SKDB is a method for sharing hardware over the internet. By “hardware” we mean not just designs for circuit boards, but also biological constructs, scientific instruments, machine tools, nuts and bolts, raw materials, and how to make them.

You don't need to reinvent the wheel every time you begin a new project. Someone out there has probably already done most or all of the work for whatever you are trying to do, and then released the plans on the internet. There are many common tools and parts involved in making things. If only we could just “get” everything automatically from the web, DIY manufacturing would be much easier. Essentially we want to do something like “apt-get” for Debian or “emerge” for Gentoo, the Linux software package managers. SKDB simplifies the process of searching for free designs, comparing part compatibility, and building lists of materials and components and where to get them. You could even say SKDB is “apt-get but for real stuff”.

In SKDB, hardware is organized into packages. Packages are a standard and consistent way for programs to find data. Packages may contain CAD files, CAM parameters, computer-readable descriptions of product specifications, product-specific code, and bill of materials. For each part in a package there are a number of interface definitions, which describe how the part can connect with other parts, even parts from other packages. Each package also lists dependencies which have to be bought or built in order to successfully carry out a project. For example a drill press is required to make holes with a certain level of accuracy. SKDB downloads all of the dependencies automatically and compares them to your existing inventory, and generates instructions for your CNC machinery if you have any.

With OpenCASCADE, an open source CAD geometry kernel, parts can be visualized and combined in real-time to show new assemblies and constructions. The next steps are automatically generating instructions for assembling these parts and projects, with human-readable as well as robot-readable instructions (i.e., g-code). Also in the pipeline is a wiki-like frontend to SKDB with a git revision control back-end, which could be used as a free alternative to instructables or thingiverse, but better. With proper distributed revision control tools, anyone can publish and share their modifications with the rest of the world, and seamlessly merge those changes back into the main line. These tools are vital to the success of do-it-yourself collaborative and free manufacturing. Without a solid base for sharing and building upon each other's work, the movement will continue to flounder.

SKDB is just getting started, but a number of important pieces are already functional:

• units conversion and equations
• formalized descriptions of several manufacturing processes
• a simple example package describing a typical screw from the hardware store
  • the screw has a set of requirements for being manufactured
  • a set of packages it depends on to work right (threads package)
  • metadata such as homepage URL, author, copyright license
• a more complex package describing several lego bricks and how they go together
  • run packages/lego/demo.py to demonstrate interface compatibility
  • run paths.py to demonstrate making a lego assembly
  • generate an assembly graph by choosing 'save'

We need your help in converting open designs to a standard, freely-accessible format. If you have access to expensive proprietary CAD software such as Solidworks, CATIA, or AutoCAD, and wish to help, please contact us at openmanufacturing@googlegroups.com

If not, we also need people with programming talent and engineering knowledge for converting manufacturing knowledge and product data into a computer readable format. If you're good with a text editor and know what “feeds and speeds” means, you can certainly help us out.

here are some packages i'd like to see.
name ideas for domains or businesses or whatever
We could also use a marketing guy who knows what we're rambling on about.

A good introduction to the community is openmanufacturing.org.

See also Bryan Bishop and Ben Lipkowitz.