I have a broad background in the skilled trades, design engineering, teaching at the 2 year college and the university level. I design and engineer whatever is needed. My forte is the mechanical side and areas outside of my expertise requires that I find the people/resources to complete a project.
All of this allows me to help the student with their project. Projects require creativity, planning, execution, a solid understanding of basic manuf and design, and a willingness to find the answers and solutions for issues and questions encountered throughout the project.
When I was 9 years old I made a wooden box for my Mom - she needed something to hold shoe polish and brushes. So I thought about it, designed it, planned it, and built it using hand tools, nails, and scrap wood. The end result fulfilled a need and was fully functional. (form follows function)
I still have the box and it represents my start to a life-time of making.
NA, but I will say:
Depends on what I am making. I will use traditional manufacturing as well as digital.
NA, but I will say:
Projects can bring so many different challenges, but when you are in the moment and focused on the issue at hand, you draw on past experiences, and/or give it your best guess, make mistakes, learn from mistakes.
Today we have available, accessible, and affordable digital manufacturing to enhance and build on the traditional side of manufacturing to help bring ideas to fruition. The Maker Culture is not arts and crafts; they are start-ups, incubators for new products and companies.
Provides students the opportunity to pursue their ideas, make a difference, and develop skills to take into the real world.
Starting at a smaller scale and dealing with its’ relative challenges, can give the maker the foundation to move up to the next level, take on bigger issues, and truly address anyone’s desire to make a difference, make a contribution to society, and help create jobs.
Qualified staffing, instructors/teachers, and mentors! You can have ‘state of the art’ everything, but without proper guidance and encouragement the Maker Space will be unproductive and unjustifiably costly.
Results should be the goal and it all starts with an idea.
Starting at a smaller scale and dealing with its’ relative challenges, can give the maker the foundation to move up to the next level, take on bigger issues, and truly address anyone’s desire to make a difference, make a contribution to society, and help create jobs.
Be comfortable with math, chemistry, and physics. Computer skills seem to be intuitive for the younger generation. In regards to your project: For all the things you do not know or understand, find the person/persons that do. You must consistently work on your communication, brainstorming, and problem solving skills to make an idea a reality.
Also, take hand tools and build a box, do it 10 more times – develop manual dexterity skills.
P.S. The best ideas are stolen.