Volpin Props Shop

Tested.com recently published this "shop tour" with Harrison Krix (of Volpin Props), one of my favorite makers/bloggers. 

The amazing work Harrison does, as well as the generosity in his practice of blogging and sharing his projects and research, were largely my inspiration to pursue a career as a maker and teacher.

I always love getting a glimpse of people's unique work flows and creative spaces.

Self-assembling modular robots

I absolutely love this project.  An incredibly concise and precise approach to robotic reconfigurable architecture.  I would kill to be part of this research.

Learn more about the project from MIT here.

4 Axis CNC Mill

Frankie Flood came by the studio and helped Aaron get the Taig CNC mill up and running, including the 4th axis.  Here's a video from Aaron's blog of a test run, with a pencil in the chuck!

 Soon we'll have the ability to cut stuff out of metal and other robust materials that the laser can't hack.

Yay robots!

Student work hung.

I finally got a chance to hang my 2D Digital Design students' first projects in the hallway at Stritch.  A bit harder to show off my web design and video class' work to passers by... I'll have to get creative to curate that stuff...

Glove One iPhone case (slow) progress

Not quite done with this iPhone case, but it has really transformed through painting and rigorous sanding.  Working on this little by little when I have an extra handful of minutes.  Will hopefully be done later this week.

Glass water bottle for Louisa

My beautiful girlfriend, Louisa, is a super health-conscious woman.  She has recently gotten into juicing, and has been looking for a reusable water bottle that is not made of plastic (which often contain harmful BPA chemicals) or metal (which is often coated in BPA plastics.)  

Below is our DIY solution:

Materials for our glass water bottle:  Large glass mason jar, glass straw (from Amazon), and 3/4" rubber grommets from local hardware store.

Step 1: Drill hole in mason jar lid.  I used a sheet metal bit to slowly step up the hole diameter until it fit the rubber grommet just right.

Step 2:  Insert grommet and straw.

Step 3:  Enjoy your new glass water bottle.

*Edit* Upon testing the bottle, we immediately found that the rubber grommet makes such a good seal that it creates a vacuum when you try to drink from it.  So I ended up adding a small "vent" hole to the metal lid.

DIY hydraulic press.

I wanted a hydraulic press for my shop, and didn't really like the design (or the price) of commercially available ones.  So I decided to design and build my own.  

 

Above are most of the materials I used:  One 20-ton hydraulic bottle jack, Three steel theater weights, two 3/4" threaded rods, 8 nuts, 8 washers, and 2 extension springs (I ended up using different springs than pictured above.)  I also ended up shrouding the 3/4" rod with some blue PVC tubing.

Here are all the materials assembled, with the blue PVC tubing added to the threaded rod, sandwiched between the top and bottom plate.  The theater weights were great because I didn't have to drill any holes for the 3/4" rods.

I drilled and tapped holes for four 1/4-20 nuts to hold my extension springs (these springs will return the press to it's "open" position.)

Extension springs added on opposite two corners, applying tension between the middle and bottom plates.

First test subject:  Coke can.

A bit smaller now...

Hard to see, but the coke can is still in there... somewhere.

Pictured above is the most I've ever smashed a soda can.  The press works fabulously!  Now to use it for something other than recycling...