Category: Uncategorized

Rounding-Up Tool Exploratory Group

Yesterday we convened the first ever meeting of the the NYC Rounding-Up Tool Exploratory Group. I say "Exploratory Group" because none of the three of us had any idea how to use this tool and there's not a lot of folks around to ask so, as is necessary with many watchmaking tools and operations, we decided to just figure it out. A rounding-up tool (or topping tool if you're British) is a tool for cutting or reshaping the teeth of watch wheels.  As far as I can tell It was used primarily in the Read more [...]

printrbot GO – airline travel triumph

Part 1 - Packin' This is the blog post wherein I document the tragedy and/or triumph of traveling with the printrbot GO.  Follow along with me as I tempt fate.   So, I know the printrbot GO is like a suitcase, and I know I said I was totally going to carry it on a plane with me, but I kinda chickened out.  It doesn't help that I've gone to town on the embellishment, but mostly I'm just fearful of getting stopped at security and somehow not being allowed to carry the thing on and Read more [...]

printrbot GO – some experimentation, some sanding and a change of course

It's not clear at what point I decided that my Printrbot GO should look like a steam punk suitcase (I think I have to blame Plexus in part at least), but the goal of staining and otherwise finishing the birch plywood panels definitely adds a layer of complexity, not the least because I don't know the first thing about treating wood. I reached out to my dad and an old friend who works with wood for a living and also read up as much as I could stand to on various woodworking forums for advice on Read more [...]

what the frak is a RepRap? (THE FUTURE IS OUR DOOM)

RepRap is either a project (movement?), a community or a robot, depending on context. The project is the creation of Professor Adrian Bowyer of the University of Bath (UK) who, in a Keynote Address on the RepRap project in June 2006, set out the goals of developing replicating rapid prototypers: machines that could replicate themselves. More precisely, RepRaps had to be able to manufacture a substantial percentage of their own parts (built on Open Source designs,  licensed for free under the Read more [...]

what this is

The post title is perhaps optimistic, but I wanted to try to jot down a few thoughts about why I finally knuckled under and started a blog. I've written about watches since 1998 or so, with articles published by TimeZone, ThePuristS (now PuristSPro), International Watch (now iW Magazine) and Horological Times (website currently blocked by Google as containing malware, great). Since taking a full time position in the watch industry, this activity has all but completely ceased.  Conflicts of interest Read more [...]