Things are happening faster than I can keep up with, everything is so cool.  I just don't have time to build all the awesome things I want to.  We've outgrown our current facilities and are looking to expand. We're hoping to hire on more help this summer and get our production ramped up too, until then I could really use an intern if anyone is interested in getting some real life experience with 3d printing, digital design, and project management.  Just use our contact form with the header 'intern'.

Where to start?  Well firstly We finished our first production level prototype saber vape and are now showing them off.  They'll be available on our Etsy store in the next few days.  They look amazing and are a must if you're into the Starwars franchise.   The electrical equipment was the most difficult part of the design, fitting everything into the saber and making sure it was safe and fast to produce.  Its been a big project, but with our circuit design we can build any shape someone wants not just light sabers, and make it functional, Yay!  I'm going to build a sonic screwdriver one next!​

Secondly, we're working with some local companies to develop some really cutting edge industrial electrical wiring equipment.  This is a BIG one.  The models are in design phase right now and when they're ready we're going to be fabricating the prototypes machines right in our own metal shop for field testing.  I'm really excited about this one because it's capable of literally making the world a little bit of a better place.  What more could you want?

And the biggest and possibly the best?  We've developed a breathable plastic.  It lets lots of air in but holds back fluids.  This one is amazing, friggin amazing.  It's been through field testing with great success and we'll be patenting it this month then revealing it.  :D

Ok, time to check the printers and design some more awesome into the world!

So it's been almost a month since the printer lit up and came to life.  So much, so very, very much has happened...

We were swamped with so many orders in just a few days that we bought the parts to build two new printers.  The new printers are now in the shop being built.  They're fully custom builds, designed and engineered by yours truly, because they need to be big, really big.  I'll post the builds on this site as they come along.

We built a special, low temp heater to house and speed the painting of our products and to help keep our printable plastics completely dry.  Here she is assembled with the paint drying.  A small propane burner sits in the bottom under the a heat guard, shelves sit in it all the way up and the door closes with wee little magnets.  Ill grab some more pictures this week and probably post it in the gallery page.

So far in the last 20 something days I've worked uncountable 30+ hour shifts and one really wild 76 hour shift.  The 30+ shifts I can do with no problem, I've never slept much, but during the 76 hour monster I had to run I took 3.5 hours of naps over three days. 
I've learned that it REALLY isn't work when you love what you do and let me tell you.  I LOVE this stuff.
I have a team now that helps me which is awesome.  My wife who has always been my primary partner is right next to me at the moment doing our taxes. 
Some of her friends have volunteered to help with things like painting, modeling, and wonderful ideas which makes a HUGE difference in how much I can produce.  (Thank you Sheryl, and Kaitlyn!)
And one other VERY important person whom YellowFox will be introducing later this year if I'm lucky enough to make the money to hire them.
I have a close friend that's a professional photographer who has agreed to come over and take some slick photos of our stuff so that's awesome :D

The orders just keep rolling in which is great, but I think what amazes me more is how fast those orders are rolling out.  I'm always 3D modeling, printing, updating, welding, plasma cutting, soldering, designing a circuit, etc. and I couldn't be happier.  I try to take time off, but all I want to do is build more awesome amazing stuff. 
Right now we all just have so much work that we're trying our best to keep up until we can hire more help and get into a bigger shop.  So many Awesome things to build!  /Flail

Okay, emails need to be sent to customers, circuits need to be designed, parts need to be modeled, frames need to be welded... YAY!  (Sometimes I like to pretend I'm engineer on a federation ship.  I might install Jeffery's tubes in the shop lol).

...Ima go build a blaster... 

I turned on the 3d printer last night for the first time.  It beeped and buzzed and sputtered to life.  Then came the 'What the hell is broken' phase...  I hate that phase. 

It had a busted thermistor which is a wee little resistor that helps sense temperature and I can't get my extruder motor to work, which after testing seems to be due to the control board...  Joy. 
I need to step back from it.  I want to use it so bad I'm getting frustrated with it. 

So I'm going to start work on a Zerg Symbol I've been commissioned for.  I'm thinking a cool back list steel hanging piece is what I want to aim for. 

Time to start the graphic design phase.

I'll get back to the 3D printer this weekend :/

So not long after I decided to switch over the company model to, well, doing what I friggin love a lot has happened. 
First off I got about 18 orders for custom gear in 48 hours...  That was jaw dropping.  In 18 months I'd only had two repair jobs and neither of them payed :/  Now I have more than I can do.  I'm not making very much from the work, but I'm enjoying the hell out of making every single thing. 
I was like "You want Boba Fetts helmet? Uh yeah I want to make it!  Oh you want a lamp that Artistically looks like Matt Smith?  Hells yeah I make that!  A Zerg symbol made out of steel?  You know it! 
And the list goes on.  I've spent so much of my life doing the geeky things, from AD&D way back in the day to every video game I could get my hands on to anything Science fiction or fantasy that I never really understood that there were a lot of other people out there that were crazy for this stuff.  I mean you see it on the internet in forums, and photos, but you never really realize how many of us love this stuff.

Then something totally unexpected happened.  Someone invested in the company.  A good friend of mine that had been cheering me on since day one showed up in my shop with a mysterious box and an excessive amount of excitement.
Now I have a 3D printer!

Yellowfox is going to be at the Motor City Comic Con if all goes well.  :D

Well after two years I find myself in an interesting position. 
In the last year I've been getting a lot more work building replicas and prototype models than I have repairing or building industrial equipment.
This feels weird because I REALLY like what I've been doing lately and when you really like what you do for a living you feel like your just being lazy.
So after a lot of thought I've decided to switch the focus of the company from what I originally devised to what I find myself actually doing.
Hope this works out O.o

So my best friends mother Ester had heart troubles...  Well that's not really accurate, she had three of the 4 highways in her heart all jammed up so that she had a blood flow of like 30% of normal. 
What would make me fall down and cry like a wee baby made her decide to see a doctor AFTER she was done mowing her lawns!  yes plural, on a 90 degree day.

Anyhoo  after her doctor was done trying to figure out how she was conscious let alone doing physical work she had an emergency surgery to put three stents in her heart. 
Ester was out of the hospital in the next few days and back home, which was awesome, because she's awesome.  Buuuut, she had a broken deck.  Well not broken, but sure as hell unsafe to walk on, and REALLY unsafe if you just got heart work done.  Like fighting Ronda Rousey blindfolded while trying to convince her that the male sex is superior in every way kind of dangerous.  Not good.

My buddy, Chris, asked if I'd come over and take a look at her deck and see if I could fix it.  She was all set to look for another company but it would have been a big charge to repair the deck and since it was so old most companies would have just wanted to replace / rebuild it from scratch.

So to the rescue comes Yellowfox.  I came over to see how badly the deck was damaged, it was bad, and told her I'd be back next week to start work.

Since replacing the deck was out of the question, I knew I had to repair the deck and that was going to take a lot of labor time.  Because Ester is friggin amazing I decided not to charge for my labor, just materials. 

In the end I did get paid for my labor in a way.  I got some fresh cucumbers from Esters garden and she would sit and chat with me as I worked so I got paid in wisdom and vegetables.  It's going to look weird on my taxes hehe.

Check out the photos of the repairs here :)