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Only limited by imagination

I spent the weekend in a world where the only limit to what can be achieved is one's own imagination.

No, I wasn't tripping on illegal substances, I was making stuff!

When I was a kid, I made stuff with bits of wood, glue, a soldering iron, old bits scavenged from radios and a mind intent on gathering as much knowledge about "tech" as it could.

In fact, I've always really loved "making stuff", using whatever materials, tools and information were available to me.

Today, I'm no different but the technology and materials have changed enormously.

Over the past few days I've been creating massive amounts of plastic waste (hey, it's allegedly "compostable" plastic in the form of polylactic acid (PLA) but we all know that's a bit of "fudgery" on the part of the 3D printing industry). Truth is that unless you have access to special high-temperature composting technology then it's just another plastic with all the issues that creates.

My 3D printer has been running hot and long, creating all sorts of enclosures, cases, brackets, fittings and other things needed for some of my existing and upcoming projects.

The fact that I can have an idea, turn that idea into a CAD drawing then print it out into an actual item that I can hold in my hands... all in the period of a few hours, is gobsmackingly cool.

Then, thanks to "off the shelf" microprocessor boards such as the Raspberry Pi Pico and Zero, I can fill that enclosure with more raw processing power and memory than a 1970s minicomputer.

A few hours later and a bit of coding produces the necessary software to make this collection of bits actually do something useful -- or maybe just something fun.

Have we, as "makers" ever had it so good?

Has it ever been easier to turn your brilliant ideas into working prototypes in such a short time and with such ease?

It's now even possible to make small production runs of niche products without the need to spend-big on having custom PC boards manufactured or getting injection-molded cases tooled up at great expense. The era of "boutique bespoke" is truly upon us.

When I think of all the many, many hours I spent designing, etching and building my own custom printed circuit boards and mounting them in boring, ill-suited "off the shelf" enclosures in order to create something new it almost brings me to tears.

Today that's all pretty much just a memory. Now in a fraction the time I can produce something that is an order of magnitude better. Everyone's a winner!

What surprises me most however, is that more people aren't embracing this newfound ease with which stuff can be turned from an idea into a working product.

I know that in some places there are active "maker" communities and that the internet has a raft of projects that are being shared via sites such as Github and Thingiverse but I'm just not seeing a lot of small businesses being built around this ability to make dreams become reality.

Is it simply that we lack the ideas that could become really viable commercial products, albeit perhaps on a fairly small scale?

Do we simply not bother because we know that as soon as such a product becomes popular, China will copy it and manufacture clones at unmatchable-low prices?

When I look back over the past 50+ years that I've been creating bespoke electronic devices for a multitude of companies and individuals (including myself), I marvel that the power we have at our fingertips appears to be going largely untapped and that instead we limit ourselves to buying stuff from Ali Express or some other "off the shelf" vendor.

How many readers are actively involved in "making stuff" to exactly meet their own (or others') needs?

Am I the last of a dying breed of folk who get a huge buzz from turning an idea into a real, live, working product -- sometimes just "because I can"?

Carpe Diem folks!

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