limited production :: hand crafted :: high performance :: rechargeable :: premium flashlights

This is my blog about creating a startup LED flashlight business. I'm a designer, fabricator, and strategist and I'm passionate about making ideas real. I believe that products are about people, that they should be built to last, deliver real value, and that we need to do a better job than we have in the recent past.

Most of my career has been contract or freelance work and I've crafted products and strategies for both big international companies and startups. I also used to work in the "industry" fabricating special effects for film and TV, along with the occasional hot rod. Bottom line, I love making things.

I'm starting this blog so you can follow along, from day one, and see what it's like to start a business, or fail in the process. Only time will tell, but I hope you find this interesting enough to stay tuned, comment, link, like, tweet, and (most importantly) participate in turning this idea into something tangible and valuable.

For a good place to get started with general info about who, what, why, etc., check out the "Stickies" on the left side of the page. Thanks for stopping by and please don't hesitate to ask questions and get involved!

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Thursday, January 27, 2011

DtD Update: Soft jaws are finished!

Got the soft jaws finished up yesterday! Now it's time to start cutting some parts and tweak the programming. I've already done the body machining and tailcap machining. Today I'm going to be working on the head and the small copper post that holds the electronics.


So far I've only ruined one set of soft jaws. What happens when you get it wrong? I had the wrong diameter offset. The machine is cutting with a tool that is 3/4" in diameter but the machine "thinks" the tool is only 3/8" diameter. In this case I was lucky, and ended up with an oversize hole and a ruined set of 20 dollar soft jaws. It was also the first hole of five so I didn't waste that much invested time either. It gets worse when you break a $100 3/4" cutting tool...and a tool that big is really really hard to break, which means it often breaks something else in the machine that is way more expensive. This is fun right?


This shot shows the raw stock on the left and the finished parts on the right. So far so good! Stay tuned, I should have the last two components finished up tomorrow. 
Posted by Jason at 11:21 AM
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