Innovation, Born From Danger! 👹

As soon as each project enters production, the team here at MetMo dive straight into “new shiny thing mode”, and after Multi Drive ended we kinda went turbo! So much so in fact, that we can’t physically launch all of our ideas on Kickstarter. It wouldn’t be fair to you guys to have new campaigns launching when you’re still waiting on our past campaigns to fulfil. We also don’t want to detract from these awesome projects, and the time spent collaborating with you guys, by layering up project after project! That would get real old, real fast.

That presented us with quite the challenge and by tackling this head on, and it’s started to pave the way for the entire future of MetMo…

So, what now then?

Now we innovate. It’s forced us to look at how we operate as a company and most importantly, what matters to you guys. So, over the next 12 months we’re going to be mixing things up a little and we’ll be trialing some different funding options that will allow us to bring new MetMo designs direct to our store! This won’t detract from Kickstarter in any way and won’t affect the delivery times of your Multi Drives!

Our plan will be to bring smaller projects to our store in limited batches, much like we do with our MetMo Cube. This will allow us to quickly trial new ideas, without investing too heavily in stock holding, and then at the same time we can still focus on bringing more complex projects to Kickstarter.

This strategy also helps keep us one step ahead of any copycats too, as it allows us to outpace their copying machines. I’d also like to thank everyone for being our advocates in stopping some of the most recent MetMo copies, we put a lot of effort into our patents and design rights and it’s great to know you guys have our backs!

With all that being said, we have some exciting news to share…

Introducing MetMo Piston!

No springs, no magnets, just pure, unadulterated precision pneumatics!

A palm sized pneumatic mechanism you can fiddle with single-handedly for hours. The cutting edge of portable satisfaction, using only air and your fingers to create silky smooth engineering magic.

Born From Danger

Before Piston, came Danger Knife, the world’s most dangerous pneumatic craft knife. This totally irresponsible design has been seen by millions on social media and your love of this insane concept paved the way for our much safer (and less lawsuit-y) MetMo Piston. After we showed Danger Knife to you all during the Multi Drive campaign, the feedback you gave us really got us started on the Piston journey, so thank you all for your continued support!

Before we look deep inside the cylinder block and figure out what makes Piston pop, let’s take a proper look at Danger Knife, so we can understand where this little guy came from.

Weaponised Crafty-ness

Danger Knife, as it is lovingly known here at MetMo, was designed at the same time as the Pocket Driver and was pegged to be our follow up Kickstarter project after Pocket Driver was fulfilled. On the face of it, a precision reamed metal case with a precision ground craft knife handle that had the same mesmerising look, function, and feel of our Cube, well that sounded like a no brainer to us… It turns out when you have access to state of the art CNC machinery, you can basically produce air tight fits between two metal components… Sounds pretty cool right?

Turns out this is only ‘pretty cool’ if the end result doesn’t pneumatically fire scalpel blades into your extremities :melting_face:

Thankfully the wise leaders of MetMo deemed Danger Knife “A Lawsuit in the Making” and we moved it aside to focus on less eye-stabby projects. What Danger Knife did do for us was inspire two completely separate projects, one in the form of Multi Drive which moved past merely being a nice knife handle and instead became the multi-tool you all know very well and can’t wait to have, and the other idea became MetMo Piston, taking the pneumatic concept and crushing it down into a handheld desktop toy/brass launcher.

Interlude Complete, Returning To Piston.

Experiment with an aerodynamic bearing. Spinning the housing allows a thin cushion of air to form between the Piston pin and the cylinder block, creating a friction free spin that’s momentarily suspended in air.

The Ultimate Precision Fit

A perfectly precision reamed hole and an exquisitely machined shaft come together to provide a smooth motion for endless satisfaction and tactile feedback.

Silent Operation

Akin to clicking a pen, but without driving everyone around you crazy! Piston is only driven by air, so the motion is totally silent. How many compressions per minute can you get it to?

Pneumatic Launch!

Ready to experiment with a pneumatic launch? We thought so! The Piston can compress air so effectively that you can launch it from the chamber with a satisfying pop. Be sure to catch your newly airborne Piston, and repeat. Once perfected, you’ll have one very unique party trick and everyone will wonder how it works!

Take Me To Piston!

In true MetMo fashion, we’ve created a waaaay too long product page with lots of satisfying GIF’s and interesting tidbits and even a fun video. So, if you’d like to find out even more then CLICK HERE to go straight to the Piston page.

Such an innovative idea and unique product. I’ve mentioned it elsewhere, but I’d really love to see this in a silver finish. I know you mentioned that you’ve tried steels and other metals, but they didn’t machine with the same tight tolerances, but wonder if a nickel silver brass metal would also work well. Something like a C77400 that wouldn’t tarnish is what comes to mind. Just a thought. This thing is awesome, no matter what color or finish it comes in!

Hi Tim, thanks for your comment! We are working on a prototype at the moment, we are just waiting for the Steel bar to arrive so we can try it out and see if we can get the same tolerances as we do with the brass. When we tried making a stainless steel danger knife it was too long and we couldn’t consistently maintain the tight tolerances on the harder stainless steel but the piston is smaller so we are hoping it will go better!

Time wise we will have one made up by the end of Jan, then if that works we will make some for you in March/April sometime ish.

I’m already in for the April 25th round of Pistons, so if there is any possible way I can add an SS version to my order, or if I can get in on a round sooner than that for the SS versions, let me know and I’ll get another order placed! I would be so thrilled if a polished SS version is able to be made! Thanks, Peg!

Hi again, Peg!

I just read through the monthly newsletter about the SS version and saw the pictures. I am so incredibly excited for those, my mind is blown. This is the exact fidgety type thing I’ve been wanting for years now, and to hear it’s finally coming makes it feel like Christmas morning, even if it is just an announcement and pics.

Anyway, I’m in the April batch of the Pistons and am curious if there would be any way to get the SS version instead. No worries if it’s too complicated, I’ll wait until they release and get one of those too. Thanks!

Hi Tim, making it feel Christmas morning is what we love to do! :laughing:

We’re working on getting the dates ironed out for when the Stainless Steel Piston will become available, but as as soon as we have the info we’ll see what we can do! It might be worth dropping us a message at the end of March!