Remote desktop tool

[rlt]

Hi All,

Has anyone tried using Windows XP's remote desktop functionality on the shopbot computer?

More specifically, my 'bot runs unattended much of the time (in a separate building) while I attend to less interesting stuff like accounts receivable and childcare. I'd like to be able to look-in on the progress without having to leave my desk.

My second thought was to install a web-cam on that computer and point it at the screen, but I fear the resolution may be too low, and the dust might be a problem too. Any thoughts?

Thanks,
-- Ron Toms

[magic]

Any of the new cameras should give you a view but adding sound would even be better.

[bob_s]

I use a Mobi baby monitor, to get out of the shop and still safely run some 6 hour cut times. I found it can do about 75 feet without a problem, sound and images for under $100.

[adrianm]

I use a wireless camera with sound. No connection to the PC so no risk of interfering with the control software and the picture is good enough to see what's going on.

Pretty cheap these days as well, mine was £45.

[myxpykalix]

I use a wireless camera setup to watch and listen to the bot while it is running a 3d toolpath that might be a 6 hour file.

You want to set it up independant of your control computer for sure.
Also you want to watch what the router is doing not what is going on on the control screen. The router could be going berserk but the lines could be going right along and you'd never know.

6963

[adrianm]

Spooky, that's almost identical to the angle my camera is at!

[pfulghum]

I love all the "stuff" on the end of he table... I don't feel too alone. Seems like any flat surface gets "stuff" layed on it in my shop.

p.s. What type of wireless camera? What type of transmit range do you get out of it?

-- pat

[wberminio]

I have a wireless baby monitor I bought at Kmart.
It has video and sound.
The monitor is in the office.Works very well.
I've found that a change in sound is the best way to determine if there is an issue that needs immediate attention.

[pfulghum]

what is the range? Do you think 50 ft is ok?

-- pat

[wberminio]

Pat

Mine is at least 50 feet from Shopbot to office
Just check the specs.Its great for clients to see the machine work without the liability.

[rlt]

Thanks for all the info guys. I really appreciate it.

I've tried wireless cameras, and a wifi network too. No luck. The shop is only about 60 feet from my office, but I think the bricks here are made with lead powder or something. Even my cell phone doesn't work unless I go outside. I had to hard-wire a network so I can share files between computers.

I think I'll get a little hub and look for a networkable camera. The more I think about it, the remote PC idea wasn't such a good one anyway.

Thanks again,
-- Ron

[myxpykalix]

The camera i bought was from walmart (no sure of brand) but it has a little antenna on the camera and a reciever in the house. The signal goes thru a wooden wall of the shop and a brick wall of the house which is 30-40 ft away then hooked to a tivo that records 24/7 then to a small monitor. This camera was in the $79.00 range and is rated to transmit up to 300 ft, i'm sure without obstructions. It works good for me.

[jerry_stanek]

My shop is steel so I had to go with a wired tv cam. Bought it at harbor freight for $29.00. I have it aimed so I can see both table and control screen.

[navigator7]

Dang....I thought all I had to do was build my shop, buy a Shopbot, throw some wood on the table and priceless artifacts would fall off the table as fast as I could retrieve them. I coulds almost hear the gold jingling in my pocket.
Now what?
I gotta buy technology that didn't exist when men landed on the moon..... A movie camera so I can watch and listen to the Shopbot work from a remote location?
Only in America!
';-)

[garyb]

Jack does your camera have zoom capability?

[myxpykalix]

no gary it is just a small static camera that sits up on the rafter to get a long shot of all the action in the shop.

6964

[beacon14]

Chuck, if that technology did not exist then how were we able to watch what the astronauts were doing on the moon?

[navigator7]

Ahhhhhhhhh!!! Caught red handed!
David,
I didn't fully develop my thought. The horror of it all.
My cell phone has more computing power than the puters used to land the Apollo on the moon.

Aside from the camera faux pas I do not believe CNC commercially existed in '69.

I remember in the 1980's, a ship yard I worked for had the first CNC seven head torch system allowing seven parts to be produced at a time. All you had to do was load all the cards in the correct order! This one even had an optical eye that would follow a pencil line. Sorta.

I guess my point was........who had a camera to watch over their shop in 69?

Star Trek was in reruns, I believe, and doors that open upon approach didn't exist. Nowadays, it is more uncommon to find a manual door.

This thread made me feel old........


;-)

[mikeacg]

I remember those old 'tracker' machines. I was working in the engineering department of a company that built machinery for the corrugated industry and had to do 1:1 drawings of parts with a plastic lead pencil on frosted acetate for the torch to follow! Now I'm feeling old!
Mike

[beacon14]

Sorry, Chuck, I knew what you meant, its just my nature to mess with people.

When my Grandparents were born, the airplane had just been invented, television did not exist, and more people owned horses than cars. Well before they died men had walked on the moon, and we watched it on TV while sitting comfortably on the couch. We can't even imagine what new and different things our grandkids will do that will make us look like the old horse and buggy riders.

[navigator7]

LOL, David,
That's my nature too! I knew you were messing with me. I'm an easy target when bent over! ;-)

This 3 d stuff must evolve into something like Star Trek's replicator.
Even the ShopBot.....It occurred to me on a drive to Spokane....it only removes material! WTH? Why not deposit material as well?

Metal sintering, ABS, and ceramic powder are just the beginning.
Just wait until human skin can be digitally duplicated?
We will be able to e-mail copies of ourselves and even sync up!

As I was in the concrete pumping biz, I took exception to the idea a home could be printed with a 3D printer!
Pumping concrete through hose and pipe is work best left to those mentally insane but not yet classified as such.
The variables that come into play creating an unpumpable mix reminds me of downtown Seattle where all the freeway traffic is reduced down to two lanes because somebody thought it would be cool to place a stupid figgen concrete park over the freeway.

I just love engineers and concrete. Two obtuse entities that make as much sense as helicopters flying close to each other.
Now they want to XYZ a home with concrete as the medium!!

http://archrecord.construction.com/tech/techBriefs/0704dignews-2.asp

6965

A ShopBot Look-Alike is it not?

Caterpillar, the world's largest manufacturer of construction equipment, is starting to support research on the "Contour Crafting" automated construction system that its creator believes will one day be able to build full-scale houses in hours.
http://www.physorg.com/news139161727.html

If we had this conversation back in the 70's and actually did something about it.....we'd be considered brilliant today!

What would be a good deposition product for a ShopBot?
Foam?
Epoxy?
Plastic?
Silicone?

What about ground up household waste products?

I'm kicking around the idea of Ice.
Ice sculptures.
Super cooled water that freezes on exposure to atmosphere.
Where I live I could do this work 6 months out of the year and not pay for a refrigerated shop!
;-)
Or at the very least......styrofoam molds for creating ice sculptures:

"Congratulations!
John And Marge Armstrong
25 Years of Wedded Bliss
(Insert poignant photo into carving)"

Freeze for two or three days or so and viola!


Shipped in a custom made styrofoam box with 2 Lbs of dry ice.

Now.....I am messing with you right back!
;-)