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I'm Daniel. I run an optomechanical special projects workshop in Los Angeles. Secret work, so I don't share it here.

I love books and datasheets, black coffee and raspberries. I have an enviable collection of adhesive tapes. 🥰✨️

I'm ex-Apple, ex-Disney Imagineering, ex-DIY Book Scanner if the past matters to you. But I work exclusively on the future.

My work has made other people a lot of money. 18+ patents. My inventions have toured the world, and thrived in the darkness of shadow libraries. My interns have gone on to do great things. Most of what I do gets thrown away.

¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Prototyping.

These days, I feel drawn to rebels, practitioners, and the outdoors. People who understand that what's coming is not inevitable. People who embody resistance and non-standard intelligence. People I can learn from. That is what I am doing here. Sharing things I always hoped to find, to draw those few of you in.

First shakedown run. 100 miles each way. Very little fell off.

Wins:
*cargo floor
*PETG windows
*sick aesthetics
*giant door
*@nomadwheel 504s

Fixes coming for
*rear leaf springs
*latches
*rear step

Thank you @krthkrmn for helping me nail this on the first try. Thanks @arc_angel66 for weld excellence. Thanks @milehighdive for heavy assembly. Thank you @laserbend_sheetmetalfab for making all the big aluminum parts of the canopy!

First shakedown run. 100 miles each way. Very little fell off.

Wins:
*cargo floor
*PETG windows
*sick aesthetics
*giant door
*@nomadwheel 504s

Fixes coming for
*rear leaf springs
*latches
*rear step

Thank you @krthkrmn for helping me nail this on the first try. Thanks @arc_angel66 for weld excellence. Thanks @milehighdive for heavy assembly. Thank you @laserbend_sheetmetalfab for making all the big aluminum parts of the canopy!

First shakedown run. 100 miles each way. Very little fell off.

Wins:
*cargo floor
*PETG windows
*sick aesthetics
*giant door
*@nomadwheel 504s

Fixes coming for
*rear leaf springs
*latches
*rear step

Thank you @krthkrmn for helping me nail this on the first try. Thanks @arc_angel66 for weld excellence. Thanks @milehighdive for heavy assembly. Thank you @laserbend_sheetmetalfab for making all the big aluminum parts of the canopy!

First shakedown run. 100 miles each way. Very little fell off.

Wins:
*cargo floor
*PETG windows
*sick aesthetics
*giant door
*@nomadwheel 504s

Fixes coming for
*rear leaf springs
*latches
*rear step

Thank you @krthkrmn for helping me nail this on the first try. Thanks @arc_angel66 for weld excellence. Thanks @milehighdive for heavy assembly. Thank you @laserbend_sheetmetalfab for making all the big aluminum parts of the canopy!

It's time to stock up. Things are changing fast.

Adding a kick-down step to my camper using the xTool MetalFab CNC laser cutter and welder.

The MetalFab made this project really straightfoward. This was my first time using the MetalFab as a welder. The handpiece is shockingly light compared to my other welders, and the welds it produced were smooth and high quality. I was surprised at how well the factory presets worked. These are the best presets I've seen, though I'm still prone to tuning and testing.

Overall, the xTool really speeds up my prototyping and the step on the camper was a bigger improvement than expected. Once it was easy to get a step (and not pull my entire bodyweight up, or find a ladder, etc) I started hopping in and out more often. I will move on to adding a step to the passenger side as well.

If you buy one, enter my code UMF100 for an additional $100 off your order.

#xtool #xtoolmetalfabcnc #laserwelding #lasercutting #umf

Suffering from eDrawings viewer and other bloatware? F3D.app is one of those utilities that's so good you forget about it after a while. It's fast, free, open source, and a beast when it comes to 3D data.

Send this video to your Solidworks buddies and thank me later.

#f3d #solidworks #engineering #appreviews

I tuned my laser so you don't have to. At least you will have a better starting point. The xTool MetalFab is a really interesting cnc laser cutter and welder combo that can cut clean and weld metals including mild steel.

Mild steel takes some effort to dial in for best cutting results. It's not as straightforward as aluminum or stainless steel. You cut with oxygen instead of nitrogen or argon.

Use my code UMF100 for an additional 100 off one of these lasers.

#engineering #lasercutting #makersgonnamake #tools #xtool

Catalogs are among the greatest resources for design engineers, artists, and inventors. You can find thousands of incentive and cost effective solutions to common problems. After all, if it's a common problem, someone has likely already solved it (and tried to sell the solution).

Knowing the available space of solutions is a real superpower. Some of the best engineers i ever worked with kept well-worn catalogs on their desk. They preferred to buy whatever solutions they could, to keep the engineering energy focused on the hard problems.

Note, I've also worked with "catalogs engineers" who couldn't design anything. What I'm talking about here is being as pragmatic as possible, and having a huge mental library of relevant parts so you can problem solve effectively.

#textbooktuesday #books #bookreviews #mechanisms #invention

If you're dreaming about building your own camper, modifying a school bus, or even doing overlanding with off the shelf kit, this book will help you understand how to make decisions. It will help you choose batteries, toilets, solar, suspension, and more. This book is worth a thousand forum posts. There is no other book like it.

I cannot recommend this book enough. It really helped me in my planning.
ISBN 9781785210761

#textbooktuesday #camping #diycamper #overlanding #offroading

What is it about being outside that makes food taste so good? And why is it that food found outside tastes even better? And why is none of it for sale in stores??

@pascalbaudar foraging classes and book "The New Wildcrafted Cuisine" are absolutely packed with ideas like these. For over a decade he's been the manbehind the curtain at a number of highly acclaimed restaurants for good reason. I have been so inspired by this work and I hope you are, too.

#textbooktuesday #bookreview #foraging #cooking #overlanding

ISBN 9781603586078

It's really hard to tell what features matter in a laser welder. The flexibility of the whip- the fiber- has turned out to be a major factor for me. Laser welders below 1500 watts can be fully air cooled. That means no stiff chiller lines running into the optical head (handpiece) of the laser. Because these handpieces are already difficult to get into right spaces, a very flexible whip turns out to be a big advantage.

I recently bought the XTool Metalfab CNC. That's the machine in the back of the video that covers the laser welder into a CNC cutter. While most laser welders say that they cut, the fact is that the cuts are inconsistent and low quality because hand motion is not smooth or consistent enough for a laser. But more importantly a laser welder becomes dramatically more useful when it can also make parts to weld.

I'm going to use this machine to make my dream kitchen on my camper and I'm excited to share that process with you.

#laserwelder #lasercutting #xtool #engineering

If you appreciate my reviews, please share them. I am trying to share these awesome books as far as I can.

Library of Congress Catalog Number 65-23552. Mechanisms, Linkages, and Mechanical Controls. Nicholas P Chironis.

#textbooktuesday #bookreview #books #mechanisms

I recently bought the XTool Metalfab 1200w CNC to prototype the kitchen of my camper. I'm very excited to use the xtool to really speed up the prototyping process. While I work with many skilled and fast laser shops, the xtool makes it possible to do several prototypes per day instead of prototypes every several days. This is the first video in a series.

If you buy one of these,use my code "UMF100" for an extra 100 dollars off. I'd appreciate it as it will help fund my project.

#usemoreforce #laserwelding #toyotapickup #hilux #xtool