zeke79 wrote:Jarod,
I do not want to sound like a jerk when I say this as I am generally one to share all info I have, but I am not going to post any detailed info of the tomahawk right now as Omikron has gone through alot of work to bring a very comparible if not better tool to us. I will likely let Omi get some sales for the next few months before I post any detailed info as I do not want to undercut the efforts he has put into this project.
If this offends anyone then I guess they will just have to be offended.
I think I need to elaborate a bit further on this comment.
I want to make clear that I did not blindly copy the Tomahawk and just rename it as KEbump. Obviously, the Tomhawk very heavily influenced the design of the KEbump; this is for several reasons, and I will explain some of them below.
Although I could have easily tried to get a hold of a Tomhawk and reverse engineer all of the materials and just do a blind copy, there's not a whole lot of fun in that. Early last semester, I decided that I would focus one of my final exam presentations on the mechanical manipulation of pin tumbler locks through the use of kinetic energy.
In order to make things semi-scientific, I had to take measurements. The first measurements I took helped me find the average spring tension in pin stacks across several popular brands and types. To do this, I milled a block of acrylic and drilled several chambers which I then populated with different types of springs and pins. The device is seen below:
By measuring the distance the pins traveled when the stack was loaded with a weight, I was able to calculate the spring constant for five different types of springs. Strangely enough, these values are very close to each other.
By using a myriad of different formulas, and with some help from SolidWorks, I was able to make an educated estimate of what density the striking surface should be in order to impart the correct amount of kinetic energy. Obviously this was not an exact science because everyone swings the hammer at a different rate, but I was able to find a happy medium.
After creating the prototype, which you can see in one of my former threads, I sent a few of them out for testing and feedback. Most of the major design of the KEbump, although heavily influenced by the Tomahawk, was done independantly without previous knowledge of exact Tomahawk specifications.
After the beta testing phase, some refinements were made to the design in order to make the tool more comfortable to hold, and to reflect the type of design that people are already familiar with. Making a radically different design would be unncessary and would turn people off, thinking that it was somehow an inferior product.
I hope this information gives people a better idea of what went on behind the scenes during KEbump development. Once the product launches in a few weeks, I will post a more detailed project log and show off my earlier designs and failures. I hope this helps.
. Has anyone ever told you that you are like a young teenager 
