mikejharrison

Biomim Technologies: Biomim Technologies Secret Business Plan

Wed, 12 Jun 2013 23:20:57 +0100

Biomim Technologies: Biomim Technologies Secret Business Plan:

Background: I run a manufacturing engineering company during the day, at night I design and build prosthetic limbs. I’m the sole funding source of Biomim Technologies Ltd.

The purpose of Biomim Technologies is to design and build biocompatible direct replacement body parts.

I believe that…

The high street shops have disappeared and it’s all my fault

Wed, 22 May 2013 21:12:51 +0100

Mum was eager to finish shopping and start the long walk home up Dartford’s East Hill. My brother was sat on the pavement, struggling with his shoelace. That was the trouble with our butcher’s shop. The sawdust on the red tiled floor needed to be piled into mounds with your feet, and you only had until the butcher stopped talking to mum, so you had to work fast, and sometimes it got in your shoes. Mum wasn’t a fan of our game, but the butcher never seemed to mind.

“Hurry up and get that shoelace tied, or Mum won’t let us look in Phillips toy shop I whispered to my brother.”

I liked looking at the bikes in Phillips, but my brother preferred the train sets. The shop keeper was friendly but always very busy, quietly wrapping things in brown paper for excited children. “Mum, one day, can I buy the yellow racing bike?” I said. ‘Maybe when you’re a bit older.’ she replied.

Alternately pressing your hands down on your knees helped when trying to climb East Hill. Your legs needed all the help they could get. I can only assume Sir Ranulph Fiennes employes a similar technique. It seemingly took years to walk home.

I don’t know when the butcher’s shop disappeared; I’m ashamed to say, I didn’t even miss it.

Presumably not long after that, the shop keeper in Phillips quietly set down his roll of brown paper for the last time and called it a wrap. What a shame.

Market forces dictate what’s on the high street. It’s merciless, and awesomely efficient. Put simply you use it, or lose it.

As I grew up, I didn’t use it.

But times have changed, just look at the upside. Now I can jump in my car, quickly pop to the supermarket, everything I need is in one place, and I don’t get wet in the rain.

In fact, my wife and I are far too busy to go to the supermarket; I’ll just go online and get it delivered. I don’t have to leave the comfort of my own home. I won’t have to load the kids into their car seats. I haven’t got to deal with anyone.

Our standard of living has improved.

Convenience.

Progress.

“Mike”

‘Yeah?’

“I was talking to one of the other mum’s in the playground today; it turns out she lives at number eight.”

‘OK’

“She’s really nice.”

‘Ha, you’ll probably find that most of the people that live round here are really nice.’

Except we don’t know.

The people either side and opposite are nice. The rest of the close, who knows?

Strange really, that people never seem to cross paths with the neighbours they share them with.

The trouble is, we’re so busy, and everyone else is too. I’m sitting here watching TV, and using my laptop – at the same time. I wonder what everyone else is busy doing? I’ll check Facebook.

Instant connection to friends and family, some great photo’s of what they had for dinner, but I’m still left wondering where the local community went?

It’s probably the supermarkets fault. They’ve destroyed our town centre, it’s nothing but pound shops. If we had a town centre, we’d still have a community. It’s about time they demonstrated a bit of social responsibility and were forced to give something back.

In fact, it’s the Councils fault. They have let the supermarkets ruin our town centre. They’ve done nothing about the traffic, or the parking. They never listen to us.

It’s ok though, I’ve heard that Mary Portas is coming to sort out Dartford high street, and if that doesn’t work then it’s all her fault.

But maybe, it’s my fault?

Maybe to be a member of a community requires some effort on my part.

Maybe I should have spent a little more time, energy, and money in my local shops. I should have realised that purchasing goods is more than just a monetary transaction. It’s a vote, for a deserving shopkeeper, who’s friendly service and warm smile I’d rather not live without. Or an investment in a young entrepreneur, who’s giving their all to get their fledgling business up and running, which I’d like to see succeed.

Market forces have improved the standard of living, yet seemingly reduced the quality of life.

When did I start passively consuming, and stop actively participating?

Oh dear, it’s all my fault.

Fortunately it’s not too late.

I assume i’m not alone in wanting to be part of a friendly community. So what can I do about it?

I’m going to use Feynman’s problem solving algorithm:

Write down the problem.
Think very hard.
Write down the answer.

I’m off to have a think.

Project M1 - Biomimetic prosthetic hand

Mon, 13 May 2013 20:33:18 +0100

I’ve been thinking about this idea since I was little, and I’ve been researching it for years.

I’ve decided it’s about time I made a start.

Aim high enough that people think you’re crazy - and you’ve got nothing to lose.

Watch this space.

At the risk of sounding like a complete crackpot…...

Thu, 25 Apr 2013 22:36:04 +0100

At the risk of sounding like a complete crackpot… I’ve been unable to stop thinking about a model of the universe for the past few days. So I decided to grab my Moleskine and have a scribble (photo above).

Essentially it’s a cyclic model. The universe comprises of two parts:

Observable
Unobservable

The observable universe

It has 4 dimensional space time x,y,z, & t. It started with a Big Bang driven by minimum entropy. Matter and energy exist here. Entropy increases as observable universe expands. The observable universe is bound by the particle horizon, which is constantly accelerating and expanding into the unobservable universe.

The unobservable universe

It has 4 dimensional space time, but the arrow of time opposes the arrow of time in the observable part. This gives rise to 4 dimensional space time -x, -y, -z, & -t (well it might, I haven’t completely made my mind up yet). Dark matter and dark energy exist here. It is bound in ‘size’ by maximum entropy, which occurred as the previous expansion of the observable universe reached the speed of light, causing a Big Crunch.

The cycle goes as follows:

Minimum entropy > Big Bang > Observable universe expands (bound by particle horizon) into unobservable universe - Arrow of time dictated by entropy increasing > Unobservable universe continuously destroyed by expansion of observable universe, until rate of expansion reaches the speed of light > Maximum entropy > Big Crunch > Unobservable universe starts to expand - arrow of time now dictated by entropy decreasing as unobservable universe expands, and observable universe contracts > Contraction of observable universe continues until minimum entropy reached > Cycle repeats.

Dark matter and dark energy influences accelerated expansion of observable universe, but its presence will not be found in the observable universe.

I might elaborate on these musings one day - It needs a lot more thought.

I might have fallen foul of this:

“The law that entropy always increases holds, I think, the supreme position among the laws of nature. If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell’s equations — then so much the worse for Maxwell’s equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation — well, these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation.” - Sir Arthur Stanley Eddington.

But I hope not…

How to link FreeAgent and Asana via Zapier

Thu, 29 Nov 2012 20:56:09 +0000

Thanks to the Zapier team, today we’ve improved our workflow by linking FreeAgent with Asana.

FreeAgent is a great piece of cloud based accountancy software. It’s simple, intuitive, and best of all, it doesn’t frequently demand your attention. Allowing you to concentrate on more important things, like growing your business.

There’s a 30 day free trial, which is plenty of time to bring yourself up to speed, from then on it’s £25 per month for a limited company. It’s cheap enough to test the water as a startup, yet scales well as you start to grow. Handling VAT, and Payroll for the first time was simple, and I’m no accountant.

If you subscribe to FreeAgent via this link you and I both get a 10% discount, you can’t say fairer than that.

To manage projects between the team we use Asana. This has got to be the simplest project management / productivity tool going. We can set up a project, assign each other tasks, and keep track of our progress, with almost no learning curve whatsoever. Their new inbox feature is great, significantly reducing the amount of email traffic between team members. And who doesn’t want less email?

Our previous workflow involved setting up the project on both FreeAgent and Asana. Now by using Zapier we can just Zap it there.

We use FreeAgent to drive the project creation, so, drag the FreeAgent icon to the trigger square on the left, and the Asana icon to the action square on the right.

Our trigger will be ‘new project’, our action ‘create project’, then just hit the ‘Create this Zap’ button.

Click the ‘Add your FreeAgent account’ button, give it a name, and log in via the pop up window.

Click the ‘Add your Asana account’ button, give it a name, and type in your Asana API key (which can be found in your account settings, on the API tab here).

To build the new project, set the Status to ‘any’ select your main Asana workspace from the drop down box, drag the ‘Name’ field to ‘Name and the ‘Ends on’ field to ‘Notes’. You can also type text into the ‘Notes’ field so you could add the following to be a bit more concise:

Ends on: {{ends_on}}

We can skip the filters, but it’s worth clicking on the ‘Click to load samples’ button just to check you’re getting the data you expect.

Click ‘Enable and start syncing new data’

Job done.

Now when you create a new project in FreeAgent.

The project automatically turns up in Asana.

Great stuff. Thanks Zapier.

Pumpkin Carving

Thu, 25 Oct 2012 07:03:20 +0100

Halloween is coming, so I thought I’d teach my son how to carve a pumpkin.

First, check out the pumpkin.

Get scraping, and create the outline.

Fine detailing with a small chisel.

Well done William, not bad for a first attempt.

1930's Semi-detached two story extension and renovation

Mon, 19 Mar 2012 21:09:49 +0000

Was meant to be out in the garden this weekend building my new garden office, but the weather wasn’t on my side, so I fired up SketchUp and started the design work for the house. Thinking about a two storey extension to the side (in place of the garage) and a single story extension to rear, fancy knocking through the existing living room and dining room and re-developing the kitchen. But how far can a 1930’s semi be pushed?

View of upstairs, extended third bedroom and the double size bathroom.

View from the rear of the house. Velux windows in the single story pitched roof to throw light into the living space.

Living and dining room knocked through, with furniture providing logical separation. The kitchen is slightly relocated and opens out onto the decking / back garden with the dining room table in close proximity. Great for summer dining. Small office / toy room and downstairs toilet in place of garage.

Bi-fold doors out onto the decking.

Fair bit of steel required. Think I’ll have to develop this concept a bit further to simplify.

Acrylic on canvas

Tue, 06 Mar 2012 21:03:00 +0000

Not a typical post this time. I fancied doing a bit of painting for some reason, so thought I’d scratch the itch and paint a picture of the grandparents.

Blank canvas, on special at hobby craft at the mo.

Sketched the outline.

First two layers done, Mr and Mrs Pink - hence the colour choice.

Second set of layers on, beginning to take shape.

Detailing and highlights done. Quite pleased with the outcome.

Job done.

Assembling the engine

Thu, 22 Dec 2011 21:40:16 +0000

Engine cover and mounts sprayed ready for assembly.

The metallic black looks great on the engine cover.

Engine cover located, gently gently don’t want to scratch anything.

Engine assembled.

Metallic drive sprocket, yeah, why not.

Rear wheel complete, now lets get that engine on.

I cut up some rubber strip to protect the paint on the frame. Engine mounts on, and on goes the engine. Perfect.

Next step, brakes and gears.

Assembling the motorcycle - first fix

Sun, 18 Dec 2011 15:14:34 +0000

Pressed the headset cups into the newly painted frame. Then in go the springer forks.

Both wheels go on. There’s not a lot of clearance on the rear, had to let the air out of the tyre to locate the hub in the dropout’s. I guess that’s what you get when you opt for balloon tyres.

Pressed in the bottom bracket cups, and in go the bearings and spindle. On go the cranks and pedals.

Petrol tank on, just need to make some spacers and retainers for the leather straps.

Brooks saddle on, and we’re starting to get somewhere.

Next step, I need to paint the engine and mounts, and fabricate a stainless steel exhaust. Right, I’m going in, it’s bloomin freezing.

Prep and spray

Wed, 14 Dec 2011 20:39:55 +0000

Plenty of paint stripper was required to get the frame back to bare metal. I then smartened it up by sand blasting.

A little bit body filler here and there to get rid of the water bottle and badge holes etc, and its ready for the paint.

Popped to the local paint supplier to check out some samples, and opted for Alfa Romeo Nero Black which is a nice rich metallic with silvery / gold metal fleck.

Paint applied to the tank, quite a few coats of clear lacquer to add depth. Thanks to my Dad for the cracking spray job, great end result, well pleased.

Engine mounts next, and I’ve got to sit and design the art work / pin striping for the engine cover.

Pressed in the bottom bracket and head set cups, and I’m almost ready to start assembling.

"I must say I find TV very educational. The minute someone turns it on I go into the library and read..."

Tue, 29 Nov 2011 20:53:00 +0000

“I must say I find TV very educational. The minute someone turns it on I go into the library and read a good book”

- Groucho Marx

Re-engineering the forks

Thu, 27 Oct 2011 21:25:07 +0100

Headset in, fits like a glove.

In goes the handle bar stem, and on go the North Road bars, upside down of course. I think they look much better like this. Not sure yet if it’ll make the riding position too agressive, I’ll have to wait until its rideable to know for definite.

On go the forks, but…..

Looks like I’m going to have to make a custom spring hanger bracket, as there’s no way the standard one will fit, its in line with the head tube.

Fire up SolidWorks, and get that kettle on, click.

Right, lets mark out this bracket and start cutting metal.

Rough it out on the milling machine, and I’ll shape the rest on the linisher.

It’s 8mm thick, so I’ll throw a bit of heat at it, and bend on the fly press.

Holes in, before I assemble with the headset I’ve got to find 8mm from somewhere, as I’m already using the full length of the steerer tube, and there’ll be no room for this too.

I’ll turn 8mm off the bottom step of the steerer tube, and that should do the trick.

Sand blasted the bracket, re-assemble the springer forks and head set, and we’re done.

Perfect fit.

Springer Forks

Wed, 19 Oct 2011 20:59:00 +0100

OK, back to the bike again, and onto the front end. Originally I intended to go for a nice old fashioned brazed lug style fork, but I was a bit concerned it’d become a bit of a bone shaker.

So, in keeping with the period look, I’ve opted instead for a set of ‘springer forks’. Hopefully that’ll soften the ride in style.

There seems to be a lot of variation here, the steerer tube length, OD, ID, and thread length being rather important. Quite a few phone calls, emails, and a bit of umming and arring and hopefully I’m good to go.

Length: 8”, OD:1”, ID:7/8”, Thread length 3”.

Wheel in, and fotunately all seems to line up nicely with the front Sturmey Archer hub. Brake arm fits nicely, might need a bit of gentle persuasion when the tyre goes on. Hmm, the steerer tube has got a step at the base, and the lower bearing track on the headset doesn’t fit. Back to the machine shop.

Project Harri-Haus Home Office & Shed

Thu, 06 Oct 2011 21:37:41 +0100

Whilst I’m waiting for more parts to turn up for my vintage motorcycle project, thought I’d make a start on the next project.

Inspired by Grand Designs last night, and Huf Haus, I decided to have a go at designing a home office and shed for the end of my garden.

Picked up some research on the way back from work.

First design draft complete. Looking for something a bit different, with a nice open office and a concealed shed.

Might start a bit of materials research and nail down the design detail further.

Drive chain complete, wheels on

Tue, 04 Oct 2011 22:17:25 +0100

Finally finished off the rear drive. After taking apart the rear Sturmey Archer, and rapidly putting it back together before the whole thing collapsed into millions of pieces (woh, theres a lot going on in there). I split the sprocket boss and clamp into three, so you can assemble everything whilst keeping the Sturmey untouched, probably best…

Now that’s what you call a flip flop hub. The sprocket fits snuggly underneath the brake arm, but there’s still enough clearance for it to do its thing.

I was a little concerned that the drive sprocket would foul the chain stay, but everything’s looking good so far. Well this is going rather smoothly.

Onto the front forks, the front Sturmeys in, and the wheel aligns nicely.

Well, I might as well start assembling the handle bars and stem so I can get the gear shift working.

Hang on, the new handle bar stem doesnt fit inside the front fork? Aww, I’m sure I ordered a 22.2mm and not a 25.4mm, where’s my vernier?….

Stem’s right, seems I have a fork with a 21mm I.D.?

Kettle on, Click.

Rethinking the drive chain

Fri, 30 Sep 2011 19:43:33 +0100

The ideas factory did its thing this morning, and a solution to the drive chain was born.

Quick mock up in 3D, just to check.

Engineering drawings produced.

On to the lathe, lets cut some metal.

Steps done, now for the boring bit (quick joke for the engineers) - I’ll try and think of some funny ones for future posts.

Turnings done.

It fits, horay.

Thoughts turn to the drive chain

Thu, 29 Sep 2011 18:28:26 +0100

My new Sturmey Archer AWC rear hub is a lot larger than the hub on the old wheel I used to align the engine. A bit of modification is therefore required. I might just get away with the PCD of the mounting holes if I’m lucky.

Hmmm, head scratching and a bit of chin rubbing ensues…. It’s a bit too close for my liking. Looks like I’m going to have to fire up SolidWorks and have a little bit of a rethink.

Kettle on, ‘click’.

First lot of parts start arriving

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 22:23:41 +0100

Finally the first lot of parts start arriving.

Cream tyres, lots of toing and froing, but settled for the 26” Schwalbe fat franks.

North road handle bars.

Brooks sadle, in honey of course.

Vintage style pedals.

Making the petrol tank

Wed, 28 Sep 2011 22:14:41 +0100

Sourced a great aluminium filler neck (beautifully modelled by my daughter).

Created the tank template.

“Measure twice, cut once.” Then promptly onto the TIG welding.

Tank welded and starting to look the part. Clearly not as interesting as Peppa Pig though.

Filing down the welds.

Mmmm, blended welds, looking pretty.

Tank done.