aarn_wrks_dsn

aarn: “prolly purple” 144#47 raidô contest [bicycle]

Prolly Is Not Probably is doing a contest to promote a new category of content on his site devoted to photography (and maybe stories?) depicting cycling as a more spiritual/emotional journey. It’s a mature direction for John’s blog and we can definitely expect to see a new angle of well-developed content from him.

I sent John down three of these “Prolly Purple” anodized 144#47 chain rings a few weeks ago, and the winner of the contest will get one. Only three were made, only one is getting released to the public. Depending on the rest of your build these could just scream 1990-something, or be super classy.

[photos: Prolly]

aarn: available now: cuppow [product]

fringe: now open: process by fringe [retail]

We over at Fringe in Somerville, Massachusetts, have a pop-up shop/retail experiment going on over at Grand at 374 Somerville Avenue. Jon and Wendy from Grand were kind enough to rent us half of their space for the entire month of January…so we set up shop. 

The space is arranged with a little spot for everyone from Fringe who wanted to be involved. It’s kind of a hybrid gallery-store. 

I have a little table with a bunch of stuff on it, including the tab desk lamp, the turntable bounce light, t0001, and some chainrings, along with some sketches and process pieces or prototypes of each. 

Check it out if you are in the area. Also, Fringe has a tumblr now, so make sure to follow fringeunion.tumblr.com. 

aarn: tab desk lamp [furn]

The Tab Desk Lamp is a project that I created for myself almost exactly two weeks ago as an opportunity to try out a few new techniques without the risk of wasting money on materials, or encountering failure on some of the more complicated projects that I have been planning. Also, in acting as my own shop, I created manufacturing drawings for each part, and directly followed them during fabrication.
 

I have wanted to cut glass with a waterjet machine ever since I learned that it was possible. Originally, I had a sheet of 0.150-in thick tempered glass laying around that I wanted to use…ends up that tempered glass explodes as soon as the pressurized beam of water touches it. I found a place that sold me “used” 0.375-in thick plate glass as a replacement. (Thanks to my friend Steve for the waterjet parts)

 

MWM graphics/aarn: 3d numerically controlled drawings [misc]

After I had completed the black and white Sharpie drawings for the Numerically Controlled Poster Series with artist Matt W. Moore, released over the summer [see MWM graphics/aarn: numerically controlled drawing series [misc]], I decided to do some experiments with some colors. I had one fresh red Sharpie and one blue on hand. I did one pass with a red marker at 100%, and then a second pass where I scaled down the blue layer to 98% and centered the transformation around the center vertex in the artwork. 

When Matt came to pick up the other drawings, I gave him TWO of these 3d drawings. He released them on Black Friday, and they are for sale in his online store along with the remaining black and white drawings from the original release. Scoop them up.

[photos: mwmgraphics]

aarn: pre-order now: 144#47 track chainring reissue [bicycle]

I’m doing a reissue of the track bicycle chainring that I released back in September (see aarn: available now: 144#47 track chainring [bicycle]). The response was really great, and I sold out of the fifty that I had made in just over a week! This time, I have teamed up with Prolly Is Not Probably for an exclusive pre-order through his website. I will only make as many of these as people order, so if you want one get to the PiNP store during this pre-order period. The pre-order will only last through next Wednesday or so (November 16, 2011). It is likely that I will not do another run of these. Specifics of this ring are identical to the first release: 144BCD, 47-Tooth, for 1/8” Chain, Black/Silver Anodized 6061-T6. I have optimized a few of the dimensions, but it’s nothing that most people will notice. If you are curious how the chainring looks on your make/model of crankset, check out this flickr set that I put together with some photos from people riding them.

Thanks again to John for putting this reissue together (and taking the sweet photo: top). 

[EDIT] I had to order more pieces than the pre-orders that I got, so I moved the pre-orders over to my sales page. Rings will ship the week of 12/12, the order is currently in production (noted 11/30). 

geekhouse/aarn: raw oregon manifest custom dropouts [bicycle]

Since there were so many custom parts and designed elements on with the Oregon Manifest design competition entry that I worked on with Geekhouse Bikes (see geekhouse/aarn: oregon manifest utility/cargo bike [bicycle]), I decided to put together a post with a few shots of the raw dropouts. I went by the machine shop the other day and the machinist had made an extra set of these for me.

On the final build, these dropouts were slotted from the back - much like a normal track dropout - but originally these were a modification to a 5mm allen head dropout that I designed for Marty prior to 2011 NAHBS. I designed simple front and rear dropouts that both used a stainless steel carrier which allowed for a flat head cap screw to be used with hubs featuring internally threaded axles. These didn’t make it to the show for a few reasons (the customer didn’t like them) - so I’m going to ghost-of-done these onto my blog. 

[edit: drawings removed - I guess they are going to go on a Geekhouse soon - Stay tuned for that]

So, anyway, the OR Manifest dropouts were standard 20mm track nut versions of these dropouts that never got made. Plus, the tabs were designed so that they could be slotted right into the exact diameter and bend radius tubing that was used for the “stays” on the manifest bike. 

The rear end of the manifest bike was a little more rigid than Marty had expected, so it just made sense to slot them from the rear when the bike was being built - especially considering that they were not designed for full-width axles. Just some ghost-of-done stories before Halloween for everyone. I’m just going to keep referencing this until everyone is on the same page.

new black studio/aarn: studio sign [misc]

I cut a sign for Stebs (Paper Fortress Films) and Alicia at New Black Studio. New Black Studio is the photo studio here at Fringe that they have been revamping and outfitting for rental use, as well as for internal projects. They have a lot of gear that is available for rental (strobes, rigging, etc.) and the studio is looking pretty good. I am not a sign-maker, this was just a favor for some pals.

They dropped off a print of what they wanted on my desk with some rough dimensions. I cut the sign out of 0.050” aluminum sheet with my CNC router, then attached it to spacers and taped that to the wall. One day later the whole sign had fallen down. So I used some tapcons and attached some plexi to the wall and then glued the spacers to that. I wasn’t happy with how the plexi looked against the wall, so I came back with a hammer and roughed it up a bit to give it that hot shattered glass look. And…I’m just realizing as I write this that I hung the “A” backwards…another reason why I should not make signs. 

I took some pictures of the sign when I got it up the second time. Hopefully it will stay put.

Stebs gives me the thumbs up while he holds the flash for my photo. 

royal h cycles/aarn: seat stay caps [bicycle]

Took me forever to get around to documenting this little bike bit. Months and months ago, Bryan of Royal H Cycles walked out of his shop, and over to my office (about 10ft). He placed the following items on my desk: a rusty old seat stay plug, a sticky note with some specs, and a drawing in pencil.

A month or so later, we had some of these dudes made in stainless and 4130. Turning a sketch into a 2d/3d model and eventually a tangible part is a process that I have become more adept at over the years (both from my own sketches and others’), but there was something crazy about the pencil drawing that Bryan handed me. It took me a few tries, but I finally got it where I liked it. Bryan has put these on a few bikes at this point, and they look pretty sharp. 

First photograph is by Jonathan Henig, it appeared in a post on Bryan’s Blog.

The stainless caps first appeared on a bike for the people over at Lovely Bicycle.

geekhouse/aarn: oregon manifest utility/cargo bike [bicycle]

Back in March, I was walking around MoMA in NYC and I got a call from Marty from Geekhouse Bikes, wanting to know if I would be interested in submitting an entry to the Oregon Manifest competition with him. I guess that I said “yes.”

Marty, Greg, Brad, Robot, and myself sat down in April and started to hash out ideas for different functional details for the bike. Greg had put together a bunch of blank bike templates to draw over, and they had selected their favorite. In the next month or so, Marty and I developed the geometry for the bent tubing in software, and worked out ideas for the custom dropouts and features.

Really nothing happened again on the bike, except brainstorming and sketches, until mid-summer, when we had some dropouts made and I started playing around with some ideas for integrated frame elements using the CAD drawing that we made.

I thought that it would be really cool to use sheet metal to make some non-traditional custom fenders for the bike. I wanted the rear fender to be a single assembly with mounting features for the chain guard - to add some continuity to the overall look of the bike. After the rear fender was designed and styled, I designed a front fender, and eventually a chain guard for the bike. The flat pattern sheet metal parts were tricky to design, due to the geometry of the bike, and my desire to keep the part count low. I used locating holes on the rear fender to indicate where the bends needed to be, since there were no square edges to snap a line off of, once the part was cut. The back end of the bike frame tapers out, so the rear fender, as a flat pattern needed to splay out accordingly.

The chain guard is probably the part with which I am the most satisfied. It is a single sheet metal part that is bent and then the front is rolled onto itself and riveted to a tab. In order to make the gap distance less critical (and avoid having to weld anything) in the region that is concentric with the chain ring on the front side of the chain guard, I turned the gap into an aesthetic feature…which worked out well. All of the sheet metal parts were cut on my CNC router and fabricated in-house. With the exception of one very minor tweak that needed to take place, all of the parts worked out on the first shot at fabrication, which I am very happy about.

Robot sent us some specs for the LEDs and circuitry, and I was at Geekhouse wiring up the bike until 4am on the day that Marty and Brad were leaving for Oregon.

On the Manifest: I really wish that there was more media coverage during the event. Being all the way on the other coast, I was hoping for a little more information on the internet. The competition itself brought out some of the best custom bikes that I have seen. I was/am proud to have been able to show work in the field with the other entries. We didn’t go into the competition thinking that we would win, but it made not winning that much easier seeing the number of really awesome bikes that were in attendance.

Studio shots are from Oregon Manifest and Chris King Cycle Group. We didn’t even get a chance to take a decent picture of this whip before it got packed up.

Marty has a lot of process shots up here.

My media is here - Will update with new shots.

I will post some better shots of the chain guard and some of the details once the boys get back from the wild west. Thanks again to Geekhouse for involving me in this process. Marty and Brad are both super talented and a pleasure to work with.

aarn: available now: 144#47 track chainring [bicycle]

This is my first self-branded product. Before I get into the details, these are available in black and clear anodized finish for $67 in my online store.  Store is located here, here, and here. Quantities are extremely limited. I had 50 total made; 30 in black and 20 in clear. Other than the anodizing treatment, all of these bicycle chainrings are identical. The bolt circle diameter is 144-mm, and each has 47 teeth. Chainrings are designed for ⅛-in track/bmx chain.

Let’s get into the details - I had been searching for the right machine shop to make these chainrings for about eight months. Finally I decided on a two-man shop in Peabody, Massachusetts, USA. I am very glad that I waited, because I have not seen CNC machining of this caliber in a long time.

The attention to detail that the machinists paid when crafting these can be seen in the quality of the end product. The rings were fully CNC machined from certified 6061-T6 aircraft grade aluminum plate stock, then lightly buffed and delivered to another local shop for black and clear hardcoat anodizing.

At no point in the process of making these chainrings did a file or manual deburring instrument touch the parts, every single edge on the chainring (front and back) has a precision machine-broken 45-degree 0.010-in deep chamfer. A custom 20-degree chamfer tool was used to precisely bevel each tooth during the machining process. In addition to the quality of the machining and finishing, each part was labeled and inspected before it left the shop. The black anodize is as black as it gets, and the clear anodize is crisp and clean.

Prior to selecting a machine shop, I machined prototype blanks (chainrings with no aesthetic features) with the new tooth profile that I had been developing. I gave these hand-numbered blanks to friends and had them roadtest the fit, noise-level, and wear of the tooth profile. Noise-level might seem like a strange parameter on which to conduct performance tests, but I was trying to get the widest quiet-running tooth possible. Wide BMX-style teeth grind and grate until they are broken in and I wanted these chainrings to be smooth and quiet from day one. I also went through a dozen or so designs before settling on the the cut-out design and labeling scheme.

After I had selected a machine shop, I cleared out my Roth IRA…I mean Apple stock…I mean piggy bank to finance these chainrings out of my own pocket. To keep costs low I have marked up these chainrings $17 each, and am offering them to the public directly. MSRP on these chainrings would be more than $100 if I tried to distribute them to retailers because of how much I paid to have them manufactured. Most chainrings coming from China cost about $10 to make (I know, I sent out some requests to shops in China to see what was up), mark-ups from distributors and retail shops comprise the rest of the sticker price. I am trying to provide a limited-edition, high-quality, locally-made product at an affordable price point. Each part is packaged in brown paper with a “QC Pass” inspection stamp, and numbered (x/20 or x/30 depending on finish color).

Get ‘em while they last here.

Media can be found here.

I’ll be putting some shot up of these on a bike very shortly, I just got them in on Friday and wanted to get them live.

Prior art: aarn: boring 42th chainring v2 [bicycle], aarn: 42th prototype track chainring [bicycle]

[edit]

Rings on some whips:

(Party chainring photo by E. Baumann)

aarn: lightweight custom drum harness [music]

I’m going to have to start at the beginning for this one… Two weeks ago, I was on the beach attempting to be completely off-grid for a week, on my first extended personal vacation in who knows how long.  At the airport, on my way home, I checked my email on my phone and Kevin from Firefly Bicycles had sent me some information about an inquiry that they had received from a film maker about helping a boy actualize his lifelong dream of being in his high school marching band. The film maker, Sean Fine of Fine Films, explained in the email that the fourteen year old boy has progeria and that he can’t use any of the standard marching band equipment, because it is too big and heavy for his body. His parents were looking for someone to build some kind of custom harness to comfortably attach him to his scaled-down snare drum, so that he could play and march in the band. Kevin passed my info on to Sean, so that I could get some details. Sean passed my info on to Leslie, the mother of the boy. We went back and forth via email for a few days trying to figure out a time when I could meet them and see if a simple retrofit could solve the problem. I suggested over email that they just drop all of the gear that they had off at my office, and I would just make it all fit together somehow or make it smaller or something. 

Leslie, Scott, and Sam came by on Sunday, and I inspected their existing harness. I tried to think of any possible way to avoid making an entire custom system for Sam, but it appeared to be the only option. Sam’s parents, Leslie and Scott, had looked everywhere for an off-the-shelf solution and had tried everything to make the current gear work. They needed something fast - Sam’s marching band camp was starting the next day. We started talking about where Sam was experiencing the most pain, and what parts of the current harness were causing the most problems and I began to get a feel for what he needed. I was picturing a system that took most of the load off of Sam’s shoulders, instead relying more on his waist for support (much like a hiking pack - but reversed). I had an idea of how to make something that would work. I took a lot of measurements of Sam and his drum, made a couple of reference sketches and then they left. 

That night I roughed out a design for an ergonomically-formed metal frame assembly that would be easy (well, relatively) to fabricate, light and strong. Within twenty-four hours of our meeting I had designed, programmed, cut, and formed Sam’s new snare drum harness. It was made from the only piece of stock that I had in the office, a 12x24” sheet of 0.090” 3000-series aluminum. I had barely been able to nest a cnc toolpath for the three parts that I needed onto the available amount of material. The bare frame assembly weighed only 0.8-lbs. Sam and Leslie came in for a rough fitting, they were very excited about the new harness, and I was very pleased that everything fit as intended.

The next day I lined the inner contact regions of the aluminum frame with 0.375-in thick neoprene rubber and assembled a strap system from a variety of different nylon straps, catches, and buckles that I had laying around. 

Leslie, Scott, and Sam came by to pick up the fully-assembled harness system on Wednesday afternoon. We mounted the drum to the frame, and Sam was finally able to march around comfortably. After we double checked everything and practiced taking the harness on and off a few times, they headed back to the night session of Sam’s marching band camp so that he could show everyone how well he could play and march. This is the most rewarding project that I have ever worked on. I’m going to see Sam play during the half-time show at a high school football game next month. It is going to be awesome.

There are a few more shots of the project here. Sean’s documentary film about Sam, “Growing Up Old” is set to air on HBO in 2012.

MWM graphics/aarn: numerically controlled drawing series [misc]

This project is a collaboration between MWM Graphics, Paper Fortress Films, and myself. The process of creating a “drawing” using the numerically controlled Sharpie jig that I designed [see repeat press/aarn: project: wallpaper numerically controlled sharpie [misc]] is documented in an amazing little video (embedded below). Vector graphics, created by artist Matt W. Moore, are converted into tool paths and then machine language which controls my 3-axis CNC machine retrofitted with a special fixture - which holds a marker and mimics typical hand pressure during the act of drawing. Thirty-three mechanical drawings in three designs were produced using this process. The original drawings are for sale in Matt’s online store, printed on French 80-lb Dur-O-Tone “Butcher Extra White” paper and paired with the actual Sharpie used for each drawing.  

Numerically Controlled from Paper Fortress on Vimeo.

Notes:

Working with Matt and Stebs was awesome, and I’m really excited about how this turned out. I did some work and figured out how to properly fixture and locate the paper, which made the set-up really smooth. I also designed a new clamp/locating mechanism for the Sharpie jig that limited the movement to just z-axis compression (unlike the rubber band that I had been using to keep everything tight), which really improved the repeatably and precision of the process. Even with all of those process details figured out, it still took me about 30-hrs to get 33 drawings that were perfect. A lot of people will probably look at this video, or the prints and write them off because they were made with a machine, but there was still an enormous amount of work that everyone did to make the end products as high-quality as they are. Big thanks to everyone who was involved and helped out with any of the little details along the way. Buy some prints!! Blog media is here.

The three designs are shown below:

[Video: Paper Fortress Films, Photos 2-4: MWM]

PLR/aarn: picture frame doweling jig [furn]

Peter Reynolds is a good friend and talented worker of woods. Peter and I have worked together on projects ranging from the launch of T0001 and Union Foundry (which we have handed over to Peter as the sole-proprietor since the release of T0001) to copy for a cookbook (he has a way with words). Our most recent work together was in the design and fabrication of a custom jig for locating and drilling holes in the process of crafting hardwood picture frames. The jig has two hardened steel drill bushings press-fit into a CNC cut maple form. The jig is aligned onto the cut face of a mitered 45-degree piece of framing stock, and lightly clamped from the outside (using a vice or c-clamp) to hold the position, then the two holes are drilled. In assembly of a picture frame two identically cut and drilled pieces are arranged in opposite orientation with the cut faces of the miter touching each other and glued dowel pins are pressed in, which hold the corner of the picture frame together (I know, we need some pictures of this). Back to the design…after brainstorming with Peter on the operation and assembly of the jig, I took his dimensioned sketches and generated a styled 3d model around the principal of the mechanism. Most of the aesthetic features in the part are designed around the task that the overall part and/or feature accomplishes. Recesses and material removal allow for controlled flexing, and limit where the operator can clamp the fixture. Corner cutouts allow for a rounded tool to cut a corner that can snugly and reliably fixture and locate a sharp-cornered rectangular cross-section of wood.

I then created a series of tool paths and cut the jig out of maple using my CNC router. A dab of mineral oil and a wipe of Renaissance wax finished up the piece. Hopefully we can put together a process video or a series of photos to show how this jig works in the near future. I know that Peter is working to try and get a portfolio developed to showcase some of his skills and projects. Stay tuned for more info on Peter Reynolds and the future of Union Foundry.

firefly bicycles/aarn: small parts [bicycle]

Firefly Bicycles are the jam. I started working with Tyler and Jamie back during their days at Independent Fabrication when we worked on a special machined seatmast attachment mechanism and custom rotary-lasercut lug package for the IF TiFLW (see post independent fabrication/aarn: tiflw seatmast clamp and styling [bicycle]). I have been behind the scenes helping them with little details since day -1, because I really believe in their abilities and have a great respect for their product (and they are great people). I helped them with the manufacturing design and sourcing for their headbadges, after id29 had put together a an incredibly good looking branding suite.

The next task that I helped them with was designing a suite of waterjet cut Ti and stainless endcaps for the seatstays and chainstays on their bicycles. They sent me the tubing sizes that they wanted to use and the cut angles and some sketches to show how their dropout would interface and I developed the geometry for four different sizes of caps and then made manufacturing drawings for them and sourced production. 

I’m really proud to have been involved with these guys from the get-go and I hope to do more work with them in the future. If you haven’t checked out their work, take a look at a few of these.