Kris Bunda, Mix 2005 by kris-bunda

I get the feeling Harley Davidson guards their logo and branding designs like a Pit bull (rightly so). So I want to point out that these are not production designs, just ideas I put together in a CAD program in my spare time. Call the lawyers and tell them “false alarm”. Thanks.

Harley Davidson Logo & Eagle - 2 Piece Steel Wall Decoration

Harley Davidson Logo & Eagle - 2 Piece Steel Wall Decoration

Harley Davidson Logo & Eagle - 2 Piece Steel Wall Decoration

Harley Davidson Logo & Eagle - 2 Piece Steel Wall Decoration

Ginger is almost 4 years old and she can now write her own name! That is great news, and I’m very impressed and proud. But this development comes with a dark side. Ginger revealed two secrets today:

1) She can transmit written messages.

2) She knows the Russian alphabet.

Notice anything about this photograph (other than it’s adorable)?

Ginger Writes Her Name - In Russian!

How about now?

My Daughter The Spy - The Evidence Infographic

Your Writing Has Improved, Comrade.

See it now? She writes her N’s like on an old Soviet propaganda poster! It doesn’t get much more conclusive than that. The infographic might as well be Glenn Beck’s chalkboard: irrefutable. By the way, if you look at the infographic from the bottom-up, freedom wins.

Late Nights, Stealth Movements

Facebook Status Update

WTF? Walked past Ginger’s room and the light was on, she’s passed out on her bed on top of the blankets, and there are toys and coloring books strewn all over the floor. 3-year-old Stealth Partying.

I posted this on my Facebook last night. At the time I thought it was just an innocent non event. But this morning it Red Dawned on me that my 3-yr-old is staying up late to connect with her spooky counterparts. The dots are connecting themselves.

More Evidence: The Sailor Talk

Holly informed me this morning of the following conversation, which took place yesterday when the kids were getting dressed to go outside.

GINGER: “I can’t find my mitten, dammit!”

HOLLY: “What did you say?”

GINGER: “I can’t find my dammit mitten.”

HOLLY: “We don’t say that word. Say ‘rats’ instead.”

GINGER: “I can’t find my rats mitten.”

Where is she getting this naughty language? Sure, Holly used to curse like a drunken brothel madame, but we’ve both toned it down since having children. Hecky doozies! We don’t even watch our HBO shows anymore unless the kids are in bed. I’m sure she’s been learning the salty talk from hardened KGB operatives. Probably ex-sailors.

But What Intel Is She Gathering?

You know, I never gave it much thought, but Ginger sure is inquisitive. She asks a LOT of questions. But I don’t know much about anything, so what is she hoping to learn about? To get to the bottom of this, I decided it was time for me to start collecting counter-intel. Check out these documents obtained from my refrigerator:

This is a portrait of Jack. I assume Ginger is building household “asset” files on each of us.

Jack by Ginger - Mini Marker Board

Uncanny! But if this is part of a recruiting strategy, nuh-unh! Already got one kid, Russkies!

Jack Bunda - Age 21 mos - 1-3-2012

The diagram on the left is of a planet in water. On the right is a “Spaceman, who dives in the ocean”. What kind of plans have I stumbled upon? Ginger has taken a great interest in all-things-planetary lately. Holly even made Ginger and I matching blankets with planet patterns on them for Christmas. I hope NASA understands that I was an unwitting rube in the scheme to infiltrate them for their alien warp-drive technology secrets (or whatever). Unwitting Rube, I say!

The Spaceman and the Water Planet

And then there’s this rainbow drawing. If I had to venture a guess? It’s a map. Ginger is Code Name: Leprechaun (since she’s a “little person”), and the pot o’ gold is where her kickbacks for covert-ops is hidden. I need to get to it before she does so it goes into her college fund instead of a Polly Pocket spending spree.

Rainbow Map

Still, I’m not too worried about this whole Secret Agent lifestyle. We all do stupid things when we’re kids, right? She’ll grow out of it, she’s just going through a phase.

It should be obvious that I’m no professional photographer, but I did snap a few photos of the lunar eclipse, from the northern hemisphere, “Central” time-zone (Midwest America, United States, Iowa). The sun was coming up as I took these. The original jpg files were uploaded, so if you’re really interested, I’m sure you can get more specific data from the photo files.

This photo combination shows different stages of the moon during a lunar eclipse as seen from the Griffith Observatory; Los Angeles, Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011. (AP Photo/Ringo H.W. Chiu)

By Sudhin Thanawala | Associated Press / December 11, 2011

SAN FRANCISCO—Moon watchers in the western U.S., Hawaii and elsewhere across the globe were treated Saturday to a rare celestial phenomenon: a total lunar eclipse.

For 51 minutes starting at 6:06 a.m. PST, the Earth’s shadow completely blocked the moon.

The moon took on a reddish glow, as some indirect sunlight continued to reach it after passing through the Earth’s atmosphere. Since the atmosphere scatters blue light, only red light strikes the moon, giving it a crimson hue.

Lunar Eclipse Photos; 12-10-2011

I’m no lawyer. If you are, and this seems like a good idea to you, please let me know how to improve on it, and what next steps should be taken to try to turn it into law.

My Campaign Finance Reform idea:

1.) Only voters can contribute to campaigns.

• Corporations, trade groups, lobbies, unions, etc. cannot cast votes, so they cannot contribute to campaigns.
• They also cannot purchase advertising, travel, seminars, junkets, vacations, or other marketing-related products for elected officials. If these groups want to influence U.S. policy, they will have to inform the voter on the issues, not influence the official directly.

2.) Each voter (U.S. citizens over the age of 18) can contribute a maximum of 3% of last year’s Median Household Income to each campaign, annually.

• This should encourage lawmakers to focus on policy which helps the middle-class’ incomes to rise. i.e., if 2010′s median household income is $40,000, each voter can contribute a max of $1,200 per campaign. Of course, most households will not contribute the max, but also the wealthiest households will not be able to buy undue influence from elected representatives.
• All contributions will be public record.
• No non-voter may contribute anything of value (including money, goods, and/or services) to an elected representative’s campaign. Any other contributions to an elected official (not to their campaign, but straight to the person) will be considered bribery, and is a prosecutable criminal offense.

UPDATE: This guy (Lawrence Lessig) seems to understand the “root” of the problem:

Political Money and the need for Campaign Finance Reform.

Part 2 of The Daily Show interview:

UPDATE (AGAIN):

Here’s a great piece that points out the need for a Constitutional Amendment to truly achieve Campaign Finance Reform (It’s possible, we’ve passed 27 amendments in our young nation’s history).

Stop Being Cynical About Corporate Money in Politics and Start Being Angry

Citizens United handed our country over to corporations. Time to take it back.

—By Bill McKibben | Thu Jan. 5, 2012

Artist Dev Harlan‘s “PARAMENIDES I” is a “Hybrid Sculpture” that may induce hard partying; vomit.

Dev Harlan – “Parmenides I”, 2011 from Dev Harlan on Vimeo.

This picture grabbed my attention because it’s a reminder of a time when “Ginger” was a common name in America. It’s not a good or bad thing, it’s a Social Trending thing. It seems to me like there’s a lot of Sarahs and Mikes in my generation. In this photo’s time, maybe there were a lot of Gingers and Ralphs.

Clever Boy! [Photo - B&W - LIFE Magazine] Photo Link

Holly’s Kitchen Cabinet Blackboard

Seeing that photo reminded me that I hadn’t made a Designer post about our Kitchen Cabinet Chalkboard. Holly came up with the idea for a steel cabinet-side that could be drawn on with chalk, and hold refrigerator magnets . I wasn’t too sure at first; sounded like a dusty, chalky mess. But her ideas are usually good so I measured the cabinet, designed a sheet steel piece with screw holes in SolidWorks (CAD program), had it plate laser-ed out and powder coated. Then I brought it home and Holly painted it again with a couple of coats of blackboard paint.

We also bought some coarse-threaded screws (because some of our cabinets have particle board & veneer sides) and she paintd the heads with the same blackboard paint so they would blend in. This is done by pushing them into a cardboard box so they can stick straight up and be painted, then allowed to dry without getting paint all over a table top or work surface.

Kids with Steel Magnetic Kitchen Cabinet Blackboard design

Kitchen Cabinet Magnetic Chalk Board

Jack at the Chalk Board

Jack Dropped the Chalk

Here Comes Ginger

Ginger & Jack, Chalkboarding

Ginger & Jack, Blackboard Writing

Jack & Ginger, Chalk Boarding

Pushing and Shoving, Chalkboard

Ginger Screaming, Jack Pushing, Chalk Board

Ginger at the Chalk Board

Someone needed a high performance engine part shortened by 5/8″, so I measured the part with a micrometer and sketched it in SolidWorks so I could reduce the height of the piece for it to be produced in a CNC milling machine.

Fuel Pump Mount - Original Part

Screenshot Tutorial:

If you’re familiar with SolidWorks, you’ll be able to get the gist of how I modeled this part from the screen shots. You’ll be able to pick up on when I was sketching, when I extruded a solid or a cut, when I inserted a plane or a fillet, etc. If you are working on a project and think this model can help, but you’re unclear on a step, comment or email me and I’ll try to help.

Finished Model

3D CAD Modeling - SolidWorks - High Performance Engine Part - Fuel Pump Mount - 1

3D CAD Modeling - Solidworks - How To - Fuel Pump Mount Close Ups - 1

3D CAD Modeling - SolidWorks - High Performance Engine Part - Fuel Pump Mount - 2

3D CAD Modeling - Solidworks - How To - Fuel Pump Mount Close Ups - 2

3D CAD Modeling - SolidWorks - High Performance Engine Part - Fuel Pump Mount - 3

3D CAD Modeling - Solidworks - How To - Fuel Pump Mount Close Ups - 3

3D CAD Modeling - SolidWorks - High Performance Engine Part - Fuel Pump Mount - 4

3D CAD Modeling - Solidworks - How To - Fuel Pump Mount Close Ups - 4

3D CAD Modeling - SolidWorks - High Performance Engine Part - Fuel Pump Mount - 5

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A very nice person contacted me and asked me to design a round vent cover for her kitchen. Unfortunately I started getting super busy at work right after that, and didn’t feel inspired to do CAD at home after a full day of doing it at work. I finally made a few round grate designs recently, and plan on adding more here soon.

Star

Sunflower

Arrowhead 1

Arrowhead 2

Arrowhead 3

Arrowhead 3.1-Rounded

SunRays

I made this draft of a U-Bolt Rack over the weekend because someone at work thought it might be useful and more efficient as a station on the assembly floor. I don’t think we’ll use or improve this design, so I figured I’d post it on here for the great benefit of humanity.

It’s way over-built with mortise and tenon joinery that would require a tube laser to create. I was thinking about putting 6″ heavy duty casters on the bottom, but this thing weighs as much as a car fully loaded with bolts, so a skid loader would be used to move it around.

U-Bolt Cart - No Racks

U-Bolt Cart - With Racks

U-Bolt Cart Close-up

The rack modules are adjustable since they can be fit into other slots and specialized modules could be designed and fabricated (like boxes or hooks or shelves), along with the various sized U-Bolt racks pictured below. If you’re wondering what the handlebar-mustache looking plate is on the front of a couple racks, I was originally thinking of a much lighter-duty rack that would be moved with a skid loader often, so it’s got retainer bars to hold bolts better in case of jostling.

U-Bolt Rack Module Set

U-Bolt Rack Module Set - Back View

PDF: Draft Version Drawings

View the PDF of the U-Bolt Cart’s preliminary drawings.

U-Bolt Cart DRAFT Drawings - Kris Bunda