PointyOintment
Newly Enlightened
First, these look fantastic, including the original PVC tube prototype. Now I want to make one with some tiny solar panels (BPW34 or similar) so it recharges itself, with either supercapacitors or polyacene cells for energy storage. Also only turn on in the dark, using either the solar panels or the LED as a light sensor.
As you probably know by now (having taken a machining course and done lots of turning), a lathe should generally be pretty quiet in operation. If it's making a loud noise, you're doing something wrong (cutting too aggressively/not aggressively enough, not using enough lubricant, etc.).
Isopropyl alcohol usually dissolves hot glue.
The Kickstarter community would love this project. (Machined metal: check. Steampunk-ish: check. Durable: check. EDC: check. Useful for one tiny purpose and nothing else: check. Etc.) I know you said you want to pay for it out of pocket so nobody else loses money if it goes bad, but I think you've proven that you can deliver. If you do put this on KS, make sure your campaign page looks somewhat slick, because most backers (including me) very quickly disregard any campaign whose page looks like it was put together carelessly.
As you probably know by now (having taken a machining course and done lots of turning), a lathe should generally be pretty quiet in operation. If it's making a loud noise, you're doing something wrong (cutting too aggressively/not aggressively enough, not using enough lubricant, etc.).
Isopropyl alcohol usually dissolves hot glue.
Blur your keys!!
You can see how spending $3600 on 100 pieces of a product that I don't even know if I can sell is a pretty tough pill to swallow though, eh? I've thought about starting a feeler thread to gauge interest, but haven't had a chance to yet. Maybe I should post a couple renders and see what people think of the design...
Anyways, I've saved 70% of the amount so far, so we'll see how long it takes to hoard the rest. I'll be sure to update the thread when we get there!
The Kickstarter community would love this project. (Machined metal: check. Steampunk-ish: check. Durable: check. EDC: check. Useful for one tiny purpose and nothing else: check. Etc.) I know you said you want to pay for it out of pocket so nobody else loses money if it goes bad, but I think you've proven that you can deliver. If you do put this on KS, make sure your campaign page looks somewhat slick, because most backers (including me) very quickly disregard any campaign whose page looks like it was put together carelessly.
