custom snowboard stomp pad

Stomp pad fitted to the board.

This was a quick project requested by my brother for a snowboard stomp pad. He provided me with a vector outline of the word "fidelis" to make into a stomp pad.

A few things considered in the design were: enhancing grip, attaching it to the board, and maintaining its strength. The original request was to make a simple outline of the word. My thought was that this would be too fragile to stand up to being kicked--for example, in instances when it's used to knock the snow off your boot. This design would also be difficult to attach as there would not be enough surface area for adhesive. Additionally, the small pieces like the dot on the "i" and the "d" and "e" would require a template for alignment. My solution was to make it one piece by putting an offset border that would encompass the dots in the "i," then pocketing out the word.

The word was etched repeatedly to a depth of about 1/16" and then cut out with a laser. I used some leftover 1/4" rubber from a previous project. It was attached using double-sided mounting tape.

The stomp pad worked perfectly with zero slips throughout a day of snowboarding and my brother was very happy with the design.

"Z" for zoom

Original design concept.

This is a project I did for some friends who are about to have a baby. They wanted to decorate the baby's room with the alphabet, where each letter was made by a different friend. I chose the letter "Z" because I thought it was cool to choose the end of the alphabet. The letters were supposed to represent the maker, so I went with a car theme using some engineering to get the wheels to do a burnout.

Car assembly.

 The car was made from six layers of plywood. Each was laser cut and glued together.

Car Interior.

The two center layers were just in the roof area so that car would straddle over the bottom of the "Z". I put in a sub frame piece to support the body of the car.

The "Z" was made from four layers of plywood, also laser cut and marked. The bottom of the "Z" from the "OOM" was one layer thick and the slot allowed the space for the sub frame and axles to slide through. In the back, there were also cutouts to allow it to hang onto nails.

Painted and in the starting position.

 The car was painted with spray paint while the wheels were painted with Plasti-Dip to give it a rubbery feel.

ZOOM.

The axles are a 1/4" hardwood dowel riding on nylon bushings that were pressed in the car. PET spacers sit between the car and the "Z" to take up space and to allow the car to slide smoothly. When the care slides across, the axles ride against the bottom of the slot causing the wheel to spin--giving the appearance of a four wheel burnout.

Here is a quick video of it in action.

minimalist wallet: cut file

For those interested in making the minimalist wallet, here is the file I used to cut it on a laser cutter.

Click HERE.

The thin lines were cut through while the thick line was etched to make it a little thinner there for bending. Enjoy and send me a picture if you make one.

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.

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!