@ApexWoodworks Hey Marty! Just thinking out loud here, I wonder if Sienci has a zoom account they would be willing to allow us to use? Otherwise, Microsoft has āteamsā available at no cost. It doesnāt appear to have the time limit that the free zoom accounts have.
Something to consider, we could just āget togetherā one evening and simply get to know one another, find out peoples experience levels and what they want to hear about. That way, we could gather info on what people want, attach a face with a name and maybe a show and tell just to warm up. With that information, we can move forward with basic cnc topics, something that everyone wants to hear about (or the majority anyway). Personally, I would like to hear from @gwilki. Grant has been a fantastic moderator and I bet his words of wisdom would be amazing.
You got me excited as heck. We already have an outstanding forum, one that is active and where people are willing to share. Taking it to the next level with āclassesā and such will be very fun!
@Jake Tks for the vote of confidence, Jake, but I donāt know enough about the expectations to put my name forward. Iāve been watching this thread, but have not yet gotten a sense of what will be expected of the presenter. For example, I do not have a web cam of any sort on my office PC. I donāt have the capability to screen share. Clearly, I or anyone can get both of those things. I just donāt have them now. Someone else on here may already have them.
They may not be necessary, depending on the content of the seminar. The title is ālong millā, so is the seminar to be limited to physically working with the Long Mill: setting it up, calibration, talking to it with gSender, routine maintenance? Or is it to be more addressed to creating projects in a CAD/CAM application, then using the Long Mill to create them?
@gwilki So the initial idea that was put forth was training. That can be very broad just in itself. Personally, my thoughts would be to (like @ApexWoodworks suggested) crawl before running. Maybe some basic LongMill set up, maintaining it, calibration and a basic project? I donāt have a webcam either, but do on my laptops.
Even simpler, the first segment could easily be introducing everyone that are interested to the platform, do some basic polls about experience levels and experiences, and end with a basic show and tell segment. We could also poll the attendees, asking them about āwhat they want from these online get togethersā. The only way this works is if we provide the results that many of them would like.
I belong to a woodworking club here in Iowa, and that format works well for them. Informative, lasts about 90 minutes and gives the viewer some insight to different types of projects the members are making. Their projects are using ātraditionalā woodworking methods. This fall, Iām going to share some of my work, even though basic, and some of the processes involved. I use many of the same tools to make my pieces, although my main tool is a computer and LongMill.
I apologize for the Hemingway novel here, but having a vision of what we are hoping to accomplish and meeting the expectations of as many people as possible is key to the success of this.
Have a great day and thanks for what you do for the forum!
Jake
Edit: while looking for something unrelated (getting on Facebook, Iām one of the rare people without a Facebook account) they seem to have a conference application or a way for groups to talk in real time. I donāt know anything about it, but maybe a Facebook user could chime in if they have used it and if it would be a viable option for us moving forward.
I no longer have a face book account. When I left the military Facebook email login was was pointed to my non-classified military email account as we used Facebook to stay in touch with loved ones when deployed and It was closed upon discharge and I lost access to Facebook and the company will not delete my previous account nor will the company reset my account password or email after providing Facebook with a photo id that matches my Facebook profile. so no more Facebook for me.
As to a platform I use this with a software company that I purchased Design software from for you Younger members it is called an App. But it is still software to me. There is both video and audio and screen sharing as I have used it works very well and is secure . Just my two cents on one of the many ways we can all chat and share our ideals and awesomeness with one another.
You are most welcome. And a huge thank you to yourself and too the others that make the Sienci Labs Forums informational along with interesting. As soon as I get my CNC bench build done , I am sure that I will be full of questions?
I wanted to also add in that Discord is a free resource that has the ability to share screens and video along with voice communications.
Here is one Discord Server that I belong to MakersMashup it is the Makers Mashup for 3D Printing , CNC and Lasers, CAD and CAM software and much much more
@Jwar Thank you for your service sir! I also want to know that I appreciate your continued interest in this project. I have tried discord with my son, and it does seem to work well without any of the limits that other platforms have (time, number of people etc.). I personally have never tried it with more than two people though. Maybe we should give it a test spin so to speak. Set a date and time to give it a whirl before we get the full group together.
Let me know what you (and everyone else who shown interest in this) thinks!
@ApexWoodworks Any more thought on having this workshop, perhaps after the holidays? We are in the dead dark of winter now, and this would be a great distraction if you are still up for it. Thanks and hope everyone is well.