SIMON YUEN

ADX Portland

simon — Mon, 23 Jan 2012 05:04:01 +0000

Hi. I’ve been spending a lot of time at ADX for the past few months. I finally got around to putting together some of the work I’ve been doing there. Check it out!

Holiday Bike Drive 2011

simon — Sun, 15 Jan 2012 07:37:44 +0000

Last month I got to take part in the Community Cycling Center’s Holiday Bike Drive. It’s best explained in their words:

Every year, the Community Cycling Center provides hundreds of children with their first bicycles, new helmets, and basic safety education. It is a huge, community-building event that we work toward all year long and culminates in one amazing day in December.

For the past few months I have been helping to repair and refurbish an endless stream of donated kids bicycles at the Community Cycling Center’s shop, all leading up to the one-day event in which they are all given away. This was my first year taking part in it, and was expecting a room full of 500+ screaming kids and families going crazy over bikes, but it was one of the most organized and well thought-out events I have ever been to, especially for the scale. I worked as an escort, in which I walked families and children through the process of getting a helmet and a bicycle. It was really something special to see how happy the kids were to finally receive their new bikes. The previous day I also assisted with transporting all of the bikes from the warehouse to the event space. In all, it was of the best and most fulfilling weekends I’ve ever had. Check out the full set of pictures here and if you’d like please donate to the Community Cycling Center. Every dollar helps and goes towards promoting access to bicycling and its benefits through hands-on programs, volunteer projects, and a neighborhood bike shop.

Click photo for photographer credits.

Hey Yo Merry Christmas

simon — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 03:53:08 +0000

Last minute Christmas cards are a lot easier (and fun!) with a laser cutter. Thanks to Scrap for the material and ADX for the laser cutting.

Beef Weldington

simon — Sat, 19 Nov 2011 22:52:04 +0000

I practiced some MIG welding a few weeks ago, but am finally getting around to posting the results. I picked it up pretty quick but also burned through on one piece. Whoops. I’m ready to make something actually useful and also try TIG welding.

Bike Rack Model

simon — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 01:59:23 +0000

Here’s my first attempt at a physical model for my bike rack concept, made in coat hanger wire. Took about two hours to do. The model made me realize some flaws in the design and I’m currently working on another model.

Let Them Eat Rice

simon — Mon, 19 Sep 2011 23:27:19 +0000

I did a quickie project the other day, check it out: Rice Container with Spout.

Pittock Mansion

simon — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 08:36:04 +0000

I’ve always had very limited interest in visiting Pittock Mansion, which is esentially some rich dude’s house. But about a week ago, I happen to have a free ticket to go in, and given that I spent over a week not excercising and eating junk food while on vacation with my family, I decided to get on the bike and climb the 1000 foot hill to reach the historic house. Here’s some pics:

16.82 miles there and back, 965 exhausting feet of gain.

Bicycle Tool Roll

simon — Thu, 15 Sep 2011 07:43:35 +0000

Here’s my first attempt at a roll-up pouch for my bicycle tools. I’m still learning my way around the sewing machine, and I made a whole lot of mistakes, but I’m pleased with the results. Click on above image for higher res pic.

The fabric is left over scrap from a pair of Dickie’s pants I made into shorts. Tools from left to right: Spare tube, chain tool, air pump, self ahesive patches in a Band-aid container, cable ties, folding hex key set, folding pliers mulit-tool, batteries, tire levers, more cable ties. Not pictured: rubber gloves, spoke wrench, two hose clamps. Two lengths of rope sewn into the end provide a means of cinching it closed.

I use two knots to tie up the roll. First is a reef knot, a relatively secure knot that won’t slip, but still very easy to untie.

After the reef knot, I turn it over and tie a granny knot to tidy it all up. The granny knot unties very easily, but I’m assuming the vibration from the road isn’t enough to undo it.

Bonus! It stands up! Wasn’t expecting that.

I definitely learned a few things about sewing—and the limits of my machine! Don’t try to sew through elastic cord on a non-industrial machine—throughout the process. I’m looking forward to making my next one, made in a gorgeous two-sided vinyl (shown above) I bought at Scrap.

I think we can all agree this is a bit of an upgrade from my previous “tool roll” I’ve been using for the past two years, a tyvek envelope.

Wire Bending

simon — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 07:05:39 +0000

I bought one of these wire bending tools but never really put it to much use yet. I gave it a spin tonight and tried my best to model a bike rack. I’ve on and off have been coming up with ideas for a re-design of a rear bicycle rack. I’ve got a few sketches down so far, but I needed an actual physical model of an existing rack on the market for me to play with and to help with the ideation process.

So anyways here it us. The wire is from a coat hanger and the hideous gobs of yellow are hot glue. Not exactly the right fastener for the job, but it works. My original plan was to “sketch” with this wire to come up with different designs but I’m realizing the wire is just way too thick and isn’t quick enough to work with. It will be saved for more realized models down the road. For now I’ll have to find a thinner gauge wire to work with.

Learning by Failure

simon — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 09:11:51 +0000

Here’s some projects I screwed up recently. While making Jorie’s pencil stand thinger, I failed. A lot. Three times to be exact. I drilled through the wood on two accounts, and overall I was never comfortable with my build quality on all of them. Mis-aligned holes here and there, sloppy craftsmanship, definitly not up to snuff for gift giving.

The second is a hammock stand I mocked up. Doing a quick search online I really hated how every free-standing hammock stand I saw was unsightly and offensively large. I tried to think of a more elegant solution where one side is held with a tripod-like structure with 8” carriage bolts anchoring it into the ground, while the other was tied to a tree.

It didn’t work. At all. And even broke. A lesson in over-designing and over-thinking a solution was definitely learned, as my roomate suggested that I simply extend the hammock with a rope between two trees. At least I got to play with my neighbor’s chopsawthough, which is always fun.

Wrapping up, writing this reminds me of a wonderful lecture from one of my DIY and design heroes, Adam Savage, on the lessons of failure and how it has made him who he is. Worth a watch if you’ve got ehh… 58 minutes to spare.