Build Journal
Eight months of gearboxes, failures, and the clutch that won.
The unfiltered story of building TiltForge — reconstructed from seventy dated folders of iterations, one brutally honest spreadsheet, and what survived of a YouTube history.
August 22, 2026
The Sweet'N Low Packet
The last open mechanical problem — driving a blind's tilt wand from a horizontal axle — died at the coffee counter, with a sugar packet and two torn corners.
August 15, 2026
The Drivetrain Runs
The new motors are in, the friction clutch rides the motor spur, and the complete TiltRod drivetrain runs — on camera — for the first time.
August 13, 2026
TiltForge
The company got its name from a robot, the product kept its own, and the safety feature ate the transmission. The finale — for now.
August 8, 2026
Peak Complexity, Then the Delete Key
A 25-part machine that worked, the requirement I forgot I had, and the shelf where my favorite failures sit like trophies.
July 23, 2026
Exotic Detours
Magnetic gears with no touching parts, TPU timing belts, a friction clutch that entered as a footnote, and the cycloid campaign I couldn't quit.
July 16, 2026
It Gets a Brain
The sensing problem I couldn't yet solve, seven motor mounts over New Year's, and the January 1st folder where a guy who'd never laid out a board built one anyway — with help.
July 9, 2026
The Gear Safari
Planetary gears, a $19.27 machine-shop reality check, and the sixteen-day harmonic-drive rabbit hole. November and December in the workshop.
July 2, 2026
The Wife Test
How a public smart-home failure and a $5 Amazon part turned into an eight-month engineering education.
New entries land here first.
Follow the build and every new journal entry shows up in your inbox — and builds are reservable now at founders pricing.
Follow the build