Slingshot Testing Soon!

This week has been very interesting, we’ve been wanting to test the speed of ammo when fired from the Y-Shot Slingshot, so we setup a testing area in the shop. The setup uses a mechanical release to fire the slingshot and a chronograph to measure the speed. We ran into a problem with the chronograph, it would not work indoors because of the fluorescent lights in the shop.
We need an indoor testing area so we can control the temperature of the room and avoid wind and other variables. We found an accessory that uses infrared LED’s to give the constant light source the chronograph needs to work. We plan to test many different bands and record the speeds compared to our current slingshot bands. The setup is working very well, now that we have the chronograph lights, and we will be testing the bands soon.

Thanks for Reading,
Daniel Helms

"Looking down the barrel" of the slingshot.
“Looking down the barrel” of the slingshot.

Slingshot Test Area

Slingshot Test Area

Simpler is better – New Towel Holder design

Hello again!

You might have read about the towel holder a while back. It is a smart design, as it is a very simple product that solves a problem in an elegant way. However, it is pretty big. This drives the production costs up, and might also be unwanted in a camping situation when you carry your own gear between camp sites.

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So what we wanted to do was to slim it down as much as possible, even if that required removing some functionality.

PC Solo 450

The new design is about as slim as it gets. It has only one towel slot, and no slot for sponges. The slim shape makes it easy to room many towel holders in a small piece of sheet, which in it’s turn makes it cost effective in production. It also makes the holder easier to carry around on the outside of your pack, for when you need something to get dry while you’re walking. It comes with a carabiner, so you can attach it to just about anything. but you could also pull a cord or a strap straight through it.

Keep an eye out at the Montie Gear Webshop, it might be available sooner than you know!

/ Robin

Logo 450lightCarabiner 450

Paintball Marker Stand

Hey Y’all,

Over the past few weeks we have been working on a Paintball Marker Stand. This stand can be broken down into three pieces using the pins on the sides of the stand. The marker is supported by the U-Shaped cut out in the back of the stand and the Slot in the front of the stand. The sliding cylinder, seen in the middle of the stand, allows this stand to support the marker and prevent it from falling forward and out of the stand. This slide also allows the stand to work with multiple markers. Everything is going well and we should be trying out a prototype soon.

Thanks for Reading,
Daniel Helms

Paintball Stand Render 1.WITHMARKER

Paintball Stand Render 1.WITHOUTMARKER

Paintball Stand Render 1.FRONT

Paintball Stand Render 1.BACK

Parts!

We (the interns) went on a field trip this monday, to ADR Hydro-Cut. They do water jetting, and while we were there they cut out sheet metal parts according to our drawings.

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The parts arrived yesterday, so we grinded the tangs of and threw them in the washer for a couple of hours to smoothen out some sharp edges, and then they were pretty much ready to go.

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Spent a couple minutes putting it together, and it looks and feels great! I might make some minor adjustments to the drawings, adjusting the angle of the paracord braiding, and I also have to figure out how the braiding itself is done in the best possible way.

Apart from that though, they’ll be ready for anodizing/powdercoating. And with that, we’ll have a product!

/ Robin

Ball dispenser sent off for prototyping

Hey!

So the belt clip ball dispenser is finally coming together. After testing more mock-up models the decision was taken not to use any plate or similar to separate the balls from the magnet, as more than one kept falling off when trying to pull only one off. Instead the magnet will be coated with a durable finish and the balls will be in direct contact with it. This simplified the design significantly, but put increased the demand on the aesthetic form of the back plate, as this now became the mail feature of the whole product. A simple plate can have many different forms:

assembly

One option was to add a top bumber to create a feeling of better encapsulating the balls, as well as giving more depth to the product. Unfortunately, the manufacturing complexity of adding this feature was greater than expected. As this would drive up the cost of the product a lot the decision was taken to put this feature on hold for now.

As for the final design the initial round magnet was kept and the plate form includes some curved lines to follow the magnet while still keeping some edges to go with the rectangular belt clip. After quite a bit of struggle finding a good form, this one actually feels pretty obvious I would say! Let’s just hope the prototype will look just as good!

Have a good weekend!

/Richard Boden

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Dispeser, round, belt.210 copy

Whisker Biscuit Mount For Y-Shot Update

Hey Y’all,

This week I’ve made some progress on the Whisker Biscuit Mount for the Y-Shot. When the Whisker Biscuit arrived there were a few problems with the dimensions but, those were worked out pretty quickly. I made a quick model from PVC and we did some testing with it. Everything went great and I’m working on the aesthetics of the design. A prototype is in the works based on the rendering in the pictures but, the design might change some more.

Thanks for Reading,
Daniel Helms

Whisker Biscuit For Y-Shot Front

Whisker Biscuit Mount For Y-Shot Back

 

Whisker Biscuit Arrow Rest Distance Test Medium Quality Video

Montie Gear Y-shot Wrist Adapter – Robin

Hello everyone!

My name is Robin, and I’m the next summer intern in line to introduce myself. Just like Richard, I’m an Indutrial Design Engineering student from Chalmers University in Sweden, and just like Richard, I’ve started working with accessories for the Y-shot. My main project so far has been a wrist support. This will unload the stress on the wrist, which can be significant if you’re shooting a lot or if you’re using a strong rubber band.

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I tested a few mock-ups to get an approximation of the right dimensions, and to make sure that the side brackets wouldn’t get in the way of the hand.

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Since the Gloveshot has a similar function to the wrist adapter, and the same design language as the Y-shot, it was my main inspiration during the sketching process.

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I finished the drawings for the prototype a couple of days ago, so now we’re just waiting for the side brackets to arrive. Can’t wait to put it together!

To be continued.

/Robin

Coco’s Campfire Bench and End Table Concepts

A bench needs an end table. Coco has been hard at work on putting together the design for the matching end table. Here are the results.

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The wings on either side are a place to put personal items, maybe a book or a flashlight. The top surface can hold a plate, drinks or cell phone.

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Putting it all together makes for a comfortable evening by the fire.

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Podcast: Rapid Prototyping Options

Morning,

Please join the discussion about Rapid Prototyping options that are available for us to use in building your prototypes.

Rapid Prototyping Options

Cheers,
Montie

Weekly Podcast: I Just Need A Protoype

I Need A Prototype

Inventors often come to us and say “I just need a prototype.”  Lets take a look at how we can get that prototype to you.

Internship Update

The Making of the Survival Hatchet

I’m Daniel Lecky, a 2012 graduate from NCSU College of Design, and I am an intern here at Montie Design. This project was an idea I had to add to the line of Montie Gear products. Introducing, the Survival Hatchet! It is a 10.6″ long Hatchet with a long para-chord wrapped handle with a knife, magnesium and flint for fire starting and a whet stone for sharpening the blade, all concealed in the hatchet’s sheath. Below are a series of sketches and images from conceptual to ideation to modeling stages.

Here I thought of concealing a spear head along with fishing wire and matches within the handle but it would be too awkward to get to everything quickly and comfortably.

 

The blade is too large and there is a concern about stability with there being such a sharp angle right under the blade.

 

Solving the stability issue, this new version of the hatchet has a unique angle to the handle and a solid look.

 

These are a series of Sheath sketches to determine how the knife and assorted survival stones can be packaged together.

 

Here is a print out of the 3D model with sheath sketches. The sheath is drawn on top of the drawing with specific components labeled and sent off to a leather shop to construct the case. However, the hatchet was too heavy and bulky. Redesign!

 

The Survival Hatchet! It is much slimmer, weighing 1.45lbs as opposed to the previous 2.4lbs, yet still very solid and structurally sound. There are spaces provided for a Carabiner clip or rope to loop through to carry the hatchet. There are also small holes for the paracord to tie through.

Montie Design Expands Product Realization Toolset with Addition of Rotational Molding

(Morrisville, N.C.) Montie Design, an innovative concept-to-marketplace product design and development firm, has expanded its product realization toolset with the purchase of a rotational molder. The new equipment allows the firm to produce prototypes of small rotationally molded parts and follow up with limited production runs of client parts. Continue reading “Montie Design Expands Product Realization Toolset with Addition of Rotational Molding”