Category: Random Nonsense

Sometimes I just feel compelled to share nonsense, random thoughts, and sometimes just stuff I want to save

Tyvek Sled Kite… from office supplies

Tyvek Office Supply Kite

The picture to the right is of a kite that I built several weeks ago and only got around to actually flying this weekend.  It’s basically made out of office supplies.  :)

Originally I just wanted to make the Tyvek sled kite from the Howtoons shown in Craft Magazine, Volume 8. 1  But then I wanted to see how much of the kite I could assemble just using things from the office.  The answer is, basically all of it.

The Howtoons calls for:

  1. A large sheet of Tyvek
  2. Tyvek tape
  3. A washer
  4. Ruler
  5. Scissors

Instead I used:

  1. Tyvek from Tyvek office envelopes, rather than a large sheet or roll of Tyvek house wrap.  My office is sent dozens of these things a day.  It didn’t take long to collect 30 plus.
  2. Clear packing tape.  I used this instead of Tyvek tape.  Tyvek tape would have worked a LOT better, but I have no complaints.
  3. Rather than use a washer, I used a spare keyring.  I had other various office supply bits hanging around in case this didn’t work out.  Paperclips, binder clips, etc.
  4. Yardstick.
  5. Scissors.

Since the envelopes are significantly smaller than the sheet of Tyvek rolls, I had to either make my kite smaller or stitch them together into a larger sheet.  I did both.  I scaled the plans down to about 2/3rds the size from the diagrams and then used packing tape to put them all together.  To get the most surface area out of each envelope, I burst all of the envelopes at the seams and then taped them up.  Once I had a 36″ tall sheet, I started cutting it into the pieces I needed, re-taped it back together as indicated by the diagram, and then set it aside for weeks while I didn’t fly it.  :)

On the day of the launch I made the tail out of strips of leftover envelopes taped together with the gluey bits from some of the envelope flap sealants and more packing tape.  I punched a hole in the three ribs using a pen, ran the line through each of the three ribs, reinforced it with more packing tape…  and launched.

The only non-office supply things used in the construction were:

  • Crayons for coloring the kite (hard to see)
  • The ruler – I don’t have a yardstick at work
  • The kite line, purchased from Amazon

It flew pretty well.

  1. I found a copy of all three pages after googling around a little.  Howtoons: Sled on a Thread pages 1 2, 3 [↩]

Measurements of a pen

Pilot G2 Gel Pen
Pilot G2 Gel Pen

Pictured are:

  1. The pen end and handle. 9.89mm in outer diameter. 8.06mm in inner diameter. 76.92mm in length, when the button is totally recessed.
  2. The pen front. 68.00mm in length. 8.25 in outer diameter at the middle. 7.91 in outer diameter at the screw threads. 6.35mm in inner diameter.
  3. The spring. It is 19.67mm tall, uncompressed. 6.36mm, compressed. 5.53mm in outer diameter, 4.54mm in inner diameter. The wire is 0.47mm in diameter.
  4. The rubber grip. 1.3mm thick. 8.41mm inner diameter. 37.77mm in length.
  5. The ink cartridge. It is 6.03mm in diameter. 110.47mm in length.  Filled with ink.

Why am I telling you these things?  Stay tuned…

Advice for MakerBot based businesses

Pete Hinzy left a comment asking:

I am also attempting to start up a small business with the focus on providing low cost, custom parts. I have one customer now but have struggled trying to “reach the masses”. Any thoughts?

Hi Pete!

Well, you asked for it!

  1. First and foremost, absolutely, positively, get a copy of Guy Kawasaki’s Reality Check.  At $20, it is the best investments you’re going to make in your business, hands down.  This book distills his advice from his several other books and insanely fantastic blog posts on starting a business, business development, etc.  He gives simple actual concrete advice on how to take yourself from someone with an idea to a person who has their own business.  I own two of his books and follow his blog and the ideas and suggestions in his book have been invaluable to me as a small businessperson and entrepreneur.  You’re going to read and re-read this book, refer back to it, pour over it’s index, write in the margins, and dogear pages.  It’s that good.
  2. Invest in your own domain name, installation of WordPress, and a new theme.  It’s cheap and seems more professional.  There are hundreds and thousands of free themes.  Once you get people to your website, you want them to stick around.
  3. Tell people about yourself!  Blog, tweet, and other stuff!  Talk about the things about your MakerBot you’re enthusiastic about.  Your enthusiasm will show through.  Don’t just re-post or post a link to someone else’s information.  Blogs are so much more than that.  Put your own spin on it.  They’re additive forms of communication, people keep building on things others have said or done and contribute to the conversation.  You’ve posted a link because you find it interesting – tell us why.
  4. Every week more and more people are searching for information about MakerBots and RepRap.  What is a MakerBot’s print resolution?  How hard is it to put a MakerBot together?  What do I need to build a RepRap?  Answer the questions your potential customers have and they will come to you.
  5. One of Kawaskai’s best bits of advice is, “Let a thousand flowers bloom.”  Basically, try anything, try everything, see what works, what doesn’t, learn and improve.  I’ve done some prototyping for people with my MakerBot and am now running a pseudo-auction for a 3x2x1 Rubik’s Cube.  I didn’t plan on selling this prototype – but it occurred to me that it was a fairly popular thing on Thingiverse, I won’t have need of this as I work on better designs, perhaps someone would like to own it?  Try out some new ideas.  You could focus on printing small-run custom parts – but what if there’s a better use or market for your MakerBot?  Perhaps you might find it more lucrative to print Mendel or Mini-Mendel parts.  Keep your eyes and ears open for new possibilities and new ideas and new markets.
  6. Use your existing customer.  Ask your current customer what they want, how they use things, how you can help them more, what other ideas they have.
  7. I recently posted the results from my MakerBot poll.  There’s a lot of good information in there about what people like about MakerBots and why they’re interested.  This would be a good resource if you wanted to create a business geared towards these people or just write more content you think they would enjoy.

Thing idea: Crayon mold

Crayon Mold v0
Crayon Mold v0

Problem: Broken crayons, useless crayon bits, or crayon shavings.  Crayola has their own crayon making system – a cross between an easy-bake-oven and little molds.  However, I don’t think it is quite versatile enough.  Plus, why pay $20 for what could be accomplished easily for $0.20 worth of plastic parts?

Solution: A printed crayon mold!

Description: Crayons melt at about 128 – 147 degrees Fahrenheit, or up to about 66 degrees Celsius.  ABS won’t melt until around 88-125 degrees Celsius, so there’s a wide margin for melting the paraffin wax crayons without distorting the mold.1

I would want at least three different molds – the normal crayon size, the fat crayon size, and then a triangular non-rolling crayon size.  I’m picturing a two part mold for each, with the seam of the two parts running along the crayon lengthwise and a half funnel for pouring.

In addition to the half-mold, I’d also design a snug fitting square block for fitting the assembled mold into.  That way you could stand it up and pour crayon wax into it.

Another potential use for this would be to place the pieces of crayon inside the mold, close it up, then heat.  This would allow you to mend a broken crayon.

Usage: I can think of several different ways to use this mold.  Frankly, I’m not sure which is easiest/most advisable/least advisable.  There are easily several considerations:

  1. Assembly:
    1. The mold could be assembled with crayon inside to be melted and repaired.
    2. Crayon pieces could be melted and then poured into the assembled mold.
    3. Crayon pieces could be placed in the funnel at the top of the mold, the entire system heated and crayon allowed to melt down into the mold.
  2. Melting:
    1. Crayon could be melted in a test tube or similar container in the oven, microwave, hot water bath (such as on the stove) or perhaps even open flame and poured into the mold.
    2. Crayon could be melted while inside the mold by placing the mold in a heat source (oven, microwave, hot water bath).
    3. Crayon could be placed in the funnel and allowed to melt down into the mold with the application of a heat source (oven, microwave, hot water bath, open flame?, or sunlight plus magnifying lens!)
  3. Cooling:
    1. Allowing to naturally cool to ambient room temperature.
    2. Placing in fridge.
    3. Placing in freezer.
    4. Placing in cold water bath.

I’m not sure which method of heating and cooling are optimal.  Though I’d suspect it is preferable to apply the least amount of heat over the shortest period possible.

Variations: It would be interesting to create these molds in different shapes besides cylinders.  You could top each one with a geometric shape, the head (or tail!) of some kind of animal or character, or something else entirely.  You could mold crayons into spheres, blocks, chips, or little figurines.  While not particularly sturdy, you could even mold them into building blocks or components of some larger device.  A clever person could use some left over nichrome wire to build a heated metallic funnel.

  1. That said, my extruder isn’t pumping out plastic until it hits 200 degrees Celsius at least. [↩]
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