Hey!
Yesterday my wife and I were talking about the seasons and figuring out which one is our favorite. Her's is the summer and I think mine might just be the fall.
Now that could just be because I work out my garage shop and the cooler weather is a nice alternative to the hot and muggy Georgia summers. Not having to worry about sweating on cast iron tools is always a good reason to like a change in weather ;)
🎃Following up on last week's Haunted Mansion CNC sign I put out a full tutorial that walks through the process of creating all the toolpaths in Fusion 360. If you have ever wanted to get a better look at the workflow for 2.5 and 3D CAM work for a CNC then this is a great overview. It's a combination of written blog post and video, I'd love to know what you think of the format!
🤖 Robots making pictures isn't new. I've done my fair share of recreating photos on both the CNC and laser. But what about a robot arm and thread? These Thread Portraits from Marc Sallent are wild. I can't imagine even started to figure this out!
🔥 Is there a kid in the world who never wanted to have a real lightsaber? I doubt it. The team over at Hacksmith just made the first working retractable lightsaber and it is just as cool as it sounds. In addition to the build video they also have one just for testing. It's taking a plasma torch and turning it up to 11!
💫 Building off the Star Wars theme this combo build comes from I Like to Make Stuff and The Smugglers Room. Bob and the team needed a way to include a TV in their office as well as house a bunch of audio/server equipment. Turning all of that into a huge Star Wars-inspired console was a fun process to watch.
Brian's pin stripping technique is a great one if you have a laser cutter. With a Glowforge he is using acrylic that has a protective mask already attached. He scores the lines to remove the masks and then airbrushes on the colors. This leaves a very night final look!
⚔️ I've been a long-time fan of the Stan Winston School of Character Arts. They create some great paid courses from creature and FX artists from Hollywood. This week I got recommended Tony Swatton's aluminum armor tutorial. I have nearly none of the tools to make anything like this, but the process of recreating replica swords and armor that isn't just made from foam is amazing to watch.
Tyler is an up and coming maker who is hitting above his weight class in terms of the types of projects he is putting out. I'm constantly surprised to see something amazing he is has made compared to his (relatively) subscriber count. If you could bet on YouTuber stock I would be all in on Tyler.
For example, his recent floor vice build is as wild as it is practical
I had Tyler on my podcast a little less than a year ago when he had built a custom home run machine. He's got a bunch of other crazy inventions on his channel and I highly encourage you to check them out.
Plus he just got back from doing a great collaboration with Alec Steele!
I'm pretty biased when it comes to podcasts. I've produced the Make or Break Show, a weekly interview-format for the past three years and I'm in the process of bringing it back from a COVID induced comma.
Bringing podcasts back from the dead seems to be a theme of the past few weeks. Bob Clagett over at I Like to Make Stuff just relaunched his interview show Brain Pick with a new interview with Alec Steele.
And Made for Profit, one of the best business-related maker podcasts just came back from a long break that started back in March. Brad Rodriguez from Fix This Build That and John Malecki are awesome hosts and this episode, in particular, is great because they get deep into their respective growth on YouTube (Brad just hit 1,000,000 subs!)
Zooming out I read a great article on the future of the audio industry from Matthew Ball. Matthew is a managing partner at a venture fund as well as the previous head of strategy for Amazon Studios. He has deep ties into the media industry and he writes on topics ranging from Marvel to Netflix.
Recently he talked about the potential of audio and how it's real power is in the technology that powers it. New technology leads to new ways of monetization, delivery methods, potential audience size, and connection.
All analysis of the past and future of a given media category must start from the fact that media is technology. This is because technology not only enables content categories, it defines their business models and shapes the content, too. And as we know, technology is in a constant process of change.
He is betting big on the future potential of audio because of those underlying technology shifts.
This is what makes audio such a great category in 2020: It’s not just growing faster than it has in decades, it’s diversifying and changing faster too. The cause: technology.
This makes me wonder how the current and future shifts in how we consume audio content will lead to new opportunities in the future. What would the 2030 version of a maker podcast look like?
-Brandon
