It occurred to me that a link that is used only to change the direction of link movement, like the one pictured below, is sort of an idler link. it’s like an idler pulley because it doesn’t do anything on it’s own. An idler pulley keeps tension in…
Continue readingI have a new part built for the new Rolling Ball Sculpture. Small Ball Lifter The small lifter part is the lowest lifting arm on the mechanism. This part lifts the ball off the frame to a position where another arm can take the ball. The ball is…
Continue readingThe PriorityStackPanel class is a Panel element that I built for my Windows Store app. The idea is that the panel should adapt the content to the display based on a set of rules. The existing panels in C# and WinRT are totally useless for this task because…
Continue readingManufacturing has begun on ball lifter #2. Design Animation of Lifter #2 The lower mechanism lifts the ball off the entry track to a position where link 3 at connector F can catch it. From there, it is lifted and dropped onto a short track about half way…
Continue readingI have only used this horizontally. This panel will shrink down to zero size if needed, which might not be what you expect. The important parts of the code are commented. This is my first attempt at this particular feature and the code may be incomplete. I have…
Continue readingI recently wrote about a sort of StackPanel that I needed to write that would never show partial content if there was not enough room for that content. Well, I was about to write a new post with the code for it, which is working as well as…
Continue readingI’m writing a Windows Store app, as many previous posts have made obvious, and I’ve got a new need that might not be fulfilled by any Microsoft tools. I need a StackPanel that hides any children that can’t be shown in their requested size. My plan is to…
Continue readingI was reading an old blog post http://www.kalzumeus.com/2011/10/28/dont-call-yourself-a-programmer/ and came across this line: “Anyone describing themselves as either a Java programmer or .NET programmer has already lost.” The point he was making, and continued to make after this line, is that programming languages don’t matter. It’s an old…
Continue readingI had a project that required key codes. These are codes sort of like the key codes used by software companies to activate your software. For my situation, the most effective way to pass around these codes is as long integers. Otherwise, math on these values, like to…
Continue readingThe second version of the Trials Fusion Xbox One hoverbike track worked out well and is a lot of fun to play. Some people can’t manage to make it work or just don’t like what they found when they played it. So this skill game is never going…
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