So here it is: We are very happy to have an alpha release waiting for you to dive into the build! After many experiments and revisions we have an alpha release of the Ultrascope Explorer (UE) for you to get started:
Release of files on Onshape for 3D Design
- UE Mechanical design files
Release of files on Github for further code and documentation:
- UE Arduino shield electronics schematics & PCB layout
- UE Arduino/ driver code
- Bill of materials (BOM)
- Suggested timeline
- Release mails with video snippets with notes over the next weeks describing assembly steps
- Running Google hangouts to brief you and get your feedback
- Connecting with you on design improvements
- Share your work and tweet your progress !
There are a variety of ways to share your progress and feed back to us and the wider Ultrascope community
- To document your build progress, send a tweet using the #ultrascope hashtag and cc @OSA_projects @octo23tech and @spacegambit
- To add an improvement to the mechanical design, first branch (!!) the Onshape model and tweak away, then let us know.
- For questions about Onshape, use the tutorials and videos. For technical issues use the Onshape feedback mechanism.
- For code submissions, bill of materials, electronics and documentation updates, issues and feedback, use github.
You should have already been invited to the engineering platform Onshape.
If you are missing an invitation, let us know and we'll re-invite you to Onshape.
Onshape is where we are releasing the live 3D mechanical design files.
You will receive a further email that joins you as Onshape user into the Ultrascope Explorer Alpha 3D workspace. Onshape lets us collaborate with you on the mechanical design in a way similar to github allowing branching/merging, history tracking and rollback on the shared 3D mechanical model files. You can branch and tweak the UE design and we can merge any improvements and changes into the main model.
You can participate with the 3D model design just on the Onshape platform without the need for downloading CAD files or purchasing dedicated 3D CAD software.
Please note that the STL file pack for 3D printing and the 2D DWG/DXF pack for laser cutting, the Bill of Materials (BOM) for parts ordering and other documentation and source code will be on our github repository.
The mechanical build is going to a fair amount of work for to print and get together, so we are going to manufacture and issue the UE Arduino shield circuit boards, one for each alpha team.
The Bill of Materials (BOM) also outlines the electronics required for completing the circuit boards. You need to order all parts to be able to build the shields.
Alongside this, the UE Arduino shield editable EAGLE electronic schematics and driver source code are released on our private Ultrascope Explorer Github repository.
The UE Github repository contains the Arduino shield schematic and driver code release. We invite you to register with github.com (to retrieve the source files and documentation and to contribute feedback on these).
If you have not already registered with github please consider doing so and also please make one of your team members your github 'goto' person to share help.
After github registration, please take note of your github user name so we can send out invites to the UE Github repositories. To tell us your github user id and to get the Arduino shield PCB for your team please tell us your preferred circuit board delivery address ASAP via this form.
Why are these repositories private right now? We do this to make sure we have an initial user tested release for the beta and successive roll-out making sure stuff works well to manage a good build experience later.
All Onshape and Github UE repositories will be made public after concluding the Alpha phase.
As Ultrascope Explorer Alpha community member you agree to the following : You acknowledge that this is an alpha stage design that still has some potential bugs which you are helping to sort out with us during the build.
You acknowledge the interim licence: Open Commons, Attribution, Non-commercial (which we are moving to an Open Hardware Licence; we are in the process of picking out one of the common models CERN, MIT, TAPR, etc.) As we are looking to set up a series Google hangouts,we realize that not everybody can make all times. We endeavour to summarize any important outcomes to all of you and you will be able to pass on any queries/bug reports and issues via the github repository.
We have sketched out a suggested sequence for the build which is available on Onshape. We will revise this as we go also. We realise that not everybody will of course be able to operate on this schedule, this is just meant to be a guide and will be coordinated with the tutorial video release we are planning to make.
Thanks so much for participating on Ultrascope Explorer Alpha!
We can't wait to see you getting started with the build, your communal feedback and inspiration !
Stefan, Jon, Jordan, James, Izzy, Graeme, Sarah