Post a picture and description of anything you are working on this April at the 'Space here!
It can be anything at all So many of us are doing cool things at The 'Space all the time, but most of us don’t get to see. Post it here and share the interesting things you are doing at Dallas Makerspace this month!
Posting here helps not only promote Dallas Makerspace, but could inspire others to make something. It will also help PR post a monthly look at what can be done here on a blog post or other social media (with attribution to each maker of course).
NOTE: Please try to include the following on each post, to help make for richer social media content!
I fabricated a fabric holder for my composites materials. I tried storing a roll of vacuum bagging film in my closet, but it accumulates punctures. A spool also makes the fabric easy to cut.
I started by measuring and creating CAD models of everything, starting with one bulky spool and one tiny spool. I drafted the slotted endplates, repurposing mounting brackets from an unfinished project. I exported the file to the plasma cutter and welded the parts together. Then I powder coated both frames.
The previous homeowners had installed some kind of bike holding fixture thing already. It isn’t there anymore, but apparently they had everything figured out, because I put mine on the same place on the wall, reusing their screws, and it hasn’t come crashing down.
I worked on some leather projects over the past month.
First project was some new jewelry for my good boy. This one was an original design that mostly came together although it got kind of sloppy halfway through. It’s triple-layered with 8/9oz veg tan + 5/6oz crazy horse buffalo + 2/3oz veg tan inside (dyed brown). It was quite an effort hand-stitching a needle through that much leather.
I put together this bag, as well. The pattern on this one was acquired online so it’s not an original design, although I did have to modify it in a few ways (mostly internally). It was all hand-sewn and each of those holes was punched one at a time; and yes, it sucked as much as you would imagine. It is extremely heavy and has a fair amount of leather inside so it’s probably impractically overbuilt at about 6 lbs empty. The hardware is all either solid copper or copper-plated, and I couldn’t find suitably matching zippers… so I had to make them using zipper tape, copper pulls, and top and bottom stops. The wine colored leather is an oil-tan with lots of pull-up and the right balance of flexibility while still holding its shape and feeling reasonably soft. The brown that makes up all the accent pieces and straps is the same crazy horse buffalo used in the dog collar.
Last one is a carving panel that some of you might have seen me working on in creative arts during the MANY hours it took to complete it… I want to say that I’m grateful for the compliments that people gave me over that time.
This initially was just a practice exercise so I unfortunately started with a less-than-perfect piece of economy veg tan that had a few cuts / blems. However, I did end up turning it into the front panel of a laptop sleeve.
A huge shout out to those that helped run an amazing experience for a group of 75 Austin High students traveling to Dallas on April 15th. Our kids and chaperones had so much fun and won’t stop talking about the amazing experience! Thank you for all your enthusiasm, hard work, and devotion to making our experience so meaningful!
Check out these pics!
3D Printed front plate holder V2. Making my car legal.
Posting this simple project as was my first time using metal threaded inserts for plastic. Background
My vehicle has a honeycomb type decorative grill below the main grill and bumper where the factory plate holder would go. Factory holder would require drills into the bumper and I hate the idea of drilled bumper cover. Design / Assemble
This has four pieces a 2 backplates and two vertical license plate holders. My first attempt was with a metal backplate and bolts and nuts to secure. However after finding some threaded nut inserts that are used for inserting into plastic I redid my design. I found the inserts to be easily installed simply heat with a soldering iron and gently press in. The ABS melts around the groves on the inserts then after cooling leaves the nut insert solidly in place. Key measurements for this are the honeycomb size and making the backplate fit through when twisted horizontal however provide a backplate when vertical.
Also the measurements of the license plate holes. Using two separate pieces allows for adjusting width and around honeycomb mesh. Tip on printing up the precision and infill to ensure strength and accuracy for the insert holes.
NOTE: Please try to include the following on each post, to help make for richer social media content!
