Interview a Fabber

My interview was With the Man himself Moath Ali Before the interview, I didn’t know Moath well, I new Ahmed before him which is also a Fabber. I asked him about his background he told me that he is a civil engineer he studied in Sharjah university he became a fabber June 2016 also he was a student in fab academy last year. I found that Mouath used CAD software’s before fab lab so he knows how to design and he used many software’s such as Rhino, Inventor, Fusion360, Antimony,photoshop, and many others in 2D and 3D. Mouath advised me to use free software’s because it’s an open source and you can find million tutorial’s to learn from and add plugs that programmers develop. I asked him what he gained from the fablab, his answer was “I really learn a lot from fablab like web development, PCP, how to use the 3D printer and laser cutter, and many things that make me capable to start any project I want”. My last question was What make you love Fab lab, his answer was “I love the fact that I can build whatever I want, I mean that I have the tools and basics to make almost everything, also I love to help other people and work hard so they can succeed in their project. Also helping people make me learn because a lot of times I don’t know what the project needs, so I go and I do research about it to prepare my self to help them”. It’s really a motivation interview that motivated me.

Gimp

GIMP Is a popular and very easy tool, Also it’s open source which makes it very popular. before I thought these tools which are capable of manipulating the images are not free, I heard about photoshop before but I didn’t know there is a powerful tool like it and also free. When I install it I played with it for few minutes like I choose an image then erase some parts or write on the image my name using paint tool’s and selection tool’s after that I saw few tutorials’s in Gimp which teaches me things that will help me a lot throughout the academy also in real life. I learned How to scale, resize, crop, rotates, and to combine two images like to merge them and delete the background.

The first thing I learned was scaling images. before I was struggling to scale any image because I thought that this feature in non-free tools such as Photoshop. Keep in mind that if you scale down your images the quality will decrease, so in order to scale an image using Gimp you just go to the image and open it with gimp then from tools choose to transform tools then scale. Crop and rotate is in the same place as scale. Another thing is resizing that help a lot because some images have a big size which makes the website heavy and slow to open, and I don’t want to wast many mega’s in images. To resize images open with Gimp then if you want to scale just scale it if you don’t click files then export as, then choose the place and the extension .jpg or whatever then click export, it will show you a small window where you can reduce the size. also, there is an option to show the image when you reduce the quality to see it.

For two day's I was searching for Merge two images. Thank God I found the best way to delete the background of two images then merge them. Before that, I saw some tutorials but I didn't get it from them. So I was stuck and I don't ask anyone also I didn't think of searching in the sites of last year student. So finally I did it from this tutorial, So in order to do it you must follow these steps:-

1. From the upper par click on file and open any image
2. Go to Layers from the same bar
3. Choose transparency then "add alpha channel"
4. then from tools click on the eraser
5. Erase the background
6. From Files export the image
7. Make sure that the file type is ".Png" then close the window
8. Open as a layer then choose the background
9. Open as Layer (choose the image or images)
10. Then adjust it if you want

For me, I put two images and a background. These two images are not just random images. These guys or I can say lovers were away from each other for a long time you can see the male is sad he cant feel happens in this world without her. With the help of GIMP, I succeed in gathering them again.

Rhino

Rhino is a 3D software tool it works in Mac, Windows, and I don’t think they have a release in Linux. It’s not free but they give you a 90-day trial. I install it to just tray it because Mouath used it also advised me to just try it. I must say that I tried Inventor for one week maybe before two years, so I can say it’s my first time to use a 3D software. It’s like when I start building my website I thought its complicated and boring. But it was fun and I know that it lets you use your imagination to create new shapes and manipulate the shapes. The thing I like the most was the four windows that show you the object from different views. I think its great Idea and you also can maximize any window by clicking two times in the word(front, Top etc), for example in front window you can click twice and it will show you only the front view, Also there was a command up right that give you guide sometime to finish what you want. I searched for a tutorial it’s a six videos that teach the basics. I traied to creat a traingel from standerd (you can see it under command) then I choose from the upper bar solid then extrude planar curve this will extrude the scketch ans make it solid then extroude it before that I was extruding from surface tools there is a tool called extrude straight but the proplem I must click in the view (top or any word in the four window’s) then choose shaded to make the extrude shape with a wall (body) to not make as lines only but even with this there was no roof I mean there was five faces without the top surface , then I do a three holes by using round hole from solid tools. after that from the same place, there is a tool that moves the edge, so I moved two edges. After that I make rendering from the upper bar you will find it called render then I chosen render preview.

Fusion 360

Fusion 360 Is a software from Autodesk I wanted to try it also before three months I download the software but I didn't get the chance to try it. I worked with Inventor in college but it wasn't for a long a time. Fusion I see it as the easiest 3D software tell now also not forgetting that they give three years trail for the student. If you are a beginner like me and you want an easy straightforward software I advise you to use Inventor or Fusion360. also, there is a lot of tutorials you can find them here that can answer almost every concern. When I download the software I spend one hour discovering. It wasn't hard to work with it, but there are some details I didn't know so I saw some tutorials to help me. Also, I spend few hours because this semester I must finish my graduation project which is a solar cell that can track the sun. So I must design a holder for the solar cell. Below you will see the steps of making this design, the model, and parameter model. Actully Fusion became my standard software in 2D and 3D modelling.

At the beginning I draw the rectangular from sketches then I extrude from Create in order to extrude it. It asks to click in the shape so I clicked in the rectangular and then you can determine the thickness.

Then I drow a smaller rectangular inside the old one then I extrude it down.

Also I make another reatangulat to make a small gab to fit the flexible cell inside.

then I drow a rectangular for the screws

then I make four holes then I thread them by choosing thread from create then I click on modeled from the window in the right side then I click OK.

Here is the file of solar panel (f3d)
Here is the file of the final project (stl)

Here is a possible design for the final project

Here is the file of the final project (f3d)
Here is the file of the final project (stl)

Inkscape

Inkscape In this week I didn't find time to use the software but in Computer-Controlled Cutting week I used it. I use the software with the help of carl to crop the words an leave the image also to do an important thing which is changing from pixel to vector so I can print it in vinyl cutter. I explain the full process in that week.

My experince

The interview was really really a good idea from wendy I’t motivate me. also, the guys who work here are role models for me because my dream is to get the basics from many different fields and I want to help others and teach others that you can make do anything if you have the intention to do it. I remember that he advises me to document everything that I do and if I want help I can ask Wendy or them, he said he will be happy to help us in case we get stuck. I will continue with fablab to gain more knowledge. I really liked Gimp it was simple and easy to use I start to use it daily from the first week. the first time I took 10 minutes to scale, crop, and resize an image. Now I can finish it maximum 1 minute, also there are good and beautiful tutorial's that can help a lot. I face two problems one is to delete the background of an image. the other when I wanted to delete the background of two images then merge them, I couldn't found easy and simple steps to do it. overall it's good and I will use it every day. Inkscape I didn't spend a lot of time in it, but I will in the future. Rhino it's cool but the problem it's not free, Also the four window view is very good. But unlike inventor, you can't right-click on the shape and see options. It's good and wants more tutorial to use it easily because it will not be easy if you started without a tutorial. Fusion360 I founded it easier than Rhino and Also After testing this software I can say my opinion about designing and CAD changed and I want to spend more time to learn at least fusion360, Solidworks, gimp, and Inkscape.