ggengraving

GGD Universal AR15 Fixture Engraving is live for Patreon supporters.

I'm still working on the DD a little bit to make it easier to follow, but it's in place. Check it out and let me know how it works for you!

Thanks for your continued support!

Engraving on the AR using the GGD Universal Fixture

Working on getting that finalized now. It's been tested to work prior to the full release of the fixture. That's one of the things that was happening behind the scenes to be sure the fixture was all that we hoped and dreamed it to be.

So it's known to work, but I'm working on getting a DD produced for engraving that is well documented and easy to use.

I expect to have it available to Patreon supporters likely this week.

Thanks!

Update your DDCut folks!

The latest version of DDCut doesn't break the 'compatibility programming' developed by GGD when clearing the WCS values.

Magic!

To install the magic version, download and run the 5.2 installer.

Windows installer: https://github.com/Defdist/DDCut/releases/download/v5.2.0/DDCut-5.2.0-Setup-x32.exe
Mac installer: https://github.com/Defdist/DDCut/releases/download/v5.2.0/DDCut-5.2.0-Setup.dmg

After installation is complete, you will now be running DDCut 5.2.

The magic is new probing. Instead of probing one time at the very beginning of the job, it will do a probe sequence before engraving. It'll be CRITICAL to WATCH the probing. If you see it touch off on any point that is unexpected, and not part of the surface you want to engrave, DO NOT MOVE FORWARD to the next step. It will result in something exciting.

Otherwise, if all goes as expected what you will see is that the engraving job will follow the plane of the surface. Which means if the surface of the work piece isn't even, it'll roll with it. If your mounting isn't perfectly level, not big deal. It'll make it work.

I've been working on this for a while and am excited to see it get some more use.

Let me know what you think as you try it. It's currently only available to Patreon supporters, and it requires DDCut 5.2 to be able to use it.

Magic is coming soon.

Expect more tomorrow!

This is gonna be baller.

New interface

Please vote if you've checked it out and let me know what you think.

It's at: https://ghostwriter.serverrack.net/index2.php

For now ... It needs to get into production before I can get to work on some other things I'm looking to do.

If you select one of the options that would indicate more time is needed, please provide more data on what needs to be done.

Thanks!

New Interface

I'm about to release a new user interface. The differences from the user perspective are pretty minor, but there is a LOT difference behind the scenes that will allow for much easier future growth and new features. If you want to check it out, it's easy to hit at:

https://ghostwriter.serverrack.net/index2.php ... Please check it out and report anything unexpected that you run into? If things get crazy, please provide screenshots and if possible, any steps to reproduce?

THANKS FOR YOUR CONTINUED SUPPORT! :)

Fonts

I just added some new fonts to the system per a Patreon Supporter's request.

The list if getting sizable, and while it was (and is for now) sorted alphabetically, that makes the default now Ancient Greek ... which ... is maybe not the best default.

What I just implemented is something to track the use of each font. The list is now sorted first by number of uses (previews don't count) and secondly by name alphabetically.

At the moment there are no uses tracked, so the list will appear as it always has, but over time as the fonts get used the most used will appear at the top.

It's not really a functional change, but it is a subtle user interface change I wanted to make you aware of.

Thanks all for your continued support!

Staged Jobs for Patreon members.

It's a thing now. Took way longer to actually get in place. Just need a couple people to validate my functionality. It's working for me but I like to see a few other people see success before I call it totally done.

Who wants to give it a go?

1) Create a 'base' job which contains the static info either text or image or whatever.

2) Be sure to check the 'save job' box when you submit.

3) The email you get with the link to the DD file for that job will contain a 'saved job ID' in it.

4) Then submit the next job. Be sure to select the SAME job type, and bit angle as on the first one, such as 'AR15 Right FCG' or whatever. You can use the offsets to move around to wherever you want on the actual lower. Both jobs must also use the same bit shape/angle. Enter the 'saved job ID' in the 'Token' input field.

You SHOULD see the previous job plus whatever you added to it in the preview as well as in the resulting DD file. Please report back both successes or any errors you encounter.

Thanks!

Boom!

Still working on the polish ... but once this is in place, it'll be available to Patreon supporters.

I'll be providing some basic instructions here on how to use it.

New feature coming soon ...

I'm announcing this now to put a little pressure on myself to get it released quickly. :) ... but it's not done yet.

I'm working on something that will allow you to 'stage' jobs ... so ... for example, you have a mag well logo you want to put on several lowers and you have it tuned in exactly how you want it.

But then you also want distinct serials or text or whatever elsewhere on the lower ... 

This function will allow you to store/recall the previous job and incorporate it into future jobs as part of the same DD. So you'll only run one file and it'll do the logo plus whatever else you layer on top of it.

Back in action!

Thanks for your patience. All is right in the world once again.

I mean, except for that whole pandemic thing.

DD Generation on hold.

I'm working out some potential issues associated with the move to support GG3. YOu can still submit jobs, but expect a delay on getting the emails until this is sorted out. At which point they will all go out as expected.

GG3 Compatibility mode and C45.

It's about to be here in the next few minutes ... If anybody is keen on jump in on checking this out, I'd love a few extra eyes on this right quick.

New stuff incoming, folks!

In the next few days I suspect. I've got some stuff queued up.

Fonts!

If anybody here has a TTF for a font they want added, let me know. I'd prefer to only add fonts that include UPPER and lower case data. We had an issue a while back with one font that only included data for UPPER characters ... that was a shit show. :-|

New download process

Just so you are aware, there have been reports of DD emails not getting delivered. The root cause was determined that some email providers are blocking the DD files because they are over the max size.

Currently the emails contain a link you can click on that is good for 48hrs, so that will remain, but I'm going to stop having the DD as an attachment to avoid them being blocked.

I'm alive and well!

It was suggested to me that it appears I've died since the most recent post here isn't very recent. I am alive and well, thanks!

New Developments

Folks!

First off, I want to thank you all for your support no matter big or small. It all helps. So, THANK YOU!

Next, a little background.

For those of you that have been around, you know that I supported both AR15 and AR10 since the very beginning. I was initially using some pictures as the background and doing some best guess estimates as far as the previews. For what I had to work with, I believe I did an impressive job and it certainly was good enough for everybody. Well, almost everybody.

Gunnar didn't like it. He didn't feel it was precise enough, so he contacted me and with his machining and engineering background was able to come up with a solution that is *WAY* better than what I had before. So much better that I made the decision to dump the old preview mechanism and replace it with his new approach. The problem there was that we only had a solid model for the AR15 and not for the AR10.

Over time, sales over at GGD Store (The best place for jigs and engraving/milling materials) allowed him to acquire some additional equipment which resulted in a solid model of the DD AR10. That was finalized last night, along with more improvements to the preview generation functions.

Right now, that's all in play for the AR10. Right now, I've got it using the same base as the AR15 so the instructions and pictures are going to be AR15 based for now. That's going to get cleaned up.

Why does this matter to you?

I've implemented a 'prerelease' group which is going to be only available to my Patreon supporters. You guys are going to have the fast track on new developments to get early access to the good stuff and hopefully to help me continue to improve upon the system.

Thank you, thank you, thank you!

Where are you guys?

Are any of my supporters local to the central Virginia area? It might be cool to meet up and do some shooting if folks are interested?

Thanks Everybody!

I really appreciate all of the support I'm seeing on here.

Right now, I've got a few new things already in progress, but I'm curious what, specifically my patrons would like to see happen next.

So... Let me know?