Every builder at NAHBS includes the above into their work, and their output happens to be my favorite hobby (ok, my only hobby & life outside of school & work).
It's hard to keep reminding myself that the stuff that is kicking my butt, eroding my energy with my current work/school is related to all of this NAHBS stuff. I can design these guys things with sound Mechanical Engineering (my B.S.) , make it with my Industrial (manufacturing) engineer (my M.S.) , use either meaning of the acronyms! My work as a co-major Human Computer Interaction student is showing me how one day we may better expand on designs/ideas and put them into computer systems to build things even the best craftsman can't. Give Steve Potts a haptic glove to bend virtual tubing, or a wiimote in the shape of a weld torch, put him in a virtual reality cave to virtually build a joint, or let him look through bike tubing to look at internal geometry he couldn't see before. I guarantee his skills would be magnified.
Sure, but what about the artistry? I'll give the same argument, these virtual tools, lets these guys try out shapes, geometry, carve lugs, paint schemes, etc... None of these guys could do what they do by using a mouse! I'm sure you're asking, who cares, these guys go from their heads to a masterpiece in real life, not virtual. But until some engineering computations are performed, you can only use experience to tell "how far can I bend that tube", "how thick does that need to be". Give these guys that feedback, "you can carve this much more out of that lug if you want", and their design space is expanded. Don't get me wrong, they do a damn good job using their experience, but there is always a significant factor of safety.
I'm sure most of these guys cuss using computers with bikes. Let the treks and cannondales (CAAD1...) and cervelos do all that. But those guys only use them to make lighter/stiffer/more aerodynamic bikes. What if you could use them for all of the NAHBS builders' intentions (I can't name all of them here!). Furthermore, I think the reason those builders usually cuss computers is due to the stilted interface methods we have today. I count about 12 different methods at VRAC that I can't talk about here that change how we use a "computer" ("" b/c that word's definition is increasingly blurry).
Anyway, sorry for the rant. Here's my first favorite NAHBS item. I won't go enginerd on it, but it's a much better design than paragons:
2 comments:
I would'a argued with you about the Paragon slider being the lesser had I not already had problems. The adjustment screw got all jacked up and when I tried to back it out the bolt head popped off. Vice grips, a threat tapper and an hour later it's fixed but I no-longer like the idea of anything threaded down there. I still think it's the more solid design, but adjustment is anything but smooth. Black Cat's design is cool, but I think Soulcraft's take is better, rather than a screw adjustment it has a sort of eccentric adjustment knob on the lower half.
Here's a pic: http://flickr.com/photos/atemryeats/2261297140/in/set-72157603895684746/
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