B.Light Design

I’m working on a pivoting mechanism that will have 6 positions, each position is held in place by magnets. I want to get the right “magnet feel”, not too much holding pressure, not too little. Also satisfying and fun to operate. Maybe a little addictive too.

I know the strength of a magnet can be measured, but I haven’t found much out there on quantifying how a magnetic connection feels. So my Magnet Feel Scale from one to ten: ONE being — getting your fingers pinched between two rare earth magnets, and TEN — the addictive snapping into place of the iPad Smart Cover.

Small button box, milled wooden housing, acrylic control panel, and 10 “clicky” buttons. It doesn’t actually do too much, but is surprisingly fun to play with.

Another CNC’d wooden car with some pink acrylic sides.

I’ve been working on combining a vacuum former and a CNC. The goal is that the machine can mill the buck, form the plastic shell, and then mill the shell — all in one. The hope is that some interesting parts can be created with the machine.

I’m still in early stages and the rig is basically a Frankenstein build of various kits, but I think it’s starting to go somewhere.

Image by Tom Igoe

I worked on a clock project with Tom Igoe a few months ago. It was an example for a class we were teaching — he worked on the insides, I worked on the outsides. We ended up calling the project the What Not To Do Clock because of all of the missteps we made, but in the end it didn’t turn out too bad. I’m particularly happy that we made a button that “turned on/off” Daylight Savings Time.

“This project is a tabletop clock, designed as a production example for our Tangible Interaction class. We made it to demonstrate how to make a housing for an electronic device with tangible controls from a single block of wood. There are a number of mistakes we made along the way, so we’ve been lovingly referring to it as the “what not to do” clock.”

Mocked up a quick proof of concept for a kinetic piece. Mostly milled delrin, steel, and a stepper motor.

Canlactus, devourer of worlds.

My latest tin can toy is based on Galactus. The main feature are the antennas on the side of the helmet. And the parts that connect the antenna fins to the head turned out to be the trickiest pieces. I made a jig for the mill so I could slot the aluminum. Then I turned them to the correct size on the lathe.

Still experimenting with these simple wooden peg dolls.

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Finally got my 4 bar linkage “Block Pusher” proof of concept working.