AJBOX

AMAZING UNIQUE MECHANICAL MARVELS

Nottingham, England 166 Sales On Etsy since 2017

5 out of 5 stars (30)

AJBOX

AMAZING UNIQUE MECHANICAL MARVELS

Nottingham, England | 166 Sales

5 out of 5 stars (30)

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166 Sales
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AJ Booker

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AJ Booker

Announcement    AMAZING STUFF BEING LAUNCHED ON 10TH JANUARY 2019. FIVE EDUCATIONAL KITS, ALL WITH FREE EXTENSIVE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

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Last updated on 31 Dec, 2018

AMAZING STUFF BEING LAUNCHED ON 10TH JANUARY 2019. FIVE EDUCATIONAL KITS, ALL WITH FREE EXTENSIVE EDUCATIONAL RESOURCES

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5 out of 5 stars
(30)

About AJBOX

Sales 166
On Etsy since 2017

Mechanical Marvels, Innovative Ideas, Incredible Inventions, Dastardly Designs, Original and Amazing

I have been designing for decades and about 18 years ago started experimenting with laser cutters. These designs have come about from my quest to achieve three things
1: Produce amazing mechanical marvels that are affordable and edifying
2: Make people astounded and amused through the medium of creativity
3: Inspire people to THINK - MAKE - LEARN

Over the years I have developed projects around 2D and 3D graphics, Augmented Reality, CNC, Sculpture, drawing and hundreds of others. I have designed a laser cut 6 metre cardboard shark kit, a clock to cover up the queens mother bust (proudly displayed in public on her favourite racecourse for 4 weeks in 2013), Giant catapults and a host of other stuff.

I believe that every day you don't learn something new.. is a day wasted!

I have designed and made these amazing original and unique contraptions for sale here on ETSY using skills picked up over the years, and it is my ambition to never retire but just keep on innovating

AJ Booker
9TH JULY 2017

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  • AJ Booker

    Owner

    Designer, Inventor, Educator, Barista Chief Packer, stamp application manager, string wrangler, envelope technician and telephone sales support director

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More information

Last updated on 03 Jan, 2018
Frequently asked questions
Gift wrapping and packaging

I don't offer gift wrapping at the moment, but I will add it for Christmas 2018

Wholesale availability

ANY design can be ordered in bulk for you to sell yourself. It can be customised with your logo as the brand, but must still contain my copyright info..

Examples include credit card mechanisms for delegates, custom business cards and branded promotional gifts.

Space is tight on many designs, but I usually can adapt an idea to your needs, and even design something brand new and unique for your situation.

Prices depend on quantity, usually a minimum of 50 items plus any artwork charges, so please contact me for more details.

Packaging

The little mechanisms are packed in a stout cardboard box. Bigger mechanisms are padded and packed in corrugated card sheets.

Are they safe for children?

Depends. Though the Robin Hood Cam Toy has been CE tested and is fine for ages 5 and above, other items have not.

Generally these are tiny mechanisms with little bits that are a potential choke hazard. Whether this is a worse hazard than a 1 by 1 Lego brick or a little plastic Barbie stiletto is another matter. The best way to view these products is as mechanisms, which are best used by children when supervised by adults. I would caution against giving anyone under 5 these items, and those over 5, when supervised closely by adults.

Some such as the crossbow, when fitted with a strong rubber band, fire extremely hard and fast. The coin catapult flings it edge first so could break a window. Think carefully who you give the item to..

Custom and personalised orders

I can design almost anything, but the smaller and more complex, the longer it takes to produce it. If you are the only one wanting a credit card sized frog latching mechanism with your logo on it then your order will be costly. If you merely want you logo on an existing design, then thats easyier to do and usually a small artwork charge, to cover the time to create the laser compatible version of it, will be your only additional cost. In fact if you order enough, that cost will be cancelled out by the lower item cost for bulk orders which generally works out at a 40% discount for 100+ of any one item.

Are card sized items twice as expensive if they are twice as big?

Unfortunately not. Your dealing with area and cutting speed here so if you double the size of an item, you quadruple its area, and double its thickness. This means its now 8 times longer to cut, then the design needs 'fettling' to fit together properly in the thicker material required.

A good example of this is the crossbow. To cut one twice the size would mean a selling price of about £20 which isn't a very appealing product. However it would then be a very powerful crossbow ...... and I might need an armaments license!

If I buy your product, do I also buy the right to copy it?

No. That's why they are all marked copyright. These mechanisms take a long time to perfect, even after the initial hand sketches and CAD drawings. Something like the Trump Pram took around 30 hours of work, then about 4 hours of prototyping. Now I can cut one in a few minutes but its all the work leading up to that I need to recoup in income.

Sometimes teachers copy stuff and say it's OK because its for education. Don't, but do talk to me instead. I offer school visits and educational discounts. Having the designer and inventor in to talk to and inspire your students is a better deal than knocking off a few dodgily copied versions.

Where do you get your ideas from?

Almost anywhere... the latest design is a small turtle with moving legs. When I was 9 I went to a fair and saw a similar mechanism but had no idea how it worked. I kept it in mind and now decades later I have my own version, with a completely different custom mechanism, that fits on a credit card sized kit.

Others come about from writing a list of ideas I would like to make, regardless of practicality, and then designing and sketching to see if its possible. Thais how I came up with the paddle boat, it was just a word idea, developed.

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