MoltenTiger
Well-Known Member
Awesome post. This is so cool to see, the design process and the ideology, all on point.@pxl_jockey, I did lose my mind. Haha
Red and purple are in the works. The anodizer said he would try a different brand of red to see if that corrects the problem. We haven't tried it yet though. The purple definitely needs to be darker than that prototype we made.
I'm going to set up an experimental anodizing setup and start playing around with it.
I'll be mixing my own colors. It should be fun. It should give us a deeper understanding of the anodizing process. There's a lot to learn, but it will be worth it.
@Roth nailed it.
That clearance between the center cylinder on the middle and the teeth on the top is definitely there for functionality and performance. We experimented and tested a bunch of different dimensions. This clearance was as tight as we could get it before you would start feeling restriction from buildup in that area. Any restriction from buildup was unacceptable to us.
The cutting edge on the center cylinder is to clear any herb that finds its way into that area. We were somewhat inspired by end mills and flat bottom drills.
Here's the backstory:
We started this grinder as a side project. We just wanted to make a grinder with a unique exterior for personal use, so my dynavap and I spent a weekend looking at images of geometric patterns on Google. We designed a few different variations and when the first diamond cut pattern emerged from the machine, we knew that this was it, but it still required tweaking. It just didn't look right. The proportions were off. Here are some pictures of those grinders. These were 3" grinders.
Our first grinder prototype
First Diamond Cut Pattern Grinder
The first prototype's mechanical design for grinding was loosely based on a heavily used 15 year-old 3" Space Case. Over the years, we've had some incredible battles trying to open that SC. It would just get jammed shut. With torture testing, the prototype would get jammed shut as well. It was centered conventionally and had tight clearances. This just wasn't going to cut it.
At this point, my brother and I decided to make a go at it and try to solve all the problems we could find in herb grinders and sell them commercially. We moved to a 2" grinder design in order to rapidly-prototype and iterate on the mechanical design.
With our personal experience and by reading the FC herb grinder thread, we decided to solve these problems:
We didn't really even know if these problems could be solved, but it was worth a shot. We decided to try to solve jamming first. After 2.5 weeks of prototyping every day and failing over and over, we made the first prototype that was centered and constrained by a cylinder on the middle plate and the teeth on the top instead of being centered by the outer walls. We torture tested it and we couldn't get it to jam.
- Jamming and binding caused by buildup
- Herb getting stuck on the magnet
This idea came up during a discussion with my two brothers and it was the answer.
We then made a bunch of prototypes with the intention to solve the problem of herb getting trapped over the magnet. Eventually, we came to the idea of having a cutting edge over the face of the magnet. We torture tested it and it cleared everything.
The breakthrough for jamming happened with this prototype
Another early, dirty, and ugly prototype. It's washer is 3d printed. It has many of the features that makes our grinder different and better, but they aren't refined.
At this point, we were still just making 2-piece prototypes. We read the FC herb grinder thread some more and quite a few people were looking for a 3-piece grinder, so we started making 3-piece prototypes. We naturally gravitated towards a thread-less design. We also decided to make a fine grinder as well and we moved to a 2.2" medium size design.
The thread-less quick-connect mechanism took the longest to come up with and perfect. We spent months and we made many, many prototypes. It wasn't easy, but we made it happen.
During all this, we were also experimenting with different plastics for the washer. We ended up with a food-grade, low-friction, and abrasion-resistant plastic. It's one reason why it's so buttery smooth. The 3d printed washers were rough and the other plastics we tried just didn't feel as good.
After we felt like we were close to a production model, we posted a few pictures and videos on Instagram. @lazylathe saw our grinder and we started talking. He created this thread and eventually we offered him a beta grinder set to test out. We sent him a fine grinder and a medium grinder. He reviewed it and it created a discussion on here. He became our frontschwein
The medium grinder design we sent lazylathe.
At some point @Hogni suggested that an interchangeable grind plate design would be better. We thought so too. That opened up a. We then spent a few months refining that and all the other features. We did a deep-dive on tooth geometry and hole size and placement trying to perfect the different grinds. Grinders are more nuanced and deep then we ever thought when we started this project.
I think that's what annoyed me most when VC quipped about making money off your, by contrast, extraordinary hard work. Grinds my gears, but it is what it is. This affiliate bullshit cost the GH a really terrible first review and badly hurt that young company. Not that that was their only problem - but still. Be careful out there.
The endeavour to create true quality is what deserves support.
Anyway, I gotta say I am incredibly thankful for the work you did for me out of the blue! Utmost respect to the G4L team. You guys will do very well by yourselves.
PS. I really want a yoyo stylised off your first prototype, about as much as I want AusPost to up their game!
Can't say how keen I am for this:
Love you all, goodnight! Perhaps tomorrow I’ll be doing my happy dance? 
