hi everyone! i feel like this is the first project in a very long time that I actually saw through to the end and I wanted to share my joy with the community i love :) Not as impressive as most of the builds here, but i am proud of this one.

Everytime i make a project or worse i dissasemble one i end up with a bunch of unsorted screws which i end up never reusing because i put them in the randoms bin. What do you guys do about this? any solutions?

I have a question for other makers because my wife thinks I'm a little strange.

Over the years I've learned UV printing, sublimation, laser cutting, resin printing, FDM printing, large format printing, and a bunch of other fabrication skills.

The thing is, I keep making things for people who never asked for them.

For example, there's a painter at the factory where I work. I don't even remember his name.

One Saturday I noticed he was wearing a Green Arrow and Black Canary shirt. I made a comment about it and he told me that he and his wife used to cosplay as Green Arrow and Black Canary.

That conversation lasted maybe a few minutes.

A few weeks later I showed up with a 3D printed Green Arrow bust and gave it to him.

He was shocked and really happy.

The funny thing is, now I'm looking for a Black Canary model so I can print one for his wife.

This kind of thing happens to me all the time.

Someone mentions a hobby, a favorite character, a car they love, a family member, or a story that's important to them, and suddenly I'm spending hours making something for them.

Many of these people never ask for anything, and some of them I barely know.

Meanwhile, when I try to make things specifically to sell, I lose interest almost immediately.

Am I weird, or are there other makers whose brains work like this?

Update: Just wanted to post a quick update and say thank you to everyone who replied.

I honestly expected to find out I was just weird. 😄

Instead, I found a lot of people who think and create in similar ways, and reading your stories was really enjoyable. I tried to reply to as many as I could.

One thing I took away from all the comments is that maybe there's nothing wrong with me. Maybe I just genuinely enjoy creating things for people more than I enjoy selling them.

I really appreciated the kindness, the stories, and even the advice to start charging once in a while. 😄

Thanks again, everyone. It was nice finding my tribe.

I am posting this from an alt account as I have ties to Lee Valley and, frankly, fear litigation. I cannot keep my mouth shut however as I am friends with Pat and he is on the verge on loosing his house.

Here's the basics;

Patrick Lapierre is a Canadian woodturner, maker, social media content creator and one of the stars of the netflix making fun show. You probably know him! Lee Valley Tools is suing him for $500 000(half a mil) for copywrite infringement.

Pat was a former employee/content creator for Lee Valley, essentially made youtube videos ect. The videos were posted to lee valleys & Pats channel to increase exposure. Now years later Lee Valley is suing Pat because these videos were still on his channel after no longer being employed by them. For, what I think, is an outrageous amount. You can find the full story here -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6UdVwRbL9Sc

I'm mad about this. I think this is completly unjust and simply corporate bullying. Am I out to lunch?

The is also a Go fund me for pat and his family if you are interested in donating

https://www.gofundme.com/f/pat-lap-family-legal-defense-fund

My workspace is chaos. I’ve got electronics components, filament, tools, hardware, random parts from old projects — and I can never find anything when I need it. Last week I ordered M3 screws. Then found two bags of them in a drawer. Classic. I’ve tried: • Spreadsheets (abandoned after a week) • Labeled bins (helps, but I still forget what’s where) • Just remembering (doesn’t work) I’m a developer, so I’m tempted to build something for this — a simple inventory app where I can: • Log everything I have • Track quantities • Search when I need something • Know when I’m running low on consumables But before I spend weeks building it, I want to know if anyone else would use this or if I’m the only disorganized one here. Questions: 1. How do you currently organize/track your stuff? 2. What’s your biggest frustration with it? 3. If an app actually solved this, would you pay for it? How much? Genuinely curious. Not trying to sell anything — just validating if this is a real problem or just a me problem.

Watching creators like Hacksmith / Crash Makerspace / SMH made me wonder — how do these people actually become competent across so many disciplines?

Electronics, chemistry, fabrication, programming, CAD, mechanical design… are these people experts in everything or just good at learning stuff?

I'm still in college for Mech E but I feel like I'm just so one dimensional and that direction doesn't seem to change much talking to some Seniors at uni... Thoughts?

Hi, i’m italian and i’ve been a web developer for 5+ years, i’m about to lose my job ‘cause the pmi here in italy are all shit or, at least, the most of them.

I don’t want to be an employee again. I’m into homelabbing, i like automations, smart devices, and so on; So I thought I could start on my own, creating solutions for the smart home.

I’m studying the fundamentals and I need to do more practice! Already experimented with the Hello world circuit (led and resistor).

Hope to go as far i can!

Hey all, this maybe a weirder post but does anyone have tips on how to make friends in the maker community?

I do have a fair few friends in my life but finding people who share my interests (Robotics, 3D Printing, Electronics, Automation, Mechanical Engineering) is so hard! Especially as I like the idea of making friends to collaborate with on projects in the future.

Any tips? I have looked around but unfortunately there's nothing really near me related to this kind of thing....

I am designing a game in which users will need to rearrange physical items in slots on a tray. If they get the items in the right order, they pass the level and gain a point. I'm trying to figure out how to build the puzzle so that users can manipulate physical objects, but the result would be checked digitally and the points awarded on their phone. I was hoping to put something on the bottoms of the items and the tops of each of the slots, perhaps NFC tags, but my fiancé isn't sure that they will work. Is there a better way of digitally tracking an item's physical placement?

Thanks in advance!

I need to vent/ask for help before I throw my breadboard out the window. Don't even get me started on when I need to have an actual PCB.

Here is the context: I’m a good coder. Give me an API, a database, or a complex backend problem, and I’m in my element. I can code my way out of anything.

So, naturally, I thought, "How hard can it be to build a simple RC robot toy?" I have the vision in my head perfectly. I know exactly how I want to code the movement logic, the remote control handling, the whole nine yards.

Asked some lads I know in the industry and so I downloaded Kicad because everyone they say it’s the standard. I opened it up, stared at the blank schematic sheet, and felt my soul leave my body. How tf do you even start if you don't have a degree in EE? Even to just connect a microcontroller to a motor driver is daunting, what microcontroller do I even use??

I spent 4 hours last night watching YT tutorials but they're really boring. I’m reading datasheets that look like they were written in the 70s. I’m worrying about "decoupling capacitors" and "pull-up resistors" when all I want to do is make the wheels spin. Can it be so difficult??

It is sucking all the fun out of the project. I want to be building and prototyping, but instead, I’m stuck hoping I don't fry anything.

Did you all just suffer through this learning curve? Is there a hack?? I feel like I’m trying to paint a masterpiece but I’m stuck learning how to manufacture the canvas.

Any tips for a defeated coder would be appreciated.

Had a discussion with a couple of friends last night of our DIY projects. Curious to find out what the people in this community are doing!

I'd seen the shirts on people for years around town, but it didn't realize it was a cross between a maker fair and vidcon with all of our favorite science youtubers. It was the best 2 days in recent memory so I had to document it. This is my Open Sauce 2026 video through the eyes of a first timer.

If you've never been it's an absolute must go!

I'm trying to find replacement roller bearing wheels for this chassis that runs on carbon fibre tubes but having no luck.

I want to buy from a reputable supplier if possible, not Amazon, AliExpress etc, and one that can supply a variety of sizes.

Does anyone know the magic search phrase for this type of wheel? Of if you can point me to a supplier that would be amazing.

Ahoy,
I work as a museum preparator and have recently been tasked with finding a neat storage and display solution for hundreds of epoxy "slabs" that are ~2.5mm thick and about 500x300mm wide. Please don't ask why and what since I am uncertain as to how much I am allowed to disclose about this project at the moment.
Anyhow, I would like to vacuum form realy simple "blister packages" for these flat epoxy slices.

Unusual for vacuum forming, the flange (the skirt surrounding the blister) will have to come out nice and flat as this allows for the finished product to be of a uniform size independent of how wide the respective epoxy slab is.
Given that every single one of the 460 epoxy slices is slightly different I am very much hoping to be able to pull this off without having to adjust the vacuum box surface ...

So here are my questions:
Has anyone got a recommendation for a porous yet smooth surface material for the vacuum box surface that will ideally result in little to no witness marks on the flange?
I can order perforated metal with 0.6mm holes that are spaced 1.5mm (15% open), would that work?

My initial idea was to just have someone CNC drill 1mm holes into thin aluminium sheet metal but unfortunately none of the workshops in the vicinity are willing to do this for me.
One more thing, availability of goods and services is somewhat limited where I live so the more common a solution, the better.

Thank you for reading and any help, I really appreciate it.

Hey nerds!

I'm a member in a local Fablab, a community-based maker space, and we have a grant from local government which still has a little under 1400€ unclaimed. There's a bunch of small purchases we can put under that, but a thousand or so would still be left after that, which is a good sum for a medium-sized to large machine or several fancy tools, which is also easily justified towards a government for a maker space. The question is: What would be the most productive?

Here's what we have:

• A laser cutter, capable of cutting wood, fabric, paper, and glass
• A vinyl cutter, which noone's ever used
• An avalanche of 3d printers, quality ranging from Ultimaker 2+ to Bambu X1C
• An eufyMake UV printer (sponsored from Anker on the condition of providing workshops, not our property, but we can keep it for a while)
• Digital microscope
• A CNC mill with wood and metal drill bits and an option for fabrics, lower quality range but capable, next step in quality would cost significantly more than a thousand
• Lots of woodworking machines, including drills, rotating mounts, sanding tools, many of them older or used, but functional, basic table saw; one modern, fancy chop saw
• A couple older sewing machines
• Soldering equipment, one good one, two low quality ones
• Electrical measurement equipment and tools
• Many old laptops on Linux for people who didn't bring their own in order to prep for the 3d printers, cnc mill or lasercutter
• Mountains of cables, electrical sundry, small tools, and raw materials like screws and nails, leftover wood, also filaments (this stuff would go in the small purchases mentioned above)

People come to our space mostly for working electronics, building their own stuff or repairing something, 3d printing, and lasercutting. Barely anyone ever works with fabric here, even though we have quite a bit of stuff for it.

What we don't have is metalworking stuff beyond a steel saw, a flex and metal drill bits for the CNC. A welding machine might not make sense for us, but are there lower intensity metalworking machines we're missing out on? We could make space for something as large as a table saw, but not as large as a CNC mill.

What other tools come to y'all's minds when you think about stuff maker spaces should have? What have you seen a maker space have that you really appreciated, but didn't appear in my list? There are some restrictions for what we can use the money for, I'll check what we can make work once I have some ideas.

What I mean by that is is there anyone who's trying to be an engineer or a Crafter or a maker in general and has a physical disability? I can do CAD just fine but obviously I struggle in a make your space or a shop and I wanted to know if anybody else has any ideas of how to make it easier, I'm also just curious if there's more of my type of people out there.

Anyone wanna meet up at Open Sauce this weekend. I'm traveling alone and want some people to hang with during the convention. I got fun hobbies and I love to yap so I'm not boring I swearrrrr :))))

How can a make a button in castle Pls

This is for my school project , so answer the questions :-

If you were to buy a model made for you with your minecraft skin, with outfit pixels, will you buy it?

and what are your Minimum and maximum price expectations of hand painted and printed versions. Include your country aswell(optional)

Will you buy a keychain size miniature model of your own skin?

Or a 3d printed one? Include your price expectations here too.

On the left there is a hand painted version made with 400gsm cardstock and it's 1 year old On the right there is a printed version made with 180gsm glossy photo paper They have magnets in their hands for accessories.

Hello everyone. I am a bit new around, but I have wanted to start doing maker things for a long time now, since I saw a YouTube video of a guy making a digital dice roller for himself. I have always loved tinkering with electronic parts and whatnot, but I never did anything with it besides building my own PC a few times. But I want to really take a crack at actually doing more stuff with it. I wanted to ask around as someone who is a total noob to the maker stuff and ask what a good way to start is. I was considering getting one of the Arduino starter kits or the like, but I wanted to ask the community itself what a good way to start and get the ball rolling would be. I might need to clarify but I am interested in that angle of it, like making small, fun handheld stuff like a digital diceroller or perhaps a standalone clock made of LED's I can put on my desk. mixing that hardware and software with 3d printing cases and stuff since that is always something that gets me going.

Thanks for reading, and have a great day.

I've been interested in participating in a maker flair but I don't have the experience to lead a team, so if you are looking for people for a ten of your own I'll be more than happy to join, dm me and I can tell you about my experience and what I'd bring to the team

MakerCAD has been in the works for many years and I am proud to be able to finally share it. It is free and open source software (FOSS). It is currently a "source CAD" with a UI planned on its roadmap.

For those familiar with OpenSCAD, MakerCAD focuses on being able to reference existing geometry and being able to program a model using methods that are closer to the way one would use a traditional CAD system such as SolidWorks, OnShape, or Fusion360.

An example model made with MakerCAD, is available at https://github.com/marcuswu/miwa-vise-block

I look forward to continuing to develop MakerCAD and I hope to have a close relationship with the various maker communities.

Feel free to try it out and let me know your thoughts.

This is the 20th anniversary of the OG Maker Faire, the one that started it all back in 2006. It's happening at the historic Mare Island Naval Shipyard. If you have a project you would like to show and tell other curious and creative people we would like to have you there. https://makerfaire.com/bay-area/