All six third-party models re-validated by an actual FreeCAD 1.1.1
import, with solid counts and bounding boxes recorded in the index;
the C-beam gantry STEP arrives at real scale, ready for detailed
sliding-mechanism views later.
setViewDirection is a no-op on the perspective camera, so drive the
Coin camera directly (position plus pointAt). Scenery pass: grass,
road, background trees kept out of the camera corridors, sky
gradient, thicker props. The under-awning shot finally tells the
story: working in the shade of your own panels. Blog post updated
with the three keeper views.
The owner hand-fetched a Karosa STL past the bot walls; scale it
84:1 to the true 11.99 m, upright it, and rebuild the scene around
the real silhouette. Blog post updated to the v3 isometric; the C734
print kit is archived for a future physical model.
Second-pass procedural scene: window band and wheels on the body,
framed PV panels with distinct glass, end view showing the deployed
awning and its prop. Blog post now carries the v2 isometric.
Two usable STEP files (desktop CNC GPL-3, C-beam gantry CC BY 3.0)
and four CC0 Kenney furniture meshes made it through the account and
bot walls; bus and PV models did not, documented with the fallback of
procedural modelling. The roof concept FCStd joins the repo, stray
agent-download HTML files removed, ignore rules fixed for the visual
library subfolder.
First rendered images from the FreeCAD models: sliding-roof concept
in both states (travel stacked vs deployed awning with props, iso and
top views showing the doubled PV area) and the interior zoning through
a transparent envelope. Rendered headless through the GUI binary with
event-loop pumping after a first blank-frame attempt. Physics post
now carries the two roof views.
Dodo (pinned commit) and Fasteners (pinned tag) are now installed in
the user Mod directory after explicit approval, and FreeCAD starts
clean with them. The simulation toolchain is complete: profiles,
fasteners, native FEM and Assembly.
Seven validated STEP files (Rat Rig V-slot 2020/2040, T-slot 4040,
C-beam 40x80 under CC BY-NC-SA, official Victron Cerbo/MPPT/
MultiPlus-II as closest proxy) with checksums and licences; failures
and alternatives recorded (Fronius, Pylontech, OpenBuilds plates
behind logins, no free Karosa mesh). Dodo and Fasteners addons
documented at pinned commits with the macOS install path — install
left to human review per the supply-chain policy. Native FEM/ccx and
Assembly confirmed sufficient for cantilever, sliding kinematics and
centre-of-gravity studies.
Generate a FreeCAD library of equipment envelopes at exact datasheet
dimensions with real masses attached as properties (each Victron box,
the Fronius, one US3000C and the 4-unit bank, the LONGi panel), so
layout studies and centre-of-gravity checks use true volumes from day
one. Third-party STEP models get a gitignored lib/ folder with a
tracked index, mirroring the constructor-doc pattern.
FreeCAD drops timestamped .FCBak backups next to saved documents;
one slipped into the previous commit. Remove it and ignore the
pattern so only the real .FCStd models are versioned.
Owner corrected the variant: it is the 12 m Axer (11.99 x 2.50 m),
not the 12.8 m. Sweep the repo with the researched figures: PTAC
18000 kg (official prospectus, three concordant sources — the
18500/19000 ad-grade values were wrong), PV ~11500 kg for the 12 m,
wheelbase 6270 mm, C954E axle figures kept as labeled extrapolation.
Research report annotated, vehicle sheet and weight tracker updated,
FreeCAD dimension sheet recalibrated (11400 x 2440 x 2010 interior
placeholders).
Owner confirmed the long-wheelbase 12.8 m Axer. Pin it in the vehicle
sheet with the matching PTAC order of magnitude (~19 t, ad-grade,
official value still to be read on the plate), and bump the FreeCAD
interior-length placeholder from a 12 m guess to 12300 mm so the
parametric zoning reflects the right envelope until the real survey.
Third leg of the CAD tooling: FreeCAD 1.1 for 3D and dimensioned
technical drawings. Seed a spreadsheet-driven model of the interior
(envelope, 9-seat zone, shower cell, Tiroclass bench, fab-machine
zone) so the survey of the emptied bus only has to fill in the
dimension sheet to recalibrate the whole layout. Conventions and
planned files documented in the folder README; decision registered.
L'électron rare