RodLab open beta available for download

TimM · Post by **TimM** » 05/23/20 12:14

I recently uploaded an open beta version of RodLab for general use. I'm running Windows 10 and I've tested on a few Windows 7 machines as well. The software is free and does not have embedded advertising. Other than the initial download you don't need an internet connection.

I've been working on this for a long time and there are quite a few features, many of which are somewhat complex. To help people throught the initial learning curve and also to get an idea of what the program does I've created some short videos that I've uploaded to YouTube:

RodLabTutorial 1 -Installation: https://youtu.be/BJc0xn7ml2g
RodLabTutorial 2 - BasicTapers: https://youtu.be/ZUwuBXSQsZ0
RodLabTutorial 3 - AdvancedTapers: https://youtu.be/seHEfyIbs00
RodLabTutorial 4 - BasicBendforms: https://youtu.be/W9_9iQXNv0U
RodLabTutorial 5 - Bendform Calculation: https://youtu.be/UwrN2N7gY98
RodLabTutorial 6 - Bendform Usage: https://youtu.be/fNfRH2pEHJc
RodLabTutorial 7 - TaperEditing: https://youtu.be/doIJ4m549pM
RodLabTutorial 8 - Taper Translation Theory: https://youtu.be/qdtqCD-Ik1U
RodLabTutorial 9 - Taper Translation: https://youtu.be/_honGE3l0X4
RodLabTutoria 10 - RQuad CNC: https://youtu.be/ipxOgE6bDdM
RodLab Tutorial 11 - Reuse & Combining: https://youtu.be/YhHoZ0s__o4

The videos are brief and do not cover everything. If you have a request for a specific 'how-to' let me know and I can post directions or a video.

You will likely get a Windows Defender / Virus Scanner warning when you try to install the software. To create an installation without these warnings I'd have to pay a service for code signing certificates ; as a one-man part-time operation that's a bit spendy for a project with zero revenue. If this makes you nervous some virus scanners (AVG for example) have a way you can submit a file for analysis. If anybody reading this knows how to get a certificate for a reasonable price please let me know.

The software download page is linked in the videos and can be found here: https://sites.google.com/view/two-hande ... odlab/home

I'm hoping with some community feedback we can develop a tool package that will be more useful for everyone.

Some features I've already had requests for include:
-support to use different models for bamboo / other materials
-support for other cross sections
-method to select and highlight curves in the bendform analysis
-other data to be graphed in bendform analysis

Hope everybody is having a great memorial day weekend! -Tim

perfesser · Post by **perfesser** » 05/23/20 13:01

GrayHackleRods · Post by **GrayHackleRods** » 05/23/20 16:17

Just downloaded it and had a peak, unfortunately it doesn’t address penta or hepta tapers

. I guess I continue with the abacas.

BigTJ · Post by **BigTJ** » 05/24/20 07:12

Thanks Tim will download over the weekend. Thanks for your efforts to make this software available again.

To my other esteemed board members let’s keep the comments positive and thanks coming to Tim for his contributions.

Cheers,

John

eapling · Post by **eapling** » 05/24/20 08:12

Thanks for all your time and effort. Truly selfless contribution.

E

GrayHackleRods · Post by **GrayHackleRods** » 05/24/20 08:20

Meant no disrespect in my comment. I don’t like even sided rods and finding software that details heptas is nonexistent. I spent an hour or so with RodLab yesterday, quite impressive!

Tim, thank you for all your effort, this is no small task. First upgrade would be excellent if you add pentas and heptas.

TimM · Post by **TimM** » 05/24/20 09:24

GrayHackleRods wrote:Meant no disrespect in my comment. I don’t like even sided rods and finding software that details heptas is nonexistent. I spent an hour or so with RodLab yesterday, quite impressive!

Tim, thank you for all your effort, this is no small task. First upgrade would be excellent if you add pentas and heptas.

None taken! ... I'm sitting here with a diagram of a pentagon on a sheet of paper working out the math right now. I knew the pentas would be a limitation but didn't think as much about the heptas. It will take some doing to add odd sided rods into the math so that will go in after some initial bug fixes. Thank you for taking some time to give it a try.

I griped about some of the negative feedback from my previous release. To be clear the feedback about features that were lacking or strange functionality was very helpful; the 'feedback' questioning my parentage was less useful and strained my resolve to be a decent human being.

GrayHackleRods · Post by **GrayHackleRods** » 05/24/20 10:58

Tim I’m going to put a personal ask in, if you could start with heptas when you get ready to add new options. The only software today that even remotely talks to them is RodDNA and it doesn’t provide planing form or MHM settings, thanks

Fcs · Post by **Fcs** » 05/24/20 12:47

Great job Tim! We needed a new generation of design/analysis software. Thanks for making it free for everyone. Hopefully this will stimulate others to expand their horizons.

Just beginning to explore it. The ferrule features are excellent! One of the neglected parts of previous software.

Frank

Mike McGuire · Post by **Mike McGuire** » 05/24/20 13:32

Tim

That is a really magnificent comprehensive package that seriously advances the state-of-the-art. I find myself particularly curious about how you handled the problem of stiffness vs rod dimension that you need to do the bendform calculations. It has been quite resistant in my encounters with it.

Mike

DonT · Post by **DonT** » 05/24/20 13:57

Hey Tim,

Any chance this will eventually be available to run on Macs? I can get an emulator if necessary but thought I would ask.

Thanks,
Don

rhtuttle1951 · Post by **rhtuttle1951** » 05/24/20 15:23

Absolutely stunning achievement! The attention to detail and thoughtful design are very impressive, a massive undertaking that I assume took years of thought. Your videos are well done and quite informative.

No program is ever going to have all possibilities covered so don't take any negative feedback personally. Thank you for sharing!

RT

TimM · Post by **TimM** » 05/24/20 17:44

DonT wrote:Hey Tim,

Any chance this will eventually be available to run on Macs? I can get an emulator if necessary but thought I would ask.

Thanks,
Don

Hi Don - Alas I don't see any build targets for Mac so I don't think that's an immediate option.

TimM · Post by **TimM** » 05/24/20 17:45

Mike McGuire wrote:Tim

That is a really magnificent comprehensive package that seriously advances the state-of-the-art. I find myself particularly curious about how you handled the problem of stiffness vs rod dimension that you need to do the bendform calculations. It has been quite resistant in my encounters with it.

Mike

Hi Mike,

I tried calculating stiffness two main different ways:

The first was to mathematically integrate the MoE expression for the bamboo with the second area of interita integration which gave me a polynomial equation for stiffness. I thought that method would result in faster calculations. (It didn't) As a downside it made using a non-continuous expression for bamboo MoE vs skin depth very difficult. (Modeling double built rods would require integration by parts).

The method I settled on instead is to break the cross section of the rod into a number of thin walled hollow shapes (google concentric squares for an idea). I calculate the second moment of area ( side^4/12 for quad) for each hollow shape and then look up the bamboo MoE at the skin depth where that shape is from and multiply the two to get the stiffness that part of the cross section contributes to the whole. The stiffness of each shape is summed to get the stiffness of the cross section. If the strips are hollowed with a rounded tool I calculate an adjusted hollow wall based on the tool radius and strip width / geometry.

The bending is calculated by cutting the length of the rod up into short sections and approximating the section as an untapered rod that bends in a circular arc. Imagine a tall skinny bamboo Devo hat with hundreds of layers.

I've saved off that Silverman/Farrah paper you posted on bending a tapered rod. I'm only moderately happy with the bendform results and someday I may have another go. That paper looks like a good starting point.

Best,Tim

galt · Post by **galt** » 05/26/20 21:17

Played with it all weekend. I like it! Bend form analysis seems more intuitive than a Garrison stress curve yet that is there for comparison also. So many options for editing tapers. I appreciate your work.

Now to cut a few blanks.Thank you!, Tim.

Galt

Chased · Post by **Chased** » 05/27/20 10:38

WOW. You're doing the lords work here with RodLab. Well done! Watched all of the videos a couple of times and have played with things a little bit. Overall very intuitive and easy to use and understand.

Seems that it would be nice to have a selector with different recommended settings, possibly with a brief "info" popup. If not built in to the program, a brief user manual with recommendations would suffice. Things that come to mind are:

• Varnish density - we all know that rubbed is typically lighter than dipped, but what numbers should be used? Perhaps preset values for rubbed, dipped, sprayed, etc (similar to what you've done with different ferrule types) with the option for manual entry?
• Bendform numbers – similar to above, different presets for common analysis with manual override available

As an aside - I feel like I've heard your voice somewhere in my day job within the higher ed/tech industry, just can't pinpoint it. Maybe I'm just crazy.

PlaneOldMike · Post by **PlaneOldMike** » 05/27/20 13:07

Hi Tim. Fun program. It has already helped me to decide on my next build. Thank you very much for the countless hours you have spent on it.

I do have one question not covered in the tutorials. When creating a new taper by copy and paste in the read box, I never get the correct form intervals. The measurements are at 0, 5, 10, 15... but when you press the read button it comes up with different spacing. Such as the Divine Rod you did in tutorial #3. It’s measurements were at 0, 9, 13, 18... Is there a box to set the measurement spacing? Or is that something we need to change manually.

TimM · Post by **TimM** » 05/27/20 17:47

Chased wrote:WOW. You're doing the lords work here with RodLab. Well done! Watched all of the videos a couple of times and have played with things a little bit. Overall very intuitive and easy to use and understand.

Seems that it would be nice to have a selector with different recommended settings, possibly with a brief "info" popup. If not built in to the program, a brief user manual with recommendations would suffice. Things that come to mind are:

• Varnish density - we all know that rubbed is typically lighter than dipped, but what numbers should be used? Perhaps preset values for rubbed, dipped, sprayed, etc (similar to what you've done with different ferrule types) with the option for manual entry?
• Bendform numbers – similar to above, different presets for common analysis with manual override available

As an aside - I feel like I've heard your voice somewhere in my day job within the higher ed/tech industry, just can't pinpoint it. Maybe I'm just crazy.

'Tool tips' would be a good way to give at least some information on buttons and controls; I see those are now available in Visual Studio. I had tool tips generator in the past but it doesn't seem to be working and things have changed anyway.

The variable varnish selection dropdown is a good idea. The numbers will be a great place for community input. I haven't dipped in ~10 years and I'm thinking my densities for the classic rod tapers may be light. RodLab writes the varnished surface area (area of the rod without reel seat and handle) in the full HTML report. The line should look something like "Varnished area: 59.8 in^2, Varnish Mass: 0.3oz". Calculating the density for a given process would just be weighing the rod before finishing and after finishing (one tip or average of all tips) and dividing the difference by the area to get density.

The bendform numbers are another great place for community input. It would be very easy to add a set of controls for 'standard' analysis settings.

Not sure where you may have heard my voice ... I've done some embedded controls and automotive lectures but nothing that's likely been widely circulated.

PlaneOldMike wrote:Hi Tim. Fun program. It has already helped me to decide on my next build. Thank you very much for the countless hours you have spent on it.

I do have one question not covered in the tutorials. When creating a new taper by copy and paste in the read box, I never get the correct form intervals. The measurements are at 0, 5, 10, 15... but when you press the read button it comes up with different spacing. Such as the Divine Rod you did in tutorial #3. It’s measurements were at 0, 9, 13, 18... Is there a box to set the measurement spacing? Or is that something we need to change manually.

The spacing should be whatever you pasted in but 'reversed' since RodLab calls the butt as station zero and the tip as the length. For example if you pasted in an 8' rod with a 0.074" tip and 0.350" butt station zero in RodLab would be 0.350" and station 96" would be 0.074". (Whatever was at 5" in the original taper would now be at 91"). If you create a planing report the station numbers will be reversed and the tip will become 0". A little wonky I know. If anybody has a time machine I've got some information I'd like to send to the me of 20 years ago.

TimM · Post by **TimM** » 05/27/20 17:49

I think the Penta / Hepta / Octa cross sections are working correctly now. I want to add a few features & fixes that were suggested and hopefully get the next version out in a few days. Thank you everybody for the feedback, it's been very helpful !

PlaneOldMike · Post by **PlaneOldMike** » 05/27/20 17:57

TimM wrote:If anybody has a time machine I've got some information I'd like to send to the me of 20 years ago.

I know that feeling!

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