Product Design@Salford

Tuesday, January 11, 2011

Desktop CNC machine for less than $400 on Kickstarter

Desktop CNC machine for less than $400 on Kickstarter: "

Today's the last day to get in on Stephen McGloughlin's Kickstarter project for a desktop CNC machine kit that you can actually assemble yourself and drop a Dremel into. Best part? You can spend less than $400 for a full machine and as little as $12 for the plans. As McGloughlin explains,

Born out of frustration with the lack of inexpensive, straightforward and easy-to-build CNC machines I designed a DIY desktop CNC package that addresses all the objections I had with available machines. To that end the electronics are designed to be inexpensive, modular and specifically to drive the most common of stepper motors (bought or scavenged).

The machine is intended to be built by the average DIY-er, either from scratch from plans, or from a full or partial kit. Components and parts are easily available and inexpensive and the design can accommodate recycled (scavenged) parts. The electronics can be driven by several freely available software applications.

The project has already soared past its $15,000 goal with $53,819 in the bank, so McGloughlin doesn't need more to make it happen; but this is your chance to pre-purchase an entire set-up for a measly $390, or throw in far less cheddar for the plans to build it yourself.

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Clever dispenser design combines benefits of liquid and bar soap

Clever dispenser design combines benefits of liquid and bar soap: "

Eindhoven grad Nathalie Stampfli's brilliant Soap Flakes dispensers use bar soap while taking cues from cheese graters and peppermills. As you can see in the photos, the user inserts a bar into the devices--one design is wall-mounted, the other handheld--and it then dispenses soap flakes.

Why make something like this? As Stampfli explains,

Today, most of the soap we use is liquid soap, which contains a lot of water. Block soap instead is more concentrated and therefore has some ecological benefits: You don't transport unnecessary water around. In place of plastic bottles you can simply use paper for packaging. The solid blocks can easily be piled and allow a greater space efficiency in a truck.

But what about the usage of soap bars? I don't like the weird slippery feeling when I use them. It gives me goose bumps. And under the shower, it always slides out of your fingers. Hand soap also often gets dirty and accumulates bacteria when more than one person is using it.

via kottke

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Monday, January 10, 2011

ID Student Makes Good, turns design comp winner into successful toy company

ID Student Makes Good, turns design comp winner into successful toy company: "

In 2003 Rebecca Finelli was finishing up her ID degree at Arizona State U while mothering an infant child. The combination of these two situations gave her the idea for the Frog Pod, above, a drainable scoop that lets you gather floating toys out of a bathtub and stick 'em to the wall to drip-dry. She entered it in that year's Juvenile Product Manufacturing Association design competition, won, and subsequently co-founded Boon, Inc., a toy company.

Seven years later, Finelli is busy--she's added two children to her family and more than sixty countries to her distribution list. Boon is booming, and looking at their massive product line-up provides a hint as to why. The prolific Finelli has come up with ideas for 20 new products a year every year since the company's inception, making her the Karim Rashid of toy design in terms of sheer output.