needanke

cross-posted from: https://mander.xyz/post/31173937

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/13428701

This year I did my first bike packing trip. For starting out I had rented some equipment, but with the goal of doing more trips in the future, getting some bags of my own was clearly on the list. With the idea of using panniers for my main storage, I wanted to add some fork bags to balance out the weight a little. Also they are the least obstructive (other than frame bag maybe) from my POV. Somewhat enjoying DIY, the idea of designing the cages myself grew on me.

What this is

Some insights and thoughts on the process of designing and making some aluminum cargo cages for a bike.

What this isn't

A guide on how to design and make aluminum cargo cages for a bike. I have no professional training on anything I did here. This is my first time doing something like this.

Designing

After making some sketches on paper, I quickly jumped into 3D modelling on the PC.

The software

The software I choose was OpenSCAD. Reasoning was that I like open source software and I don't know any CAD software anyway. With it being a non-interactive tool, I hoped to somewhat make use of my coding knowledge/background. You write a script and the tool compiles it into a 3D model.

This however, did not work out very well. Going into it without much of a plan, I ended up with a very confusing file with loads of duplicate code and lots of guessing when trying to figure out dimensions. This was not the fault of the tool, but only my own. Not saying I'll never go back to it, but for the next job I will try some more interactive tooling. Some more structure and thought out process would benefit any tool however, so that's a learning I'll take with me.

The looks

Hard requirements were the screw positions for mounting to the fork and space for some straps where the bag is attached. In the middle of designing I noticed, that I might want some material running from the screw attachment points across the whole width of the piece (this might not have been required since the 3mm aluminum I used was plenty strong).

The whole design evolved around these requirements and some hexagons I wanted to add. Everything was kept symmetric and I tried to pick up the angles from the hexagons in the other angled pieces.

For sizing, I tested my dimensions on some cardboard cutouts and went with what felt right.

The issues

• The lower part was meant to be bent around and then welded at the seams. However I failed to provide additional material for the bending, therefor it was cut of and completely welded in the final product.
• The lower part is too wide. Instead of taking a second to think about it, I just kept the lower piece wide with the idea of grinding of the excess. I should have made the diagonal piece of the notch the same length as the vertical line it will get welded to.
• The straps of my chosen bags do not line up perfectly with the cutouts on the cage. There is enough space to make it work and not look super off, but it would be smarter to get the 'target bag' first.

Also I think it turned out a little like any cage you can buy in a shop. Wish I had made it a little more unique, maybe carry the hexagon idea along the edges...

Fabricating

Having access to at least some of the tools required for fabrication made the project seem somewhat reasonable in the first place. I would not know how to go about this, if you don't have a welder (other than designing a part that does not require welding).

Laser cutting

The whole idea heavily evolved around the idea of using a laser to cut my model from some aluminum sheet. However the laser I planned to use was not available anymore by the time the design was finished. No big deal I thought, there are ordering services for just about anything online. Which there are. But many of them ask a heavy fee for low part counts. To a level that would shut down the whole idea. It took quite some searching until I found someone willing to do the job for a feasible price. Had I not found a laser, filling and cutting with a saw would have been my last resort. Luckily it didn't come to that.

Other than the design issues mentioned above, it turned out just like I wanted!

Welding

You should find someone else to tell you about TIG welding. On the photo you can see the lower base that turned out too wide and never got ground off. Also the lower base that was cut off instead of bend due to missing clearance.

Painting

3 base coats, 3 top coats of matt black. Some deburing beforehand would have helped the final look as well. I always underestimate how much all these details show up after painting.

Bags

For bags, I decided on Cube ACID PACK PRO 3 (which are 3 liter bags). Even though I bought these, this was not the super easy part. Going into this project my thought was that it will be super easy to find fitting bags. But I had to do quite some digging to find something I liked. 3 liters per site are plenty for my setup, since I just want to spread some weight forward. I have seen these cages used with 5 liter bags, which worked fine as well. The straps do not line up perfectly with the cage, but there is enough wiggle room to make it work.

Final thoughts

It was a fun project and I will hopefully get to enjoy these cages for a long time. Without having done most of the things required to tackle this project, it took me quite some time to do. But I learned a lot and will surely go into my next CAD/metal/fabrication project with more of a plan!

I hope someone can get something out of my post. This checklist should help if you consider doing a similar project (maybe even any DIY project at all)

Don't do this if you

• want to save money
• need some cages quickly

Do this if you

• enjoy making stuff!

Ich habe leider keine humoristische Kleinanzeigencommunity gefunden, denke aber hier passt es themathisch ja auch.

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/11872671

cross-posted from: https://feddit.org/post/10697822

In der ersten Hälfte geht es darum, wie das Miniaturwunderland Modelle modernerer Autos herstellt und mit welchen Herausforderungen das kommt. Dann kommt ein kurzer Abschnitt zur generellen Energie-und Verkehrswende in Knuffingen.

Ab 24:25 geht es dann darum, weswegen ich das Video hier verlinkt habe: die öffentliche Meinung zu E-Autos in Deutschland und Typische Lügen dazu.

Ab 32:18 gibts dann noch einen Teil mit Eckart von Hirschhausen zur Klimakrise generell und der Auseinandersetzung im Miniaturwunderland mit dieser.

In der ersten Hälfte geht es darum, wie das Miniaturwunderland Modelle modernerer Autos herstellt und mit welchen Herausforderungen das kommt. Dann kommt ein kurzer Abschnitt zur generellen Energie-und Verkehrswende in Knuffingen.

Ab 24:25 geht es dann darum, weswegen ich das Video hier verlinkt habe: die öffentliche Meinung zu E-Autos in Deutschland und Typische Lügen dazu.

Ab 32:18 gibts dann noch einen Teil mit Eckart von Hirschhausen zur Klimakrise generell und der Auseinandersetzung im Miniaturwunderland mit dieser.

Eine überraschend frische Serie die mentale Gesundheit, Sexuelle Orientierung, patrichale Strukturen, Rasissmus und Cholerische Chefs in einer spannenden story Verpackt. Mich haben besonders die komplexen Charaktere und die aus deren Persönlichkeiten und natürlich wirkenden äußeren Umständen resultierenden Interaktionen beeindruckt.

Ofizielle (meiner meinung nach schwache) Beschreibung:

Die wilden Achtziger machen auch vor den Redaktionsräumen des australischen Nachrichtenredaktion "News at Six" nicht halt. Während sich die Weltereignisse überschlagen, versucht die erfahrene Nachrichtensprecherin Helen Norville, ihre Stellung als Starmoderatorin zu verteidigen. Auf der Jagd nach den spektakulärsten Nachrichten lernt sie Jungreporter Dale kennen.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/27373182

Evidence that google is actually intelligent

I found this quite interesting and informative. Although the videos explicit thesis is that we are leaving / have left the late stage capitalism stage and moved on to something worse I still think it fits this community quite well. It does critique what most people would identify as late stage capitalism: rent seeking, venture capitalism and shifting division of power between the classes.

I also think it fits here as I feel like the Fediverse in general is a sort of counter-movement to the mentioned abuse of personalized feeds to gain power. The fediverse is democratized by design, it is somewhat immune to monopolization and thereby the structures described in that video.

If you 'liked' the part about personalized feeds I can also recommend Technology Connections 'rant' about that topic: Algorithms are breaking how we think.

Had to grab (junk) food for my study breaks the last few days but managed to prep something today.

Recursion

I also stole this post.