Out of hiding for a bit... Good to be back...

The last months have been a wild ride that I wasn't expecting....

Its been just a good old around the clock of building rad stuff to make people smile... My year long full time term of working at the Exploratorium Science Museum ended the other day and but was kept on as a builder/designer part time to keep the fun going so I am super thankful they see my love for building the joys of science. The coolest part of that museum is when they find people like myself and others they really like they give you freedom to do other stuff without any pressure, its really what makes the place such a special place to me and what keep me wanting to bring new concepts and ideas to that place. They see the true benifits with having me more as a freelance dude without the pressure and they really notice the results when they get my true love of my craft in every project I work on for them.

The last months I have also been working on a TV show for a major network as a lead role as a designer/fabricator designing stuff to make peoples lives better that have lost limbs - thats as much as I can go in to detail about ...

The other projects have been for Red Bull and all the events they have been hosting such as the Training Grounds Media events they have been holding, which are Red Bulls enter in to the Esports Online gaming such as StarCraft 2 and other games... They have really just given me freedom to be creative and design some of the most rad trophies for them. The big event for me this year is the America's Cup sailing race, where Matt and I will team up to build one of the most rad trophies Red Bull has seen for their Youth's Cup race using the AC45 boats Red Bull bought... Stay tuned its going to be so rad.

Check out some of the projects ... heres some pictures

Welding away on the Exploratorium's " Bay Window Exhibit " 

There is 5 of these in stainless and 3 in mild steel... 

Its a lot of work... thats all I really want to say....

After the 2 pieces of glass, inner race and bearings are put in the mud samples are put between the glass and its closed up. Once installed on the railing the water is put in to the exhibit and then....

You give it a spin and you get to see how rocks and sands settle from the river deltas in to the bay...

Heavy rock lands first then the swirl of light sands show how it travels.

This photo is Erik Diamond " El Jefe " giving it a spin without the covers on it, so we can see all the bearings spin freely. Overall Adam, Shaun, Erik, Herb, Brice and Jesse and who else I am missing really nailed it with this exhibit, it really fills the side of the museum with some rad learning fun projects. 

After hours I have been working on my Espresso machine

I have found that its not worth risking it by using hole saws and other cutters trying to cut holes in the spheres because of damage, so this is how i do a lot of the bigger holes about about an inch in size. Don't risk your hands or body by trying to drill it with the big sizes. Gabes figure pictured in the top left. 

When setting up the small stainless steam generator I purged it with argon and used lab clamps for the torch and did it on the welding positioner. The foil is set up to cover the other 2 inch NPT fitting but not to hard because i want the argon to escape slightly so it doesn't pressurize and blow out the weld. 

I machined some parts for holding the gauge on the stainless steam ball, still got a lot to do but its a start.

Went out for a ride with Steve Pete, Greg Minnaar, and RatBoy Josh from the Santa Cruz downhill team

Gabe driving me to Oakland Airport so I can fly to Hollywood to film the TV show... 

I feel cool on these days....

The shop truck is like a limo that leaks gas and is missing windows... 

I have been filling orders for Exile Cycles Gas tanks and Gabe has been watching and following along on his personal projects. Hes building a tail for a cafe racer out of a little honda gas tank. 

Its 4 AM does your mom know where you are?

Mine does....

CNC ? yeah right.... I can make it from hand almost just as fast...

Getting wild on the Excello Mill with a big block of aluminum 

Throw it on the old K&T Model H mill for a clean up around the outside

In under a week with the help of Matt Carney on the computer and Seaport Stainless laser cutting we had a custom Giant Hard Drive Trophy for Red Bull Training Grounds in Santa Monica

I weighted the platter disc so it always had the logos perfectly level 

I was so stoked when the kid that won it held it and the logos stayed correct.... Everyone was stoked...

So they asked if I would do the next event in Florida 

So this is what Matt and I came up with in a afternoon .... The event is this weekend so I will show more pictures soon

Red Bull Training Grounds - Orlando, FL

Built this trophy with Matt Carney in under a week turnaround... Custom Billet aluminum keys and full sheet metal construction ... sick !!

A new customer of mine is Boasted Boards

I have been running the prototype production of their wireless Electric Skateboard...

Its so rad.. I got to take it out for a afternoon .... Talk about fast !!!

.000 on the money.... sheet metal parts ! 

I bailed out to Cheyenne, WY the other day to go visit Union Pacifics Steam div. 

So rad...  

Why wouldn't you jump the fence and climb UP's BIG BOY.... 

Back from World Cup Mountain Bike Racing,  Greg Minnaar, His lady Laila , Gabe, and myself made up some good old Sushi... I had to take this photo to show Gregs family and friends hes all grown up and can clean up the kitchen all by himself...

Figured I should learn to make a worm gear....

its hard.... If you want to waste a full day and lots of money on tools I will tell you how to do it...

the Plus side is ... My cold saw is fixed now...

I will have more details on it soon but this is one of my new shop aprons I designed with the help of John from High Above Bag company out of Seattle, WA. This bad boy is so damn sick with the removable pockets and all the goodies... If you really need one... Send him an email... I will be making a post about the design and details about it and how to buy it but if you can't wait... hit him up... Best apron you will buy, the quality and details are so well done....

Espresso boiler time...

Tom the owner of adams and chittenden Glass in Berkeley made me such a rad Lab style sight glass.

These guys make some of the Gov. Labs most crazy glass experiments pieces. Lucky for me, Tom is a huge fan of the Exploratorium and also just down the street from my shop, so he was stoked to help on the project and make this wild glass tube for the water level. 

Top view of the details of the glass and also the fab work

Steam generator... Figured I can get it up in the 50+ PSI safely ...

But who knows... I am just a welder not an engineer....

This is the table I started building for the machine...

Don't ask how my brain got on this one. 

Sometimes it works in a wild way... All freestyle design

Ryan at Seaport cut it for me off some drawings but who knows what it will look like

0% CAD on this project... All in my brain...

Still figuring out how to take a picture of the table... 

Just wait to see how wild the table is going to be ...

Never seen anything like it...

Well enjoy some of my joys in the last months.

Theres more to come but I figured all the piles of emails asking if I was dead or gave up on the MLS site forced me to do some updating and letting you all know I am still here turning the handles making chips and sparks..