You're reading: Ugears winding up for Christmas with its amazing wooden models (VIDEO)

Christmas is coming, and while the world's Scrooges may not be excited about this, the rest of us should start thinking about what gifts to put under the tree for relatives and friends.

If you know someone who’s keen on puzzles, models, and
working with their hands, Ukrainian start-up Ugears (Ukrainian Gears) may have
come up with the perfect gift for them.

The company has created an amazing range of working models
made almost entirely from wood, and they can be snapped together without glue.
The models, which include a steam locomotive, tractor, and even a working clock-timer,
are constructed from wooden cogwheels, plywood struts and panels, and even
toothpicks.

Ugears Kickstarter video. According to Ugears founder Denis Okhrimenko, the crowdfunding campaign may help Ugears occupy its market niche.

Denis Okhrimenko, Ugears founder and co-owner, told the Kyiv
Post that the products’ simplicity has been combined with sophisticated ideas
that can help people understand the principles of mechanics. All the same, the
models aren’t meant to be brainteasers; they have been created for fun.

“We didn’t reinvent the wheel – the mechanics in the models
are quite simple,” Okhrimenko told the Kyiv Post.

And judging by the success of the company’s fund-raising
project so far, it looks like the models will be a hit with the public.

Having launched its crowdfunding campaign on Kickstarter on
Nov. 25 with the modest goal of $20,000, Ugears hit its target within a day.
Now, with more than 30 days still left to go, it has $37,000 pledged by 462
backers.

According to Okhrimenko, the crowdfunding campaign will help
Ugears occupy its market niche. Otherwise, he said, the idea of glueless wooden
mechanical constructor kits may very well be stolen. The start-up has all the
patents for its creations, however.

“Kickstarter gives front-door access to the U.S. market, and
an excellent place to conduct PR, as well as take pre-orders,” Okhrimenko said.
“We could have done it without Kickstarter, but now this is going to stimulate
us, and we’re expanding production.”

The locomotive model is the largest one. It consists of 480 parts.

At the moment, Ugears has a staff of 30 people producing
around 10 models, including a tractor, a timer, a combine harvester, a tram, a
steam locomotive (consisting of 480 parts), a mechanical theater and more. The
wooden parts are, of course, eco-friendly. During manufacturing, Ugears uses a laser
to cut the wood with absolute precision.

Initially, Ugears designed its products for adults, but it turned
out that children love them as well. The tractor, according to Okhrimenko, can
be assembled in about two hours, while the tram takes about four. Okhrimenko
himself can put one together in 17 minutes.

Asked about the possibility of creating something that would
really tax the brain, Okhrimenko said that despite people saying they like making
more difficult models, they often change their minds when they come to assemble
them themselves.

“I bet people will like our models (of medium-level
difficulty),” he said.

According to Okhrimenko, the Ugears
team now usually
creates one model every two months. When he started the
project, however, some of the models took up to six months to design and build.

“I
had a workshop on the balcony in my apartment, where I assembled,
shaped, and glued model parts,” Okhrimenko said. “Now all the
models can be assembled without glue, but I tinkered with the prototypes,
improving them for a long time to achieve the final results.”

“My
child was a kind of tester,” Okhrimenko said. “He handled the parts roughly,
and (if he broke a part) I immediately understood (how) the model would get
broken.”

If a part does break during assembly, a replacement can be
ordered from Ugears’ website or Facebook page. Otherwise, Okhrimenko says, broken
parts can be glued back together, since they’re made of wood. “However, it’s
extremely difficult to break the parts,” he added.

The Ugears kit has everything one needs to create a mechanical model: a few planks of plywood with carved details, an instruction and additional elements.

Now Okhrimenko and his team are gearing up for the Christmas
season, which they hope will be the time for their product to make a
breakthrough on the market.

“Our constructor kits are for those who like to stay indoors
during the winter,” Okhrimenko said. “That’s the hot season for us, due to the Christmas
and New Year holidays. It’s like March 8 (International Women’s Day) for flower
sellers.”

Kyiv Post staff writer Denys Krasnikov can be reached at [email protected]. The
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Capital
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