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The Project Maker

Project Maker
Project Maker
[What else was I gonna call it?]

So after many stolen minutes trying to get design work and scripting done during any spare moments I could find, I’ve finally managed to complete my online project that seemed to take an eternity.

The Project Maker is an online generator for makers and DIYers that will randomly select a project idea for you to build.

I’m not always able to find time to make in the workshop as I already have a full time job, so this is my alternative offering to the community. 

Along with the project idea you’ll get a materials and tools restriction which is there to challenge your creative thinking. The Project Maker should act as the initial springboard for your build idea and get you to think around the problems that the material and tool restrictions provide.
In theory this should lead to every maker developing a completely unique design every time so be sure to share the project with others and applaud their efforts whilst having some fun with it.

Of course there’s a few that will always look for the additional challenge which you can easily do by adding a time restriction. Just be sure to share the project specific link if you do.

Currently there’s 85 projects, but with the material and tool restrictions there’s something like 20,000+ unique combinations, so hopefully there’s something for everyone. I also hope to add more in the near future!

[A handful of possible projects. Can you guess what they’re for?]

The combinations have limitations to prevent silly pairings like getting hammers as the tool to use with glass. That wouldn’t be the greatest of builds regardless of the project idea. 

There’s also a probability factor for each of the three aspects to increase the chance of getting something that is viable to build for most, but it is still a random selection so you will still get some interesting choices coming your way. 

With a few of the projects I am adding “inspiration” links to other makers whose work I think is worth drawing inspiration from as a starting point. I’m still seeking permission from a number of makers as I’d rather get permission than just post randomly without their consent. Any links you do see I have gained permission for.

Go generate a project now

In your project, if you happen to draw inspiration from anyone in particular, then be sure to credit them if you post anything online and maybe even let them know about what you’ve done. Makers are generally a very friendly bunch.
You can also use the project specific link to share with others.

Lastly, I built this as something fun for anyone to enjoy, but if there’s anything not quite right, then feel free to get in touch so that I can improve or amend things. I believe in trying to be fair and doing things right so if any attribution needs correcting, then I’ll sort it.

Enjoy! 

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My Influencers

There’s a few reasons that I’m taking a stab at this maker malarky.
In no particular order…

  • I’ve always been a creative person and am great at being practical and solving problems (and puzzles).
  • My Dad was very hands on and keen to build things due to being from the ‘make do and mend’ generation and my Mum has the artistic flair.
  • My wife (also very creative) and family have been very encouraging and supportive of me doing this.
  • The maker community is simply awesome.

I’ve never known there to be such an open and friendly community. I’ve been a gamer for a long time (you don’t want to know how long), and the community there is great, but it also suffers from a fairly toxic element. Also, the view of the gaming community by the press is less than ideal as it’s quite misunderstood. Sometimes escapism is the goal and I’d argue that jumping into a virtual world is better than having a drink to ‘take the edge off’. As I get older I’m finding myself being more selective with what games I might spend any time on as I really want to be more productive with my time.

The maker community seems to be the obvious choice and the amount of information readily available has made this very easy. I wasn’t sure about making this official, but having watched, listened, and read material from a number of makers, I didn’t see why I shouldn’t jump in and say hello with my projects.

There are a number of online influencers whose projects have inspired me to do this, so it would be silly if I didn’t list a few of them below. This isn’t a definitive list, and I’ll probably post about them more in the future (maybe even profile them), but for now, they are… (again in no particular order and with links to their YouTube channels)

I don’t intend to build every project I watch, but I love to watch all of them and understand the various different ways in which people work and solve their own maker challenges.

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Poly art FTW

Some of you might already know that I first joined Instagram under the account of @chrisgtwin where I started posting various photos of my travels along with some sketches and images of the poly art that I was into.

Poly art is a reduction in detail using triangles, polys, to create hard edges and simplify the subject matter. It’s by no means simple if done well and can be quite a therapeutic process in choosing where/how to position lines and choosing the right fill colours that will still represent the scene or person in a way that is recognisable. My favourites have been for films like Blade Runner and Leon, but I think one of my best pieces is that of the amazing actor Peter Sellers.

One of my plans was to try and get these on canvas because that’s where artwork belongs, right? I’ve had limited success in selling high-quality prints, but I think that now I’m veering into workshop based projects that I might try and recreate these in wood instead because lets face it, grain is beautiful. The influence for doing this has come from seeing April Wilkerson create some wall art in her workshop and the resulting landscape looks great.

If I ever pull my finger out then I could try using my CNC once I’ve eventually built it, but I could also try pieces of wood in a frame. This is where the black and white versions of the poly art would probably work quite well as too many colours requires a bigger palette. Whichever method I choose, I imagine the process will require me getting a print out of the lines onto some large paper format, A2 might be a good start, and then I transfer all those shapes onto different colours of wood to create the different shades. This could be done using the natural colours of numerous woods, or could be the same wood with a number of stains, and grain orientations, being used. I may even try both to see which turns out best.

Just another idea in a long line of many.

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Makers Central

Makers Central logo

Being a follower of Nick Zammeti on YouTube, I discovered that there was going to be this amazing exhibition up in Birmingham (UK) which Nick was in charge of putting together. I was a little timid about booking tickets at first because I had only just started following a number of makers online and wasn’t really posting much myself, so I wasn’t sure if this would be the right thing for me to go to.

Buying the tickets for Makers Central was possibly one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.

The maker community is incredibly welcoming and friendly with people sharing all sorts of information. Everyone appears to be equal in the eyes of the maker community. Sure, there are those who are better known than others, but no one appears to have any sense of propriety, which is incredible and refreshing to see.

April Wilkerson talking about her maker journey
April Wilkerson talking about her maker journey

I got to meet a raft of people and have a little chat here and there. Matt Cremona and April Wilkerson were just great to talk to and it was great to listen in to April’s talk in the afternoon about her maker journey. Also got to watch/listen to Jimmy DiResta give a demo and Q&A as well as a bit of Laura Kampf and Colin Furze, but I think I need to especially mention Bob Clagett (I Like To Make Stuff).

I managed to catch him on the Saturday when he wasn’t scheduled to do any talks or demos and, being the kind person he is, he was happy to have a little chat with me. Unfortunately I don’t think I really prepared myself in terms of questions and made myself a bit nervous, which is silly in hindsight. So Bob, if you ever read this, my apologies. The next time I catch up with you I’m hoping it’ll be more like talking over a drink casually than me being a jittery fanboy.

The truth still stands in terms of what I said though. Bob’s book, Making Time, along with getting involved with making generally, has stopped me from burning out in my current full-time job (web developer) and that means a lot to me.

As for the rest of the exhibition, there was so much to see and do at the exhibition that there was pretty much something for everyone to get involved with, but hopefully everyone there was approaching all disciplines with an open mind and wanting to learn about new things. The only thing we didn’t really see was any welding, but with such an array of things going on we had plenty to see/do.

Matt Cremona being generally awesome for both Triton and Crimson Guitars

I’ve picked up a few wood stains and had some ‘bio-resin’ delivered so that I can try my hand at some different projects in the future. I really want to give epoxy resins a go after having watched a number of videos from those I’ve mentioned above as well as Evan & Katelyn and Chris Salomone. One of the key factors preventing me from buying any off-the-shelf epoxy is the eco-credentials. I don’t have a problem with using plastics, so long as its use is not wasteful or unnecessary, and if there’s an option to reduce the amount of harmful chemicals or impact on the environment, then that’s the avenue I’ll try to pursue first.

At Makers Central, I had a great chat with Wessex Resins about their eco-epoxy and what contributes to those credentials, and whilst it’s still a very low number in terms of what is not a petrochemical byproduct, the thinking and calculations of how to reduce things like the carbon footprint of transportation of chemicals are all factors that have been considered which is certainly a step in the right direction.

For those curious about what happened at Makers Central, take a look at https://www.makerscentral.co.uk/ and follow all their social media accounts. I had a great time and will definitely be there next year if I can.

Website links to everyone mentioned above (be sure to follow them online and watch a ton of their YouTube vids):
Nick Zammeti – https://www.nickzammeti.com/
Matt Cremona – https://www.mattcremona.com/
April Wilkerson – https://wilkerdos.com/
Jimmy DiResta – http://www.jimmydiresta.com/
Laura Kampf – http://laurakampf.com/
Colin Furze – http://www.colinfurze.com/
Bob Clagett – https://iliketomakestuff.com/
Evan & Katelyn – https://evanandkatelyn.com/
Chris Salomone – https://www.foureyesfurniture.com/
Wessex Resins – https://www.wessex-resins.com/

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So, my focus has shifted

After moving house my priorities have changed I’m not going to pursue the patent for the foreseeable future. It’s just too expensive an outlay at the moment.

I still want to launch the idea as a product, but I think it’s going to be vastly easier to do so under my own steam and funding.

Whether the patent is still the way to go or not is undecided. It is sadly just not a realistic prospect unless you have the money to back it up. All the other options just don’t seem to protect the idea enough but are cheaper to implement. Which do you choose?

I’m sorry to anyone reading this hoping that I’d have a fully documented journey by now.

I was thinking about the crowdfunding route, but that instantly makes the idea public domain and proving ownership of the original idea becomes nigh on impossible.

Dragons Den was also a consideration, but that requires that the idea is already tested and has been in the marketplace at least for a short period of time. That would require some small scale manufacturing and also selling it publicly which is not something I’m prepared to do without some sort of legal protection in place first.

In an ideal world there would be a company that would co-invest in the idea, maybe for a share of future profits, but you’d need the guarantees in place to make sure your idea was protected and not entirely ripped off. It would be all too easy for a large corporate company to waltz in, pretend to be all friendly, take a look at your idea and then go to market in a heartbeat. With their legal and financial backing you just wouldn’t stand a chance.

I’m hoping someone will tell me I’m wrong and that there’s an easier way, but so far I’ve not found it and no one has made any suggestions.

It saddens me that I have to shelve the idea, but if I get a chance to revisit it, then I will.

Equally, if there’s anyone in the UK that can help, then I’m always ready to listen.

In the meantime I’ve got some plans to expand the ‘maker’ in me and am hoping to start posting about some of my home projects and more, so watch this space. Might get some videos up on YouTube and posts on Instagram and possibly with a new name!

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Patent Project – Patience is a virtue

Patents take a long time to process and bring considerable costs too (not just at the beginning), but once the process has begun (patent pending) then you have effectively staked your claim at that particular point in time. By my understanding, a patent demonstrates your right to an idea and your rights to defend it, which is all well and good, but if you’re going up against a corporation with a sizable budget who has infringed on your patent, then the chances of you defending your patent without the same money backing you means you’ll probably fail which makes the patent effectively worthless. Infringing a patent is an illegal act, but not a criminal offence like breaching a copyright. It is down to you to bring the matter to civil court and defend it. It is also something that some would like to see changed in the eyes of UK law:
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/yourbusiness/9130815/Inventor-fury-as-patents-prove-too-costly-to-defend.html

You can apply for IP insurance, but the information out there suggests it can be very expensive if you’re after protection that covers all future legal costs should you go to court for any reason. You should be mindful that if you do require insurance that you purchase it early on before any infringement action takes place. This is known as before the event (BTE) and should in theory be a better pricing than being caught with your pants down and scrambling to find cover at the last possible moment. Early figures I’ve seen are somewhere in the region of £10k just for the insurance, so it all appears to be adding up very quickly and at quite a huge cost too. I’m not going to dwell on this here as I’m not sure if I’ll be able to obtain it directly.

Applying for the patent itself is not costly but getting a patent lawyer involved to word the patent correctly so that it covers the scope of your idea entirely, can be.

I’ve not yet got the design presentation materials together, but I have started enquiring with local patent lawyers about the costs of processing the initial patent application which covers the first 12 months of the process. So far, the best/only offer I’ve seen is £3,000 plus VAT. There is also another search required at a cost of £200 plus VAT, so this stage ends up looking like it would cost nearer £4,000 once the VAT is taken into consideration at 20%. These are hefty sums of money we’re talking about here.
To compare this to the offering from Innovate Design is a little unfair/difficult. Their cost would have been £2,000 inclusive of VAT to process the patent side of things, but the fact that there is that design process means I must call this as £5,000 as the cost of me being able to proceed through them.

So, £5,000 or £4,000? Which one sounds better?
I’ll put this very plainly… neither.

Remember that these costs are just to get past the initial 12-month patent pending application and do not include any insurance, marketing materials or manufacturing of the actual product. That’s a significant dent in anyone’s wallet and makes me wonder how an individual can get their idea to market safely. That kind of money isn’t abundantly available to me, so to proceed down this route as an individual would require a re-mortgage, a bank loan or one hell of a car boot sale. For the sake of a round-up, I’m calling this route ‘Option One – Self funded patent’.

I could of course write the patent and submit it myself which brings the costs down to around the £400 mark, but then there is no guarantee that what I’ve written is accurately covering the entire scope of my product and therefore actually protecting it. If I had to go to court based on my own submission, then I could easily lose. I’m simply not a legal expert, but I’m not an uneducated idiot either.
In my possession are the details on 101 patents with wording related to the field I’m interested in. I’m not saying I copy them verbatim as that’s unacceptable, but there is certainly something to their syntax that I could potentially mimic to create an all-encompassing application. Is this really an option?
Insurance would still be required, but I could maybe get some quotations to see if there are smaller fees available. It at least merits some further investigation which I am labelling as ‘Option Two – Self written patent’. I’ll update you in a future post on the outcome of this.

Let’s put a peg in it there for now.

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Patent Project – Using protection

So, the information is vast. There are a ton of sites out there with a myriad of advice on where to begin and who to approach. A lot of it is great and useful, but there is a strange balancing act of knowing what applies at each stage and how to proceed through each stage whilst ensuring you are keeping your idea protected.

Throughout this entire process, my priority is to protect the idea as best I can. There are more and more makers and inventors stating that patents are both a good and bad idea here in the UK, or that design protection is better, so how do you know which one to choose?
The simple answer is you don’t.

Before you make your idea public for investment by a company or through a crowd funding source, you’ll want to safeguard it in some way and some methods are more expensive than others, offer varying levels of safety. My initial thought was to get a patent.

I didn’t want to just rush in and file a patent without considering my options. I had heard that there were product design companies who will help in developing your idea and then in turn could advise and file a suitable protection for an idea. Sounds great, and to some extent it is if you have a reasonably good budget.

I contacted a company called Innovate Design (https://www.innovate-design.co.uk/) who will happily give you a free initial meeting with a signed NDA, that they supply, where they will assess your idea and give some preliminary feedback on where to take the idea next. I have to say that Innovate were superb. The meeting was very productive and highlighted some items to address, but they also confirmed that I had presented a very well-constructed product. I didn’t just walk in there and throw a lump of 3D printed plastic on the table. I had spent some time drafting my own text for patent wording, with questions around manufacturing and future uses, along with photos of the idea being used and several 3D renders. I should point out at this stage that my wife (https://alextwin.co.uk/) has been an excellent sounding board to discuss this project with and she is responsible for elaborating on the future of it.
Another thing to point is that there are a number of cowboys out there. I have read a few stories about designs being stolen because inventors haven’t done their homework. Innovate Design seemed to check out both in terms of their accreditation’s and the information contained in their free information pack. Don’t divulge any information unless you’re certain it is secure and being handled by professionals, and don’t be afraid to only give partial details if you’re unsure.

The result of my assessment meeting was to conduct an international patent search at the cost of £500. Beyond being an actual product already in the shops, if there’s already a patent out there, then the idea is considered public domain and you cannot stake your claim as it is no longer unique, so you need to do this check.
You can conduct the search yourself for free (https://worldwide.espacenet.com/), but good luck in sifting through the results. Innovate specialise in these searches and the information that was returned to me a month later was incredible. 101 patents that were in the same ball park as my invention. They had also made a summary detailing those that were most closely aligned to my product, and after much reading and sorting through the in-depth report I concluded that there were only two that concerned me.
Innovate were happy to discuss these in detail over the phone and to discuss what I should do next. It turns out that my ideas were/are sufficiently different to become an entirely new intellectual property (IP).

Initially I had thought that I would be placing all of my eggs in the Innovate Design basket and getting them to process the patent for me at a rough cost of £2,000, but what I didn’t realise was that there was a non-negotiable design process that had to proceed the patent submission where a cost of £2,880 was requested to produce 3-4 A3 sheets detailing my invention for me to present to potential manufacturers or licensers. This was in addition to the £2,000 patent processing costs which, in addition to the £500 spent, meant a further outlay of nearly £5k. THAT’S FIVE THOUSAND POUNDS! Crikey.

As I have a background in design it didn’t seem sensible for me to proceed to pay out this kind of money when I am capable of researching and creating the corresponding presentation materials. Had Innovate come back and said that the design process, which appears to be specific to them, could be waived or reduced in cost due to materials already supplied, then perhaps I would already have a patent pending today. It makes total sense for the majority of applications where not everyone has a grounding in design or in developing their product marketing materials. I suppose it also serves as a way to explore the idea and determine the exact wording required for the patent so there is some justification for needing this step, just not for me.
I’m still highly impressed with the research they have conducted on my behalf and the information within the report listing the discovered patents has been invaluable to me. I just simply haven’t got that kind of money floating about and I’m not currently prepared to get a loan to cover it.

More about patents in my next post.

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Patent Project – Bringing the idea to life

If someone had said 20 years ago that I would be printing my own creations from the comfort of my home, I’d have laughed them out of the room. The reality is that 3D printing is incredibly affordable these days and for around £250 you can have an entry level printer that will convey your idea very nicely. If you choose to pay more, then you can do so for an extortionate amount, but for the purposes of demonstrating an idea I didn’t think it was necessary at this stage. Besides, if I wanted something of higher quality then I could always look at the numerous fabrication and rapid prototyping services that exist in this country.

One of my main reasons for not using an external service is that I wanted the ability to constantly refine my idea without telling anyone else about it too early on. These fabrication companies are in a far better position to take an idea, develop it further, and then exploit it.
I’m not saying that is what would happen, but as I simply do not have any experience or contact with them, then I didn’t feel this was a risk I wanted to take. Again, guarding the idea was top of the agenda.

After a little research, the XYZ DaVinci Junior 1.0 seemed the best option for my needs. The quality was good enough, self-calibrating, simple to use, was in its own enclosure, and required no assembly. There are some drawbacks in that it doesn’t have a heated bed, you can only use propriety filament from XYZ, and that filament is a tad more pricey and limited to only PLA instead of ABS. Acrylonitrile Butadiene Styrene (ABS) is significantly stronger, but I’m not looking to produce the actual items with this printer, so having PolyLactic Acid filament (PLA) is absolutely fine. It is made from renewable sources and is biodegradable. The energy used in producing these models probably isn’t very efficient, but as I am going to printing these regardless, then this a small but important consideration when compared to using ABS plastic which is much harder to break down and will only contribute to the plastic waste issues we have in the world.
Environmental factors are a consideration for this project. I will be looking at the final materials and the methods used in the manufacturing process, giving greener methods priority wherever possible.

Having a 3D printer at my disposal has been quite useful. I’ve printed a number of little items that include new feet for keyboards, cable clips and mounting plates for use inside a PC. Getting my ideas created in SketchUp has been quite easy thus far, they’re nothing too major as I’m not creating buildings… yet.
Since having the printer, I think I have worked through five major revisions to my idea with a spin off idea that could become another option in the future. There’s just something very satisfying about being able to have an idea and then output it as a physical object. I’ve tweaked the way in which things attach themselves, sizing, shapes, made allowances for my idea to incorporate other materials, and have specifically reduced the volume of material used to keep it light-weight and more cost effective for the future.

There have been many micro revisions, but these have tended to be done on screen. Doing things digitally has allowed me finer control over the design process, refining and making small adaptations prior to going to print. Sometimes it is obvious where something will fail when you just look at it on screen, but the reason there are five ‘major’ revisions is because the physical item didn’t meet my expectations. You simply cannot replace testing in the real world.
Once I was happy with the general output of the idea I printed a handful off for some basic testing. At this stage, with the materials I’m using, I’m wasn’t expecting much in the way of strength, just proof that it works. Turns out it was exceedingly strong, so I can only imagine how it will perform using a material such as aluminium or a composite/alloy of some sort later.

As minor as the testing was, the boost it gave me was immense. More so than the original prototype.
I effectively had a fully working version of my idea that if handed to someone would convey precisely what I wanted. Which is great, until you consider that by handing this to someone else you are also ‘giving away’ your idea. If you want to bite your finger nails, this is the point to do so.
You cannot simply throw your idea around openly and pray that someone will help launch it. Even with the best will in the world, you need to exercise caution and realise that there are people and companies out there with vastly superior budgets and access to facilities that allow them to snatch your idea and put it into production before you can even blink. That’s the world we live in, unfortunately.

Next up I’ll be talking about patents and design protection.

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Patent Project – From the middle

Before I really begin, I should state that I have no experience in product design and have absolutely zero qualifications when it comes to any legal aspect, so please do not take any of my choices as gospel in anyway. This is ‘my’ journey showing what ‘I’ have found out, with decisions specific to ‘my’ circumstance. Yours will be different. Possibly easier, possibly harder, but you should always seek to gather all the facts and information available and appropriate for ‘your’ circumstances. Hopefully through my example you will have a better picture and understanding of where to look.

About four years ago I came up with an idea for shelving that I thought was rather clever and could potentially be useful in several environments. Please know that I’m still mid process on the idea so I won’t be revealing much more about the specifics. I intend on making money from the idea in the future, so protection of the idea is paramount for me.
Initially all I had were sketches which I reworked over the course of a few months and then illustrated digitally until I was happy the potential function was in line with what I had originally envisaged. I then set about creating a working prototype from some wood, which worked, but to call it crude was too kind. It didn’t matter. Here I was with a working proof of concept made by my hands, derived from my imagination.

Life and work stepped in for a bit and two years later (yes, 2!) I find myself asking why I had not gone any further with the idea.
My next step was to get hold of a 3D CAD package so that I could refine the idea further and play with a virtual 3D object. I took the knowledge I had from design and applied it to SketchUp which was once a free package to download. The version I had was a much older version (8), but it was free and had a nice interface that made sense to me. There are a lot of options out there, some of which cost a lot of money. It’s worth noting that you can use the free version of SketchUp online without even having to install any software. The interface appears to still be clear and there are helpful prompts if needed.
If you don’t have any experience in tweaking nodes or manipulating objects, then the learning curve can be huge. Sorry, but it can be a difficult process for some. If you aren’t confident in your own abilities, then this could be your initial stumbling block. You’ll need to either put your trust in a friend or outsource this work to someone where you get some sort of protection via a Non-Disclosure Agreement (NDA). If this project were to take off, then I would be looking to upgrade to the Pro versions of the software I use, but you can get a lot done with the free software that is out there.

This brings me to another topic regarding protection of an idea which I will cover in future post.

You don’t need 3D files or renders of your idea to move forward. In many cases, just having a well-defined sketch and being able to articulate your idea verbally may be enough to get your idea to the next stage. For me, that next stage was to be able to physically play with and test the idea by means of 3D printing.