nincompoop toys

click her for our:  ebay link

click her for our:  youtube trebuchet demo

all in a row… and ready to go!

one mans junk is……more junk to hoard

 

I’ve sold my motorbike.    Sad to see it go but couldn’t keep walking past the thing knowing I don’t have the time 1) to ride it and 2) to keep  fixing it.   It was a 1985 750 Katana, the only bike ever to come out with a flip up headlight.

I still have enough “spare parts” to build another but thats a job for “one day”.

As I looked around the shed earlier I found lots of little treasures that will “one day” become something mind bogglingly brilliant.   I think that like most blokes who have a shed, given the resources, I could happily never work again.   What goes on in the shed can’t be defined as  work,  I find it very therapeutic,  frustrating at times but no worse than fishing,  which I love to do.

I have several projects on the go at the moment, some waiting for bits to come back from the shop, others stacked neatly till they’re sold, others are…….well….. waiting for the right bits to appear in someone elses junk pile!

Recently I had cause to revisit some skills that I had forgotten I had.   Far from being an electronic’s expert I managed to cobble together some parts hidden away til now,  and whip up a simple circuit from an old dicksmith catalogue.

Individually Crafted…

Grant works really hard on making these block trolleys ‘just right.’   He puts a large amount of care and attention into every single one, as though he was making each of them for our 2yr old daughter.   He won’t put up with the slightest imperfection, and if it’s not spot on he will either make it so, or start again!  Though i have to say they usually come out pretty much damn near perfect each time!

I just finished oiling one that is off to its new home tomorrow, and in doing so just reaffirmed my appreciation of the quality and aesthetics of them.   They really are a beautifully made product.  

It’s the same with the Trebuchets.   Grant is meticulous in his production of them.   Each one is assembled and quality checked before being packed up and posted off to the purchaser.   I usually make the ’slings’ for each one but they are made to Grants specifications and if any are not up to scratch (which is almost unheard of, naturally!) there is no way they are going to make it into a ‘kit’. 

He is always thinking and coming up with ideas about how to improve on his products, though i’m of the opinion that there’s not much room for improvement left!    He usually has at least two or three ideas brewing for new toys in the making, and there are always pieces of paper with drawings, measurements and calculations, on bench tops, in drawers and even in his pockets and in his car too!

chuffed

Today we had a compliment from a friend, a school teacher, whose children we had given one of our first trebuchets.

  The year 9 students at the school where she worked, were tasked to build a small trebuchet  using paddlepop sticks for a science project.   Our friend suggested that the woodwork dept look at our model,  and they worked with the students to build one similar.

I felt chuffed that they valued my work enough to copy it.  Looking back it was a dinosaur, nuts bolts and screws (about 36 parts) which took about 40 minutes to assemble.  In contrast, our current treb has fewer parts and takes only about 5 minutes.

Those few first trebuchets led us to develop our current product.

can distractions be a good thing?

I stumbled upon a few images that have me looking in a slightly different direction with respect to some of the products I’ve been making.

I love the simplicity of my trebuchets and block trolleys and get a buzz everytime I complete one, whether it’s for an order or stock.

Whats got my interest is quite a stretch for someone of my humble skill levels, but, if I can mish mash a combination of what I can do, then perhaps it could produce something uniquely mine, whether it’s marketable is something yet to be discovered, but most likely niched.

sooooooo now I need to prioritize things.  I’m lousey at time management at the best of times.

Holidays and hopes…

Grant’s been busy making some more block trolleys.  This week we sold a couple more, and donated one to our daughter’s play-group.  It had the tiniest of ‘faults’ that nobody would have picked, but being the perfectionist he is, Grant felt he could not sell this one, so i very happily took it and gifted it to the play-group, who were thrilled to accept it!  Far better than leaving it sitting up in the cupboard unused and unloved!   As you can see it was very quickly put to good use….

 

 

 

 

Tomorrow Grant will need to finish off some Trebuchets ready for posting in the afternoon.  My job is to make the slings for the trebuchets.  It’s taken a while to get the ‘formula’ correct for making them ‘just right’, and there’s always room for improvement i suppose, but i’m happy with them just the way they are!   I try to make a batch of them at a time, but seems we have run out and it’s time to stock up again.

After tonight Grant is on holidays for two weeks.   Our daughter, Lily,  loves playing ‘cooking’ at I’m hoping he’ll have the time to make one of these ’stoves’ or something similar, for her cubby house.    Though there are about a thousand other things that need doing as well, so sadly,  it may be difficult. 

Rough and Tumble

We all do the work, sleep, work, sleep,  routine, some of us just have further to travel, so when it comes to getting some shed time, compromises need to be made and other peoples needs need to be attended to first.

So at this point I’d like to thank the people who are closest to me for allowing me the time I need to bang nails into wood or drill/cut/machine and dream in my shed.

Pictured here is my little “Quality Controller” she equates the shed with noise and mess and fun outside with Dad, she explores and discovers all the things that should be out of reach and shows them to me…eventually-LOL.

My partner can be incredibly tolerant of my requests for “5 minutes more” which usually translates to about an hour or so, and she gives me a lot of support, coffee, sandwiches, especially when we are putting in some “overtime” getting ready for a market someplace.

Typical of the growing family, my shed also compromises the use of available space and what once was likely to be considered as 6 car spaces is now a workshop, drum studio, TV games area, Storage room, table tennis stadium, indoor basketball court, motorcycle parking space, etc etc etc and one day may even become a self contained living area complete with its own bathroom.

other adventures

I’m very happy with my trebuchets and block trolleys, they look great and work well and don’t take too long to make. I make the components in batches, it’s easier and makes for consistent parts, I’ve made some handy jigs too.

For  some time I’ve been wanting a couple more toys to make, in line with my initial thoughts that they should be easily assembled with little or no tools, the trebuchet fits that perfectly requiring  just a screw driver and the ability to tie a  knot.  My first trebuchet kits resembled a mechano set and one given to a friend of mine remains unassembled and neglected in his shed.

Soooooo I’ve come up with some great sketches and working on the prototypes.