minimalist wallet

Here is a flat minimalist wallet I designed. I used a pressed polyester felt, but it should work with leather or even paper. This wallet was designed to carry a couple of cards and bills. As soon as I figure out where to upload the PDF, I'll make it available for download.

Laser cut pressed felt.

Open.

Filled with bills and a couple of cards.

Filled with bills and a couple of cards.

the BEE pendant

The BEE sitting on top of a washer just for the picture.

This is a pendant I made for a birthday gift. It is constructed from waterjet cut 1/8" aluminum and laser cut pressed felt made from recycled bottles. I was originally trying to put wings on it, but it think it looks better and kind of abstract without it.

POV camera strap mount

This is a strap mount for small POV cameras designed to be used on the leg or arm. It also seems to work well when strapped to the waist.

Strap mount.

The mount is made from waterjet cut stainless steel and is then folded. Although the fold did not follow my perforations, it still works well. If I make another one in the future, I'd probably remove the perforation to save on cut time.

Mounted to my calf.

One-inch nylon web straps can be used to attach the mount to the leg or arm. The mount has the ability to hold a camera at different angles to allow for some interesting views.

Forward-looking while boarding.

Here, I have the camera mounted to my calf--mimicking how I'd use it when snowboarding.

pressurized nerf bullet

I had an idea for a pressurized Nerf bullet where it would work similarly to a real bullet. The idea is that you could pressurize a bunch of these and put them into an automatic gun. This way the firing action is not what is powering the dart. In addition, the rate of fire could be faster.

Exploded view.

While a real bullet uses gun power, this bullet would use compressed air. This would also be shot off like a real bullet where a firing pin would strike the "primer" in the back.

Assembled view.

I envisioned the housing to be made mostly out of PVC so it could be glued together. To pressurize, you would first push the primer button up. Then force air through where the dart goes. And then push the pin back down.

Back view

I put a link to the files in case anyone is interested in building some. If you do build one, please send me pictures or video and tell me how it worked. Have fun!

http://grabcad.com/library/nerf-bullet-housing

bicycle power crank system

I've had a design in my head for a while for a bicycle cranking system that would maximize the time spent pushing down on the cranks. The left and right cranks can move somewhat independently of each other--each driving its own cam-shaped chain ring and chain. This allow the cranks to have a slower speed when moving down but a higher speed when coming up.

Top view. From top down: left crank, bottom bracket, adapter, red chain ring, blue chain ring, right crank.

The left crank is a normal crank that is attached to the standard bottom bracket. On the right side of the bottom bracket is an adapter that drives the red chain ring. Between the adapter and the right crank are bearings that allow them to spin freely of each other.

The blue chain ring is in the middle of the more powerful down stroke.

The red chain ring has to move faster during the up stroke and is now seen starting the down stroke.

The system is synced by the chains connected to two identical sprockets on the rear wheel hub. Two separate spring-loaded chain tensioners will be used to take up slack on each chain. The tensioners would probably have to tension the chain fairly tightly to allow the motion of the rear wheel to drive the cranks back up.

Side view of the blue chain ring power stroke and the red chain ring faster up stroke.

Side view of the blue chain ring finishing power stroke while the red chain ring is just starting its power stroke.

Chain rings are designed with three mounting positions to allow tuning of when the power stroke begins. More or finer positioning could be added. Different cam shaped chain rings could also be designed to accommodate the preference of different riders.

sutro: a xmas gift

This is a model of San Francisco's Sutro Tower that I made for a Christmas gift. I chose Sutro Tower because of its personal significance to the giftee and because of its structural ability to hang stuff on.

Completed.

Laser-cut pieces.

I cut this from 1/4" acrylic with a laser and bead-blasted it to achieve a matte finish. I used solvent to weld the joints together.

In use.

She loved it!

business card: coming close to a final design

I did the final adjustments to the shape today.

Final shape?

I prefer the shape of the previous ones--I like the rectangle shape when it's folded--but the shape is useless unless it works properly.

Still square and plenty of space for text.

The unfolded shape is still square though which keeps with the plan.

business card: update

Update on the business cards. This time I cut out two different shapes. One that has the opening on the side and one that has the opening on the bottom.

Prototype 2 and 3. The one with the opener on the side didn't work quite right.

It works--but with some difficulty.

The one with the opening on the bottom was a little difficult to use, but it worked. The angle that you had to hold it in order to open a bottle wasn't stable and caused beer to splash on my desk.

I wanted to keep the flat shape square so that it wouldn't get lost in a stack of other business cards. I'd also like to avoid making it any bigger, so I'm going to try moving the opening to the folded side. Stay tuned!

business card: prototype

Here is my work-in-progress business card. The idea was to have a card that was useful in order to separate it amongst piles of other business cards.

First prototype business card.

My info will be on one side of the flat piece. It can then be folded with the info on the inside. The idea behind this was that people wouldn't want use this if there was another person's name and info on it; but once they used it to open a bottle, they would be able to look and remember who gave it to them. I also plan on having my email address near the edge so that it's only slightly visible.

On a key ring.

Once folded, it can be attached to a key ring with a key in between the folds. This way it won't look like its adding bulk to your key chain.

Water jet cut from a sheet of 316L stainless steel.

Unfortunately, the opening shape wasn't quite right, so it's back to the drawing board. The original plan was to have it powder-coated and laser-etched, but I have concerns on how the powder coat will look once folded. Plus, the look of raw metal has its appeal too.

Welcome!

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I'll be putting up some of the things I make up here for the world to see.


Stay tuned.