Miele Man

Hey there DD.

Aren't you concerned about possible strength loss in those Campy brake levers? i can see drilling holes in the front of the levers but in the sides? I'd be concerned about them snapping in a panic stop.

I don't even want to think about what could happen if that drilled out seat post ever failed whilst the bike was being ridden.

Looks good though.

Cheers

nesteel 

How many pieces of broken drillium have you seen? I can only think of two off the top of my head; rear derailleur and a crank arm.

Drillium Dude 

No concerns about anything but the seatpost, which is why I'll be removing it for riding in the spring (as noted). The brake levers were originally SR and the holes were simply made a bit bigger and then opened up for the 3 slots down the center of the lever. Plenty of meat left over for hard braking; I've used them before.

DD

exmechanic89

Looking through this thread brings me back to that short time period when some manufacturers would drill components like that. Barely removed any weight, but definitely created a unique look. While I wouldnt personally want my stuff drilled, I can appreciate the work that goes into it. Pretty slick looking for sure.

Drillium Dude 

Honestly, the look is the main draw IMHO. I think even back in the day, with everyone pretty much running Campy NR or SR, people just wanted some individuality, to personalize their rig a bit.

DD

Otis

Honestly if you grabbed a brake lever with enough force to break it, you are going to be on the ground anyway That's not how you slow down/stop a bicycle.

The seat post, I'd admit I'm not keen on the idea of drilling through them. For safety's sake and really just the aesthetics which do not work for me. But I will say the wall thickness on the 2-bolt Record posts is twice that or more of most modern lightweight posts. I would think a superlight Thompson would break before a properly drilled Record under the same circumstances. Of course I have no data to back that up.

repechage

DD going after ID degree, not a bad choice. Much has changed since I went to school, but being able to sketch really well.
Notes: Rapid Viz is often not rapid. Rendering is almost dead, but I like it still.
Take life drawing when you are comfortable drawing. Those who took life drawing early, hated it. I took it my senior year and had a blast. It was useful in indicating human scale and hands definitely.
I took jewelry making in high school two semesters, lots of tools and skills translate well to ID modelmaking and vintage part ornament.... ( talking like a designer again...)
I still do some, but I can't afford to very often, does not pay enough.

due ruote 

I knew a guy way back when who broke some parts - too long ago to remember what they were. He was far and away the strongest rider in the group and a machinist who couldn't help himself. I think he liked the idea of going right up to the line, only you don't know where the line is until you cross it. Multiple times.

rootboy 

I rarely use my files on aluminum. Ususally sand it.
But if you want to keep pins from clogging up the teeth of your files,
run the file across a piece of chalk before using it.

Seabass_First

Life pro tip!

Miele Man

It isn't the big slots on the front of the brake levers that i was concerned about; it is all those holes on the side. Are they on both sides of each lever? Did you also drill out the backs of those levers?

I'll admit that the levers look great but underr very hard braking on the lower portion of the lever i'd be concerned that there's not enough metal left to maintain great strength. That's what i'm wondering about.

Cheers

Drillium Dude 

Again, the holes were already there - I only opened them up a little with a 1/8" Dremel bit. Still plenty of metal left, and as Otis points out, one doesn't simply grab the brakes and slam them on (which may or may not provide enough force to snap them). I've used these brakes plenty before I milled out the post and stopped riding this particular bike. I'm not at all worried about them failing from use.

DD

Drillium Dude 

I'll try that next time I use my toothed files. Thanks for the tip!

DD

Drillium Dude 

In the next couple of weeks I'll be meeting with an advisor and then looking into UW's course in detail. I'm pretty psyched. My drafting/design work was done long, long ago in the early/late 80s so I'm sure to be learning all-new stuff when it comes to drawing (excepting sketching, that is). But that's part of the fun

DD

Miele Man

Thanks. I've seen many brake lever with holes in the front of the levers but before seeing yours I'd never seen brake levers with holes through the sides of them.

Cheers

iab

Nice.

Seems to be a lot of IDers around here. I've been doing it for quite some time now if you have any questions, I'm happy to answer.

Any idea of a particular area of study? Trans, ce, footwear, ux, medical, toy, furniture?

Drillium Dude 

Thanks - any info would be welcomed. I was fairly good at the old architectural stuff, but I guess I'd like to broaden my horizons. My brother in law is into computers (I'm not so sure I want to go that direction, however), so I've gotten the opportunity to pick his brains, too. I'm not sure yet as to what I may specialize in. I'm assuming I'll find out in which direction I'll go once I'm fully immersed in my schooling. I'm not familiar with TRANS, CE, UX - what are those?

Still taking my tentative baby steps here

DD

iab

Transportation. Cars and such. Those fellows typically come from Art Center or CCS.

Consumer Electronics. Most of those jobs are centered around Silicon Valley.

UX. User Experience. Computer interfaces is the largest growing area of opportunity. But you need to code.

Drillium Dude 

Thanks for clearing those up for me. Funny, when I was a kid I LOVED drawing cars. Hell, I still did it for fun into my first 10 years in the USN. I still have a lot of those old sketches.

I don't know how good I was, tho. Never could get perspectives quite right. I did what I thought was a very nice colored-pencil drawing of an AC Cobra and tried to sell it on Ebay. Nope. I guess I suck

DD

Seabass_First

DD:

I used to work at IDEO as an industrial designer, and rarely designed ANYTHING they are so research heavy... then i transitioned to a smaller studio where as a senior designer i didn't need to CAD much, i would work with people much faster and more fluid to help realize concepts... i would usually sketch things and they would work from those sketches.

Now i'm working in UX - mostly designing websites and web architecture... designing apps as well on the side. I never touch code (if i did i would be much MUCH richer), but I'm on a computer everyday, i usually "sketch" things in adobe illustrator and our Devs (developers) work from my comps (composites) to build the app/site.

DD, what do you want to do? I taught ID for years and students with a clear idea of what they wanted to do with the degree usually had an easier time. Not that you can't "explore" and grow as you go, but having some idea of what you want to get out of it is really helpful.

Lets say for example you are good with your hands, fabrication... you might want to focus more on prototyping and model making...

or perhaps you want to work at Trek designing the next gen of derailleurs... you will need to have pretty awesome sketch/CAD skills...

Keep in mind that these jobs are becoming scarce, hand modeling is being replaced with rapid prototyping/CAD ... design teams are becoming more stream-lined.

There are a lot of jobs in design consultancies, digital design, design research/strategy and (i think) packaging/toy design. In the late 80s through till early 2000s Consumer electronic was a big employer... but now you only need 1 phone to replace your cameras, music devise (and a million others things)

You sound like you are going to be a mature student so you might find your self managing designers more that designing... Ultimately whatever you do, working in design agencies/studios is a lot of FUN, and even the people that do non-design related stuff love it.

Drillium Dude 

Sounds like I should hit you up in PM for more details. I'm really just dipping my big toe, but if I had to pick a specialty right now, I'd think prototyping/model making if only for the hands-on, fabrication angle. But then, as you note, those jobs are going the way of computers and 3D modeling.

I would like to pick your brain a bit in the near future. I'm sure I can get answers via UW's program, but the horse's mouth is always preferable.

DD

Seabass_First

Yeah and even if your aren't as great at drawing/sketching you might make up for that with your natural grasp of mechanical/engineering stuff that other students are useless at (i'm mean its laughable really)

Bikerider007

This sounds familiar. Some people have to find that line and the only way is to cross it.

I would do the seat post. Not necessarily on a hard riding daily bike as I do calculate risk, but as mentioned, it's an aesthetic thing and worth it IMO.

I have broke a seat post bolt before so I know the danger, stop reading now if you don't like hearing a painful subject; the top of the post caught me hard and I ripped my sack about an inch long. I got up dazed and didn't realize how bad it was until I felt the warm blood running down my leg. Not to mention, part of the damage was self inflicted due to my instinct to the not let the bike drop, so of course I suffered more for saving it and had huge bruising.

iab

As a kid, my dream job was working for Pininfarina. I was certain I was going to design Ferraris.

Then I took a semester of car design. I am so happy I never designed a car beyond that class. So boring drawing the "same" thing hundreds of times.

repechage

That was supposed to be refinement.
After Trans 1, they move into interior design.