3d printing w/ SHAPEWAYS.COM

As part of a student design project I was asked to create a 3d printable object with moving parts. I was also asked to create my own account on SHAPEWAYS.com, and upload my model to the site.

SHAPEWAYS is a website that gives those with out a 3d printer to upload their files and get them printed. It also allows you to sell your file to customers through creating your own account on the site.

This was my finished project that you can currently check out on SHAPEWAYS. Just search for “Puzzle Box”.

The price is currentlt absurd, but I will soon be re-orienting my design to reduce the cost as much as possible.

new additions to the bike trailer

Currently I’m doing a project at school, the topic is utility cargo cycling. UCC’s are essentially bikes that are designed, customized, or modified to carry a load other than yourself. Most commonly in the west, bikes are ridden by people, and usually just people. There is not too much bike traffic as a whole in the US, and cars dominate the roadways in percentage. Interestingly, Philadelphia has the largest number of pedaling commuters per capita. I live in the city, have for about 6 years, and I was surprised to hear that statistic. I mean a lot of folks commute by bike, but you would think surely there is another city in the nation with more bicyclists.

In the east bikes have been used to carry EVERYTHING for hundreds of years. Vegetables, recyclables, people, electronics, advertisements.. its all carried by bike in the east, and the percentage of cars to bikes isn’t even close. The project focuses on utility cargo cycling as a way of supporting life. My project in particular is to work with a non-profit in West Philadelphia called Neighborhood Bike Works. NBW helps kids from the community build there own bikes, as well as maintain many programs that offer a extensive knowledge of cycling. My project is based around a program that NBW became apart of called Farm to Families. The main goal of Farm to Families is to provide less fortunate families in Philadelphia with fresh produce, and teach them to live healthy lifestyles. I am designing bike trailers and supportive systems that will allow kids hired by NBW to deliver the produce to the families who are accepted by the Farm to Families program. My group and I have just finished a new prototype and have designed an instruction manual including detailed illustrated steps on how to build the trailer, and saftey tips for building and riding bike trailers.

To ensure that the NBW riders (kids 12-16) will be able to haul the average produce load of 3-4 bushles (120-160 lbs), we’ve been testing our prototypes with my group member’s (Joe Fritz) younger brother. Garret (age 11) has pulled upwards of 160 lbs. with our latest trailer, so we’re hoping the kids from NBW (who will be on 26″ mountain bikes) will have no problem.

FLASHMOB

the definition of a “flash mob” courtesy of Wikipedia: A flash mob (or flashmob) is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and pointless act for a brief time, then quickly disperse. The term flash mob is generally applied only to gatherings organized via telecommunications, social media, or viral emails.

Recently I was caught in a flash mob. On March 20th, at approx 8:00 pm I got off my bike at the corner of South & Broad st. in Philadelphia, PA. I would have ridden down South st. but I was forced into walking by the sight of hundreds of people. High school kids to be exact. If you know anything about high school kids you know that hundreds of them on one street is bad news. It didn’t help that I was walking against the crowd, and I was the only person in sight with a bike. I was shocked to get to my destination unharmed. Although the crowd didnt seem to be angry or violent, the noise was incredible. Maybe it was me, but the possibility for disaster seemed to be inevitable. Later I read that a delivery guy on a bicycle got beat up pretty bad, and some business owners were closing down their stores. I’m just glad I was carrying pizza or something.

The pics below are not mine, wish they were, but if I had my camera with me I don’t think I would’ve made it out with the pics anyway. I’ve heard some rumors about more flash mobs being planned in Philadelphia, but with the weather changing people might be more inclined to just be outside instead of organizing “controlled chaos” and “making a statement”.

Laurence Kesterson/The Philadephia Inquirer

Wachovia on FIRE

The historic Wachovia building at 123 S. Broad st. in Philadelphia caught fire on Monday, March 15th. The Fire displaced 150 workers and caused a heavy amount of damage to the buildings first and second floors. The fire was started by electrial faults in one of the first floors cubilces. The m0netary value of the damage has not been released yet, but as you can see from my pictures it will be quite expensive to repair. The giant colored glass window at the front of the building was ruined by fire fighters blasting water from the inside of the building. You can see the water shooting out of the window in my pictures below. While the incident was tragic for Wachovia, no one was injured or hurt, and Philadelphia fire fighters were on the scene in minutes. As a by stander the view was amazing. I’ve never seen Broad st. shutdown before, and particulary have never seen it overloaded with fire trucks, emergency vehicles, and flashing lights of every color. There were many people out and about checking the scene too, I certainly wasnt the only one taking advantage of the photo op.

minor improvements make all the difference..

Neighborhood Bike Works – http://www.neighborhoodbikeworks.org

www.neighborhoodbikeworks.com

Modern Urban Living

This Industrial Design blog has a lot of interesting peices and ideas. Alot of really creative interventions into modern American culture.

http://modernurbanliving.com/