The bridge

The bridge.  Rhonda and I are on the bridge working to get across -  what does it mean to "cross the bridge".





To Rhonda and I it means a transition of working for someone else to independence and following our dreams. On one side is "a job" that dictates the limits to your financial path and schedule.  On the other side is "living our dream" in our case creating and selling our inventions. You may know this entity as "the man", but really its just corporate america.  Business is hard and employees are resources, like equipment.  Companies need to maximize every last bit of energy from their equipment before it wears out. As I'm sure your know, this means no 8 hour day, there is no leaving work at the office.  Remember that "gift" of a new company laptop?  Congratulations you can now be productive 24x7 everywhere you go.


Retaining employees is crucial and fear has always worked well. Fear of no health insurance. Statistics of how many startups and small businesses fail.  The stats are correct and many falter along the way, but to realize a dream you must act, fall down and then act again.  There have been hundreds of studies of successful entrepreneurs as to what is their secret recipe.  Is their IQ that much higher or did they have the trust fund to start with?  Books and movies about Bill Gates and Steve Jobs and Eon Musk and other successful entrepreneurs outline one and only one common quality that all these people share - determination.


Believe. Push forward. Create. Throw away that prototype that doesn't work and make another one. Do all that you need to do. Surround yourself with people who are also on the bridge.  Long ago Rhonda's dad wrote her a note - it had 2 simple words: "you can".

Rafts and a new KidCap

It is only when my wife and I are in Starbucks and we do not have a sippy cup that our kids want something to drink, one of the small bottles of chocolate milks or orange juice or fruit blends.  That's when my wife said, "wouldn't it be great if we just had a sippy cup cap that screws onto those bottles?".  KidCap was born and today we have patented, sourced manufacturing costs and continue to work on a path to market for our product.

The other day, I had discovered a new supplier for the silicone valve I use in KidCaps.  A smaller version with more possibilities.  That meant creating a new CAD file to fit the smaller valve and 3D print a test.

Lesson 1.  If it didn't print correctly the first time the second time will be the same.  I can't believe I tried it again!  The inner stem of the cap doesn't get connecting in the print until later on.  The problem is the inner stem was falling off the print bed during printing before I could get to that point.
Lesson 2.  If something isn't working, don't do the exact same thing.  Ok I know that's the same as lesson 1 but it's an important one.  I knew about 3D printed rafts ( a layer of plastic you print down first and then print your object on top of ) but had never tried them.  It worked great the first time.  The inner stem stayed put and final cleanup of the raft was easy.

Next steps for us on this product?  Reduce the plastic consumption, print and test the new valve and then sell on Amazon, printed right from here.

...be sure to look for future posts on self manufacturing...