gridbeam-repo-overview.txt

Why this repo ?
You probably noticed in the gridbeam book that most gridbeamers just make a sketch on a piece of paper and then 
work out the design in real life. So you may wonder why we made a github repo. Answer to this is that we want to give gridbeamers 
a place to post their gridbeam 3D models and thus share their designs, and cooperate on making them better.
In addition to this, we are also keen on improving the gridbeam system; to this end we worked out a metric gridbeam version 
(see https://github.com/beamplayer/gridbeam/blob/master/openjscad/gridbeam-script.scad ) and we are also coming up with things such 
as an improvement for the gears/transmission system (see https://github.com/beamplayer/gridbeam/tree/master/transmission_systems/2speed_transmission ), ... 
The orginal gears/transmission system mentioned by the Jergensons was to use a belt on pulleys which could be manually moved to change gears. However, this meant you not only needed to stop te vehicle but also move the belt yourself (and get your hands dirty). By using the 2speed transmission, this problem is avoided. Another option is to use a continuously variable transmission.

What gridbeam designs are we targeting ?
Any. It can go from simple furniture designs to the more complex vehicle designs.
Regardless of the design type, we aim at designs which are as simple as possible.
This means: making them with the least amount of beams, avoiding the use of any motors (use mechanical parts, and contraptions
where needed), and keep everything as light-weight as possible.

Which 3D modelling tools to use ?
Mainly using openjscad (https://openjscad.org/), but openscad, freecad and sketchup free or blender is also possible.
We are also looking at the possibility to make openjscad a bit easier to work with (see https://github.com/jscad/OpenJSCAD.org/issues/409 ).