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I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

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Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#391

Post by [deleted] »

fxtentacle wrote: post #388
konschubert wrote: post #221

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Making a product, certifying it and making sure it’s safe is also hard. But marketing is extremely important and it’s just a very different skill than tech. I make these epaper calendar displays. https://shop.invisible-computers.com I have invested thousands of hours into making them as good as possible. You couldn’t tell from my website :D I would probably profit much more if I just stopped improving them and focuse…

Seeing that you're German, too, I would suggest that you try to reach out to some newspapers. I know that's extremely old school, but it worked well for us. newsaktuell.de/ots is a service where you can send in a press release (and pay) and they'll distribute it to newspaper reporters for you. Also, they offer "Native Advertising" which is basically that you write an article about yourself and they'll pretend as if i…

[deleted]

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#392

Post by fxtentacle »

werdnapk wrote: post #374
fxtentacle wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, 3D printers are still cheaper. I once needed to make a few customized gears out of food safe plastic. I asked several online services for quotes and I called several on-location shops in northern Germany. The quotes I got were all around $1800 per unique gear shape. Since I needed 4 different shapes (i.e. $7k for outsourcing), it was much cheaper to buy a 3D printer, watch some tutorials and spend two working…

I have multiple small plastic components that have broken for my appliances and use some quick fixes to get the appliance working again, but they eventually break again. These cheap pieces of plastic can never be purchased alone and require buying a much more expensive part which includes the cheaper plastic piece. Saying that, 3D printing really seems like something I'd like to start doing and build my own parts to…

I wouldn't call it a recommendation, but I suffer through using my Formlabs SLA printer because the results are of amazing quality. But their resin is expensive, you need 2 additional machines if you want to do the washing and curing halfway conveniently and since the beginning (and still ongoing) there have been firmware issues which cause the machine to sometimes lock you out of a DRM-ed resin cartridge before it is actually empty ... but in exchange you get a pretty reliable 0.1mm precision on stable waterproof parts that look like they were injection molded. With the right settings, nobody will recognize the parts as 3D printed because there are no visible layer lines at all and after a bit of varnish you can get the clear resin to be see-through like acrylic glass.

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#394

Post by fxtentacle »

dendrite9 wrote: post #243
fxtentacle wrote: post #214

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sadly, 3D printers are still cheaper. I once needed to make a few customized gears out of food safe plastic. I asked several online services for quotes and I called several on-location shops in northern Germany. The quotes I got were all around $1800 per unique gear shape. Since I needed 4 different shapes (i.e. $7k for outsourcing), it was much cheaper to buy a 3D printer, watch some tutorials and spend two working…

Would you consider the parts you made foodsafe? Or would you have to use the parts to make a mold, then produce foodsafe parts? The nooks and crannies in 3d printed plastic, plus the less controlled melting/cooling has concerned me for making something which is food safe. Mostly the concern about places for bacteria to hide on the parts.

No, the stuff that directly comes out of the 3D printer is not foodsafe. Some of it is biocompatible, though, which means you can safely lick it for a while. But you can use 3D printing to create foodsafe molds and then use them to cast foodsafe plastic copies of your 3D-printed master.

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#395

Post by qingcharles »

ReactiveJelly wrote: post #19

I forgot who she was, so: > Giertz has previously branded herself as "the queen of shitty robots" on her YouTube channel, where she employs deadpan humor to demonstrate mechanical robots of her own creation to automate everyday tasks; despite working from a purely mechanical standpoint, they often fall short of practical usefulness, for comic effect.[9] Giertz's creations have included an alarm clock that slaps the u…

This is where I discovered her:

https://youtu.be/M1B3gATS0GE

(voice of machine by Adam Savage)

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#396

Post by ta1243 »

mgoetzke wrote: post #343
mgaunard wrote: post #305

Earlier quoted context omitted.

For that price I can purchase 3 Google home smart displays which do all this and more. I guess the main advantage would be always-on with little to no power consumption, but all your pictures still have cables.

For me (i built something similar) the main advantages where: - I control my own data - It is e-ink, not glaring into my face - Screen is way bigger - Screen is hanging on the wall, I do not have to look down - Less energy consumption of course and most importantly: - Google home displays are not actually helpful at all in this respect (we have one in the kitchen too) as they do not show calendar info well at all. Fo…

Control your own data is certainly a big selling point, but seems this one seems to rely on a closed source saas model.

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#397

Post by fbdab103 »

mrweasel wrote: post #224
fbdab103 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am upset she put in all that effort and did not stain the wood.

That might be because she's Swedish. As a Scandinavian it's always a bit weird seeing Americans staining wood, it's not really something you'd do, unless you're trying to make it lighter. Americans, and the British, loves staining wood, making it darker. That's kinda the opposite of what you do in Scandinavia. You keep everything light, bright and natural (if possible, pine has a tendency to yellow and that not reall…

There are light stains that can make the wood grain pop. But you are correct, to my American eye, that unfinished look really detracts from the full effort.

Re: I spent 3 years working on a coat hanger [video]

#399

Post by fbdab103 »

sltkr wrote: post #217
fbdab103 wrote: post #139

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I am upset she put in all that effort and did not stain the wood.

In the Kickstarter video the wood is painted (and she has sensibly removed the goofy leaves on the sides, which were obviously only going to get in the way).

I thought the side walls were there to ensure she did not roll off the bed in the night and die from the fall.
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