Iris Drawing Tool

Posted by 141drew Oct 10, 2019 at 9:16 AM and filed under Reviews & Features

Updated on May 20, 2021 at 6:22 PM

For some damned reason, I’m always having to draw circles in the shop. Sometimes I’m making gaskets, sometimes I’m rounding corners, sometimes… You get the idea. Typically, I use a compass or one of those plastic sheets with tons of holes in them scribed with their sizes. Both methods work just fine for me… Neither are as elegant as this gorgeous little drawing tool.

Details here.

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View thread (27 replies)

d.mcfarland

Well-known member

Oct 10, 2019

Absolutely beautiful, but the cost (roughly $100) seems to outweigh its value.

ChaseDE

Well-known member

Oct 10, 2019

Seems cool, neat, and such. But one of the big points (lol) for a compass is the fact that you have a center point and can use/re-use it as needed.

Nevertheless, it is a cool concept.

Chaznsc

Well-known member

Oct 10, 2019

I’d get nothing done, just watching it open and close

I will buy one once Harbor Freight knocks it off :lol_hitti

bwringer

Well-known member

Oct 10, 2019

I'm surprised Clickspring hasn't made one yet.

No, no one needs this, and the lack of centering is a problem in many contexts, but.... it is a gorgeous little widget and $100 doesn't seem out of line.

jjkrjh

Well-known member

Oct 10, 2019

I just trace around sockets. No center point though.

Shadowdog500

Well-known member

Oct 10, 2019

I also use a compass. I’m still using the same one I bought for high school drafting. sometimes I use one of those green multi size circle templates that everyone bought in school decades ago.

I like the idea, but not the price especially when you can buy a new 4-60mm camera aperture for around $30 on eBay.

Last edited: Oct 10, 2019

MushCreek

Well-known member

Oct 11, 2019

I'd have to buy two so I could take one apart to see how it works. Normally. I just use whatever is handy- sockets, paint cans, cereal bowl.

gahrajmahal

Well-known member

Oct 11, 2019

If you look down through the web page you will see that they designed the base that the Iris rests in to be a centering point. As someone who started their engineering career in the pencil and paper era, their rationalization for creating this new tool is sound. Marketing such a precision high end piece in the “cheap knock off” time we live in will be the true test. $100 bucks for what seems to be a finely made item seems like a fair deal to me.

Stuart in MN

Well-known member

Oct 11, 2019

bwringer said:
I'm surprised Clickspring hasn't made one yet.

No, no one needs this, and the lack of centering is a problem in many contexts, but.... it is a gorgeous little widget and $100 doesn't seem out of line.

My thoughts as well. Sure, a compass or template can do the same job for a lot less money, but it is an elegant device.

(I'm a Clickspring fan as well - his latest video about the playing card press was awesome).

freudianfloyd

Well-known member

Oct 11, 2019

Besides the cost, the problem I see with this, is that the taper of your pencil will affect the size of your circle, even if you do that little tilt, which effectively defeats the purpose of this tool. Plus, even while watching the video, you can see he is holding the pencil straight down on the side closest to him, but tilts it some on the backside, thus making his circle less than accurate compared to a compass.

I guess with practice this could be less of an issue.

rlitman

Well-known member

Oct 11, 2019

freudianfloyd said:
... thus making his circle less than accurate compared to a compass...

That's not a perfect circle anyway. It's just a series of connected arcs.

LegacyIndustrial

ALLIANCE MEMBER

Oct 11, 2019

This is my current "Iris"

Shadowdog500

Well-known member

Oct 11, 2019

There is no such thing as a perfect circle. But the compass appears to draw a better circle that the iris since it is one arc.

In addition of the pencil tilt the iris is made from putting a brass enclosure on a 20 blade store bought camera aperture and as a result the circle is made by 20 different arcs with 20 different intersections.

Here is a close up of a 5 blade aperture which shows the arcs and the intersections better.
I wish these guys luck with this endeavor but I’m not buying one.

Last edited: Oct 14, 2019

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sberry

Banned

Oct 13, 2019

Great if the object is to see if you can toss another hundred bucks at a job most first graders could do.

rustedgoat

Well-known member

Oct 14, 2019

This just doesn't seem like a project that should need "kickstarter" to get started. Still a very cool looking desktop toy.

Spacey_G

Well-known member

Oct 14, 2019

These have been available from optics suppliers (e.g. Edmund, Thor labs, etc.) for ages. They're good for optics applications. Not a tool I'd choose for drafting.

Rick B.

Well-known member

Oct 23, 2019

Catchy little tool but have I got this right? If I have an idea for a product I can announce a "kickstarter" program and there are people who will just send me free money to develop it???

Shadowdog500

Well-known member

Oct 23, 2019

Rikki Sixx said:
Catchy little tool but have I got this right? If I have an idea for a product I can announce a "kickstarter" program and there are people who will just send me free money to develop it???

Exactly!
You come up with an idea.
Make a catchy video to promote that idea.
Get online influencers to show everyone how great your idea is.
Then hopefully raise enough money to follow through on your idea.
Once you get the money it’s time to implement your idea.
If your idea is a success and you start making money each investor gets a little something in return.
If your idea is a flop, or if the implementation doesn’t succeed because you have no idea what you are doing, your investors get nothing back.

For Some reason I always think of ”The Producers” movie whenever I see crowdfunding.

Last edited: Oct 24, 2019

lardy1

Well-known member

Oct 23, 2019

I still use the Stanley trammel points my dad passed on to me that he used in his career as an industrial tin knocker.

m6z

Well-known member

Oct 23, 2019

It's looks like a nice product, but it's doubtful I'd use it much. I'm marking up drawings most days, but I don't have much of a need to hand draw a perfect circle. That is what the computer is for.

signcrafter

Well-known member

Oct 23, 2019

I do a lot of rounded corners and my usual method is to use one of these bendy things to get an idea and find the right sized arc, https://www.amazon.com/dp/B078K8S8R7/?tag=atomicindus08-20. Then once I have the rough shape that looks the best I use my compass set to the correct size and start from the corner and mark the two points on the sides where the arc will start. Then use the compass from those points to find the center point of the arc. Then put compass on the center point and trace the final arc for the rounded corner. Then if wood I will cut the arc with a jigsaw just off the line. Then use a belt sander to work my way up to the arc line.

aka Larry

Well-known member

Oct 23, 2019

Funny that some people are knocking the price. I'd wager if they chrome-plated it and added a Snap-On logo, many people here would line up to buy one.

m6z

Well-known member

Oct 23, 2019

lol. I thought the price seemed fair.

Shadowdog500

Well-known member

Oct 23, 2019

aka Larry said:
Funny that some people are knocking the price. I'd wager if they chrome-plated it and added a Snap-On logo, many people here would line up to buy one.

Snap on does that all the time. I learned this lesson years ago when I had a snap on welding helmet and needed a replacement part for the headband. When I called the snap on help line the guy on the phone told me that he couldn’t get parts and eventually told me to try Jackson since it was a rebadged Jackson helmet. I went to the local welding shop and found that I paid more than double on the snap on truck for a Jackson helmet with a snap on sticker on it.

dhubbard422

Well-known member

Nov 27, 2019

Beautiful tool. I do think it'd bring a smile to my face every time I used it. However, nearly all of my drawing is now digital... Once upon a time in a different career, I was paid to do manufacturing drawings with pencil/paper or pen/mylar and the mark, i.e. hole that can be left by a compass is an issue. While $100 is a bit to pay for a drawing tool, this is one of the most interesting drawing tools I've seen, especially for drawing concentric circles, and compared to what one can spend on pens and mechanical pencils it is very fairly priced.