Change of pace with a project I call Ankle Biter

When I was a little kid, I didn't think about becoming a designer or an architect per-say, it's true I liked those things, but I had a love of something else, that remains to this day, and that love was ROBOTS!  Yes, robots, or at least the idea of them was a basis for much of my creative exploits.  I thought I could become an engineer one day, tinker around, and build super cool robots.  Sadly I found my lack of math skills, and the realization that the career of an engineer is more cubicle drone than mad scientist.  This lead me to look in to animatronics and the film industry, which eventually lead to my theater degree.  Although I never quite built a robot more sophisticated than a mouse bot through FSEA, I have managed several R.O.V.s, aka remote operated vehicles over the years.  My most recent one was Ankle Biter, which I started 4 years ago and only recently start working on again.  The project was something I always wanted to do, your standard tank like robot with a mechanical arm.  Well, I haven't ever got to the arm, but I did get the tank part up and running.  The first goal was to create an effective and affordable tank track, which I managed to do out of a cut up bike tire and V-belt.  I first trimmed off the side wall of the bike tire.  I then set up a jig to hold the V-belt center on the inside of the bike tire.  Using a drill press I drilled a hole through both every inch or so.  I then used pop rivets to join the two together. 

 

The pulley housing and body for the R.O.V. was made from 1/2" expanded PVC.  Although it wasn't the best material to use given its weight, it was affordable and easy to work with.  I made several mock ups of V-belt pulley arrangements to find the one that best suited the project.  Once decided I used 1/2" steel rod as axle points with out bearings to save on costs.  Seeing this project as a prototype of something better to come, I wasn't too worried about the longevity of the whole thing.

I used two scooter motors, a Sabertooth 2x25 speed controller, a Hitec optic 6 radio controller and two 12 volt lead acid batteries.  I've had occasional issues with signal loss and the ROV going a little haywire, "this is why I've called it ankle biter."  With the batteries in series running the thing at 24 volts, combined with the center of gravity too high the thing would flip over each time it came to a halt.  It wasn't until I cut out a hole for the batteries and lowered them in to the body that the thing could run at max speed with out flipping over.

You can find more videos here.

With all my other projects going on, I'm not sure when I'll get to work on Ankle Biter again. When I do, I look forward to completely rebuilding it, lighter, better, and STRONGER!! (10% chance this'll actually happen.)

The Eames Lounge

For any of you with an interest in design, you have at least heard of Eames.  Charles and Ray Eames are a couple of famous Mid-Century designers who's timeless design's are known world wide to even this day.  Perhaps one of there most notable furniture design's is the Eames Lounge.  Here is an example:

It is a cherished piece and sought by anyone who loves good design.  This design was so sought after in-fact that there we're many knock-offs produced, and while these knock offs may not be as high of quality, many are still very attractive and even some are considered to be more comfortable.

Once I got my new place and I found that I had a little space between my wall unit shelf and the opposing wall, I decided I had to make the most of it, something special had to go there.  I could not imagine that I could have something as nice as an Eames Lounge there, as the real thing costs over $4000!!!  But one day while looking for Mid-Century items on Craigslist I came across a knock off Eames Lounge in questionable condition for only $100 located in LA.  When I finally saw it in person, the wood appeared to be in pretty bad shape, and the leather, although OK, was not quite the color I wanted.  After a little haggling I got it down to $80 and loaded it in to my car.  I spent the next month or so disassembling, striping, and rebuilding the chair from the ground up.  This had to be done after I found there was water damage as well as mold eating away at the wood.  I did everything from reinforce parts with fiberglass, to filling parts with epoxy and bondo, stripping off the old veneer and putting a new veneer on, sandblasting the metal hardware, replacing all the screws and bolts, repainting it, and even making molds of the pipe ends to replace old or broken ones.  After the structure was complete, I reupholstered the whole thing with a charcoal gray upholstery fabric from Ikea "yes, even the fabric came from a couch cover in the Ikea As-Is section".

Now, with out further adieu, here is the before, process, and after.

Lets kick things off with my current place of residence

About 7 months ago I moved to Costa Mesa to a small studio less than 400 square feet.  Although this is small to most, it was more than enough considering it's single car garage "future shop" and side yard "more uncovered space than I need."  Making such a small space work was an exciting challenge in space planning.  I started off by laying out the studio in Sketchup, then dividing what little room I had in to different zones: sleeping, entertainment, eating, kitchen, and work.  With inspiration from several magazines like Dwell and a couple of articles on www.apartmenttherapy.com I decided on an open shelving unit that would go from floor to ceiling.  This unit would not only hold books but also my TV and computer.  I also designed a shelving unit to go around the heater on one small wall.  Mostly everything else would be based on what I could find from the local Ikea As-Is section.  If you are not familiar with Ikea As-Is, I suggest you go look!  I know many feel that Ikea products are too cheap, too over produced and lack soul.  But when you are on a budget they can be a life saver, especially when taking advantage of the Ikea As-Is area.  It's like a scrap yard of designer bits and pieces for pennies on the dollar!

Ok, enough rambling, here are the results of my studio project.  As everything else, it's always evolving and I will update the changes here on my blog.

 

 Welcome to my humble abode.

 The knock off Eames lounge was another project and I will expand on that in another post.

Although I have only briefly tested the heater....I'm pretty sure nothings going to burst in flame.

 The whole bar unit is composed of Ikea as-is parts, as well as a couple new pieces to make things symmetrical.  The hanging LED lights were also from Ikea and made in to light pendants.

 I scored after I found a chest of drawers for just 40 bucks that had the same mid century slanted faces that are built in to the kitchen and next to the closet!  I modified the drawers to open different ways, and changed three of the drawer fronts to smoked Plexiglas.  This allowed my DVD remote signal to pass through.  I then built in the whole chest in to shelf unit.  Oh yah, and the TV pivots to be viewed from any where in the studio.

 Are we noticing a color trend?

Although I have done away with a couple of these coffee table components, the piece on the left is completely made from Ikea as-is parts.  It was made to sleeve over the couch making a nice center table.

The foundation

This is the start of my blog "obviously", among other things.  At this time I am attempting to start a portfolio website to promote myself as well as my work.  This is the start of a long term goal, a future where I can have a career doing all those things I am most passionate about doing. 

Here on Creative Pursuits you will find updates on my current projects, tips and anything else worth sharing.

To kick things off I will spend the next couple of weeks posting about projects that I have already completed.

Now my word of warning; given my wide interests in things I often take a project head on for a short while then lose interest and move on to something new.  I do this time and time again.  However, this does not affect my work ethic where I am actually employed and I hope it wont affect this project of self promotion, but I don't doubt this blog will lag occasionally.

So that's all for now, thank you all who come to read this, I look forward to sharing many great things with you.