- The title of this speech is “Making things with your computer”
- May be thinking, “I make things with my computer all the time.”
- Don’t understand. Make THINGS!
- If I had a dollar for every time someone has condescended to me because the things I make on computers are not “real,” I would have a lot of money. I’d have $999 in money.
- Advance
- This would be exactly enough to buy the Original Prusa i3 MK3s+ 3D printer in the bold black/orange color scheme with spring steel print sheet with smooth double-sided PEI and have it in about 5-6 weeks.
- It’s probably not news to some of you that you can make physical objects with a computer. It’s called 3D printing, and it’s been relatively accessible for a few years now.
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- Since I don’t have a dollar for every time someone has condescended to me because the things I make on computers are not “real,” I don’t have enough money to buy my own 3D printer
- Since I don’t have advanced degrees in electrical engineering, computer aided design, and materials science, I also don’t have the skills necessary to assemble, calibrate, maintain, and operate a 3D printer
- But, necessity is the mother of invention, and with that, I’ll introduce you to the mother of my invention.
- Advance
- Our bathrooms are small, and we have a storage problem
- This is the entirety of the storage in a single bathroom
- We need MORE!
- To help mitigate that storage problem, we bought this door-hanging storage basket
- You can see the new problem that created
- The cabinet has this piece of wood behind the top of the door that prevents the door from closing with the hanging storage attached
- The hanger itself is plastic and removable from the basket
- This lit up a light bulb for me, and I started doing some research
- Today, I’m going to share with you the result of that research and teach you too how to make “real” things with your computer and without any advanced degrees.
- I’m starting with this program called “Shapr3D”
- Free and available on Windows, macOS, and iPad
- Has a robust set of tutorials
- Video shows how to do something, then you try it
- I did about a half hour of them before I got antsy and decided to dive in
- Demo app
- Measure arm width for cutout
- Draw cutout rectangle
- Cut hole
- You will continue to build this shape by adding new shapes to it and cutting other shapes away until you have the exact shape you need.
- Once I had the original shape, I cut each of the arms, pulled the two sides apart a big, and stretched the arms to meet so that the entire hanger was a new length.
- Demo export to STL
- You can take that STL file over to this site: makexyz.com
- Upload the file and choose the material you want. They will give you a price. Complete the order and you’ll soon receive a “real” thing you made on your computer.
- This one cost me about $15
- Now, you can point and laugh at all those people who made fun of you, first in high school, then into adulthood, and further on into middle age, because you can make “real” things on your computer.