Sixsmith & Co. is hosting a free Blender Quick Start workshop on Thursday, February 9th at 6:30pm. This goal of the workshop is to get you up and running with Blender quickly, and learn how to model 3d objects from scratch and well as import and export 3d models.
Blender is a free 3d modeling software that is fairly powerful to use, but has a daunting interface. Our goal is to break through the interface barrier by quickly creating models and defining a process where the focus is on the development of our model, not the menu system.
More information about Blender along with downloads are available here: http://www.blender.org/
Just show up at 6:30. Bring your laptop with blender loaded on it and we’ll have some pizza and make some models.
Sixsmith & Co. Alumni (those who have attended one or more of our courses), are welcome to borrow shoe lasts from our shoe last library free of charge. With over 300 pairs of shoe lasts, our library is extensive and varied.
Alumni are welcome to keep the shoe lasts for up to four weeks. To check out a pair of shoe lasts, simply make an appointment to come in by e-mailing hello@6smith.com.
I know. There’s been no snow. Not very New England-y here right now. But in the event we have snowfall, how can you find out if your classes have been canceled? Here are some guidelines:
-Check your email. If we shut down and there is a class scheduled that day, we will send you an email notification.
-Check this website. If we shut down we will post it here on our website.
-Check our twitter account at https://twitter.com/#!/6smithfablab.
-If the Lincoln/Sudbury or Concord/Carlisle public schools are closed, we will close too.
-If road conditions are treacherous for any reason, such as black ice or a hazard on Route 2, we will notify you and reschedule your class.
-If you are still concerned, call us before you come over. We’ll let you know if we have canceled your class.
If a class is canceled, we will schedule a make up class,usually by adding a week onto your class schedule. Weekend intensives will be scheduled for the next available weekend.
We were in need of some polyurethane for casting a project in the workroom, but couldn’t figure out what grade to order. We needed something very firm, but still bendable. That’s when we found out that Reynold’s Advanced Materials has a showroom in Brighton, MA. We were in the car and headed for Brighton before you could say Flexi-Foam.
Reynolds are the distributors of the Smooth-On line of products. They have castable silicones and polyurethanes, and they even carry other supplies like plaster bandages and waxes. The Reynold’s showroom is filled with samples, and they have free sample discs made from their products that you can take with you. Their sales staff was very knowledgable, and it turns out that you can get their products in 55 gallon drum sizes at a price break if you are doing a large-scale work. They even run seminars and training on how to cast using their products.
Reynolds Advanced Materials is located at 45 Electric Avenue and are open Monday thru Friday 8:30-5pm.
We’ve scheduled new men’s shoe making class. Learn to make a classic Men’s Oxford shoe. This course starts Monday, January 9th and runs for 8 Monday evenings. We anticipate this class will be very popular, so be sure to sign up early.
For more information and registration instructions, please click the FamilyID button:
Have too many small electronic parts for projects lying around? Want to trade them for something more useful? Come to the robo parts swap meet at Sixsmith on November 6th. There is no charge for entry and no general admission. Just a bunch of enthusiasts trying to swap, trade, barter or sell a few small pieces of electronics.
The meet will start at 10 and end at noon. Coffee and bagels as usual.
When we make a custom shoe last at Sixsmith, we start with a cast of a foot, then we add the shape of the toe. We use clay to sculpt the shape of the toe around the casting of the foot, giving us total freedom in the shape of the shoe. This technique enables us to understand how the shoe forms around the toes and works with the proportion of the shoe. We then scan the entire form on our Roland scanner and mill the form to make a custom shoe last. The shoe last serves as a basis for the construction of the custom shoe. We further refine the form on the belt sander and then additionally file it by before adding metal plates at the bottom to keep the ends of the nails from going into the shoe last during the construction of the shoe.
This last round of shoe last making, we decided to use Audodesk’s Photofly service to save time in the scanning process. With Photofly, you take multiple pictures of your object, upload it to Autodesk’s cloud, and then receive back a 3d virtual world of your object.
We were concerned that the proportions of the shoe last might be slightly skewed by the process or incomplete, so after we output the shoe last on the CNC mill, we remeasured the shoe last, the original cast and the original feet to compare. All measurements were acceptable for our required accuracy. The only manipulation we needed to do to the shoe last was to resize it proportionally in TurboCAD, and cut extra data captured during the scan. There was no skewing and the scan turned was proportionally correct and easy to manipulate.
We wouldn’t scan small objects that need extreme precision–such as jewelry–using the Photofly service, but our initial tests show this might be a step toward an effective way to capture data from customers remotely for applications such as creating custom shoe lasts for custom shoemaking.
If you would like more information on our process, or to look at our data and custom shoe lasts, please stop by one of our open build sessions.
Sixsmith is happy to announce that we will be offering a women’s shoe fabrication class in Waltham at Studio Crossings! The class begins on October 15th, and runs for five Saturday mornings. We’ll bring the coffee, donuts, and all the supplies you’ll need. You just bring your creativity.
If you are not familiar with Studio Crossings, it is an ultra-cool creative co-working space located right in downtown Waltham. Like us, they always have coffee at the ready and really good wifi.
In this fun, hands-on course you will learn how to make a pair of high quality classic Women’s ballet flats or pumps. This class is ideal for the serious crafter, or those looking to get more involved in footwear design.
Studio Crossings is located at 14 Spring Street in Waltham, MA and is easily accessible via commuter rail and bus.
We’ll have “Made in the USA” labels available in the shop this week, and now would be a good time for a refresher on the rules around “Made in the USA” labeling:
Unqualified “Made in U.S.A.” labels
A label may say “Made in U.S.A.” only if the product is made completely in the U.S. of materials that were made in the U.S. If a U.S. manufacturer uses imported greige goods that are dyed, printed, and finished in the U.S., for example, they may not be labeled “Made in U.S.A.” without qualification.
Note: The origin of parts of the product exempt from content disclosure (such as zippers, buttons, etc.) does not have to be considered in determining the product’s country of origin.
Products made in the U.S.A. with imported materials
The label must indicate that the product contains imported materials. The label may identify the country of origin of the imported materials, but it doesn’t have to. It can say simply: “Made in U.S.A. of imported fabric” or “Knitted in U.S.A. of imported yarn.” This disclosure must appear as a single statement, without separating the “Made in U.S.A.” and “imported” references. read more »
The Singer 29-4 is new to our workroom, but it is in fact an antique sewing machine. This original Singer treadle machine was manufactured in 1909, and works as well as the day it was made.
High quality treadle machines are becoming more and more difficult to find, as they are being shipped outside of the United States to countries that have limited power. This machine was made for heavy-duty use, and particularly shoe-making and shoe repair. We’ve been able to sew through at least two layers of 7/9oz. leather with absolutely no problem, and regularly use Gutermann heavy duty polyester thread.
The bobbin on this machine holds less thread than you would expect, so be sure to wind several bobbins ahead of time. There is even a cup at the top of the machine for your wax for waxed thread applications.
