Looks like this one I posted a while back didn’t make it…
3 Likes
It’s hard to fund hosting public open source projects that have rich media and/or backend processing, that are not tied to selling hardware, Ads, or support/consulting…
I think it had a bunch of ads… it just didn’t have much in it yet. Obviously didn’t get enough traffic or uploads to generate traffic to get enough revenue
I can look at adding updated version of custom pintrest style project gallery (I brought to RMRRF last year that works offline) to MakerGalaxy that links/intakes Users to V1E forum posts.
I would love for it to be a V1 thing but it seems like it would take a full-time person pretty quickly to keep up with it. And I think to be successful, we need all the companies to want to come play.
I think a lot of CNC creators would really want to be able to monetize some of their work (just look at etsy), So taking a tiny commission would probably make it feasible. Maybe a GitHub style sponsor spots for current donators to show up on the home page or something.
One good site and a few companies getting behind it could really make for a quick win for CNC users.
We do have to think about the nature of CNC though. Most things are extremely custom, type of wood, thicknesses, how things fit into a given space, tolerances for fitment. For user submitted designs, it takes more work than most 3D prints. So it is much more complicated for the user to submit a project. The requests will be out of control even if it is fully parametric, “how do I adjust…”. If it is not fully parametric, so much worse, “can you make it for 37/84ths wood on the sides and 23.5746 for the bottom”. Then we have the CAD package mismatch. Everything about this is pretty complicated.
4 Likes
I think that is the PERFECT front page to whatever the repo would end up looking like.
3 Likes
There are a lot of challenges making something like that. Sandify is much easier, because it has no backend. This kind of repository needs a lot of server time and space to be functional.
The front end needs to be pretty. I really like how github handles .stl previews. Printables is a close second. There is some significant work there. At one point, I was hoping for a GitHub based system that would let you reference files stored in github. But GitHub is just too focused on security for casual users to get involved.
The backend needs to store and allow access for everything. It needs spam filtering and more than just holding the files and the descriptions. Ideally, it also learns relationships between the objects and can do stuff like auto generate landing pages and suggest similar models and work with search. Those are all bug problems to solve.
The overall design could have built in gamification. The like buttons and reviews and prusa points all encourage engagement. It’s easy to shrug that off as flair. But more engagement means more models.
Adding any kind of purchasing system seems super hard to me. I am not a good enough sysadmin. I would be an easy target. This is why so many light purchasing systems let you pay, then the receipt just has an attached pdf or a link to a google drive.
The hardest part of all is just getting the critical mass of content. You really need to have a lot of stuff in order to get the eyes on the site and the word of mouth to make it grow.
Each one of these require a lot expertise and has a high fraction of failure. Combined, it makes it very difficult.
So I would advocate for finding a place in another site instead of building our own.
Alternatively, maybe we could make a more generic tool to handle this kind of thing, and then get support from other similar industries (think making wordpress, instead of starting a blog). Maybe industries like knitting, whittling, or cooking could also use a similar tool and would be willing to pay a fat percentage on top of the server fees for some small company to make it.
7 Likes
Wow! That was not what I was looking for! I want to help Ryan make money, not spend it! I was hoping for a great v1 something!
I want v1e to be here until he no longer wants to be here!
3 Likes
Well, yes… it was my intention to make this the repository for projects, not THE project! 
4 Likes
Short:
Consider journaling your project in a forum topic, post pictures and instructional steps/updates as you make progress. Consider capturing video footage as you make progress. Then, when “done” enough to share more broadly, use tool to generate instructional content.
Long:
Previously created a MP3DP v4 build forum topic for my project build.
Intentionally posting updates as I made progress in an instruction’sh way with BOM and related images. Where each post was like a build step inspired by v1e doc format. I was capturing video clips as progress was made.
Then, after the project was functioning and “done” enough to share more broadly than the forum… I ran some scripts that semi-auto generate time sync’d playback of the video with my posts (using timestamps of video capture and forum posts). So the instructions get derived from the build journey, and has the filterable 1x to 1000x playback speed stuff.
With today’s LLMs you could have them generate a reasonable instruction skeleton doc based on a well documented forum topic that journaled your project as you build it, and shared with the community.
The LLM can remove the fun tangential side conversations to help get you most of the way towards instructions that enable others to reproduce your design.
Then, you could upload the instructional to Printables, and/or anywhere else you frequent. Sorry if I missed what you’re looking for that’s missing from Printables?
2 Likes
It is already possible to upload other kinds of files to Printables - I already upload detailed instructions in PDF form and a link to OnShape - why not a link back here as well?
From my perspective the purpose would be to maybe inspire, but mostly to drive traffic back to here.
My today project is an example I think – It’s a desktop spray booth with a removable door to allow for storage of my compressor and airbrush bits when not in use. As usual I’ve cut it by hand rather than CNC, it’s got printed parts and jigs so it will go onto Printables - but I’ve been reluctant to post here because of a lack of proper dimensioned drawings.
It would be very easy to convert to a CNC project of course - should I post a build log - or is it too far off topic do you think?
And of course the Onshape File is always available (warning - it’s a Work In Progress!)
3 Likes
Nice. Curious what others think would be a good approach for this?
Personally, I’ve been referencing V1E forum hosted build topics from my Printables, github repos, youtube stuff and other places. My hope was/is that helps lure future community members here that would get value from V1E.
Sadly I don’t have any metrics/insight as to how effective that effort has been.
4 Likes
Well I’m sure that it isn’t driving people away. 
I was lurered here by someone here a few years ago. I do the same but word of mouth i don’t have much online presence. I support the site in every way I can. I put his web address on couple of promotional projects in the wild.
I don’t know how to track without a paid bing or such sub and even then how?
4 Likes
Traffic logging is less and less effective. I think something like 60% of our users have some sort of adblock/tracking filters in place so I can’t really tell where traffic comes from anymore. I 100% use these tools myself so no hard feelings.
The only way to know where traffic comes from anymore is make a custom landing page v1e/timw or something. Then we know it came from something you did, but still not where unless you make a more specific landing page.
The only downside is those blockers can also make is so some affiliate links do not work, free money gone but again, No hard feelings.
3 Likes
Giving users a reason to want a CNC is the main goal, having them choose a V1 machine is the cherry on top.
6 Likes
That is know of i don’t use a add blocker on my phone. At least not on purpose. On my computer I unblock sites that i visit and trust for that reason.
2 Likes
Oh, I notice it the most on my phone. https://nextdns.io/ seems cool, free, and took just a few seconds to set it up on my phone. Adguard for the home network.
I do unblock some sites, but looking at the DNS logs, it feels pretty crazy to know what is going on behind the scenes. On of my robo vacs pings home every second, I know turn it completely off when not in use. I am not worried about it spying, just that it should not be abusing my network connection like that. This homelab sidequest has already taught me so much and currently I am just playing with The DNS stuff.
4 Likes
That’s what I always think with my pi-hole. 38% of the traffic gets blocked… It’s insane.
1 Like
I think the number of requests is increased because it’s being blocked.
I haven’t tested it, but I assume if those requests succeeded, the count would be a lot less.
They probably tend to retry a bit when they fail.
Not saying you should feel good about these things calling home all the time, I just think the amount of traffic is probably less than it seems if it were to be able to succeed
1 Like
Oh that is with the vac allowed! I never blocked it, I wonder how it would handle that.
Seems odd not to just be local network. I have a separate network for IOT stuff and I feel a lot better. Being able to see customers information makes me need to pay attention to this stuff more. Doing what I can to make sure I am never a personal info leak.
4 Likes