Mythbusters, Tech Shop and Hot Stamping

4/8/2013

Think back to when you were young. Do you remember that feeling of having a childhood hero? Did you ever want to meet them, or share something you created? Something you have in common?

Alright, so we are not children any more, but we definitely still have people whose work inspires us. Some of these people include Jamie and Adam of MythBusters. They build things and blow them up. We build things and (try to) avoid them from blowing up. Generally, the show is entertaining and not unlike the day to day life at the roastery. So, seeing as how they are really cool, and Bay Area locals, we thought we'd nerd out a bit and send them a myth and some coffee, and in return we received this post card in the mail.

Jamie and Adam. Sweet! Thanks guys!

We were ecstatic upon receiving the card and even more flattered by the compliment. These guys enjoyed something we crafted on equipment that we modified, created, built, and manufactured, and it's these guys' job to modify, create, build, and manufacture (and blow things up). Receiving this card was liken to that feeling of connecting with a childhood hero on a common ground. Kind of makes you feel like a kid again.

In case you were not aware, we build and modify most our equipment ourselves. It's the behind the scenes work that most are not privy to, yet shape and define our business as a whole. A lot of that work is done at the Downtown San Jose TechShop. Many of our more physical ideas come to life at the TechShop, and the idea to send some of our coffee up to MythBusters started there. At TechShop there is a video of Adam Savage where he speaks of this miraculous play land for makers of things, and we thought "Hey! Those guys ought to like coffee, we should send them some of our stuff!" This is our common ground, and we thought we would share a few of our projects with you.

This is our awesome hot stamp machine. This is the tool we utilize to transfer the unique and enticing graphics and images created by San Jose's talented artist, Benjamin Henderson. The machine needed some custom parts, and a specialized die holder.

So, here we have Patrick fabricating the piece that we needed custom made to hold the plates. Nice machining there.

Patrick hand stamping some bags after all is said and done.

Maybe you recall the tables used at the Mock Barista Competition. Here we have Hiver measuring out the lengths of square stock steel to exact competition standards.

And using the power of lightning, we were able to MIG weld these sturdy, and relatively light weight tables, making multiple pieces of metal, into three metal tables.

Of course, sometimes a bit more precision is required, so TIG welding is the desired option for those instances.

You might recall Cafe Stritch and the custom powder coat we gave that La Marzocco Linea, amongst other modifications. Thanks to the powder coat booth and oven at TechShop, it was a pleasure to undertake the endeavor.

Although we love metal and melting it together, we love woodworking as well. We have been able to make handles for espresso machines and some custom parts for our roaster using the wood lathe.

The TechShop has always been there for us in our metalworking, woodworking, and other crafty needs. Located just a few blocks from our new downtown location, getting repairs, modifications, and builds finished will only be more convenient and make it far less likely for us to blow things up. We are incredibly fortunate to have access to this place and hope you all can experience it for yourself.

Cheers!