One of the things I love to spend my time doing; often oblivious to the rest of the world around me, is repairing broken things or creating some new project from scratch. I am a big believer in recycling, upcycling and the ‘repair don’t replace’ mantra and so getting stuck into keeping things running rather than just popping them in the bin, makes a lot of sense to me.
As I’ve gotten older and more frail, things have changed slightly with regard to what I can and cannot do project wise. I trained as a mechanic in my teens and I spent many years getting my hands dirty. I have done my fair share of working while laying under trucks and cars in all weathers, or slogging away in a garage somewhere for long hours. I’ve also spent a lot of time creating car related projects.
It’s hard, but very gratifying work, and despite my hands often being torn to shreds, burnt or injured in some other way, I never lost a taste for making and/or repairing things.
The change in my tinkering is only due to a huge loss of movement and stamina over the years. Because of this, I have had to refocus my manual skills toward achieving something more appropriate for my restrictions.
This is where robots and electronics come into the mix for me. Sat still, anywhere at home, I can work away in a clean and dry environment and satisfy my need to tinker. I often try to repair anything that breaks in the house in an effort to not contribute to the culture of throwing things away. I’ve fixed Xbox consoles and controllers, headphones, PC screens, PCs, guitars, electronic drums and much more. It doesn’t have to be electronics as such either, I’m more than content fixing/making most things.
My love of being a tinkerer persists since my car days and in the past few months alone during lockdown (Covid-19), I have put together a digital watch, a traffic light for my son, a handheld game and a pair of powered USB speakers (pictured below). I’m happy building kits, or putting together my own creations.
I am currently working on an 8x8x8 LED cube, a model of Canton Tower in Guangzhou, China and a Modular Arduino Robot that a friend made and wrote about in Hackspace Magazine; our own robot arm, our own robot head and our own ‘AI’ chatbot.
There’s just something nice about creating a new project or bringing something back to life. The process of putting together new components, organised into a complicated and oft shiny mechanically or electronically wondrous creation, that works as intended, is an incredibly satisfying feeling I can’t adequately describe.
This post is intended to preface my forthcoming projects.
Keep making!
