Manufacturing guy-at-large.

Big ship

Added on by Spencer Wright.

Yesterday Zach and I (with the *so* gracious help of Nick, Wing, Dara, Daniel, and Tracy) packed up about 300 of The Public Radio's Maker Kits and got them ready to ship to our Kickstarter backers.

As the day progressed, the magnitude of effort it's taken to get here became more and more evident to me. We're about 5 weeks late shipping these kits, mostly as a result of last minute hangups in the production of our custom lids and speakers. While the lateness itself doesn't bother me *too* much, this milestone has been a big focus for both of us, and last night it struck me that I'm not sure I ever expected to reach it. 

While I was packaging kits and wrangling our backer report into a format where our postage software could process it (at least for our purposes, Kickstarter's data management system leaves much to be desired), Daniel and Zach spent most of the day setting up our tuning script for the fully assembled radios. We'll start receiving those in about a week and a half, and the logistics around making sure they're tuned and shipped to the right backer is a pretty hefty task. We'll spend most of next weekend working on that, and in the meantime will continue to bug all the backers that never sent us their shipping info (if you're out there, HOLLER AT ME).

There is still a *ton* of work to do, but there will be a few more milestones like this in the next few weeks - and I'm *really* looking forward to them :)

Re: Makerbot's layoffs

Added on by Spencer Wright.

PREFACE to all of this: My heart goes out to the 20% of Makerbot's workforce - some 100 people - that were laid off this week. 

I think this - the layoff announcement, the Reddit thread about the layoff announcement, and the eulogies for what Makerbot used to be -  is mostly a sign of the industry (and Stratasys, though to be fair they probably knew this all along) realizing that desktop 3d printing is a relatively small market. Jordan - a colleague at Undercurrent - has this thing about "mean time to kitchen drawer," which is basically a measure of how sticky (or unsticky, if the customer ends up putting it in their kitchen drawer) your product is. I think most people don't use their Makerbots nearly as much as they anticipated, and anyone who uses a Makerbot a *lot* is likely to graduate to something a bit fancier (probably SLA). So the growth really isn't there, and what they're selling is commodity hardware and some really user friendly software, and that type of business can cut operating costs to something less than Makerbot's were while they were approaching the acquisition.

I think there are two ways forward with desktop 3d printing. The first is to drive the cost down as much as possible, which ultimately means reducing R&D and other fixed costs, and also probably paying less for labor by moving it somewhere other than Brooklyn. The second thing is to look *really* hard for the next technology. That CLIP stuff - Carbon3D - is one direction (though I don't think it's the next big thing). Or maybe it's closer to what HP is working on, though I suspect that machine will cost six figures. Regardless, I'm betting *against* FDM being the predominant desktop 3D printing technology in, say, 5 years.

Either way, you cut costs on anything that touches FDM, and invest a *lot* of money in R&D on the technology that will eventually kill it off. Which I suspect is exactly what Stratasys is doing.

Tested.

Added on by Spencer Wright.

After more than a year and a half of research, modeling, procurement, site visits, redesigns, and batches of failed parts, I've finally got a functional, 3D printed, titanium seatmast topper.

Yesterday morning Clay and I took it for a 20 mile ride, and aside from some cosmetic issues (he *really* needs a ti stem now...) it worked well. We'll road-test it a bunch more over the next few weeks.

I'll go into detail in a long post soon, but the short story is this. This part was built by Layerwise, a Belgian startup that was acquired by 3D Systems last year. While Layerwise has a bunch of IP (software + hardware) that allows them to tune the process parameters, the main difference between this part and my earlier prototypes is the build orientation - and some clever use of temporary structures and supports. This part was also shot peened, which (along with the orientation change) improves the surface finish noticeably.

I'm expecting another copy of this part in the next week or two; it will go to be destructively tested in Germany. It's only slightly different than this one: Layerwise is adding some additional supports in the the seatmast clamp window, which will help it from distorting slightly during the build process.

Once the part is destructively tested, I'll get a better idea of the areas where I can remove material in order to make the part lighter. I've been wanting to redesign the part for a while - partly to reduce the need for support structures, and partly for aesthetics. The most likely path for both of these is to introduce a number of lattices, which will likely be lighter, be easier to build, require less post processing, and be more visually compelling and distinctive. I've got a few thoughts on what this should look like, but will also be working with some software & design companies who have more experience with lattices.

Having a working (albeit imperfect) part in hand is a really validating step. I'm *really* looking forward to more of these - and to critically evaluating their performance.

In his prime

Added on by Spencer Wright.

Libo is pretty much in his prime right now.

I got Libo as a puppy in the spring of 2009. At the time, I was single and living (and working) alone in Eastern Long Island. I was self employed building custom bicycle frames, and was working *hard* - and making little progress to speak of. I was pretty self conscious of my reasons for getting a dog: I was exhausted, and needed a distraction, and wanted to have someone around who would look up to me. 

I vastly underestimated the amount of concentration that owning a dog takes, and the experience was often more frustrating than I expected. It's funny to say it now, but I just assumed that communicating with a dog was going to be straightforward, and that our interests would generally be well aligned. But the truth is that Libo (like any person) has desires of his own, and it was only after striking out a *lot* that I learned how to identify & exploit the overlap between what we each wanted.

As we've both gotten older - it's really only over the past year or so - the corners of our relationship have softened a lot. I think we accept each other for who we are, and realize that a little generosity goes a long way. Which is to say that we've both grown up, and are beginning to display a little bit of maturity in our relationships.

But he still surprises me all the time. Libo is the most enthusiastic person in my life, and is more consistent and predictable than anyone I know. And while his ability to moderate himself often leaves something to be desired, I truly admire how outwardly natural he is with his emotions, and I continue to really enjoy and look forward to being his friend.

All of which is a bit weird to say, but there you go.

A brief intro to The New York Infrastructure Observatory

Added on by Spencer Wright.

So. What's up with NYIO?

Almost a year ago, I wrote an email to Tim & Craig telling them I wanted to launch an East Coast version of their Bay Area Infrastructure Observatory. I knew them through friends and from the internet, and was interested in building a community of like-minded people in NYC.

Shortly after, I started a list of locations to visit and began slowly planning trips. Over the past six months, I've organized three tours under the NYIO banner. The first was to Amazon's Delaware Fulfillment center; the second was to Sims Metal Management, and the third (just last week) was to GCT Bayonne. They've been sporadic, but they've caught steam; the last trip filled up within a few hours.

These locations were chosen mostly according to how easy they were to schedule, and I plan on taking a similar approach towards upcoming trips. But I'd also like your input - whether to suggest a site I'm not aware of, or to take over scheduling & logistics for an upcoming trip. If you've got a location you think is worth visiting, please be in touch! 

Photos from the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant

Added on by Spencer Wright.

Last Friday, I visited the Newtown Creek Wastewater Treatment Plant with NYCELLI. The plant processes all of the waste water from Northern Brooklyn and Lower Manhattan, and is a really impressive facility. 

Photos from Global Container Terminals Bayonne

Added on by Spencer Wright.

Last Thursday, I visited GCT Bayonne with the New York Infrastructure Observatory. I was leading the trip, and wasn't able to take many photos, but did manage to squeeze a few in:

Geoff Manaugh posted a full report on BLDGBLOG - head over there for more details on the trip. And get in touch if you want to help lead an NYIO tour - I'd love the help!

Getting ready

Added on by Spencer Wright.

Today Zach and I spent all day getting readier for the fully assembled Public Radios.

At the moment, the Maker Kits are 12 days late. We're waiting on two parts for those: our lids (which will arrive in NYC early this week), and our speakers (which we're getting final production samples of on Tuesday). 

While we're waiting for those, we're firming up our assembly, tuning, and shipping procedure. This has become pretty complicated, and involves multiple barcodes & a scanner, both python and BASH scripts, a bunch of C, many FDM fixtures, and a bunch of assembly steps.

Still a *lot* of work left. More to come.

My failure was probably

Added on by Spencer Wright.

As a kid, I read Calvin and Hobbes fanatically. Last week I got Bill Watterson's new book, which is actually an exhibition catalog from a retrospective of his work. It contains a long interview with Watterson, in which he talks about being let go from his first job drawing political comics:

Though my early career was much different than his, I relate to a lot of this. 

Maker Kit Cards

Added on by Spencer Wright.

The Public Radio's Kickstarter campaign included a $35 pledge level, for which backers receive an unassembled radio kit. We know our backers will need detailed instructions on how to put their radios together, and decided in the end to leave those in digital format, as it's more flexible, portable, and inexpensive than printing out full instruction sheets. We did still need to put *something* in the boxes to show people where to point their browsers, and so I designed some business cards to do just that.

The graphics are pretty much 100% recycled from earlier content, which is kind of nice too :) Modeling that jar has really paid off.

Oh - and yes, this cost $128 all told. I'm looking forward to writing a post describing the finances of our campaign in detail - stay tuned.

Process chain reality

Added on by Spencer Wright.

I love this:

This is from the demo video for the Matsuura LUMEX Avance-25, a hybrid CNC mill/directed energy deposition machine. This is the same machine that GE Measurement & Control is apparently using to make valve parts. 

Most of the video isn't all that interesting. Most of the hybrid machines out there today are marketed in a similar way, relying largely on renderings and demos that seem a little concocted. But this one slide hit me in its candor - specifically, the fact that this part's process chain is 86% subtractive by time. 

I would love to see a comparison between this process and one that's purely subtractive. The part is fairly complex, and would probably require multiple fixturings, but who knows. It would also be really interesting to see how the process chain would change if you used a non-hybrid powder bed fusion machine (like an EOS M280) and then CNC machined it afterwards. 

Principles

Added on by Spencer Wright.

Came across this today:

It reads:

I want to be a key part of developing & distributing products that people like myself value, enjoy & share.

I want to utilize my desire to be well-informed to help those around me make wise [robust, anti-fragile] decisions in the face of uncertainty.

I want to be an effective problem solver, and I want to solve interesting & challenging problems.

I want a healthy relationship with risk.

I would have written this almost two years ago - summer of 2013. It still rings very true to me today.

Photos from the Packaging Party

Added on by Spencer Wright.

On Saturday, I had the great pleasure of putting a bunch of my closest friends & family to work on preassembly for The Public Radio. 

*So* many thanks to everyone who came out! We'll be doing another one in about two weeks - let me know if you want to participate!

Packaging party

Added on by Spencer Wright.

This evening Zach and I set up all of our printed circuit boards,knobs, screws, and anti-static bubble wrap bags. It's looking like we'll have a fun little assembly line tomorrow :)

If you happen to be in North Brooklyn tomorrow and feel like stuffing some radios, give me a holler!

Speakers in production

Added on by Spencer Wright.

Got this photo today:

The Public Radio's speaker manufacturer, Erisson Acoustics, is currently in production for our initial quantity of 400 - with an additional 2100 to follow soon after. We've run into some small hiccups with them (getting the right wire connector has been tricky), but overall I'm very happy so far - and looking forward to receiving this shipment early next week.

Test fixture

Added on by Spencer Wright.

Over the past week, Zach and I have been hustling *hard* to get a test fixture build for The Public Radio. We're shipping our first Kickstarter rewards in just a few weeks, and will be testing them ourselves, so if all goes well this fixture will get used by yours truly in about a week. 

Basically, the rig accepts a single radio, tunes it to a given station, and tests to see if it's fully functional. The procedure is still a work in progress, but it's coming along well.

We're spinning the test PCB this week, and will be getting a lasercut base + FDM'd alignment fixtures as well. More soon!