My First Design-Build Comission, Nearly Complete!

Sorry its been a while since I last posted- I've been sick and/or out of town since Thursday, and only got back into some real work today.

Ok, so I have already mentioned this project before, but if you think about it- this cat ladder would be my first design-build commission- before all of you start lining up to buy futons, of course. I got back on it today, starting with some supports- more drilling into ornery hardwood, and today I broke 3 drill bits over the course of an hour. A quick trip to the Depot, and I got 8 new ones to back these up (they're like a buck a piece).

A couple hours later and I had this structure in all its glory- held together with 59 screws and one broken-off and firmly lodged drill bit- but right now just a skeleton waiting for its skin.



The next step was to make some platforms. These are just 15" square planks with a couple of rails attached to them with finishing nails, then I did my first ever upholstering job with my staple gun. Not bad, if I do say so myself.



There are a few changes and additions that need to be made, but this is the basic structure of it. I had Jackie test it out and she got down fine, and I put some food up top and Amos was able to climb it. Another complete success!





Too bad with the amount I spent on drill bits and moulding material I will definitely be taking a loss on this. No matter- its nearly done and I'm proud of it. And I don't ever have to work with this lousy material again. The last steps are some sanding, cleaning, and attaching a base. Which I will do tomorrow. As for right now, I must prepare for a Memorial Day party! Thanks for reading.

Furniture Design: The Cat Who Blagged an Interweb

Sunday night, a neighbor of mine voiced an issue- it seems her loft is currently only accessible by ladder, which her cats cannot climb, and so she asked if there was any builder-type person in the building who wouldn't mind building her a device so that her cats might descend more safely. I volunteered, made some measurements, and today I finally set aside some time to work on it.

The design is simple- three support posts, with staggered platforms spaced about 15" apart, about what we considered an appropriate easy height for a cat to jump. I thought, "hey, I've got those wood full rounds I couldn't use before, maybe I can make those the basis of the structure- even better because there are no sharp corners with which to injure cats.

I tested a corner joint- just made a small one- I planned to hold the whole thing together with these pins and some wood glue- as seen below. It would be simple, clean, and elegant- and best of all it would be better than the client had expected.




Easy, right? No. It turns out that handrail stock is SOME OF THE MOST ORNERY MATERIAL IN THE WORLD. First of all, it turns out they are made of some sort of hard wood, so my spade bits were going almost nowhere, and they're round- and anyone who has ever tried drilling a round item can tell you it can, at times, drive one to madness. So with everything not drilling and rolling around, I was forced to put together a jig, which, I'll admit, looks like something out of Saw VIII.



Surprisingly, the device excellently centered the holes, and I'm pretty proud of how awesome it works and how hodge-podge it looks. Unfortunately, the material was still too hard for my jig to get any more than a half inch, so I scrapped the jig idea, and went with simple wood screws and wood glue. Which in itself was a non-gluing drill-resistant fiasco, but at least, by the end, I had the main structure together.



I'll work on this into tonight- but it just goes to show knowing your materials can make a huge difference- and this is one material I will never use again- unless I am specifically installing a handrail.

Furniture Design: Tenon Meets Mortise

This weeks 'field trip' takes us to Economy Lumber in Oakland, just a short jog away from our place at the Cotton Mill. There is hardware store there- but this one actually seems to have tools in it. A look around here makes one realize how small a Home Depot would be if you got rid of all the windows and lighting fixtures and dishwashers- you know all the prefab sh*t that people who actually want hardware almost never need.



We were looking for some specialty cuts- furniture sized pieces are not standard lumber cuts- usually the wood you can find is sized for decking it seems. We venture out into the piles and piles of wood to find something like a 3x3 (which in lumber actually means 2 1/2x 2 1/2) in a type of wood commonly used in furniture. The closest we could find was some 3x6s- a rare cut in lumber- in Douglas Fir, and they rip them in half for us lengthwise, for a fee. These will be the leg stock for the futon.



After some fun trying to tie a 4'x8' sheet of chip board to the roof of Jake's car with lousy twine in the rain, we returned to the Studio/Apartment and I began focusing on skill-building.

I want the futon to be held together with mortise and tenon joints, which hold only with glue, so that there won't be just a ton of screw-heads tarnishing the appearance. Of course, I've never made a mortise and tenon joint before so today was the time to give it a try. Yes, this boy, born and raised on power tools, bought himself his very first set of chisels.



I'm actually pretty pleased with how well it came out. Unfortunately the mortise is all ragged, and it didn't close all the way, but Martin gave me some pointers on technique. So I'll do some more tomorrow to continue practicing. I glued up the joint as well, to learn a bit about tolerances in these kind of joints.



I know four months of focus isn't enough time to master the art of woodworking. I know by the time a craftsman can be called a master he has made thousands of mortise and tenon joints. But I'm going to push myself to see what I can accomplish. In this time I hope to finish the Futon, a Dining Table, a Kitchen Island, and a Bed Frame, all in finish quality. At the end, I may ask Martin to grade my work- should be fun.

Get Back to Where You Once Belonged

I think it may be that sometimes, getting your project back to where it was when things went wrong can be as satisfying as finishing it.




I'll let you know if that's true when I'm done, but until then, count me as satisfied. Off to a real lumberyard to buy wood for the FINAL futon. Expect a post on that subject later tonight or tomorrow AM.

In terms of life around the Cotton Mill, we have been working hard but having a great time. Yesterday, after fixing the futon proto, building a bathroom shelf, and altering the under-stairs room for cat usage, we chilled in the curiously empty parking spot out front of Paul's place and had a BBQ. Fun!

Maker Faire: Part 2- Things to do!

So if you came to Maker Faire to witness what others have done, if you just wanted to be a spectator- you're only halfway there. The event is loaded with two days full of special events and activities that are all interactive, from a laser cutter you can operate yourself to a clothing swap free-for-all.

I caught two shows I really wanted to see- the Diet Coke and Mentos extravaganza, and Adam Savage from 'Mythbusters' doing his presentation on problem solving. The first was short, but exciting, and left me splashed pretty well in Coke.



Adam Savage was cool, not entirely inspirational, but his Q and A about the show was quite enlightening. The entire building was filled on all sides to see him, and I was right up front by the barrier, being the Mythbusters fanboy that I am.



I had wanted to stick around for a 'learn to solder' class or a seminar on a simple programming for Arduino called 'ModKit,' but after taking the time to see the robot fights and the enormous creation of the 'Mouse Trap' board game, it was time to go home. I still left some on the plate for next year to try.

I know its not a feeling shared by everyone, but I think its good to know that in this digital age, with flat-pack this, and instant that, that there are still people who are taking the time to craft items of sheer awe that we can walk around and touch. People who make these things add to the richness of life with their creativity and it all starts with saying the phrase, 'I think that would be pretty neat.' So keep making, you makers out there, and I'll see you next year.

Maker Faire: Part 1- Things to see!

Maker Faire is a festival for those who take the act of creation seriously, for those who would rather not own something if they couldn't fix it themselves, for those who will bring about the next big things in our existence that were not there before.

And this year, I finally lived close enough to attend one. Paul, Martin, Chris and I headed over to San Mateo, to see what this years crop of creatives had to show us. As you might have guessed, we were pretty pleased- save for Martin, who as a master fabricator himself, was entirely jaded to such things. The first thing that you notice is some of the more eccentric people here. There is a bit of Steampunk culture here, but the majority seem to be just showing a style of: 'Hey! Look what I can do!' One example is this gentleman keeping cool in the hot San Mateo sun:



Our first stop was this enormous rocket ship built by Raygun Gothic. This thing is so enormous you can see it from all sides of the grounds. So bulbous and shiny, it looks like something out of a 1930s sci-fi comic. They have a real space suit for the pilot provided by NASA, and when they are done touring it, it is going to have a permanent home in city parkland by the bay.



Next on to the Maker Shed, where there was a bunch of sweet maker stuff for sale. Chris bought an Arduino- something an aspiring builder should definitely know about, and we both got some Sugru- exciting, as it isn't really available on the market yet! (A post on how awesome this stuff REALLY is, is forthcoming).



Then onto Maker Square, where the Flaming Lotus Girls had set up their SOMA Neuron fire and light sculpture, shown here, at night because it looks way cooler at night:



Around Maker Square was a large tent promoting DIY farming and eating locally, and several of really cool art cars. This one- which struck me as an acid trip made real- took visitors around the Faire in the back.

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There are also four buildings full of stuff that people have made, that they want to show off. You can scarcely round a corner without seeing something cool, that someone has devoted all their time after work to building. For example, this person has a LCD screens in electric guitars:



And this person has made a fractal-based coffee table made entirely out of copper pipe and solder:



With over 300 presenters, one would wonder how to fit it all into one day- but there's even more. The event also has several stages and event grounds set aside for two days worth of things to do- which I'll cover in a post coming this afternoon. Until then, how do you all like the new blog design? We're 50 posts in, so I figured, time for a change!

Failure

IDEO has many a helpful design mantra- a personal favorite of mine is "Fail fast and often." As someone with a genuine fear of failure this is something I have tried my best to take to heart. I had two design failures recently and I will own them by sharing them with you, and how I got over them.

Tuesday night after my excitement from the Berkeley Mills trip and finishing the working, proof of concept prototype, I found that I had made a big mistake. I was making the CAD version of the futon, and the error hit me- my prototype made with a 1/4" plywood seat significantly altered the way the futon would work from that with a 3 1/2" thick seat, as the final version would have. Simply put, the difference was one that would make the thing TIP OVER when put in the bed format.



This was a crushing blow. I worried, I punched the desk, I cursed. I tend to over dramatize setbacks. For about an hour I could not work. The project came to a halt, and all alternatives I could think of were either not feasible, or ruined the whole point of the design, to lift the bed above the height of the armrests.

I cooled down. I focused. Fail fast- check. Fail often- check. I'm doing things right, so I can't sweat it. I need to start with what I know and move on.



I had to rebuild the prototype with a 3.5" frame, and learn what it had to tell me. Using the CAD design I was able to discover that a new design for the runners would work, and so I printed the patterns out, and cut them out of a new piece of plywood. I was relaxed and confident that I had found a solution that was satisfactory, and most important- would not injure any potential house guests.



I then assembled a whole new prototype- with free, lousy wood, but the proportions were right, made a crappy hinge out of cardboard and staples, and tested it.



See if you can spot the new runners...



It did not work. Folding it up completely ripped out the hinge.

Good news was, this time, I was expecting it not to work. I knew the likelihood of immediate success was small, and in careful study of the problems, I knew it was just a matter of decreasing the distance between the front and back runners. An easy fix.

I didn't make a post yesterday because of all this. I had made no progress, at the end of the day I was behind where I was the day before, right? Tuesday I had a working prototype, Wednesday I had a semi-functional prototype. No. The project may not look any more advanced but what I know about it has changed, and so is closer to completion.

I've also learned I've expected too much of myself in terms of speed. It is one thing to build a table- they are simple and the form is already prescribed. My futon is new, is unproven and has nothing to go on. One week just isn't enough time.

Furniture Design: What Berkeley Mills is Doing Right

First, some baseball.

My cousin Dan was in town last night- finishing out a tour of the bay area he wanted to see a game at Oakland Colosseum, and invited me to join him and his friends. When I bought my ticket, it came with the option to have my ticket texted to my phone- I wasn't sure how this would work, but I have no printer here, so I gave it a try. A few minutes later I was texted a link to this page:



This served as my ticket. I held up my phone, and they scanned the screen, and I got in! However, I had to go in a specific entrance where they had the phone-screen scanner and go up in a roundabout way. Also, I am not left with any fun ticket stub to remember the game with, so I doubt this technology is going to replace real tickets any time soon.

The game was great, the A's won 8-4 in what started as an exciting scoring fest, and dribbled into a less exciting game as the rains started. But we had a great time mocking the condition of the park, trying to sneak down to a lower deck, and heckling Ichiro Suzuki. But enough about Baseball, you want to read a blog about baseball, go here.

This morning the plan was to visit a real furniture company to get some inspiration for my work table and futon projects. The plan is to take a field trip every week somewhere that will give me some insight. I did some internet search for "custom furniture" in the bay area, and Berkeley Mills stood out among the rest.

I arrived there this morning and was taken with the first piece of furniture I saw- just a dining chair that had embellished on a mortise and tenon joint where the tenon passed entirely through the wood, something I'm told is called a "through mortise." I sort of got the feel for their aesthetic, taking the existing structure and pulling it a little further, beyond what you expect, so the aesthetic choices don't look out of place- they're also structural. This dining chair's slats extend below the seat. I love this chair- only $2050 for a set of 8.



My favorite piece seems derived from those uncomfortable wood desks we used so sit in in grade school- the ones that were basically a chair with a tiny desk bolted under the right side- lefties be damned. The chair here has one arm rest, perfect for leaning and a seriously broad one at that. Big enough for, say, a sketchbook. I sat here and sketched of a bit, and the operators of Berkeley Mills did not seem to mind. The chair was a whopping $6k, but if I had that much to spend on a chair, this would be it.



I heard another customer in the showroom complain about people's affinity with Ikea, and my immediate interior reaction was hey, I LIKE Ikea. But then he went on about the durability of the products, and while I've never really had trouble with them lasting as long as I needed them, furniture used to be made to outlast you. Remember that old dining table in your parent's house that used to be your great-grandma's? Chances are it was never made to flat pack. Berkeley Mills, while expensive is making that kind of furniture. Beautiful stuff, and its the last table your descendants will ever have to buy.

The last bit of my time there was spent in the shop- Joel who works there and has a voice for NPR gave me a quick tour. The first news about their process was a bit of a surprise- all their furniture is rendered in SolidWorks and large portions are trimmed out on a CNC machine. Not an old fashioned practice to be sure, but it seriously cuts down on waste, saves time, and actually improves the quality of the furniture. There is plenty of the work still done by hand, but this is 2010, and even the finest things are manufactured to an extent.

The hand working section was really neat to see- I didn't want to take any photos of people working but I love this wall- Joel says they never throw a template away.



All told I took about fifty pictures and filled four pages with sketches and notes- and am ready to finalize the design for my futon. I plan to have some renders for you all to look at tomorrow! Until then, thanks for clicking. And leave a comment!

Success! A proof of concept prototype that works as I want it!

My visit to Berkeley inspired me to finish this-


Original Video - More videos at TinyPic

More on my trip to Berkeley tonight (and a bit about baseball)!

The Liquidation Liquidation and One Heck of a Party

Weekend number 2 in Oakland, and things are good.

Mondau marks the beginning of my focused designing- at one product a week. Today's goal is to read on Eames from a book Maggie purchased at MoMA for me on one of her NY trips. I plan to find some sort of factory that I can visit today or tomorrow to get inspired about work tables- my next project to build.

What happened to the futon?

The futon is designed, now its just a matter of figuring out how its going to be made. I'll work on this concurrently with other projects and hopefully have it done by the time I have my first visitors here in early June.

This weekend was very cool- Paul and Martin took me over to this giant electrical supply company liquidator building, that was, in turn, itself being liquidated. Confused? Basically a company that used to engage in liquidations went out of business, with tons of supplies in stock- and this meant HUGE discounts on the inventory.



I got a bunch of stuff for some lighting projects I have planned in the near future, as well as some color-ed glass globes, which are always fun, some bins for tools, and a length of hose I plan to turn into a dust collection system with my shop vac. All told, we gathered a truckload of stuff- and paid only $220 for it. This gave Paul and Martin ideas about buying all of it and reselling it to make some serious cash- but the idea was ruled too much effort for the money.

Sunday I built an Ikea wardrobe for Jake to put his clothes in, and checked out a nearby gym (got to get healthy again). But the fun didn't start until last night. My neighbour, Chelsea, somehow managed to get this chill band to play in her apartment, which opened out onto the parking lot. We set up the fire pit again, but this time there were a bunch more people and awesome music. Here, a bunch of guys are jamming, just letting it flow organically by the firelight. Its like a benevolent conversation, but I don't speak the language to participate.



Today after reading and maybe that furniture trip, I'm going to catch the Oakland A's game with my cousin Dan, who is in the Bay with some of his college friends. I'll update how that one goes tomorrow, and hopefully I'll have some more insight into work tables.

I am Home

It occurred to me last night, as I was sitting in my new friends apartment. There were four of us, Paul and his business associate Jason, Martin the garrulous fabricator, and me. We stood around Jason, who was operating a grinder on a piece of road sign frame- quite loud as sparks began to fly. It was 9:30 at night, and in any other building we might have drawn a noise violation. We all talked about the best way to make it fit in the overhead light box. Paul had borrowed my chop saw to cut the aluminum frame, and today I borrowed his hammer drill and masonry bits to hang a microwave on a concrete block wall.



Paul and Martin are two of a very few people who actually farm in Oakland- in the actual city, and they've asked me to help. Free exercise they say. I offer my help and tell them Jake has farming in his past. I am excited for Jake to arrive (any week now).

The night before was spent around a fire with interesting people, talking and laughing. I learned there, that the building has given itself the title "The Happiest Building in Oakland" and people go out to the fire pit nearly every night to relax and just talk. I visited some of the other units that night- cool artists' places- photo studios, programmers' dens, all looking very cool and comfortable. One person operates a business with sensory deprivation tanks and an art gallery.

I sit here,at my desk, Jackie is purring looking down 12 feet and out the windows. Amos is asleep on the shop floor on his back, stretched out in the sun. Somewhere in the building a circular saw is running. The people here are relaxed, yet proactive. This is the place where things can happen. Good things. My life is exactly what I make of it here. I am home.

Furniture Design: Desks by Necessity

Not a huge update today- the project was just to make a couple of desks for my computers. They may look a little familiar to you- I just made two more of the work tables before with three major changes- the legs are turned 90 degrees, and there is a crosspiece on the back- both changes made for stability, and of course, the desks are 6 inches shorter, because they're made to be sat at, not stood at.



Now I just need to go buy a chair, you'll notice the grey tub I'm currently sitting on. But there's no time for that now, there's hockey on.

On another note, I just purchased my tickets to Maker Faire Bay Area 2010, which is just a couple of weeks away, May 22-23. Its a really cool celebration where people who make stuff- cool stuff- ANY stuff- bring it to show it off. Creations range from the weird and wacky to the ingenious. Anyone in the bay area has no excuse but to go, and the tickets are only on sale for $25 until today, after that they go up to $45! Click here to get your tickets!

Furniture Design: Futon Prototype Complete!

A proof of concept prototype is a significant step in the design process. You use it to verify that your idea makes sense, to see how your imagined idea functions when it has to contend with things like physics, and to learn what needs to be changed or at least focused on in the creation of a final prototype. Proof of concepts can have marks from changes, parts that are the wrong size, and even use materials like cardboard or even duct tape. The important thing is that you illustrate to yourself- and often your client- that this thing is gonna work.

The futon POC prototype needed some trimming to be a bit more futon-like, and needed to have the runners cut out for the pipes that would be supporting the seat part of the couch. I rigged up this fancy contraption- taping a protractor to my stand-in seat-back and marking in regular intervals where the pipes would be:



Then I drew in the pipes, and connected them into a smooth arc.



Back to the jig saw to cut out the new slots, then tracing the first side onto the second side, and cutting it out again. I set up the rig again, screwed the pipes in place, and it was testing time...




It works! I have a couple of hangups in the resetting action, but I know what they are and how to fix them. Now that I have the form, its just a matter of figuring out how to translate that into decent wood.

This afternoon/evening, however, I will be hanging up the microwave and cleaning the shop, and trying to figure out how Jake fits into this apartment. And I think a trip to Trader Joe's as well. Thanks!

Furniture Design: Coffee table complete, Futon Proto nearly complete, and a new roommate!

After a long night of drinking and commiserating with the neighbors- it turns out Paul just lost his mother as well- I went home and to sleep. The next day brought me to Home Depot again, and I got the jig saw I needed, some pipe for the coffee table, a microwave, a shop vac (finally), and some extension cords. The weekend is over- time to build again.

I first cut the aluminum pipe to fit the coffee table- the tube fit right over the built in clips on the Nomadic frame. I held my breath, and flipped it over. No tear-out! Its standing beautifully in my living room right now. I tested the strength of the table by putting the cat on it. It held!



Then the next step was to work more on the futon. The plywood was looking lousy, so I decided I'd make a prototype with it, to test the location of the runners. Using the jig saw this time, I duplicated the pattern from Friday, and attached the two plywood sheets together.



I then made a plywood proto for the seat part of the futon, and hinged it with duct tape, screwed it to some plastic electrical conduit in lieu of pipes and used this to properly mark the location of the runners for the lower half of the futon. I have no pictures of this, so here's a gratuitous shot of Jackie on top of the kitchen cabinets.



awwwww

After that, I began shaping the arm sections more like I intend to have the final ones. Aside from the legs, which I'm not sure on yet, they should look something like this.



Tomorrow is about copying this one, and marking the path of the lower runners.

So, not long after, I got a phone call from one of my good friends, Jake Cohen (many of you know Jake, JMU grad, former WhatWorks co-owner). He had recently had a falling out with his roommates in Seattle and needed a place to live. I thought about it, and figured- what the heck? We could at least give it a try. Its not like there isn't enough space.

So I'm expecting Jake to arrive either tomorrow or Wednesday, and we'll see how that changes things. I can assure you he will be a part of design that goes on here, and i hope it can be a positive partnership.

A Week Here, 1000 Hits, and A Day in San Francisco

Good morning or afternoon!

Adjusting to West Coast time is a bit strange. Did you know that out here Saturday Night Live isn't live?! They show it at 11:30, three hours old. Probably edited too.

Anyway, just one of those things that has been a part of adjusting to Oakland. I'll admit at first I was very apprehensive about it, but I'm beginning to know the area, meet new people, and see old friends. A week in, and things are only getting better.

Yesterday, in an important milestone, my blog reached 1,000 hits! Very exciting. I'm learning all about what keeps people interested. I thought my visitors would drop off as time went on, as you all got bored with my day-to-day stuff, but its actually the opposite! Thanks for clicking!

I took the day with my friends from college, Zac and Jess, to go see San Fransisco again. We mostly saw things I had already done before, but a trip to China Town is always great. I had a filling lunch for $3.75! Then we walked down to the Embarcadero, and played with the mechanical toys at the Museé Mechanique which was a great time. I snapped this terrible picture of Alcatraz:



We walked past Fisherman's Wharf to see men with giant steamer baskets and huge pots of freshly caught crab make it clear to us a return trip was in order. Probably a visit to the Haight to breathe in a little San Fran "culture", and maybe the night tour of Alcatraz.

A stop in Little Italy for some Gelato and then a long walk back to the BART station. All in all we walked 7 miles- yes I am one of those dorks who google-maps his walking distance- the difference is I admit I have a problem. We found a local Mexican restaurant in Fruitvale (the only kind of restaurant in Fruitvale is Mexican) had some great Carnitas, and Zac and Jess made their way to a gathering Zac had in the city for his work.

Yes, I still feel like a tourist here, so I'm going to get all the touristy stuff done while I still qualify as "new here." Today, its back to design work! Oh and my design computer is set up now, so if anyone needs design work done, the freelance shop is open!