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How to Meaningfully Use Your Mornings: Daily Rituals of Successful Creatives

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Whether you're a morning person or not, facts show if you want to have a productive day, what you do to start it off truly matters. We've certainly seen article after article dispel the secrets for those in the professional world about how to start your morning, but how specifically do successful designers and creative professionals—our peers—prefer to use their earliest hours? 

This exploration, for one, is about finding the best ways to be productive, which without question begins with an intentionally planned morning, but the other curiosity falls into maintaining a proper work-life balance. With many of us work 9-to-5 jobs that easily bleed into the later hours depending on our workloads, mornings are an especially valuable yet overlooked time to enjoy life and take the time to do things we all simply enjoy doing. 

To get some perspective, we asked 12 different designers and leaders how they start off their mornings right:

Tina Roth Eisenberg

Founder of Creative Mornings, Tattly, and Friends Work Here (New York)

When exactly do you wake up?

I am an early bird and get up between 4 and 4:30 am. 

What are the regular activities you get up to in the morning?

I wake up and the first thing I do is drink a giant glass of water. I stretch for about 15 minutes while trying to resist to grab my phone and look at Instagram and Twitter. Around 5 am, I make myself a coffee and sit down at my computer to do either deep thinking/writing work or to find items to post on my blog. Around 6am is when I start the morning tornado also known as waking up the kids and getting everyone fed and ready to leave for school. At 8:15 am I arrive at the office and enjoy 45 minutes of alone time before the office starts buzzing. 

Why are these rituals important for you?

The quiet alone time in the morning grounds me for the day. I notice when I get up late and rush out the door. 

Any advice you have for people trying to have meaningful mornings that help them get into their element for the coming day?

To me, it's all about not rushing and time to think and stretch. And, most importantly, not instantly jumping on my phone or computer. Which, I admit, I sometimes fail to do."

Dan Mall

Creative Director and Founder of SuperFriendly (Philadelphia)

When do you wake up?

I'm an early riser. I usually get up at 5 am every morning. 

What advice would you give to people trying to have a productive, meaningful morning?

After reading Jocelyn Glei's Unsubscribe, I start every morning with 'mission work' before doing any client work or checking email or social media. Mission work means work that advances your purpose in the world. If you do that first thing in the morning, even if you get nothing else done for the rest of the day, you're good.

(I also wrote up some thoughts about the rest of my calendar approach here).

Joseph Guerra & Sina Sohrab

Founders, Visibility (New York)

Sohrab (left) & Guerra (right)

When do you wake up?

Sina: I wake up around 8:30. I've never been a morning person, so for me it always feels rushed; like there's never enough time. 

Joseph: Similar to Sina, I wake up a tad later but I make sure I'm in the studio by 9:30 in the morning. I love sleep and prioritize it as a necessity for a productive work day. In the morning I prefer quiet while my brain wakes up.

What are the regular activities you get up to in the morning and why are they important to you?

Sina: I find that the most meaningful part of my morning is in transit, on the way into the office. This time alone gives me....

Read the full article including morning ritual insights from designers at Smart Design, frog design, Ladies & Gentlemen Studio and more on the Coroflot blog


Reader Submitted: Behind the Scenes of Designing the Moto Z² Play Smartphone

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Moto Z² Play is the second generation Moto Z Play, the thinner, lighter, faster smartphone that transforms in a snap with Moto Mods. It's the most affordable phone compatible with the Moto MODs platform on the market in 2017. It has great specs for an incredible value, and the design is an enabler to most of the low cost architecture and the high perceived quality of the device.

I was lucky to be the design lead for this program at Motorola, working alongside with the engineering, marketing, product, supply chain and all cross-functional teams to deliver the phone to the market according to our targets and expectations.

Designed from Brazil, in partnership with our design studios in Chicago and China,Moto Z² Playis one of the coolest projects I've done in my career so far!

View the full project here

Propelling Ourselves into the Holiday Weekend Like this Edorado 7S Speedboat

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For Edorado Marine, and in co-operaction with naval architect Peter Bosgraaf, Springtime developed the full-electric speedboat Edorado 7s. The Edorado 7S uses hydrofoil technology in order to decrease drag increase maximum speed and range. For the bodywork, we approached the boat as a GT sports car: powerful and elegant bodywork, with a highly refined and premium interior. Edoradomarine.com

View the full content here

Book Review: Digital Apollo

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We love David Mindell's Digital Apollo: Human and Machine in Spaceflight. Mindell's book tells the story of "human pilots, of automated systems, and of the two working together to achieve the ultimate in flight." From our perspective, the book explains the link between what rocket scientists in the 1950s called "systems engineering" and what the cool kids in skinny jeans now call "design thinking."

Whether we're designing the first spacecraft to land on the moon, or the first phototherapy device intended for use in a low-resource hospital, the key is to start with a very clear idea of success. In the case of a rocket, the system is only successful if it brings the astronauts all the way home. In the case of a medical device, the system on works if people are willing to use it and able to successfully treat patients with it. There is no partial credit!

Another similarity is the role that we as designers imagine for the users. In the Apollo program, the two primary metaphors for the astronauts were "cowboys or cargo." Would astronauts serve as the pilots of "dumb rockets" or as passengers in an autonomous vehicle?

As pilots, the early astronauts expected to have lots of instrument data and full control of the vehicle. Rocket engineers, on the other hand, were more comfortable developing fully autonomous systems. They realized that rockets could develop problems too quickly for the human response time.

Initially, [software engineer Alex] Kosmala pictured the spacecraft with one button: "The astronaut goes in, turns the computer on and says 'Go to moon' and then sits back and watches while we did everything." Another version has the computer running two programs—"P00" to go to the moon, and "P01" to return home. [David Mindell, Digital Apollo, p. 161]
MIT Instrumentation Laboratory cartoon showing the extremes of automation. Too much automation leaves the astronauts bored, awaiting an abort, while too little overwhelms them with work. (Draper Laboratories/MIT Museum)

The Apollo system was ultimately a synthesis that combined autonomous systems with human inputs. It serves as an excellent metaphor for healthcare. Do we imagine caregivers in low-resource hospitals as "cowboys" who need lots of options and the ability to override medical device settings, or do we imagine them as "cargo," overloaded with too many patients and not enough training and grateful for machines that can reduce their workload?

As designer thinkers, we see two options for guaranteeing our desired social impact outcomes with a given medical device: provide lots of training and incentives for appropriate behavior, or create product features that make a device intuitive and easy to use.

One framework for evaluating our choices in achieving design outcomes. 

DtM's overall philosophy of making medical devices "hard to use wrong" is really a statement about our expectations for users. In the same way Apollo rocket scientists realized that too little automation would place unrealistic demands on the astronauts, we see how medical systems that expect significant amounts of prior training and user expertise are poorly suited to the needs of rural hospitals in developing countries. 

Mindell's book includes loads of other ideas that have applications in social impact design. One is Apollo's approach of "all-up testing": only investing in tests of complete systems, rather than individually testing subsystems that might not work as well together.

Another is what the Apollo team called "configuration discipline": the rigorous documentation of system changes. The logic of any given design modification has a very short half-life. What seemed like an obvious improvement on Monday can be a total mystery by Wednesday. We want to manage the product development process like a disciplined experiment. To quote Adam Savage, "Remember kids, the only difference between Science and screwing around is writing it down!"

Fantastic book, check it out! And if you buy the book through the links in this email, Amazon will send part of the proceeds to DtM! [Digital Apollo]

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This "Design Experience that Matters" series is provided courtesy of Timothy Prestero and the team at Design that Matters (DtM). As a nonprofit, DtM collaborates with leading social entrepreneurs and hundreds of volunteers to design new medical technologies for the poor in developing countries. DtM's Firefly infant phototherapy device is treating thousands of newborns in 21 counties from Afghanistan to Zimbabwe. In 2012, DtM was named the winner of the National Design Award.


How People Around the World Pronounce GIF, Why you Should Avoid Making Assumptions About your Users and Donald "Duck"

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The Core77 team spends time combing through the news so you don't have to. Here's a weekly roundup of our favorite finds from the World Wide Web:

Chart showing how people around the world pronounce "Gif."

"The $100 billion per year back pain industry is mostly a hoax."

An interesting reflection on design thinking and the importance of not making prior assumptions about your user.

How to recycle an Airplane.

Zillow vs. McMansion Hell.

A tricked-out bike sidecar.

Oh, wonderful! Now we can be stressed about communication while we sleep. to think I was contemplating getting a Galaxy Note 7...

Interior design meets fashion this season.

Time lapse of ice crystals growing.

"Our food has a really, reallylong shelf life."

A lesson in branding.

Hot Tip: Check out more blazin' hot Internet finds on our Twitter and Instagram pages.

How to Build Furniture With Limited Tools

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Here's a prime example of "If there's a will, there's a way." Izzy Swan demonstrates that you don't need a lot of fancy tools nor a huge budget in order to create things. Watch how he creates a sofa table while spending practically nothing on tools and materials:


Design Job: Maximize Furniture Sales as Design Within Reach's Marketing Analyst in Stamford, CT

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The Marketing Analyst will be responsible for all reporting and analysis for the Marketing departments to uncover opportunities to maximize sales across all channels. Aggregate, verify, and analyze various data sources to provide customer insights, segmentation opportunities and standardized reports. Use quantitative analysis to develop actionable customer engagement initiatives; provide strategic recommendations that will result in increased customer loyalty and profitable growth

View the full design job here

You Can Shoot Drones Out of the Sky With a Confetti Cannon

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Remember this guy?

Johnny Dronehunter shoots drones out of the sky in style and silence, using a special suppressor-equipped shotgun. But as it turns out, you needn't pump hot lead into the sky to bring a quadrotor down; at a music festival in Canada, someone figured out a simple confetti gun is equally effective.

Of course there is a range issue with a confetti cannon, but at least there's no waiting list and background checks.



Furniture Finesse: How to Easily Create Pillowed Legs

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While the legs of any wooden piece of furniture often start out as perfectly rectilinear off of the table saw, sometimes that blocky shape doesn't work with your final design. Tapers are easy enough to do with a tapering jig, and of course you could turn them on a lathe, but here the Wood Whisperer shows you an alternative: Pillowing them on the show faces. This can easily be done with some simple marking tools and a block plane.


The Coolest Ever Outfeed Table

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Wheeled hydraulic lift tables have been around for years, but none are designed for use as outfeed tables for table saws. That is, until Malcolm McGrath removed the push bar from his and connected the release valve to a home-made secondary foot pedal.

The table works as before; pumping the main pedal raises the table and releasing the valve lowers it. McGrath planned to use his as an outfeed table and wanted to be able to lower it remotely. By lowering the outfeed, he is able to make multiple rips without walking to the back of the saw to move cut pieces out of the way—they simply "stack themselves" on top of the cart.

A standard hydraulic lift table—not the one McGrath used.

As originally equipped, the table had a push bar with an attached lever and cable for activating the valve. McGrath removed the push bar from his because it would be in the way and replaced the short cable with a longer one. 


The long cable came from a bike shop and is the kind used for caliper brakes. He made it long enough to reach the infeed side of the saw and connected it to a homemade foot pedal that opens the valve when you step on it. With the pedal on the floor next to him, he is able to lower the table while operating the saw. When he finishes cutting he can roll the cart of material to wherever it needs to go..

MOO Announces Business Cards Made from Cotton T-Shirts

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Business printing company MOO recently announced their latest project—printing business cards using paper made from recycled cotton t-shirts. Cotton paper is nothing new: As MOO Chief Product Officer Chad Jennings describes, "cotton rag paper is one of the older forms of paper manufacturing, but it fell out of fashion as paper made of wood pulp, a cheaper and more easily mass-produced alternative, grew in popularity."

In collaboration with Mohawk Fine Papers, MOO aimed to make use of the old manufacturing process in a new and improved way. By using recycled materials instead of new ones, they were able to bring the old method of creating cotton paper up to 21st century speeds.

For the project, MOO has also released a delightfully quirky process video showing the general process and mentality behind the new cards.

While cotton paper is still used for high end and even currency printing, the team at MOO has successfully developed a more practical version by simply using t-shirt offcuts instead of brand new cotton fabric. 

"Our Cotton paper, unlike more traditional cotton rag paper, is created by taking the remaining cotton when a T-shirt pattern is cut from a roll of fabric, something that would otherwise have been discarded, and transforming it into a pulp, which is then processed into Cotton paper."

The result is a naturally white paper that holds color nicely and has a luxurious texture. Plus, who doesn't love a good recycled product story?

You can learn more and purchase the cards here.


Famous Car Designs, Pixar-ized

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During a recent interview with Screen Junkies, Cars 3 director Brian Fee revealed an interesting scene that never made it into the movie:

"At one point, part of the story took place in LA and we had a scene where McQueen went to a Hollywood hills party and it was full of actors, and we had the old Batmobile and the new Batmobile talking to each other at a party."

That would have been awesome. What would those cars have looked like? As it turns out, a couple of talented artists had already asked themselves that question some years ago. Yasid Oozeear, a/k/a YasidDesign on DeviantArt, created the modern-day Batcar in Pixar style back in 2010:

Image by YasidDesign

That same year, Belgian artist DanyBoyz created this Pixar-ized image of the old-school Batmobile:

Image by DanyBoyz

Here they are mashed-up:

DanyBoyz also gave these other famous movie/TV cars the Pixar treatment:

Image by DanyBoyz
Image by DanyBoyz
Image by DanyBoyz
Image by DanyBoyz
Image by DanyBoyz
Image by DanyBoyz
Image by DanyBoyz
Image by DanyBoyz
Image by DanyBoyz

Check out more of DanyBoyz's stuff here, and YasidDesign's stuff here.


Reader Submitted: Beautiful Multi-Functional Storage Furniture Born from a Student Collaboration

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LIGAis a collaboration between Pierre Alexandre Cesbron (ENSCI) and Matthieu Muller (Design Academy Eindhoven) made at ENSCI Les Ateliers Paris during their semester supervised by Jean François Dingjian (Normal Studio).

Pierre Alexandre and Matthieu's works result in the possibility of creating simple, functional and poetic reflections where objects can talk for themselves.

LIGA is a range of storage furniture, comprised of a box, a bedside table and a coffee table.

View the full project here

How to Build a Simple, Effective Smartphone Projector

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Matt from UK-based DIY Perks shows you how to build his design for a smartphone projector. The design is impressive in that it leaves the phone out, making it easy to grab if a call comes in, and the construction method is pretty darn simple. I'd love to see this introduced as a first-year Industrial Design assignment, to see how students would incorporate ergonomic touches.


Mid Century Modern Find of the Week: Henning Jørgensen Five-Drawer Rosewood Dresser

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This Danish Modern five-drawer rosewood dresser was designed by Henning Jørgensen for Fredericia Furniture in the 1960s.

It's got beautiful woodgrain and the construction is high quality throughout.

Each drawer features a stunning streamlined lip and two carved pulls.

It's a rare find, on account of the material. We've found a few teak versions in this size, and a highboy dresser or two in teak, but never one in rosewood.

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These "Mid Century Modern Find of the Week" posts are provided courtesy of Mid Century Møbler, which specializes in importing vintage Danish Modern and authentic Mid Century furniture from the 1950s and 1960s.


Helpful Design Constraints vs. "Over-Constraint"

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If you design products, whether you're a full time in-house engineer, a professional freelance industrial designer, or a moonlighting inventor, you've likely come across situations in which there is no solution to the design problem you have come across. I'm not referring to a scenario in which you cannot come up with a solution; I'm talking about a situation in which no solution exists. Not sure what I'm talking about? Here's an exercise that will clearly illustrate my point:

Pick a number given the following constraints:
The number has to be from 1-10.
The number has to be an integer.
The number has to be odd.
The number has to be a multiple of 4.

Of course, there is no number that works. It isn't a question of your creativity; there simply isn't a number that satisfies all of the criteria. If you remove any one of the constraints, there are several possible answers. But if you need to satisfy all four, you're out of luck.

This is called over-constraint and can be very frustrating. When over-constraint occurs in a product's design, it can often result in an actual solution. However, that solution is far from ideal and comes with many issues. Luckily, you can avoid over-constraint and have a happy life designing great products by learning from the lessons in this article.

Exact Constraints

The theory of exact constraints is a simple one. It states that there is an exact number of ideal constraints for every situation. The idea number of constraints is one constraint for each degree of freedom that needs to be constrained. Any less, and your part will swing when it shouldn't or slide when it shouldn't, etc. Any more, and things simply don't work quite right. To apply the theory of exact constraints, figure out how many degrees of freedom need to be constrained. Then, constrain only those degrees of freedom.

Below are two examples of over-constraint and how to fix them:

Two Points Make a Line

You might have learned way back in math class that two points make a line. By the way, there is a condition for this to be true: Both points cannot be coincident (take up the same space). If you add a third point to the mix, it will unlikely be on the same line that connects the first two points.

While it is possible for the third point to be collinear with the first two points (on the same line as the first two points), it is hard to achieve perfectly. If you place the third point just slightly off your intended mark, it will not be truly collinear, and the result can be problematic.

The most common example of this situation is a drive shaft that is held by three sets of bearings. There is a set of bearings on each end of the drive shaft and another set of bearings somewhere near the middle of the shaft. The intent of the third set of bearings is to help reduce flexure near the center of the drive shaft, in order to reduce vibration in the system.

In reality, the third set of bearings is the most likely source of vibration in the system. After all, we just learned that the center of each set of bearings is almost certainly not in perfect alignment. So, while the intent of the center set of bearings is to constrain the drive shaft so that it is always in perfect alignment, it is actually the reason the drive shaft is in a constant state of misalignment, which will cause excessive and unnecessary vibration. This is a clear example of over-constraint.

Pro Tip:

If you would like to design a drive shaft that operates with minimal vibration and minimal driveshaft flexure, do not try to use a third set of bearings in the center of the drive shaft. Instead, shorten the drive shaft, and/or increase the diameter of the drive shaft, and/or use a stiffer material for the drive shaft.

The image above shows the same drive shaft, but shortened to increase stiffness.

Three Points Make a Plane

You might have also learned way back in math class that three points make aplane. Of course, there are conditions for this to be true as well: None of the points can be coincident (take up the same space) and the three points cannot be collinear (on the same line). Any three points that meet those two conditions create a plane.

If you add a fourth point to the mix, it will unlikely be on the same plane. Just like there is an equation for every line, there is also an equation for every plane. So, if you apply that equation to the fourth point, it would theoretically be on that plane. However, if you place the fourth point just slightly off your intended mark, it will not be on the plane, and the result can be problematic.

The most common example of this situation is a restaurant table with four legs. Ever wonder why the restaurant table ALWAYS wobbles? Well, over-constraint is the culprit.

The contact point of any three of the four legs already makes a plane. The fourth leg's contact point almost certainly doesn't fall on the same plane that the first three legs have already created. That misalignment results in the wobble and the resulting need to place one to three coasters underneath. This is yet another clear example of over-constraint.

Side Note:

If engineering principles dictate that a table should really only have three legs, then why do most tables have four legs? Well, a table with three legs might not wobble, but it sure isn't very stable.

Most tables are either circular, square or rectangular. They are rarely triangular. That means that there is likely a surface of the table itself that rests outside of the triangle that the three legs make with one another. Result: unless those three legs are spread far out from the center of the table, it can fall over easier than you would like.

Summing Things Up

Design constraints are a good thing. They keep flagpoles pointing straight up and your roof rack securely attached to your vehicle. Applying more constraints than necessary is actually a bad thing.

Over-constraint is why parts often don't fit together when you think they should and why you should consider carrying a coaster in your back pocket. When designing products that have features that need to be constrained, it's best to figure out and implement the minimum number of constraints necessary to adequately constrain the feature.

Over-constraint is bad. Avoid it and live a happy life.

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This post is provided by Fictiv, the most efficient manufacturing platform for fabricating parts. Powered by a distributed network of highly vetted vendors, the online interface makes it easy for customers to get instant quotes, review manufacturing feedback, and manage orders—all through a single service.


Currently Crowdfunding: Kickstarter Gold Edition

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A roundup of our favorite Kickstarter projects currently crowdfunding for your viewing (and spending!) pleasure. This week's edition focuses on our favorite Kickstarter Gold campaigns. Improving and expanding on ideas from their own past campaigns, designers selected to create Kickstarter Gold projects are seasoned professionals ready to bring you exciting new takes on old fan favorites. Go ahead, set your disposable income free:

These 3Doodler Star Trek Edition 3D pens are already 1233% funded with 10 days left. We see why.

"Put down your phone and reconnect with the physical experience of analogue photography with the VIDERE 35mm pinhole camera kit."

GlitchTextiles for Dior (2014) Woven by Pure Country Weavers

GlitchTextiles is back after quite the Kickstarter hiatus—they've had some incredible opportunities, including designing and producing fabric for Dior! Now, the computational textile company hopes to fund its new collection. 

The "toolbox for your wallet" has gotten a subtle makeover.

A wifi, tablet and screen free coding kit for kids ages 3 and up! And it's beautiful enough to display in your home.

Need the Fourneau Bread Oven 2.0 in my life.

This cute single station radio is easy to use and fits in any size Mason jar. The team is looking to improve its manufacturing process with its Kickstarter Gold campaign.

Beautifully designed toy cars. Need we say more?

Tennis Ball Manufacturing Then and Now

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After reading Rain's recent piece on the manufacturing of ping pong balls I began to wonder how the balls for other sports are made. Tennis balls came to mind because Wimbledon is underway. 

I poked around and found manufacturing videos from 1961 and 2015. My take from watching them is that little changed in that time.  

The process still involves pressing piece of rubber into semi-spherical shapes, vulcanizing them, joining them into spheres, and then covering them with felt. Parts of the process have been automated but tennis balls still require a fair amount of human labor .

The 2015 video shows the manufacturing process at Wilson's factory in Thailand. The 1961 video shows balls being made for Wimbledon at Slazenger's former plant in England . Slazenger still makes tennis balls but they're now produced in the Philippines.

Wilson's factory near Bangkok, Thailand in 2015.
This 1961 video about Wimbledon includes a tour of Slazenger factory in Yorkshire, England.

The Awesomeness of Daylight, Rather than Nighttime, Fireworks Shows

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Yesterday in Core77's hometown of NYC, Macy's put on their traditional Fourth of July fireworks extravaganza. As always it was held after sundown. But having seen this show countless times, it would be nice to see a daylight fireworks show for a change. That requires different sorts of fireworks, of course. Here's one way that fireworks designers have rendered their creations visible in direct sunlight:

View the full content here

How to Make Your Own Mechanic's Creeper with Onboard Lighting and Tool Storage

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You can spend as little as 20 bucks for a cheapie mechanic's creeper, or upwards of 150 for a fancy one. However, here Bob Clagett shows you how easy it is to build your own, to your exact specifications and dimensions, while adding some extra functionality to boot:


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