I've been mulling a soft robotics project for a year or so now and as soon as I feel like #BarbackV2 is in a good state, it's going to be my next major project. Replicating some stuff like this would be a fun warmup.

Running #BarbackV2 at #makerfairebayarea this weekend is really driving the desperation of getting the next revision out. Cleanability is still a nightmare and more an more of the 3mm hardware is getting stripped out, pretty soon the motor arch will be barely hanging on. I'm getting close on the new tray design and really hope to start building parts of it this week. But had a blast pouring, got a lot of feedback and ideas for solving many of the other small problems.

Still going strong, did a pretty full walk through of #BarbackV2 and moving onto fixing some issues and probably talking about why #Asm4 is the best assembly workbench

As I'm working on #BarbackV2 I'm revisiting the pump design. In a great irony, I spent so much time designing pumps to be high flow that they're actually too fast. We currently pour a drink in ~3 seconds. Way better than the 30 seconds it took before, but also..... maybe just toooo fast. I've tried slowing them down but torque gets too low to overcome braking force. I have a firmware update that should help with this by going full power for a .25 sec or something before settling down.

Had a bit of success live streaming some development work earlier this year so going to give it another run, trying to hit the same time each week. So starting this Wed I'll be streaming for a couple hours starting at 10am Pacific time. This week I'll be working on #FreeCAD, #BarbackV2 and trying to get #KiConnect v1.0 released.

https://stream.oit.cloud

I wish this was a joke but #BarbackV2 is in need of something like 8 to 12 quick disconnects to solve some maintenance problems. Machining these into blocks of 4 out of nylon or HDPE wouldn't be out of the question. Looking at off the shelf options many are just sealed with a double o-ring. Plus, I have a terribly neglected slitting saw.

@FreeCAD Earlier this week I've finally got the #BarbackV2 project files cleaned up and created a project page.

https://oit.cloud/projects/barbackv2/

Now I have a solid base to start improving maintainability.

Finally got some drunk ducks in a row, cleaned up most of the #BarbackV2 design files and created a project page. check. it. out.

https://oit.cloud/projects/barbackv2/

Mastodon Information Directory! I'm hoping to find people (groups or individuals) doing cocktail or beverage robotics attending #makerfairebayarea this year. I'd like to bring #BarbackV2 to show off and if I could jump in with a group doing similar stuff that'd be even better! Otherwise roam around and serve mocktails?

#BarbackV2: The Project Files

https://git.oit.cloud/Barback/Barback

#FreeCAD #FreeCADFriday

that was annoying. took longer than expected, but got 3d viewer in an upcoming blog post about #BarbackV2

#BarbackV2 rides again!

*burp*

Oh wow! I fixed it. It was pretty hack and slash, but so was the original part and it needed a redesign. I've cleaned up a lot of the #BarbackV2 design files, a handful of parts had to be straight up removed, but in most cases, the parts were done in a rush and needed redesign anyhow.

super annoyed. I spent almost 3 hours last night trying to integrate ESPs BLE OTA into the #BarbackV2 firmware just to realize I'd basically have to reimplement everything because the way BLE services are setup, you can't add new ones after and the API doesn't expose all the functions necessary to mix in their services defs before I init. That time could and should have been spent getting the UI working better, which I learned is still a mess.

Hah, I've just learned that when updating the pump run times on #BarbackV2, the firmware never actually updated the xTimer, it only saved the value in the config. Meaning it didn't update the timer until the next boot. So all this 'tweaking the recipe' we did... did nothing. And as tweaking usually meant turning the booze down a bit... this explains a lot.

One day I'm going to clean up and post the #Barbackv2 CAD files. Personally, I think it's a decently impressive #FreeCAD assembly with #Asm4. But that does is not today. today is a firmware day.

oh hey. if you happen to be in or around SF Bay Area this week, on Friday night, AlleBell Industries will be pouring #BarbackV2 cocktails from 6:30-8:30 at Chabot Space and Science Center.

https://chabotspace.org/calendar/first-friday-space-week/

@keepitweirdcreations Pretty rad! yesterday we put in a bid for one interactive activity, a 3 day professional development for a museum exhibit staff and will be pouring drinks with #BarbackV2 at an event at the start of next month.

speaking of odd jobs.. looks like AlleBell Industries (myself and @keepitweirdcreations) have a couple upcoming gigs! including one that will feature the #BarbackV2 duo!

@FreeCAD My first experience using #FreeCAD Sheet Metal workbench to send off for laser cut alu sheeting and hand bending was a huge success. This part is the motor/pump carriers for #BarbackV2. The pump is also entirely designed in #FreeCAD and 3d printed, a machined version will be made this weekend.