Anyone with a drokits setup? decent quality?

Ray C said:
I seem to be missing something... What kind of sensors does this droid app work with? Just curious...

If I understand properly, it seems there are bluetooth DRO sensors this app is reading from. Nice idea! I know a lttle about embedded systems and think this has possibilities provided the app is removed from a smartphone environment and run on a tablet. (BTW: I have many early patents and defensive publications from the beginning days of cell phones. Most smartphone apps are buggy as heck due to flawed/misbehaved environment. And I trust them for nothing).

Ray
Click to expand...


Ray,
What do you mean by "removed from a smartphone environment"? (Just curious). I haven't tested too much on the phone (mine has $600 replacement cost, so it's not going into the garage...), but the tablet running clean Android has been pretty reliable so far.

As a professional software developer I can say with 100% certainty: all non-trivial apps are buggy, and that is due to a lot of factors, ranging from issues in the author's DNA to stray neutrinos hitting the processor at the right time :)
Regards
Yuriy
 
Hi Yuriy,

Oh yes, completely well aware of software complexity issues... Intimately so...

The problem with the smartphone environment is two-fold (actually probably three or four-fold) but as far as software goes here are some of the fundamental issues. -And this is general, common knowledge...

The development environments are going toward multi-platform and are trying to support BlackBerry, i(Apple-Stuff), Symbian, Droid, Palm (and a host of others) all under one hood. As you said, any software that's complex has bugs. -And when you cram that much bad technology (and some of it flawed technology at that) into a small place, you get well, high density bugs. I couldn't count the number of bugs, my teams have encountered which were traced back to the development environment (Eclipse, Netbeans, VS, etc). And these are fundamental bugs such as linker offset problems there were darn near impossible to find. Classic and simple case in point. Take your software, upgrade the development package and recompile. -Dollars to donuts it won't even compile much less run right. I know better. And when you release your app using version X of some package, you will find it conflicts with someone else's app that was made with version Y of the same (or some other) environment.

Configuration Management: I've used about every known CM package out there (and still do, every day). All of them are buggy as heck.

Other Software: No matter how good your app is and how much time you've spent chasing-out the bugs, there's always going to be someone else's Free (or 99 cent) app that brings the whole cardhouse down. -And it may manifest itself only when your app is running -and thus, you will be given due credit.

OS Changes: The problem is systemic. I couldn't shake a stick at all the apps I've made over the years that stop working properly when the OS is upgraded -and the smartphone OSs are highly complex (and usually very different than the OS's in notebook and general computing devices) and in a constant state of flux. Software is only as good the OS it runs in and it's a constant moving target.

I could go on ad-infinitum about these types of issues and not even scratch the surface of proprietary information issues (which are systemic and deep seated).

I happen to have detailed information about cell phones and it's common knowledge that most folks power-off / reset their devices on a regular (almost daily) basis. Why? Because something goes quirky and it's the fastest way to make a bug temporarily go away.

BTW: Your idea of of putting a BT xmitter at the end of a DRO is probably worth a design patent (I sat on the Patent committee at Motorola)... Your idea is good, very good. Now get away from the smartphone environment lest you get blamed for every weakness they have... Notepad, GC platform -good place to be for your idea.

Ray


ycroosh said:
Ray,
What do you mean by "removed from a smartphone environment"? (Just curious). I haven't tested too much on the phone (mine has $600 replacement cost, so it's not going into the garage...), but the tablet running clean Android has been pretty reliable so far.

As a professional software developer I can say with 100% certainty: all non-trivial apps are buggy, and that is due to a lot of factors, ranging from issues in the author's DNA to stray neutrinos hitting the processor at the right time :)
Regards
Yuriy
Click to expand...
 
Just got notice that the DRO is en-route...

Yuriy - I checked our your blog and your app - they are sweet and very inspiring - thanks for putting it all out there (now if I only had time to play around with it...)

I think Android OS is a good platform to develop to at the moment as it is open to a plethora of devices - most are accessible and in current house use (android phones and tablets). I love the idea of using my phone or tablet to view the readings on my Mill, and then switch the BT connection to the unit on the Lathe to work on that one (this raises a question - can you switch between transmitters and remember their settings when you left them off or would it reset readings?) - all theoretical at the moment of course as I do not have any of the electronics, but the concept is brilliant nonetheless.

The only drawback is the igaging scales accuracy in my mind - while they are advertised as repeatable within .001, they are also advertised as running a .002 resolution which is great for woodworking (which is what they are marketed for) and in fact too good for woodworking, it is still a bit iffy (for me) for metal working where I do try to aim to stay within .001 off of my mark, and with .002 resolution this is impractical (especially for lathe work which will double the error by x2).

I wonder if one could use higher grade scales for this (like dropros magnetic scales, or generic/import glass scales). that would remove the only con I see in this setup.

I am planning on getting a DRO on my lathe at some point, and will seriously consider your app and writeup if I can find a way to rig this with higher resolution scales (will need to do more research on this on my end).
 
PurpLev said:
Just got notice that the DRO is en-route...

...
I wonder if one could use higher grade scales for this (like dropros magnetic scales, or generic/import glass scales). that would remove the only con I see in this setup.
...
Click to expand...

And this is what is probably a patentable idea. BT xmitters will run for months on a small AAA-size battery and are dime-a-dozen. I've never looked at how scales operate and how much power they need but, if a standard interface between a DRO scale and a BT transmitter were developed (assuming it's not already been done) it would be a marketable item and worth a design patent. Design patents have their issues though and a more desirable utility patent could potentially result in the standardization of the interface and protocol of the DRO scale information on both sides of BT xmitter. Somehow though, I have to believe that the high-end CNC machines are already going things like this...


Ray
 
PurpLev said:
Just got notice that the DRO is en-route...

Yuriy - I checked our your blog and your app - they are sweet and very inspiring - thanks for putting it all out there (now if I only had time to play around with it...)

I think Android OS is a good platform to develop to at the moment as it is open to a plethora of devices - most are accessible and in current house use (android phones and tablets). I love the idea of using my phone or tablet to view the readings on my Mill, and then switch the BT connection to the unit on the Lathe to work on that one (this raises a question - can you switch between transmitters and remember their settings when you left them off or would it reset readings?) - all theoretical at the moment of course as I do not have any of the electronics, but the concept is brilliant nonetheless.

The only drawback is the igaging scales accuracy in my mind - while they are advertised as repeatable within .001, they are also advertised as running a .002 resolution which is great for woodworking (which is what they are marketed for) and in fact too good for woodworking, it is still a bit iffy (for me) for metal working where I do try to aim to stay within .001 off of my mark, and with .002 resolution this is impractical (especially for lathe work which will double the error by x2).

I wonder if one could use higher grade scales for this (like dropros magnetic scales, or generic/import glass scales). that would remove the only con I see in this setup.

I am planning on getting a DRO on my lathe at some point, and will seriously consider your app and writeup if I can find a way to rig this with higher resolution scales (will need to do more research on this on my end).
Click to expand...


Sharon,
The "magic" of this design is the Arduino controller. The one I posted uses iGaging scales because my toy budget is VERY limited and iGagign scales was all I could afford, but it can be reprogrammed to use the glass scales in a weekend (literally). There is even a shield for that.
One of my readers developed a version that used 4 calipers (with basically the same hardware). I even helped him to write some of the firmware, but then he refused to share the design and disappeared ...
This summer I was planning to get a set of glass scales and create a controller for them. From reading the data sheets they are basically incremental quadrature encoders, so I "remain optimistic".

Thank you
Yuriy
 
Joined this a little late and with a very hazy idea of what's up (in other words, I don't have a clue).

To run this on a mill what is needed: scales, software, display readout (I think this is supposed to be an Android-based smartphone or maybe a tablet), some software and? Is there a website with hook-it-together & how-it works instructions?

Thanks
 
Dunc1 said:
Joined this a little late and with a very hazy idea of what's up (in other words, I don't have a clue).

To run this on a mill what is needed: scales, software, display readout (I think this is supposed to be an Android-based smartphone or maybe a tablet), some software and? Is there a website with hook-it-together & how-it works instructions?

Thanks
Click to expand...


the link is in post #13
 
The DRO itself isn't bad. The readout is decent with typical aluminum cast housing. The scales cheap out a little with less wiper protection than the kits from Dro-Pros...The bigger problem is customer service at DROKITS.Com. I tried to contact the folks at DROKITS numerous times within the first month, to return a faulty scale. They did not respond at all. I finally had to buy a replacement scale from DRO-PROs and then file a Paypal complaint against DROKITS to recover my money on the faulty scale that I returned. They never even responded to that and Paypal returned my funds. But still it was needless hassle.
I know this thread is older but my point is buyer beware of DROKITS.com

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3.
 
cuseguy said:
The DRO itself isn't bad. The readout is decent with typical aluminum cast housing. The scales cheap out a little with less wiper protection than the kits from Dro-Pros...The bigger problem is customer service at DROKITS.Com. I tried to contact the folks at DROKITS numerous times within the first month, to return a faulty scale. They did not respond at all. I finally had to buy a replacement scale from DRO-PROs and then file a Paypal complaint against DROKITS to recover my money on the faulty scale that I returned. They never even responded to that and Paypal returned my funds. But still it was needless hassle.
I know this thread is older but my point is buyer beware of DROKITS.com

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3.
Click to expand...
I have one DRO from drokits.com that I've been using for a couple of months and its a tremendous value. I liked it so much that I'm getting another one for my other lathe. It should be here on Friday. I haven't had any problems so far.

Something worth mentioning is that I think that DROpros and DROkits are the same people. I've recieved e-mail from drokits with the dropros e-mail address. :dunno:

The DRO scales from DROkits work absolutely perfect. It amazes me everytime I check the actual part measurements that it's spot on with the dro reading. :))

Marcel
 
xalky said:
I have one DRO from drokits.com that I've been using for a couple of months and its a tremendous value. I liked it so much that I'm getting another one for my other lathe. It should be here on Friday. I haven't had any problems so far.

Something worth mentioning is that I think that DROpros and DROkits are the same people. I've recieved e-mail from drokits with the dropros e-mail address. :dunno:

The DRO scales from DROkits work absolutely perfect. It amazes me everytime I check the actual part measurements that it's spot on with the dro reading. :))

Marcel
Click to expand...

I agree also that they are the same people or have a connection. I know that DROKITS shipments show up in UPS as Dro-Pros billing information.
As far as being a good deal. As I said, the unit is decent. Not the best and not the worst. I have 2 other DRO's to base that on. A Dropros mid level unit, a Newall and now the DROKITS unit. So I expect a DRO to hold an accurate measurement. That being said. With no customer service to speak of, the DROKITS deal is not feeling so awesome. You havent had any issues where you have needed them.

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy Note 3.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top