Sharing Open Source CNC Designs

[jwolin]

I am starting a new website CNC Mentor.com: | Home. This is my first real attempt at trying to announce its presence and I have a spent a considerable amount of time getting it to where it is today. The vision behind the site is to provide a platform where people can share their open source designs within a community setting. Open source designs could refer to a design buildup of a CNC machine but it could equally refer to something someone makes with a CNC machine (i.e steam engine model) or an electronic component of a CNC machine (i.e driver, encoder, pendant, etc).

When someone starts a design group, the creator of the design (the admin) is given the option to use several built in tools:

The creator of the design can create a wiki which describes their design. A person might have an FAQ wiki, a Build wiki, a Revisions wiki, etc...
The admin also has access to a group document section where they can upload documents about their design (i.e. PDF plans, schematics, word docs, CAD Files, etc)
The admin can also create a forum which he or she could use to provide support for their product. This forum is unique to just their design.
The admin can set permissions on all these features. He could lock it down to a small group or open it up to the world.



I envision someday, hundreds of CNC designs and an active community sharing and providing useful feedback on one-another’s designs. But every good thing has a start and that is where I need you guys? Would some of you be willing to be the charter members on this site, provide feedback and create design groups around your design? Your involvement in this project would be a great help and an honor.

In addition to this, there is a section where you can upload and share CAD files with one another. The software will automatically render 3D preview images of your model, render a 3D turntable image and automatically convert it to six different CAD file formats. Hopefully this encourages people to share!

I am looking for some initial feedback on the site but more critically I need some committed charter members. Please take some time to check it out and let me know if you can commit to help get this thing off the ground!

[agguilar]

Greate idea !!!! Im in. And i know alot of members are going to find youre site very useful. Good luck

[Beamerbrock]

I'll weigh in here. This looks amazing to be honest. I can at least see the potential here for some real open source sharing. I like the toolbox and I love the cad library. But as you alluded to, the real power comes when users begin taking ownership. One question though... What is the purpose of the blog section?

[cyclestart]

This sounds like SourceForge for CNC addicts
SourceForge.net: Find, Create, and Publish Open Source software for free

[Hack]

Very nice site. I have a set of plans that I was offering a couple years ago and would like to share them if interested. The plans are based on 8020 extrusions and 8020 linear bearings. I have the plans in pdf file (a book almost) and would be willing to contribute them for free.

If interested in hosting these plans, let me know.

Dan

[jkarisny]

Originally Posted by Hack Very nice site. I have a set of plans that I was offering a couple years ago and would like to share them if interested. The plans are based on 8020 extrusions and 8020 linear bearings. I have the plans in pdf file (a book almost) and would be willing to contribute them for free. If interested in hosting these plans, let me know. Dan

I'd just register as a user and and upload your design. You can start a blog too. It's a really nice site! Check out the toolbox (upper right corner), there are some really good reference materials in there! I'm not affiliated with the site...lol, but I was one of the first people to register....

[bobsch]

I tried to register and typo'd my email. Now what?

Never mind. I just backed to the registration page up and corrected it.

[jwolin]

Thanks guys for the ecouragement! Regarding the blog section, this is an alternative to creating a design group. It is wordpress based so if you are familiar with this you'll be right at home. I'd really like to see people start design groups as this has the most community benefit. Really anyone who has a design thread on this site could easily convert it to a design group withou too much effort.

Re: hack and your set of plans, I'd be thrilled if you could upload them to the site! Exactly what we are looking for! Simply click on the design tab and then click"create a new group.".

Anyone who sees any bugs or can think of additional features, I am here to help!

[joemancnc]

Can you explain in a little more detail how the design groups work? I'd love to contribute but don't want to start down the wrong path. It looks clear enough, but since there are not a lot of examples, I just wanted to check and make sure I'm headed down the right path before I begin.

Again, impressive site and I think this will be a HUGE benefit to the community.

[aarggh]

Great looking site with a lot of useful info!

I'm fairly sure it will prove popular ;-)!

cheers,
Ian

[jwolin]

Can you explain in a little more detail how the design groups work? I'd love to contribute but don't want to start down the wrong path. It looks clear enough, but since there are not a lot of examples, I just wanted to check and make sure I'm headed down the right path before I begin.

Joeman, thanks for the intent to support the site! Think of a design group as a bucket that holds a forum, documents and wiki all relating to your site. When you start a design group these resources are created to support your design. A design could be an open source electronics driver. A design could be a piece of software. A design could be something you develop with your CNC machine (maybe a wooden clock). A design could be a pendant. Anything you want to offer up as open source hardware/software.

To create a design click on the design tab and then click create a new design group. As admin of this new group you can choose which tools you would like to use as well as set permission for the group as a whole.

Additionally, once you are registered on the site you can "follow" other design groups you are interested in and receive updates (if you so choose) when they update their project.

The potential for open source sharing is huge. As cyclestart above stated, "This sounds like SourceForge for CNC addicts" I had never thought of that before, but that is a really good description of the site. :-)

[ChrisC73]

Thank you for setting up such a wonderful site. I am getting ready in the next couple of months to start my build, and sites like this will be most helpful in the process...