Character Drawings

My older brother decided to make a video about me for his class, so I drew some paper characters for him:

 

I used Noodler's ink in a cheap ruling pen/inking compass I got off of ebay a few months ago. The tip of the ruling pen was ground really poorly when I got it, so I ground it and polished it till it was good enough. It's still nowhere close to the quality my Paragon Wytetip R, also from ebay. The Wytetip has hinged stainless steel tines with HSS points, and an ebony handle. I paid peanuts for it, but it's priceless to me. One of the prettiest tools I have.

Wytetip is in the middle. The compass is branded 'Martin' and made in Germany. Nothing to write home about, but I like its all-metal construction. I've got the 2mm graphite holder for it as well, but I have another compass dedicated for that.

Below is the re-ground compass inking tip. I didn't think of taking a 'before' picture, but I can assure you that it was pretty bad.

I hope I can make an inked drawing one day worthy of the Wytetip R. I think I'm capable of it now, but I'm waiting for a good reason to make a nice blueprint. Working with ruling pens is not too hard; however, making a complex inked drawing without bleeding or mistakes is a challenge. I think they had it easier back in the day, with access to less absorbent paper and more applicable tooling in general. Inking a technical drawing is such a weird thing to do in 2014... I'm not going to spew any spack about how it's an important skill or useful one. That doesn't mean the result is worthless though. It's pretty, timeless, it has a lot more soul than something off the printer. The Wytetip ruling pen is bound to a life of mistakes and perhaps a misguided hobby, but lying next to a fine-tip Sharpie its value is very apparent.

Futsal Goals

I made these goals and build instructions for my dad a couple months ago, but I thought I'd share them. I made a total of six goals, in varying sizes.

Plans for large goal
Plans for small goal

I drew both diagrams in inkscape.

When I built them, I attached the nets with 'strap eyes,' soft-material blind rivets, and 1/4" bungee cord instead of velcro. This takes a lot of stress off the net.

 

The rivets have a flaring back side as you can see in the picture below. I found that the mandrel dug into the ABS pipe if I pulled them to the point of snapping, so I just pulled the mandrels till the hooks were secure. I then punched the intact mandrels out the back ('blind') side. This is the result:

The project had some interesting aspects. For one, I lived in San Diego and the goals were destined to be used in NW WA, about 1300 miles away. So I got the components, cut and painted the tubes, attached the hooks, test fitted everything, packed it up, and mailed it via FedEx. They were cemented together in WA.

I lived about three blocks from Home Depot then, and didn't have access to a car. After buying the parts there, I pushed the cart with all 14 tubes right on home. After that spectacle, Home Depot didn't let me borrow their cart again. So for the smaller goals I tied the tubes up with rope and slung them over my shoulder.

Here is the completed (but not glued) large goal sitting in the apartment living room.

My brother who had a van helped deliver the packaged goal to the FedEx store. However, he was out of town when it was time to mail the little goals. The cut tubes were much bulkier than the full length ones, so I couldn't carry them on my shoulder. I didn't have a cart or hand truck of my own, but I do have a nice johnson bar left from the time I got a free old horizontal mill from work (I gave it away eventually). I tied all the packages of tubes and fittings to it, and wheeled it four blocks to the FedEx store after dark. It is such a weird memory.

Anyway, a bit of manual drafting:

Unit Origami Regular Icosahedron

I got the book 'Unit Polyhedron Origami' by Tomoko Fuse from the library. This is on page 95. I made it out of 3 sheets of 32lb paper. The sheets are half-squares, 4.25 x 2.125". It only took about two hours to make. It's hanging above my bed.