Some Setbacks and First Friday Oakland

The hope was to finish a futon and a table yesterday, giving me a sort of living room to use- and finally a place to sit. I know its self inflicted, but when you're limited to standing and lying down it can be a bit trying. I may have to break down and buy a desk chair- unlikely that I could build a replica Aeron Chair at this point anyway.

So I sketched out the shape of the runners (the slots that the futon's rods will slide in) onto a piece of plywood. I got out my protractor, and my circle stencil, and my compass. I know I could have printed it out and just traced it- but it felt great just drawing it that way. And I drew the shape from memory, which was also cool.





I then set up my drill with a spade bit to get out those circular parts, and began to try to remove the rest of the stuff with a saber saw (saws-all). This proved to be far to coarse, and my edges got all ratty. I needed a handheld jig saw, and didn't have one.



Then I thought I'd check the concept of what I had done against the pattern with my wood rods I had purchased the previous day. I expected that something sold as a "1 inch full round" would be one inch in diameter. This was not so.



This meant my sketch and pattern would have to be adjusted to accommodate the new size rod, so rather than do that right away, I went over to work on my table. I set all the points in place, flipped it over, put it down, and poppoppop- three of the nuts pulled free of the glue holding them in place. It turns out the frame structure is strong enough to hold up a table- the glue, however is not. I think I'll be solving this issue by stealing Jon's idea of putting some aluminum tubing directly vertically under the contact points to help it stay up. It feels like cheating, but it should still look mostly the same.

The rest of my design day was spent sketching out the side panels of the futon- I've decided that the final design will celebrate the shape of the runners- form follows function, right? I have a few ideas on how to do that, and I just now need to choose which one is best.

But the weekend is here, and so it's time to have some fun.

Paul and his Co-worker Jason invited me out to First Friday Oakland- a big block party where everyone gathers to celebrate the openings of the new art exhibits in the galleries along Broadway. We stopped at a few of the places- balked at the sheer expense of the artwork, but mostly drank the cheap beer, at some hippie street food, and talked to people along the way. There was also this cool group that did a bunch of cool stuff with bicycles, like this double-old-timey-bicycle contraption which they wouldn't let me drive:



Then we headed off to this great bar on Telegraph called Uptown. We spent the remainder of the night there, meeting cool people, talking about ice hockey (who are the Washington Capitals? ...wow...) and drinking beers. It was a great time, and it was awesome to finally get out and meet some people! Today I'm gonna go into SF and take a look around with my friends from college Zac and Jess. Hooray for weekends!

Furniture Design - Futon Takes Shape

Another late night means another morning blog post!

Thursday morning meant a trip to Ikea for some parts- a glass top for the coffee table I'm making, come locking casters for the drill press and band saw stands I'll be building, and some bowl- you know, to eat out of. I had lunch there too- not easy for me to resist- I love the mac and cheese.

I also stopped at office depot for some circle drawing tools- the mechanism for the futon is going to take some precise drawing and cutting. Then I stopped at AutoZone on Jon's advice to buy some rear view mirror glue to attach my hardware to the glass table top.

I came back and set up the table saw and did another round of the same as the day before, but having done it once already, putting together the wider part of the frame, which would be the back, went a lot quicker.



Once complete, I installed a piano hinge- a six-foot long steel hinge with 72 screws to hold it in place. This ensures a strong joint and smooth opening and closing, with a smaller profile than, say, a door hinge. As you can see, I now have a futon-like couch thing! Again, no arms to support it- the design and build of these should be done today, or at least by early next week.





Satisifed with my progress on the futon, I switched to a less labor-intensive project- the coffee table. My coffee table will be supported by the structure known as a "quad" from Nomadic Display. Ever since they made me one, I wanted to turn it into a table. I found some lock-nuts that were actually the perfect size to snap onto the hardware of the quad and glued them to the tabletop, setting them to dry over night.



Here is what the table will look like in its finished position when it sits upside-down.



I am a bit concerned that the aluminum frame won't be strong enough to support the heavy glass top, and if that proves to be true, I do have a back up plan.

The evening was spent watching the movie Contact in Paul's apartment with Paul and Martin- who looks just like Ben Kingsley, and realized that everyone would believe Jody Foster if they just dropped another person into the machine! I mean, come ON its right THERE!

Anyway, the plan today is to finish the futon and the coffee table, and I will have what some call a living room! Very exciting!

Furniture Design - Cats Do Not Like Table Saws

After blogging this morning I got to that leveling job I mentioned yesterday. It was actually not so bad. What I learned: make sure the table legs are plumb before screwing them on, and you need at least two screws arranged vertically in each plane to make sure they don't tilt afterward. Lost anyone yet? Here's my beautiful flush counters:



They're less than 1/16th of an inch off, so I'm content.

Then I went off to Home Depot to buy another round of lumber- its beginning to look a lot like a wood shop in here- to start on the futon prototype. I had to rip a 3/4" square out of some 2x4s for the firring strips to sit in. To do this I needed to use the table saw loaned to me yesterday by Paul. It did not go over well with the cats, who flew from the room as fast as I have ever seen, and went up and hid in my bedroom closet.

After trimming the 2x4s, beveling the edges and squaring them up, I continued with the tedium of mounting 14 firring strips to the inside of the notched out sections, secured everything with wood screws (nail gun nails might have worked better, but alas, I have not a nail gun). What I was left with, I think is actually pretty good- I'm strongly considering making this a final version.



The only difficult parts that will need to be made more than once are the arm sections, but those can be made and scrapped independent of the main seating area. I tested it out, and not only does it support my weight very well, its actually very comfortable! By the end of the week I expect to have a futon and none of you will have any excuse to not visit me. The futon-half in place:



Right now I'm going outside to do some sketching for the arm sections, which I'll post tomorrow if I'm happy with any of them.

Thanks for reading!

Furniture Design- Prototyping a futon

After my stuff finally arrived from the shipper today, I did some unpacking- at least the items for which I had places- I turned my attention to the built tables that needed leveling. I was less interested in that, and far more interested in designing a futon, so I began sketching for that.



About four pages in, I decided on the method that would employ- curved side runners in the arm sections that would allow the futon to tilt very easily. I struggle with the exact shape, as you can see in the sketches- thats what those wiggly shapes are- but came up with two I quite liked. I made a really rough prototype, decided I needed some better prototyping materials, so I bought some bamboo skewers at the local grocer. Way cheaper than wood dowels- and can be cut with scissors. My rough protos:





After this my new buddy Paul stopped by to say hey, and to loan me his drill press, band saw, and table saw. He hadn't used them in a while, and was reorganizing his shop, so he said I could have them until he needed them. So Paul effectively doubled the size of my shop, with three tools I was going to buy anyway! Now I just need to build a work table for those to sit on so they may be used. The cart they are on now is not staying.



So I then took my ideas to the computer, to make sure my engineering would be right- I didn't want the futon to tip over if one person was sleeping on one side, I wanted the top of the mattress to sit above the arm rest when flat so you wouldn't hit your head, and I wanted it to be easy to put up and down. I arrived at this solution, at about 10pm last night (thats why no update until now)






The arm sections need some refining- I am not going to go with a simple mailbox shape- but that is form stuff where I get to be all creative and artsy. The plan is now to make a full size prototype in pine for proof of concept, and then, once that works, a final version in oak with copper pipe as the moving support rods.

On a completely unrelated note- I thought you might like this- my building's garage houses the actual head from the video for "do the Humpty Dance" by Digital Underground. This is no joke- it has been verified. It is about 15 feet tall and is about the weirdest pop culture artifact I have ever seen. I will update tonight on the progress of the first futon proto.

Trimester 1- Furniture design-build

Greetings all-

I've just gotten done with a productive day here at the new place in Oakland! After taking care of some administrative stuff, I went out to a local car washing place to have the salt removed from my car. The guys took serious care- it took nearly three hours, but by the time they were done it was as clean as the day I bought it.

After fast food for lunch, I thought, enough is enough- I need some real food. So I went to the local grocery, and came home with some food with things like vitamins and minerals!

Haven't done a whole lot of actual designing, so to speak, but I have been building more. As you can see, my shop has grown two new work tables.




The taller tables are not quite flush with the miter saw deck, which is my intent, so tomorrow I'm going to have to do some leveling and sanding.

My plan in all this is to focus on different areas of product design- get neck deep into it in something like four month blocks. For example right now I've started into furniture design and fabrication. The choice on this one was almost entirely need-based as I have almost no furniture save for the work tables. I'll spend the early part of each week researching and sketching, conceptualizing and testing, and then spend the rest of the week fabricating. Hopefully after four months of this, I'll be a little more adept. As you can see, these work benches are not complicated nor particularly well-made, but I've already learned a bit about tables from them that I can use toward my next table.

I will start the designing for my next project, the futon, early, as I expect many complications and mistakes.

Oh and my shipment of stuff will be coming in tomorrow!

More to come- stay tuned.

Acknowledgements

It was a hell of a fun trip- an exciting adventure to say the least. I am now here, safe and sound, ready to start a new adventure. Jon has taken the flight back to BWI, and so now I proceed as a one man show.

Some people to thank-

Chelsea and Andy for putting us up in Columbus, showing us some cool spots, and finding that Adult swim party. How awesome was that? We'll see each other again, and play a game of coasters.

Jenny and Stu for treating us to an experience in Nashville- what a music scene! I love your city- and we listened to the Chris Weaver Band CD several times through along the trip. Jenny, you sign them as soon as you are able.

Alex for showing us a great time in Chicago, getting us the best deep dish in town, and bringing back old times with a bit of healthy debate. The three amigos are now strewn across the country- we'll have to find a reason to get back together soon.

Maggie for the road food- we killed all f it save for the peanut butter cups and the twizzlers. I'm excited to see you and Roy in a month, and I expect to have the futon built by then. PS, you may have to park outside the gate, so you might want to consider packing heat.

Everyone who read the blog, especially those who made comments. We read every one out, and they often gave us some great laughs during some very long road trips. Thank you all.

Dad for dealing with my cats and stuff getting shipped. It was complicated and ornery, but Amos and Jackie are alive, and my stuff is in California according to my tracking information. Los Angeles, California.

Marquart for your secret gift- it sure came in handy when we got stuck in the salt flats!

Some quick thanks: the American Highway system, McDonald's free wifi, continental drift, the proprietor of "The Panda" in Salt Lake City, Hotwire.com, Friedwart Winterburg for his work on the GPS, Bonneville Mud-Cat operators, the fine people of middle America, the Chris Weaver Band, the Colorado snow plow crew, the inventor of the rumble strip, Toucan Sam, the stickmen at the Montbleu, and, of course Barack Obama.

Finally, to Jon- thank so much for making this trip awesome and fun. Thanks for making us go right through the Rockies, and driving when I was too hung over. Thank you most of all for seeing me all the way through to Oakland. Its quite appropriate that my oldest friend be the last to say goodbye. It was a week that felt like a month and I'll never forget it. Thanks too to Ashleigh for giving up your husband for 9 days.

That's all for this part of the blog- I will be making updates daily, and they will be personal, but focused more on design. And if you're wondering- I will be changing that ugly green banner at the top of the page. Probably something a bit more...orange?

After dropping off Jon at the airport, I went to Home Depot, bought some tools, and built this work table:




You'll notice its an homage to every work table ever made. Very high concept, you might not get it if you haven't studied Le Corbusier in detail.

Tomorrow I intend to build one identical to it, and put it next to the first one, and build a platform for my miter saw. Semester one will be furniture design and construction.

All for now, more later.

Day 8 - Tahoe to Oakland

We woke up early, miraculously not hungover from the free drinks at the craps table, and prepared for the final leg of our cross-country journey. We stopped at a McDonald's to partake of greasy food free wifi to update the blog. Upon finishing our update, we realized that we had missed the California state line sign, and hadn't taken a picture of our final state line crossing. Being the anal-retentive dweebs that we are, we drove back across into Nevada so we could get a picture of the tiny, disappointing "Welcome to California" sign at the border.



CALIFORNIA

We proceeded west and north around the California side of lake Tahoe, on our way back to the interstate. The small state road wound through the forest along the mountains at the edge of the lake for about 40 miles. Blah, blah, majestic landscapes, stunning vistas, et cetera. Here, look at some pictures.








Just three hours later, we were sitting in traffic on our way into Oakland- we hadn't seen traffic in well over a week, so it was a bit frustrating to be in the car, with time passing, but not be moving. About a half hour of this, and we were across the bridge into Oakland proper, and soon after, to the front gate of Mike's new apartment.





We had finally arrived. Our final odometer reading- 20,760 miles. When we left Annapolis, it read 16,761- so our trip was exactly 3,999 total- so close to an even 4000!



Mike connected up with his property manager, got his keys, and then we began to move his stuff in. With only the things that were in his car, there really wasn't that much work. Mike is really excited about his new place, but rather than describe it- here are a few pictures Jon took.









It was still pretty big and empty, so a trip to Ikea was in order. Mike bought a bunch of bathroom furnishings, a futon mattress, stuff for his cats, and an orange carpet for the living room. The rest of the afternoon was spent unpacking and getting stuff ready for the cats.



Amos and Jackie arrived at the Delta cargo bay at Oakland International Airport in tact, and actually relatively calm. Despite being in a plastic crate for 15 hours, they were not emotionally scarred, and tentatively explored the new apartment, already staking out favorite spaces. Jackie found a hole under the kitchen cabinets, and squirmed her way into that space under the corner cabinet, next to the stove. We tricked her out using a bit of string, and that is about when Mike's neighbors showed up.



Paul, in 102, and Martin, in 104, seem to be pretty cool guys, and we spent the remainder of the evening drinking beers and eating pizza in Paul's place. Then, back next door to spend the first night in the new place.