Archive Saturday October 27th, 2018

Debby experiments with balance

Debby is always in motion. She is tinkering with the idea to find balance of the cane that would make moving it from side to side easier. She took some pipe insulation foam as a handle, a couple of padlocks to place weight at the back of the flashlight, some duck tape and she is off!

Right now she is just checking if  not having to lift the nose heavy cane is actually offset by the back-end weight. Instinctively one would assume that he added weight would add stress to the wrist.

Well, Debby like to test assumptions and she feels that if you do not try, you really do not know. The picture below shows that the center of gravity of the regular blind stick is far ahead of the handle. That gives enormous pressure on the wrist to lift the stick.

 

The center of gravity of the back-end loaded blind cane is much closer to the handle as the regular one. What the effect in terms of comfort and ergonomics will be will result from further tests.

 

Test fitting Peter Hanley’s couplings

We are getting another step closer to the production ready version of the Marchena Cane. We printed Peter’s couplings and after some finishing we test fitted the couplings. The couplings fit well and after some strenght tests we managed to break one, so we will have to beef up the design a bit and tweak for even better fit and minimal play of the fibre glass rods.

For a first version from idea-in-Peters-head-to-design-to-print-file-to-print-across-the-globe-to-actual-fit it is quite an accomplishment.

This is what it looks like now.


Some more designs in Peter’s Shapeways space.

Peter is at it again! The Canelug 2.0.

Peter Hanely, our designer from across the pond outdid himself again with a very lean design for the connectors to make the Marchena Light-up Cane collapsable.

The previous design was a bit difficult to print with conventional 3D printers, it works very well for Selective Laser Sintering (SLS), but this Technology is not available in all corners of the Globe (get it?). We will use that design for special editions of the Marchena Cane.

This is very elegant and lean. I mean, does is get any prettier than thís?

This design is being printed now and after succesful test, will be available on our BYO page.


Our friends in the USA in action – We have the first coupling to collapse the cane

Peter Hanely from California designed the first version of the coupling for the project to make the Marchena Cane divisible.

This link fits onto itself, so the design is very easy to replicate for production. The design is also made in such a way that the current cane can be easily adapted. The VIB does not have to buy a new cane!

Naturally, the link will  be tested by our discerning VIB test team (Oh dear!) and improved on the basis of their feedback. 

The first step for enhancement of the Marchena Cane is there!

Peter has designed more beautiful things, you can admire his works of art on his shapeways site and download the 3D print files for your own project for a friend’s prize.

For the more technically inclined, here is the link to Peter’s github Project page.

VIP with self-made Marchena Cane V.01

Today Debby met a blind gentleman close to the EYE in Amsterdam. He showed his measure to make the Blind cane more visible.

Debby invited him to the Marchena Cane Reveal event at the Waag on the 15th, October. We hope to welcome him and his wife at the event. The more the merrier!

The gentleman allowed Debby to take a picture of his idea to make his Blind cane more visible.

So you see, the idea is not new and it is very much alive! 

Moral of the story:  Broadcast what the Marchena Cane can offer. The more people learn about the new possibilities, the safer the traffic will be for VIB’s!

This VIB makes sure he is safer in traffic with his own rendition of the Marchena cane V0.1!

Test Print on Basic 3D printer

We downloaded the STL files from the blindjedi website and printed them on a very basic 3D printer. If this works here, it works everywhere in the world.

The result is functionally fine, and the print quality is fine for daily use. All parts fit well and minimal after-print cleanup is needed.

  

First Marchena Cane Exported to the US

The first production Marchena Cane Prototype was sent off via DHL today. Our first customer is Sam of TheBlindLife vlog.

This version has a simple rechargeable flashlight with three modes; High, medium and Flicker mode.

In “High” mode the Cane is a beauty to behold and in flicker mode it can not be missed. We hope Sam will enjoy this modern day rendition of the nearly 100 year old Blind cane.