc or manual mill or lathe and make chips without much thought. I’ve probably put in 10,000 hours machining at this point.

[mud bogger]

Great news man!

[JohnRobHolmes]

Went through some ups and downs on the purchase in the past month. Turns out the building no longer had it's own legal lot description, and had been rolled into another lot and address that the owners have. No legal description, no sale. At the least, I'm not getting into a private contract sale without getting a deed to the property. In the long run, it would be difficult to prove ownership or sell it.


But, we have made some headway on how we can re-plat the property within the bounds of the city regs. It won't be easy, and it won't be cheap. And the city council has to get it on the schedule and approve it. It won't be too difficult compared to most hurdles I deal with, but since the lot and building is non conforming it will at least raise some eyebrows and get full scrutiny from the city and zoning committee.



In the mean time, I'm plugging away in programming classes. I'm twice the age of my classmates. It's funny to be asked what my major is and respond with "nothing, this is for fun". I'm riding an 88% in C programming, which isn't too shabby considering I've been out of school for 1/4 of my life. Not to mention learning a completely new language in my mid 30s, I didn't have much expectation of "getting it". But, I am getting it, and am almost ready to start developing my own devices. This has been the missing link for years, I just didn't know how to attack the learning on my own.


Motor controllers of 100% fresh design are many years away, but simpler items like a real motor dyno or switchmode BEC are at arms length now. I have a slew of hobby motor dynos, and while they are good at comparing tweaks to one motor, they all have very limited usefulness and are almost all just inertial machines without load cells. What is the point of using a dyno when I can't throw on an outrunner or bigger brushless motor? What is the use of the output when differing motor inertias screw up the validity? Comparing ALL of my motor catalog on one machine has been a goal for a decade, but I never quite had the skill to pull off the last mile of work. stitching together the data and device control into a program has always been the hurdle I never understood, but now I'm knocking on the door. Maybe not in the next few months, but damn soon on the timescale of life. Exciting times!



Still haven't figured out what to do with the next bay of space.... I'm thinking I should just build myself an office and move all my electric engineering work into there. My biggest problem lately has been metal dust contamination on my equipment. My metal shop and personal work stations occupy the same room, so any time there is grinding and welding my electronics gets a nice dusting. That needs to change.


For today, I'm stuck at home with a sick kid. So I'll just do some programming at home

[durok]

Cool, MOAR Holmes products to shoehorn into my rigs...

We're all pullin' for you to succeed!

I've recently picked up an Associated DB8 Nomad Desert Buggy (basically a factory-modified RC8B/SC8 hybrid, 8.25lbs RTR) and am wondering how my as-yet unused HH PP 540-L 4100kv Type R would do in it paired to a Mamba Monster X...

Maybe after I toast the stock electronics!

[JohnRobHolmes]

I'm hoping I succeed too, even if the products themselves are a flop

The 4100 would be a beast, but depending on gearing and length of run, it may run hot. Using a Monster will help to keep the motor cooler, as it can suck a lot of heat out through the wires . We are currently developing 8th scale choices as well. Probably three months out from inventory once we narrow down the final details.

[BigSki]

Originally Posted by JohnRobHolmes

....In the mean time, I'm plugging away in programming classes. I'm twice the age of my classmates. It's funny to be asked what my major is and respond with "nothing, this is for fun". I'm riding an 88% in C programming, which isn't too shabby considering I've been out of school for 1/4 of my life. Not to mention learning a completely new language in my mid 30s, I didn't have much expectation of "getting it". But, I am getting it, and am almost ready to start developing my own devices. This has been the missing link for years, I just didn't know how to attack the learning on my own.

Oh, how I remember going through that a few years ago. Back in a local community collage at 46 years old to learn some basic mechanical designer skills. As I looked around in each new class, all I could think was : "where did all these damn kids come from?? "

[Voodoobrew]

I don't consider age a hurdle to learning, I'm 40 years old and have been a construction grunt for half of that. 20 years ago I carried a B average in school. I'm going through prerequisites for nursing, 4 week summer chemistry class A, 4 week condensed Anatomy A, Physiology, biology, sociology, public speaking, English, critical thinking all A's. The TEAS test is the entrance exam for nursing and I completed it in the top 99% of the country.

It makes a bug difference when your going to school for something you want to do. The biggest difference I see between me and the other students is I am not afraid to ask questions. If I don't know what the teacher is talking about, I ask, not because it might be on a test, but because I want to know.

Lynda.com offers some great computer courses, I am not into programming so I don't know if their courses on C++ are good, but I recommend lynda's photoshop, 3DSmax and fusion360 lessons which I have watched. Also 5 years ago I remember Leo Laporte pushing python as a great learning platform for programming. I'm not into snakes either, but that's the info I have.

[JohnRobHolmes]

While I would agree that age itself isn't a hurdle to learning, I am having to work a lot harder to understand concepts as compared to young me. Although, maybe it is due to learning more complex concepts as compared to what I studied two decades ago. Python is my next language on the radar, although C will do everything I need to so far. Just seems like python will be a little easier to write programs for re-programming devices.


Sick kid again today, had to take one for the family unit and skip class for the first time. I'll spend the day writing code and cleaning the home shop. Been a while since I worked in the home shop.


Started writing a control program for a BEC on tuesday, although I also have a nice chip that will do all the work for me. Having adjustable voltage will still require another IC to bias one of the inputs, so I'll have to write a program one way or another.

[JohnRobHolmes]

I've been extra busy and off the forum the past week or two. Broke my leg early january in a ski bike wreck and the past few weeks I'm getting back to the point of walking again. I've lost a ton of fine control in the foot and it's quite entertaining to try and hold a straight like when I walk. I have many things to catch up on, but I also walk slow, lol!


Suitable night work, a buddy made a cane for me and I'm printing a rubber tip. My strength is (sometimes) to the point where it is more of a balance stick. First one I printed badly and its delaminating. Gussied up the reprint a little with a sleeker profile, because why not...



In shop news, the shop is able for purchase but I'll be tying myself together legally with 4 other people because the city won't let us split it without redoing all of my utilitie$. Not sure I want that at this juncture. It's becoming a drama now, so drawn out

In education news, breaking my leg hampered my schooling for the semester. Totally spun out in momentum there, but I've been putting that time back into CAD work for new products.

[spoo76]

A new business venture. Holmes cane tips!

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[durok]

Hope you heal quickly, my man - and best of luck on your new ventures!

Looking forward to more kick-ass Holmes Hobbies products...

[JohnRobHolmes]

Along the lines of CAD work, I redesigned the Revolver. I've been rocking the same design for over a decade, so it was time to lighten things up! CAD into prototype. No surprises. Dropped a lot of weight and took of a lot of housing length.

CAD of the full size shown, and proto of the snubnose. Looks even smaller in real life!

[brian.brigg]

When can we buy one of the new style Revolvers?

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[Crawler Cads]

Wth! Looks like a drone motor
What speeds will you be building please John?

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[punkindrublik]

Originally Posted by brian.brigg

When can we buy one of the new style Revolvers?

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THIS!

[svt923]

I've been waiting for those new stubby Revolvers since the CAD rendering was dropped on the Holmes FB group. One of those would be perfect for shaving a good amount of weight from my sub 5 lb build.

[durok]

I'm hoping for an extreme torque-monster outrunner, akin to going from a 540 to a 550 can inrunner.

Absolutely love my standard 1800kv Revolver in my Bomber...

Although a smaller, lighter option for an upcoming SSD chassis build down the road would be killer.

[JohnRobHolmes]

These will be released first in 1800kv. Will be 2 to 4 weeks.

I've considered a longer can. I would want to beef up the endbell thickness for that model. can't have that super light fan blade end.

[JC3]

That is amazing! You're doing some fantastic work John.

I take it this new Revolver is sensorless?