Weekly Update

The Weekly Update is a new thing that I am planning on committing to, because I know that it is important to continually produce content and put it out into the world. This summer, I have been producing, but I just haven’t been putting myself out there. The weekly update will hopefully create a good habit of putting myself out there, in the form of a short journal on what I have been working on for the past week. I will not be focusing on SEO optimization for these updates, but I imagine that in the future, these updates will also become social media posts.

Now I need to get in the habit of taking pictures so that I can enhance my weekly updates, and then I can feel more comfortable posting to social media. I know that I will be cringing at all this content 5 years from now, but I also know that I will be cringing from anything that I post, because my new stuff will be way better, because all this “old” content I’m producing now is teaching me new skills and improving my current skills. 

Injection Mold Machine

I decided officially that I could never complete my small-scale injection mold machine without welding. Through lots of trial and error, I realized that I couldn’t purchase a pipe that was seamless (extruded), threaded on the ends, and also had an inside diameter that could fit a stock round bar tightly. 

I purchased all the beginning welding gear I needed. This included gloves, a welding helmet, and the FC90 welder by Lincoln Electric. I went with the flux core welder because it seemed like the easiest to use as a beginner, and I didn’t need gas to use it. I also purchased a new barrel (1” ID carbon steel round tube), plunger (1” carbon steel round bar), and two brace pieces (1.5” perforated carbon steel square tube).

Before I started welding, I prepped my metal. I had to sand my plunger diameter down by .04”, because otherwise the bar wouldn’t fit in the bar, because they had the same diameter. I was honestly surprised by how well sandpaper worked; it still took a while, though, even with power tools. I also used my angle grinder to cut a concavity into the ends of the square tube bracing so that there was more touching surface area when I welded it to the barrel. This was my first time using an angle grinder, and the first time I seriously cut metal. Lots of sparks. 

Now I am left deciding how I want my machine to look. I think that I have decided on starting with a quick and janky assembly of the machine using wood, just to test if it works, and it will also be nice to be able to disassemble the machine when I want to. This is opposed to welding the entire frame together and then having it take up a ton of space in the garage. 

I’m really excited to be this close to being done with this project that has been hanging over my head for the past 3 years. 

Concrete Pots

My Computer was out of commission for the last week due to a battery issue, which prevented me from designing and printing new pot molds. However, I was still able to design and draw the new molds, so that I could CAD them up quickly once my computer was back functioning again. 

I decided I needed new plant molds after doing some market research on Etsy. I found that most pots that were being bought were small pots meant for succulents. This works out for me because smaller pots require less concrete and will have a higher profit margin.