Psyched!

So, OpenMV M7 from ebay.  Watchout!

The price compared well with the OpenMV store, which reported out of stock on M7.

So, I bought of ebay.

The problem, it appears there is a need to register the boards with OpenMV to get access to the OpenMV IDE. 

The board from ebay is registerable BUT it costs $15 per board, in addition to the purchase price, if it doesn’t come registered via OpenMV.

I otherwise assume that the boards from OpenMV come pre-registered, since the registration make sense.  It makes sense because open hardware is a way to no make money, since you give up your IP and it then gets copied.  Adding board registration, though not really open sourcy, seems like a good way to make sure the software side stays viable. 

Sure, copy and sell the boards.  You don’t have to pay a licence BUT the user buying your board does.  So, why charge the same as a registered board from OpenMV?

Rip off?

Not really, the OpenMV M7 is USD$65, I paid AUD$61 then AUD$21 to register so that’s AUD$82 which is AUD$10 cheaper than the USD$65.

The scary part being what, if like FDTI chips, you couldn’t register clones. Now that would be saucy.

Warm and cosy!

So, on order is a thermostat and a PTC constant heat incubator heater with fan. That should allow me a means to keep the air around the printing warmer.

Cosy!

So, I was having too much trouble with the extrusions warping and shrinking. Part of the issue was, I suspect, the aircon. So, the room was too cold.

The other, well, I assume the plastic reel that comes with the printer might have been low quality OR had absorbed moisture (there is some chatter on that on the web).

In any event I looked around for a box to stuff the printer into. I did almost go for a couple of 19 inch boxes at the auctions, but they went too fast.

So I opted to get an 11U 19 inch box from a mob from interstate. I can recommend them, they are very very helpful. I did have them triple check dimensions for me before I bought the item.

It is a perfect fit for the flashforge finder! The flash finder is a 420mm cube. The printer slides in the open door. The two side panels come off for access as well. The height leaves room enough for the feed tube. Did I say perfect!

All I need do now is sort a small fan heater to warm the interior of the box. I will sort a temperature control et cetera.

Only downside? Faraday shield! So, I can’t connect by wifi no more no more. So, I need a long USB cable. No matter.

Give me a break!

So, you know the story behind OpenSprinklette.

Why bother with an raspingdoodleberry Pi and a “open” hardware controller for sprinklers of the OpenSprinkler, for $200 all up, if you can build a controller for sub $20 using a UNO based ESP8266 with a quad relay board, or a nest ESP8266 with single relays.

Well, StarGazer is US$980! Or, at current rates, AUS$1,390.91!

When all you need is a OpenMV M7 at $60, with a bunch of printed April Tags. Oh, and some trigonometry.

Two OpenMV M7 on their way to my parts bins.

My CMUCAM5 Pixy is getting old, but I wonder if I can sneak some of the OpenMV libraries over to the CMUCAM?

My PX4FLOW is looking sad. This is because its the same price breakpoint as the OpenMV M7. The PX4FLOW is only for Optical Flow tracking. The OpenMV can be used at least for Optical Flow, but also for a range of other applications as noted on its web page.