Recently I noticed that the project has grown up quite a while since I’ve published it on GitHub and started this site, and thus initially chosen file/folder structure doesn’t work particularly good anymore. The problem is, we have a lot of optional mods, and it’s becoming hard to maintain and also hard for you guys to find what to print for your build. We also have a lot of repeating files: for example, all of the collective levers use the same base. Right now, if I design a better one (like the latest housing with a revision hatch mod), I have to either change it everywhere, in all related assemblies, replace STLs and re-orient them, or just publish it as a mod. The latter is what I actually do more often, as it takes less time to do so.
Now, that gives us a choice, and it’s good, but then a new user needs to know what to choose for his project. That’s why I want to add some “building guidelines” page with suggestions of what parts to choose for various applications.
But, this doesn’t solve the problem completely – we will still have quite a while of duplicated files. The answer may lie in splitting stuff into smaller assemblies – for example, collective levers may be divided into the common base and levers themselves. On the other hand, it’s quite convenient to develop stuff as a separate assembly, to avoid breaking other things.
So, to sum it up, what I want to achieve is:
- it should be clear what parts are available (this may be achieved by publishing guidelines, but if it can be with some folder structure as well, that would be better)
- reduce the number of duplicated parts across assemblies, as these parts become outdated and as their number increases become a pain to manage
If you guys have some thoughs and suggestions on this matter, please share!
Loving the idea of making things simpler for you. Reason being if it’s easy on you it’ll be less stress, more fun and in the end better results.
As long as mods are not overlapping / conflicting with each other I believe a folder for main components (e.g. collective) and subfolder with available mods (e.g. VRMAX radio+ panel) would be awesome. As for duplicated parts I’d leave those out of the mod entirely as the mod wouldn’t make sense without the main part right?
I hope I understood the intentions correctly.
Another sidenote: it could be awesome to have something like a forum or discord. You could also have little donator batches (e.g. bronze, silver, gold /or/ gold, diamond /or/ just “Supporter”.
This would eventually encourage people to donate to this awesome project as well as giving a platform for users of this setup to support each other / provide direct feedback.
Thanks for your suggestion, Tom!
The problem is, parts are overlapping, and multiple devices can use the same mod (like the pneumatic mod can be used by all levers). You can also use overlapping parts from different mods (like a collective lever housing with a side window, which replaces the part from the pneumatic mod, which replaces the original thingy with rubber bands mounting hook).
The biggest problem, having it “Linux way” will bring even more troubles – as it’s quite convenient to develop stuff in a separate directory and have a copy of everything there, not using stuff linked to other assemblies as well (that would be asking for troubles).
About discord, great idea =) I think having a DIY channel is a good thing.
Hey again 🙂
that sounds super tough indeed. So unless you want to go full crazy on it by eventually having dedicated revisions of individual parts and pre / suffix them with the base part they are connected to – wouldn’t it be an option to:
1: uploading the revisions as complete bundles? That way everyone could just download the two complete sets and either still have a fit or the option of improvising by fusing both revisions.
2: Another option would be to develop connectivity standards that make sure all attachable parts are based on the same mechanism so they’re always compatible / replaceable?
That said I believe I misread a reply you made here: http://hc625ma.org/collective-hold-returned-by-request/ and thought you had a discord “server” running but I looked everywhere and didn’t find a hint on how to join.
If you have one I’d love to join as I’m planning to build myself a set in the very near future. 🙂
Best regards
Hi! Thanks, will think about it =) As for Discord channel, welcome =)