A huge Thank You to Aaron and the entire Gunwerks crew for taking a chance on me to help them bring the vision of Endex to reality. This was truly a project of a lifetime and I will carry every lesson learned throughout the rest of my career as a designer. Not everyday does an Industrial Designer get to spearhead the ID process of a revolutionary and paradigm shifting system such as ENDEX. Below is recognition of all of those involved in the creation of this project (giving credit where credit is due)

Aaron, you are a true Visionary. Your pursuit for perfection is paramount to anyone I have ever had the opportunity to work with. Your ability to craft the project in your mind down to the most seemingly insignificant detail without having a visual aid is a skill not many people have or are able to grasp. You knew what the project needed even if everyone else failed to see it. You taught me to keep an open mind to change and embrace it as an essential part of the design process no matter how difficult it may be. Being given the opportunity to walk alongside you on this project and translate your words/ideas into a visual product was a blessing and I will be forever grateful for it. Together we designed something utterly remarkable and I look forward to seeing how this product shapes the market around it.

Josh, without your mentorship and patience, I’m certain I would have been lost on this project. Your knowledge of tolerances and sound engineering practices was invaluable to me as a guy who knew next to nothing about GD&T. I still have your voice in the back of my head telling me to double check my tolerance stacks and clearances.

Ethan, Your friendship and comradery we built together during this program was huge in easing the tension and uncertainty I felt in myself during the early prototyping stages and testing protocols we developed. There’s a masochist inside of me that deeply misses the punishment of figuring out the complex problems these programs develop. You single handedly carried the hinge mechanism from my rough concept to production reality, thank you for allowing me to stay involved in every step to ensure the ID of the chassis stayed in tact. It was reassuring coming into the office knowing we had each others backs when the other needed help.

Mac, same as mentioned above. You being younger and “fresh” outta college didn’t mean much (especially me) to us in the office, You carry your own weight and made the office more enjoyable through your perspective and humor. You bring a lot to the table and I found myself coming to you more often the more we worked together. Even though you weren’t as involved on ENDEX as the few mentioned above, I still count you in due to your prowess for flexibility and unique viewpoint in regards to shooting practices and preferences. Also, you have good taste in firearms lol.

Jim, You singlehandedly taught me more about machining in 2 months than I would’ve gained anywhere else. Not just hard skills, but soft skills such as being able to take a kick to the pants and come out unphased, and the mindset that “I’ll do anything you want with enough time and money”. Your experiences and lessons in “professionalism” are second to none and I’ll deeply miss the off hand conversations with the hum of the 5 axis blaring through my back wall. You keep the air in the room light even if the load of the conversation is heavy.

Brandon, you and boys at Merit3D were and always have been the cream of the crop. From the first conversation we had about prototyping parts to the last delivery of components for ENDEX, yall have been the only guys I knew I could give the autonomy to address a problem and knock it out of park every time. Absolutely a “fire and forget” kind of relationship that I hope to carry forward into the foreseeable future. I hope that the launch of this system brings more business to you all and expands your capabilities to wherever you want to go next.

Thank you all for this experience. The childhood Ryan can rest knowing he accomplished what he always wanted to.