How I learned (a little) about hardware and Making.

How I learned (a little) about hardware and Making.

I'm not sure that this will work for everyone or if it is the best approach for you, but this is what I did and why I did it.

First off- I am not a very good Maker, most of the people who watch my videos enjoy them because they show what a creative person with very basic skills can do. I'm not naturally a technical person, mechanically gifted, particularly handy or anything like that. I'm just mind numbingly persistent. The best way I've found to take advantage of this is through self-study, watching Youtube videos and practicing at home (I'm not really a class or workshop kind of person, but some people do great there).

So my "process" is based around basically having the attention span of a rock:-) This does not mean being bored, I listen to music while I tinker, let my mind wander, but I don't really mind infinity iterations until something works. Downside is it's not very social- you miss out on a lot of the community aspects of Making, upside is you go at your own speed, when you want, and zero issues with sexism etc. if that's a concern. Just you and the hardware. Not for everyone, works for me.

When learning anything obviously it's always best to grasp the underlying principles of what you are doing. The problem in hardware I find is that often the best way to understand them is through applying them. So if you're plugging things into a board and you aren't clear what they do- don't stress it. Do it enough times, start making some changes, check the occasional webpage while troubleshooting and eventually it clicks. As awful as it sounds, you can absolutely proceed and follow a tutorial even if you have no idea what you are doing. It all starts making (a little) sense later. I baked bread for months before I looked up what the yeast actually did. Bread tasted the same before and after- but it did give me the confidence to tweak the recipe and eventually bake other stuff. Same applies to Making.

CAD- being able to make physical objects. In my case usually stuff that holds other stuff. Without CAD the fanciest 3D printer in the world can just make little bobbleheads and is not very useful. With CAD you can literally make almost any shape you can think of.

I use TinkerCAD for everything. Sign up and do this tutorial:
https://www.tinkercad.com/learn/
There's lots more advanced programs, TinkerCAD does what I need and I'm happy with it. Even if you end up with something more advanced pretty much everyone agrees TinkerCAD is the best place to start.

Then go through a basic Arduino kit:
https://www.adafruit.com/products/170
This ARDX is the kit I did, I have not done any others so I can't really compare. I'm open to recommendations- but it was good enough. Do it in front of the TV like you're doing a puzzle. Work your way through the projects, if it does not work skip it and move on to the next one, go back later. I'm not going to say how long it took me because the whole point of doing it on your own is not having to feel you're doing better or worse than anyone else.

Then you have to learn to solder.
https://learn.adafruit.com/adafruit-guide-excellent-soldering/tools
The toolkit they sell is a decent value. I have no commercial affiliation with them or anything, I just usually recommend their tutorials and products because it saves me followup questions.

Then get 20 switches like this:
https://www.amazon.com/uxcell%C2%AE-Pins-Positions-Slide-Switch/dp/B008P720ZS
Each has six pins to solder a wire to. So, 120 joints- put your earphones in and get into the zone:-) Seriously, now is the time not just to learn to make a neat joint, but to figure out your posture so your neck does not hurt, setup a fan so you're not breathing the fumes. Girls my age do this 12 hours a day just a few kilometers from my apartment, the idea is to be able to do this effortlessly. NOT to be crippled and squinting by the end of it.

You can use a 3D printer to print your TinkerCAD models at your local Makerspace, or through 3Dhubs. When it comes time and you want to buy one yourself they are pretty easy to use these days and you can get something solid for $300 to $1000- but best to start out with using other peoples before you go thinking about spending money.

With these three skills- CAD drawing of printable objects, the ability to follow an Arduino tutorial and soldering, you can build a huge number of things. These three cover most interesting wearable projects and can keep you busy for years.

In the beginning following, then going back and slightly modifying well written tutorials is best. When I'm trying to do something I usually start off with Adafruit and only look elsewhere if there's nothing there I can adapt. They have an incentive to write their tutorials carefully because they sell the components and people will lose interest if their project does not work. Their tutorials also tend to be stuff I actually want (or at least I can give away), not just something that leaves me with a flashing light and a buzzer or something useless. You can get some of their products a little cheaper elsewhere, but as with baking- ingredient substitutions are best left for once you are more skilled and know the recipe pretty well. At first it's simpler just to go with what the tutorial says.

I'll update this periodically, and again I'm not saying this is the best approach for everyone, but it's what I did and I've had overall a very positive experience.