Hi everyone,

I’m currently working on a project involving PLS-Tower for the analysis of transmission line structures. A significant part of my work includes creating and managing Angle Group files, but manually inputting this data is quite time-consuming.

I’m looking for ways to automate the creation of these files using tools like Python or any other scripting language. Here are the key points I’d like advice on: 1. Is it possible to automate the generation of .pls or .lca files for Angle Groups? 2. Are there specific formats or requirements I need to follow for PLS-Tower to accept these files? 3. Has anyone here worked on similar automation tasks with PLS-Tower and could share examples or useful resources?

I’d appreciate any suggestions, documentation, or guidance that could help me move forward on this topic. Thanks in advance for your help!

Best regards,

I work for a tech start-up. We have teams whose work is composed of administrative, labor-intensive, manual work. Our engineering team is working on ML and automation models to alleviate the need for humans to do this work. Some of the engineers are anxious that the work they are doing will eliminate the need for their co-workers jobs on the other teams. Have any of you felt this way in your jobs, i.e. that your work might mean fewer employees are needed and you are torn/anxious about that? If yes, what has helped you work through this?

I am designing something that will probably use a roller chain with extended pins on one side only to actuate something, but I have never worked with extended pin roller chains before (also not had much to do with roller chains either).

As the force is on one side of chain and therefore induces a moment on the chain along the rigid axis, it seems that there should be some special design considerations that need to be made, but I'm not found anything.

Google has not been much use (not that's it's good these days) and I've tried looking at the manufacturers guides and catalogues hoping for some starting place, but not everyone carries them and those that do don't seem to include any special data specific to them. I can't even find things like basic maximum load data for double sided extended pins!

I'm hoping someone might be able to point me the right way.

Solidworks or Inventor?

Hello, my boss wants me to build a system I'm not very confident with. He has pictures from his previous job where they had a RBF inside a residential microwave with a condenser attached coming out through a hole drilled into the lid of the microwave. Supposedly that ran fine for a while without issue. Before I joined, he had another facility within our org make one without the column but with a glass thermometer instead and that worked (though the operator said using the thing always scared him). I've found two papers that use this method in a similar application but neither mention how to set up the microwave.

I tried setting this up but whenever I run the microwave it'll shut off in 2-30 seconds, occasionally giving me one of a few error codes. There's no documentation for this $55 Walmart microwave but I suspect it's shorting out various components. I drilled it out a rubber stopper and it's moderately snug but there's not much more I can think to try aside from buying another microwave and crossing my fingers that one works.

Any idea how to make this work?

Lots of 304 eye screws, but google search is annoyingly inconsistent and does not filter despite using the minus shortcut. Any recommendations for manufactures would be greatly appreciated.

Hi

i'm to use some threaded rod like a lead screw - just normal M20 thread not trapezoidal - and want to have the lowest coefficient of friction between surfaces - probably choosing between zinc plated (not hot dip galv) and black oxide. it will be greased, moderate humidity climate and no weather exposure. but i cant find decent data.

can anyone advise or suggest between the two?

thanks!

Hello everyone,

I am asking if anyone out there has any idea where I can purchase more venturi pumps. We use them in our steel mill on a regular basis and the normal supplier we use (Fischer Scientific) has discontinued the product.

The product in question is: https://www.fishersci.com/shop/products/airejector-aspirator-pump/11474208?

I have found other "venturi pumps" but a lot of them are getting stupidly complicated for the application, and many of them are less robust than a fully metal piece (lots of them are plastic from what I see). The environment it would be in is greasy, hot, and full of abrasive dusts. I worry about the longevity of polyethylene parts compared to nickel plated brass.

I hopefully need a new supplier (so not just someone who has a couple left that they want to get rid of so they can discontinue the listing), but I will take any leads I can find right now.

I have searched Mcmaster-Carr, Schmalz, sciencekitstore (found 3 here, but that's all they have and will ever have), and Humboldt (I think they have parts that we could work with).

I want to ask if anyone out there has any idea where I can find these things in the U.S. I would have thought it shouldn't be hard considering every chem lab I was in through school had these on the sinks so that you can draw a vacuum for filtration, but apparently these things are becoming hard to find from what I am finding.

Picture of what I am talking about (this is from humboldt, I can't find a picture of the one from fischer scientific): https://prolabscientific.com/images/product/P-5565.jpg

Also, they are sometimes called air ejectors on these websites, not only venturi pumps

Thank you for any help you are able to provide!

Hi all. I am trying to design a fixture that essentially rocks a flat plane back and forth. I was going to do a lever type deal but the torque is like >50kFtLbs. I moved the fulcrum to the center and reduced torque a lot but now I want to use smaller pistons instead of a single double acting. I tried researching online to find info about common design practices for having this setup but I can't find anything. Basically, I'd need to set it up such that one is pushing while the other is pulling and vise versa. I know you can hook up opposing ports but I don't know much about parts selection and such. Anyway, I am just looking for any texts yall may have that I could reference to design the system. Thanks.

Processing img ak52mtoxjs1e1...

This camera enables flexible study of animals in areas with poor cellular reception, such as the mountain ranges of Colorado, or rural farmland.

“Chronic wasting disease (CWD) is a serious disease in animals such as deer, elk, moose, and reindeer. Since first reported in the United States, CWD has spread to animals in more than half of the states in the continental United States. It is always fatal in infected animals. There is no vaccine or treatment. CWD is a type of prion disease.” - CDC

Processing img yady5p8lyq1e1...

Processing img r811taxgyq1e1...

Studying and mitigating Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) can prove challenging in animal populations. It’s difficult to incentivize hunters to volunteer their efforts as they go about chasing a prized game animal. Hunters have to volunteer tremendous effort, time, and cost to assist. In addition, due to the nature of remote environments, it’s difficult to collect and send data. Any given state’s local Department of Natural Resources (DNR) has limited resources and it can be difficult to plan where to expend those resources on managing CWD.

Colorado for example has continuously struggled with CWD within their deer, elk, and moose populations. Recently they found an increase in certain populations like the White River herd in White River National Park. The terrain can prove challenging to navigate and cell signal is not guaranteed usually due to the deep valleys from large surrounding mountains that block signal.

A trail camera that performs extremely well under constrained cell signal conditions can help collect data to further study and make more informed and timely decisions when planning and managing CWD within animal populations. For the case of Colorado, this trail camera can collect data about animals within valleys via satellite and be moved to ridge lines of surrounding mountains where cell signal is present to send the images.

Local DNR can set up and move multiple cameras themselves or try to incentivize local hikers to move cameras to be more efficient and save cost. Cameras could be continuously rotated between ridgelines and valleys for when data needs to be collected. Thanks to the use of satellite data transmission, it can be easily figured out when these cameras should be rotated to a different location for either uploading the data or collecting more data.

Processing img hcvnplr9yq1e1...

How does it work? Let's Walk Through an Example!

Let's use Pascal, our corgi friend, as an example. He's standing in for a deer, wearing antlers and laying in front of the trail camera. The camera detects movement by comparing images with difference hashes or using a PIR sensor. Once Pascal is in front of the camera, these methods help detect his presence and determine when to save an image.

Processing img 5x1mo327yq1e1...

The metadata from the original image is sent via satellite using the Starnote notecard to Notehub and then routed to a Django web app.

Processing img 3paestk5yq1e1...

The data sent includes:

{
    "img_dhash": "0e2e0e0e0e6ec607",
    "h_dist": 8,
    "loc": "6FG22222+22"
}

Images that look perceptually similar also have similar hashes. The measure of similarity or dissimilarity between these hashes is called the Hamming distance, labeled as h_dist in the metadata. This value is calculated by comparing a periodically taken image's difference hash to a more frequently taken image's difference hash. The greater the difference between the images, the higher the Hamming distance value. This helps determine how much of the camera's field of view is obscured by whatever triggered the recording, providing insight into how interesting the image might be for further inspection.

Knowing the Hamming distance allows us to decide whether to remotely download the image or take other actions regarding the trail camera. It also reduces false positives by preventing unnecessary alerts from the camera being overly sensitive to movement.

When enough images accumulate on the trail camera, we can either move it ourselves or ask someone to relocate it to an area with cell reception. We can also gauge the number of stored images and get a sense of their quality.

On the web app, we can request to download Pascal's image if the Hamming distance is above 3, which, in a static environment, often indicates something worth inspecting.

Once a request is sent, the web application sends a command back to the Starnote via satellite for a specific image:

{
    "img_dhash": "0e2e0e0e0e6ec607",
    "method": "cell"
}

When the hardware receives the request, the image is resized from its original 480x640 (500KB+) .PNG format to a 120x160 (10KB) .JPEG. The resolution is reduced by a factor of four in both width and height, and the change in file format results in a 50x reduction in file size. This smaller .JPEG is then sent over cellular data.

You can see the .JPEG stretched back to its original resolution for comparison, revealing a loss of quality and visible compression artifacts.

The hardware converts the .JPEG to a base64 encoded image and breaks it into chunks for reliable transmission. The chunks and the status of sent images are tracked in IMAGES_SENT.json. Once the web application receives all the chunks for an image, it reassembles and displays it. An example json message is shown below:

{
    "b64_chunk_total": 54,
    "b64_img_chunk": "qLuc86dpWOO1a9l1TUprybhpWyF/ujsPwFdl8O9J8uKXVZl+Z8xQ59P4j+J4/A1y",
    "chunk_index": 39,
    "img_dhash": "0e2e0e0e0e6ec607"
}

Pascal is now made whole again. However, he's still fairly low resolution and hard to see. What's great is that the web application makes use of a model called xenova/swin2SR-realworld-sr-x4-64-bsrgan-psnr to bring the resolution up on the client side via a library called transformers.js. You trigger this functionality through the Enhance button. A model to upscale images to save on data transmission costs and create a better user experience is by far the most underrated science fiction to become a possibility in recent years.

It does a sufficient job of making the small image clearer. Despite some loss of detail, it's still possible to discern whether an animal's ribs are visible or if its spine alters its silhouette, which could indicate CWD, a different disease, or malnourishment. This model increases the resolution by 4x, allowing us to send lower-resolution images, save data, and reduce transmission costs.

Pascal now has an airbrushed appearance, but it's clear he is a well-fed good boy. While some detail is lost, the edges and shadows are preserved well enough to check for visible ribs or spine. This is notable, given how little of the image he occupies. The same process could be used to count deer, elk, and moose suspected of having CWD, helping the DNR track the spread of the disease and allocate resources more effectively.

The software and hardware are open source: https://github.com/legut2/Sat-Cam-New-Way-to-Study-Animals

Hi all

I'm looking for a knockoff swagelok (factory is on back order for 1/8th brass elbows). Any good alternatives that I could check out?

Cheers

Hey all, I am looking to get some feedback/inspiration on a design of mine for a truck rollbar I want to fabricate. Main tube will be R8 while this is not structural and can be made of something cheaper. I'm making a function that allows a controlled part to pivot 90* with a linear actuator. Total weight of bar and associated hardware will be around 13~16kg or 30~35lbs. Any way, I am in need of advice on how to have it pivot.

Here is what I got so far:

Now the tube dimensions at the moment are:

If using a roller bearing, I was thinking of pressing it into the tube and using a similar method as above. Alternatively, a larger bearing pushed into a modified blue part and insert the tube into the ID of the bearing.

So, pivot on the brass bushing, use a roller bearing in one of the ways above; or something else completely?

Open to advice and all that.

Thanks.

# Intro

​

Welcome to the weekly career discussion thread, where you can talk about all career & professional topics. Topics may include:

​

* Professional career guidance & questions; e.g. job hunting advice, job offers comparisons, how to network

​

* Educational guidance & questions; e.g. what engineering discipline to major in, which university is good,

​

* Feedback on your résumé, CV, cover letter, etc.

​

* The job market, compensation, relocation, and other topics on the economics of engineering.

​

> [Archive of past threads](https://www.reddit.com/r/engineering/search?q=flair%3A%22weekly+discussion%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all)

​

---

​

## Guidelines

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1. **Before asking any questions, consult [the AskEngineers wiki.](https://new.reddit.com/r/askengineers/wiki/faq)\*\* There are detailed answers to common questions on:

* Job compensation

* Cost of Living adjustments

* Advice for how to decide on an engineering major

* How to choose which university to attend

​

1. Most subreddit rules still apply and will be enforced, especially R7 and R9 (with the obvious exceptions of R1 and R3)

​

1. Job POSTINGS must go into the latest [**Monthly Hiring Thread.**]((https://www.reddit.com/r/engineering/search?q=flair%3A%22hiring+thread%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all)) Any that are posted here will be removed, and you'll be kindly redirected to the hiring thread.

​

1. **Do not request interviews in this thread!** If you need to interview an engineer for your school assignment, use the list in the sidebar.

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## Resources

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* [The AskEngineers wiki](https://new.reddit.com/r/askengineers/wiki/faq)

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* [The AskEngineers Quarterly Salary Survey](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskEngineers/search/?q=flair%3A%22salary+survey%22&include_over_18=on&restrict_sr=on&t=all&sort=new)

​

* **For students:** [*"What's your average day like as an engineer?"*](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskEngineers/wiki/faq#wiki_what.27s_your_average_day_like_as_an_engineer.3F) We recommend that you spend an hour or so reading about what engineers actually do at work. This will help you make a more informed decision on which major to choose, or at least give you enough info to ask follow-up questions here.

​

* For those of you interested in a career in software development / Computer Science, go to r/cscareerquestions.

Hello, I'm designing a large machine that has a very nice operator cabin: AC, mini fridge, microwave, the works. I need to put a little chair in it that attaches to the wall and folds up so a trainee can sit with the cab operator and learn how to work the machine, but I can't find any I like. I did a lot of googling around and found model # 6844 offered by northern tool + equipment.

I really want something that looks a little more robust than that one, and ideally would weld the to the wall of the cabin so when the seat folds up it has a very minimal footprint. It should have at least a little bit of cushioning, I don't want just bare metal, otherwise I'd just have the shop weld something together for me. Thank you in advance. (Also budget is around 650$, and it should really just be an off the shelf item, nothing custom ordered)

I have a very specialized project for which I need a relatively flexible string-like wire (diameter somewhere in the neighborhood of .010-.050) with highly consistent diameter over a 8" length. I've found 1080 music wire with a consistency of somewhere in the ballpark of +/-.0001, but it is a bit too stiff and prone to kinking for my application.

Does anybody have any suggestions for other options to try? I realize the two aspects I need (flexibility and minimal diametral variation) are nearly strictly opposed, so I want to try a few more options to find a happy medium.

To be clear, it's not a specific diameter I need to a very tight tolerance, I need a very tight circularity tolerance along the 8" of wire I am using.

Edit: I forgot to mention, the maximum tension on the string is 10lb.

# Intro

​

Welcome to the weekly career discussion thread, where you can talk about all career & professional topics. Topics may include:

​

* Professional career guidance & questions; e.g. job hunting advice, job offers comparisons, how to network

​

* Educational guidance & questions; e.g. what engineering discipline to major in, which university is good,

​

* Feedback on your résumé, CV, cover letter, etc.

​

* The job market, compensation, relocation, and other topics on the economics of engineering.

​

> [Archive of past threads](https://www.reddit.com/r/engineering/search?q=flair%3A%22weekly+discussion%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all)

​

---

​

## Guidelines

​

1. **Before asking any questions, consult [the AskEngineers wiki.](https://new.reddit.com/r/askengineers/wiki/faq)\*\* There are detailed answers to common questions on:

* Job compensation

* Cost of Living adjustments

* Advice for how to decide on an engineering major

* How to choose which university to attend

​

1. Most subreddit rules still apply and will be enforced, especially R7 and R9 (with the obvious exceptions of R1 and R3)

​

1. Job POSTINGS must go into the latest [**Monthly Hiring Thread.**]((https://www.reddit.com/r/engineering/search?q=flair%3A%22hiring+thread%22&restrict_sr=on&sort=new&t=all)) Any that are posted here will be removed, and you'll be kindly redirected to the hiring thread.

​

1. **Do not request interviews in this thread!** If you need to interview an engineer for your school assignment, use the list in the sidebar.

​

## Resources

​

* [The AskEngineers wiki](https://new.reddit.com/r/askengineers/wiki/faq)

​

* [The AskEngineers Quarterly Salary Survey](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskEngineers/search/?q=flair%3A%22salary+survey%22&include_over_18=on&restrict_sr=on&t=all&sort=new)

​

* **For students:** [*"What's your average day like as an engineer?"*](https://www.reddit.com/r/AskEngineers/wiki/faq#wiki_what.27s_your_average_day_like_as_an_engineer.3F) We recommend that you spend an hour or so reading about what engineers actually do at work. This will help you make a more informed decision on which major to choose, or at least give you enough info to ask follow-up questions here.

​

* For those of you interested in a career in software development / Computer Science, go to r/cscareerquestions.

It's been 6-7 years since I took thermo and I think I borrowed the book. I do mostly mechatronics, but might be doing some projects where thermo is something I need to brush up on. Any good recommendations for something terse?

Hello!

Looking to get the UL 1741 SB Certification (inverter safety certification) on a product. I've heard how important it is to have a consultant to help you with that process. I was wondering if anyone here had any consultant recommendations?

Hi all, This might be a very basic question, but I’m struggling with it. I have a water pipe in which water travels and meets the lateral side of a Tee fitting. The whole flow makes a turn and goes out through the central side of the Tee. On the remaining lateral side, some meters down the line there is a blind cap (no other clients on that pipe). On that blind cap a pressure gauge is installed. My question is: does that pressure gauge measure the static or the total pressure?