Montie Gear Newsletter – March – Brainstorm with Us, Win Montie Gear

Articles in this Edition 

AnchorGroup Brainstorming Challenge

Spring will be here soon.  That means its time to go camping.  We have several products designed to make camping better.  The Utensil Drying Rack keeps your utensils (of all sizes) clean while they dry.  The towel holders keep your hand towels, bath towels and wash clothes securely hanging (even in heavy winds) where they can dry and are ready for use.

We got to wondering what else you use these products for?  So we’re having a contest.

Contest #1 — If you already have a Montie Gear drying rack or holder then send us a picture of how you use your rack or holder.  Prize for the best use of the racks and holders is your choice of a rack or holder.

Contest #2 — Tell us how you would put a Montie Gear rack or holder to use in your campsite.  Prize for the best suggestion is a Base Camp Spoon / Fork Drying Rack.

Send your entries to montie@montie.com by March 31st, 2016.  Here are some pictures of the racks and holders in use to start the conversation.  Click on any of the pictures for more information.



AnchorContest – Edwin C is the Winner!

There are 1000 X-Rests in the boxes in the picture.  It was a big order for us and a lot of work, but in the end they all fit on one pallet.  Edwin had the closet guess for the number of X-Rests in the picture below, so he won a Basecamp Fork / Spoon Rack.  Good job Ewin.

1000 X-Rests boxed up and ready to go

AnchorWrite a Review – Get an Awesome Coupon!

Do really like your Montie Gear slingshot, AR-Rest or other product?  Help us tell the world about the Handmade, Heirloom Quality products that we make right here in NC!

Reviewing your Montie Gear product is a great way to give potential customers access to your opinion before they buy.  We’ve streamlined the review process to make it quick and easy for you.  Please a take a few minutes and review your Montie Gear products by navigating to your favorite Montie Gear product at www.montiegear.com and clicking on “Add Review”.  Once your review is submitted, please email me at montie@montie.com and I’ll email a coupon code good for 25% off your next purchase!

Philosophy
Our philosophy for Montie Gear products is pretty straight forward.  We provide “Heirloom Quality Products That are Troublesome Gap Tough”.  
Heirloom Quality
Many products in today’s world are meant to have a limited life time.  A good example is that cell phone that you need to replace every two years.  It works great, but over time technology changes and the fragile electronics have a limited lifetime.  We want to design and sell products that have a very long lifetime and may actually get passed along to your kids or grandchildren.  Many rifles get passed along from parent to children, sometimes marking a rite of passage.  Granted a shooting rest isn’t as special as your Grandfather’s rifle.  However, we work to design and sell products that are simple, elegant and high enough quality that you will want to pass them along to your kids or grandchildren.
Troublesome Gap Tough
Troublesome Gap is a place in Western North Carolina, near the peak of Hap Mountains and overlooking Spring Creek, NC.  My parents purchased the property over 40 years ago.  I grew up spending time there.  We cut firewood for heat, picked blackberries and raspberries, and spent some great weekends up there.  Troublesome Gap is remote and rugged, the prefect place to test our products.  Troublesome Gap Tough means that the products are rugged and easy-to-use.  A delicate, hard-to-use product is a liability in the field, so we avoid that by making sure all our products provide a great customer experience and are built to last, even in demanding conditions.

As President of Montie Design, I am proud the fact that we are shipping high-quality, U.S. made products.  I am also proud to be an American.

Sincerely,
Montie Roland
800-722-7987

montie@montie.com

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Naked Ammo Holder Prototype

We have been working on the concept of a very simple ammo holder and here is our prototype. Keep up with the latest at www.montiegear.com/blog

We have been working on the concept of a very simple ammo holder and here is our prototype.  Keep up with the latest at www.montiegear.com/blog

We have been working on the concept of a very simple ammo holder and here is our prototype.  Keep up with the latest at www.montiegear.com/blog
We have been working on the concept of a very simple ammo holder and here is our prototype. Keep up with the latest at www.montiegear.com/blog
We have been working on the concept of a very simple ammo holder and here is our prototype.  Keep up with the latest at www.montiegear.com/blog
We have been working on the concept of a very simple ammo holder and here is our prototype. Keep up with the latest at www.montiegear.com/blog
We have been working on the concept of a very simple ammo holder and here is our prototype.  Keep up with the latest at www.montiegear.com/blog
We have been working on the concept of a very simple ammo holder and here is our prototype. Keep up with the latest at www.montiegear.com/blog
We have been working on the concept of a very simple ammo holder and here is our prototype.  Keep up with the latest at www.montiegear.com/blog
We have been working on the concept of a very simple ammo holder and here is our prototype. Keep up with the latest at www.montiegear.com/blog
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Meet Lars and Montie

Lars - slingshot assembly expert

When you call Montie Gear, its likely that either Lars or Montie will answer the phone.  Here are some pictures of who you are talking to.

Lars - slingshot assembly expert
Lars – slingshot assembly expert
Montie - chief troublemaker
Montie – chief troublemaker
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Podcast – Introducing the Montie Gear EMP Resistant Box / Faraday Cage

Montie Gear EMP Resistant Box / Faraday Cage

One project we’ve been working on is an EMP resistant box, otherwise known as a Faraday Cage.  This product has applications for military use and civilian / prepper use.  In this podcast I talk about what the box is, the rationale we used to design it, and how we plan to test it.

Click play to listen

For more information visit:  http://www.montiegear.com/EMP-Resistant-Box-faraday-cage.html

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Paintball Marker Stand

Hey Y’all,

Over the past few weeks we have been working on a Paintball Marker Stand. This stand can be broken down into three pieces using the pins on the sides of the stand. The marker is supported by the U-Shaped cut out in the back of the stand and the Slot in the front of the stand. The sliding cylinder, seen in the middle of the stand, allows this stand to support the marker and prevent it from falling forward and out of the stand. This slide also allows the stand to work with multiple markers. Everything is going well and we should be trying out a prototype soon.

Thanks for Reading,
Daniel Helms

Paintball Stand Render 1.WITHMARKER

Paintball Stand Render 1.WITHOUTMARKER

Paintball Stand Render 1.FRONT

Paintball Stand Render 1.BACK

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RFID Instructions, among other things

While awaiting the arrival of the side brackets for the wrist support, I’ve been working on a little bit of everything.

Amongst other things, I’ve spent a couple of hours with instructions for the RFID   detectors. Here are some examples of the graphics:

FD900BW_1FD900BW_2FD900BW_3FD900BW_4

We’ve got some cool projects that are in an early phase, of which you will see a lot later on. Today, for example, Richard and I spent some time making mock-ups of ball dispensers for the slingshots.

IMG_20130710_125521

Got some pretty awesome stuff going on there, and there will definitely be an update on that within the near future. Stay tuned!

/Robin Evaldsson

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Whisker Biscuit Mount For Y-Shot Update

Hey Y’all,

This week I’ve made some progress on the Whisker Biscuit Mount for the Y-Shot. When the Whisker Biscuit arrived there were a few problems with the dimensions but, those were worked out pretty quickly. I made a quick model from PVC and we did some testing with it. Everything went great and I’m working on the aesthetics of the design. A prototype is in the works based on the rendering in the pictures but, the design might change some more.

Thanks for Reading,
Daniel Helms

Whisker Biscuit For Y-Shot Front

Whisker Biscuit Mount For Y-Shot Back

 

Whisker Biscuit Arrow Rest Distance Test Medium Quality Video

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Single Point Rifle Sling Prototype

Hey Guys! I’m the last of the summer interns to introduce myself! My Name is Brett Holmes. I’m an Ohio native (GO BUCKEYES!) enjoying my new home here in North Carolina.  I’m a Drafting and Design student at ITT-Tech. I’ve been working on a single point rifle sling. This includes any rifle from a hunting rife to an AR. It makes long hikes and foot marches easier to bear by taking the weight off of the users arms and puts it on their backpack or vest.

Strap Assembly Pic 1

In this picture i was working on assembly instructions for the slings 5-50 cord section.

Strap assembly pic 2

Here’s the finished 5-50 cord section of the sling. As you can imagine this was a fairly complicated pattern to learn however, I enjoyed the challenge! I’m looking forward to keeping you guys updated on the progress of the Sling!! Check in next week for more pictures and news on the great things happening here at Montie Design!!

 

Brett Holmes

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Intern Project – Campfire Bench

coco and her assignment

I am coco, an industrial design graduate student at NCSU. I am an intern at Montie Design this winter. I am now working on the outdoor wood bench design. This bench design focuses on the customer need which has a hanger for people to put their back packs and their coat when they feel hot and a hook for people to hang on the garbage when they talk with their family member and take some snacks.

sketching

The following picture shows how the concept developed. Fist I have three different ideas about the bench and then narrow down to one idea. Secondly I started to have different styling about the concept and at last I decided the assembly method.

Montie Gear Campfire Bench Ideation

final design

This is the outdoor bench. In order to matches the whole environment, the design comes from the tree branch and also matches the function of it.

The higher one on the right is the hanger of the coats or backpacks. The small one on the left is hook for people to hang on the garbage bag or other paper or plastic bags. The first purpose of this bench is setting around the camping fire. So at the bottom of the bench, there is a shelf for people to store the fire wood.

Montie Gear Campfire Bench

Montie Gear Campfire Bench

Montie Gear Campfire Bench

Montie Gear Campfire Bench

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Internship Update

The Making of the Survival Hatchet

I’m Daniel Lecky, a 2012 graduate from NCSU College of Design, and I am an intern here at Montie Design. This project was an idea I had to add to the line of Montie Gear products. Introducing, the Survival Hatchet! It is a 10.6″ long Hatchet with a long para-chord wrapped handle with a knife, magnesium and flint for fire starting and a whet stone for sharpening the blade, all concealed in the hatchet’s sheath. Below are a series of sketches and images from conceptual to ideation to modeling stages.

Here I thought of concealing a spear head along with fishing wire and matches within the handle but it would be too awkward to get to everything quickly and comfortably.

 

The blade is too large and there is a concern about stability with there being such a sharp angle right under the blade.

 

Solving the stability issue, this new version of the hatchet has a unique angle to the handle and a solid look.

 

These are a series of Sheath sketches to determine how the knife and assorted survival stones can be packaged together.

 

Here is a print out of the 3D model with sheath sketches. The sheath is drawn on top of the drawing with specific components labeled and sent off to a leather shop to construct the case. However, the hatchet was too heavy and bulky. Redesign!

 

The Survival Hatchet! It is much slimmer, weighing 1.45lbs as opposed to the previous 2.4lbs, yet still very solid and structurally sound. There are spaces provided for a Carabiner clip or rope to loop through to carry the hatchet. There are also small holes for the paracord to tie through.

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2012 Summer Internship Underway

Hello, my name is Luca Harrell and I am currently a summer intern at Montie Design. As the winner of the 2012 Montie Gear student competition I’ve been asked to develop my contest submission into a product that will be added to the Montie Gear product line. I’m very excited about this opportunity and am equally excited to share my progress with you. Through weekly blog posts I’ll document the process of my product’s development from concept to prototype through pictures, sketches, and 3D models. In today’s post you can see how I kicked of the project with a project brief, a rough project plan, and research. Feel free to give feedback or comment on what you see. Hope you enjoy!

Project link here: http://www.scribd.com/doc/96159347/Presentation-1

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Product Design 101–Test, Test, and Test Again

At Montie Design, we believe it is important to test, test, and retest a design. This process allows us to identify, and modify potential issues in a way unlike traditional sketching or modeling. Michael Laut of Laut Design said it best, “There’s just no simple way to tell what collides, pinches, abrades, stretches, etc without actually feeling what it’s like to use the product yourself.”

We couldn’t agree more. The evaluation stage plays a pivotal role in our ability to produce high quality products for our customers. Shown below is an example of a collaborative project with Laut Design. Here, the shooter’s posture, aim, and balance are paramount. Thus, we are testing a rifle setup on a flat surface to ensure that the preceding points are addressed.

Product Design, Rifle Setup, Testing

 

We’d love to hear from you. What is the most important aspect of product design?

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