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Published: Tuesday, 06 February 2018 14:11
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Written by April
As some of my close friends know, last year was a bit busy on the cancer front. I didn't get to do anything I wanted to with this site. As of right now, I am in the process of reworking the site to include 3D printed items that I can print from home, as well as possibly redesigning the 3D puzzles to use EVA foam as well has have actual rolling wheels. I have tried the foam in the past, but my current puzzle design did not support the material well. The foam is very sturdy and bendable, so I think it would be the best next step for the puzzles. Redesigning the puzzles means I would have to purchase new dies which is not super cheap, but we will get there.
I have also eliminated the vendor program for the time being. There was no interest in it really. If you want to sell stuff on this site with me, I think we can still work something out, but there isn't anything official anymore.
I will try my best to keep you all up to date as I move forward.
Ta ta!
April
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Published: Wednesday, 26 April 2017 13:08
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Written by April
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As you may have noticed, I have a few products in the store that are 3D printed. Not exactly sure what 3D printing is? Here is a little exert from Wikipedia. (source) "3D printing, also known as additive manufacturing (AM), refers to processes used to create a three-dimensional object[1] in which layers of material are formed under computer control to create an object.[2] Objects can be of almost any shape or geometry and are produced using digital model data from a 3D model or another electronic data source such as an Additive Manufacturing File (AMF) file."
Serisously, I love all things 3D. Thats pretty much all I do. And 3D printing is probably the coolest thing in 3D I have ever done. Up until now, I have outsourced all of my 3D printing from Shapeways. 3D printers were not within my price range. But recently, printers have gone down significantly in price. You can now own your very own 3D printer for around $200, and I'm sure they will keep going down from there. Obviously you need to take into account the detail and quality of prints, but if you just plan on making little plastic boats all the time, the cheap ones will probably do you just fine. So ya, I finally got myself a 3D printer. Not too cheap, and not too expensive, but something worth playing around with. I have already printed around 20 items and it seems to still be going strong.
So what does this mean for you? Well...I might be able to start making some of my 3D printed products right here from home. And guess what? It's a fraction of the cost of getting my prints done at Shapeways. My biggest seller is the cookie cutter, and it also seems to cost the most relative to it's size. I can print it on my printer no problem! I will still have to work out the details and test out my other products. Printing them won't be quite as easy as the printing process is much different on home machines than the industrial sized machines, But damn it, I'll figure it out.
More on this later. I hope you are excited as I am to get cheaper 3D prints!
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Published: Thursday, 02 March 2017 22:06
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Written by April
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I am starting my first full year with Short Track Sales and I think it is starting off pretty well. After a quiet winter, I was hit with 2 custom puzzle requests within a day of each other. You can definitely tell racing season is around the corner. The first one is someone you should all know....Tony Stewart. I know, right?! He is most certainly one of my favorite drivers. I love his passion on and off the track as well as his zest for life.
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Well, as many of you know, he is retired from NASCAR and is pursuing one of his great passions, dirt track racing. I had the pleasure of making his Rush Truck Centers™ sprint car in 3D puzzle form for the 2017 season. You should be able to find them soon for sale on his website tonystewart.com. I will also update the 3D puzzles page when I see they are finally for sale. I know what you are wondering, and no, I didn't get to talk to him, but the woman I was working with, Monica, was very sweet. I am looking forward to working with them again.
Quick story. Last year, when the World of Outlaws were racing at Wilmot Raceway, I sneaked over to the Donny Schatz souvenir trailer to show off my newly created puzzles. Diane was working the trailer at the time and seemed very interested in my puzzles. In fact, she bought some right there. What I didn't mention to her was that this was my first time selling the puzzles. I had been working on the design that spring, but had to put the project on hold due to illness. I finally got it up and running again in the summer and was dropping off my first batch to be sold at the IRA trailer the same day they were racing with the WOO. Let me tell ya, I was a bit nervous bringing it over to her, but it sure paid off. I was told I should stop at the other trailers as well, but I didn't want to overwhelm myself my first day out. I will get them this year! Anyway....this brings me to my point. Tony Stewart Racing owns Donny Schatz's car and that is how his souvenir team got their eye on my puzzles. It's kinda neat!
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Another big name you will be able to soon make 3D puzzles of is Bill Balog. For those of you who don't know him, he is a frequent racer with the IRA and he wins. I mean he wins a lot. They call him the North Pole Nightmare for a reason. The IRA has a solid group of racers, but he can out race them all. I firmly believe he is destined for greater things. There is a nice article where you can learn a little bit more about him on the Driver's Project. Read it here. He starts his first race of 2017 on March 11th at Lincoln Speedway, Pennsylvania if you wanted to see him in action. As with Tony's puzzles, I will update his puzzle info as soon as he puts them up for sale. In the mean time, here is his website, billbalog.com
I can almost smell the methanol!
