My suggestion is to get into an unrelated hobby, and you’ll find small opportunities to print things useful to that hobby. Dice shakers or holders for Dungeon and dragons, pick holders for guitar, a case for my belay glasses for climbing, etc
After three times that more you'll probably realize that you really need
something totally different from computers. It's not to say you'll ditch your
work at 5 o'clock, but you'll be glad from time to time to do something that
is not computer-problem-solving.
Having that said, I make things (clippad stand, marker tray for whiteboard,
detachable box for pencils and ballpens, things like that) out of corrugated
cardboard and I'm trying to learn some woodworking. I also read a lot, and
I enjoy role-playing games these rare times I have a group and game master.
Honestly not a bad idea. If I can find something I'm passionate enough about I think I'll do this. I'd be making something in my free time anyway - might as well make it something that could potentially make my time on the clock better. Thank you!
This is not applicable to all projects, but if there is some thing you want to print and you don’t have a printer, consider if it could be made from wood.
The tools can be more accessible than a 3D printer, can take up less room, and you get a skill that you get satisfaction from.
Stuff breaks, see if you can fix it by 3D printing it. I’ve done cupboard handles, window shutter lock handles, belt connectors etc. Also creative objects are fun to do. Get some cheap callipers - they help out.
T-shirt printing, leather craft, 3d printing long-tail plastic parts for things where spare parts are no longer available, small-scale electronics manufacturing, hydroponic production of fresh ingredients for local restaurants, embroidery, concrete countertop/sink production, glass work for smoking, classic car restoration, kit car production, hobby steam engine production, tiny wood shop, CNC production for sale on Etsy, jewelry crafting. Those are ones I can think of off the top of my head.
3D printing is a fun hobby that combines engineering skills with actual useful stuff. Just printed a set of tablecloth clamps for camping.
Speaking of, camping! Nice to get some fresh air and away from screens for a bit. And I love cooking over an open fire.
Speaking of, cooking! Once you get a little practice, you can really dazzle yourself and others with some delicious food. Especially when you realize that cooking is not actually as fiddly as it seems. Once you have enough experience under your belt to substitute and improvise and just throw something together the real fun begins. I recommend https://www.youtube.com/c/GlenAndFriendsCooking . Just pick a recipe and go for it, and Glen has very practical advice about exactly how unnecessary the fiddly parts of cooking are.
Other things I do: retro video games and related electronics projects (currently building a supergun to play arcade games at home), learn yo-yo tricks, read books, garden, play music.
Lack of hobbies isn't the problem. If someone would pay me a salary just to do my hobbies I'd be extremely happy.
A lot of it is printing things I've found on Thingiverse that other people have created. More recently I've gotten more abilities to use TinkerCAD to build more complex models.
Things I've downloaded and printed: Headphones holder for my new desk, cable hangers for running cat5, Microphone "shock mount", a centrifuge for the kids science project, drywall passthrough grommets, painters pyramids because I forgot to pick some up when I was at the store, Christmas ornaments for us an our family, heart drink coaster for my anniversary.
Things I've designed: Hold-downs for my shop vac, hose adapters for my dust collector, hose adapters for a variety of my tools (many of these hard to just go out and buy), repair parts for my christmas lights to replace broken holders, a tool for more quickly raising/lowering the feet on my workbenches, a customized lathe tool holder for a friend.
The first time I shopped for something on Amazon (the headphone holders), and realized I could print on for a fraction of the cost in 4 hours, I was hooked!
One option is to try and monetize a hobby you want to do anyway. I’ve just started to do this with my woodworking/cnc/making hobby.
I make art piece wordclocks[0]. I’ve Sold a few with almost no marketing effort. My goal is to sell two per month.
Part of my marketing effort is improving visibility on Etsy and so I’ve started selling much less expensive items on Etsy too[1]. They are not so much for the revenue as for the traffic, ratings, and learning how to best use Etsy. These secondary products are all based on things I’ve designed and made for/with my young kids.
Two observations:
- I’ve really enjoyed the path of developing better processes of how to fabricate things more efficiently
- I’ve really enjoyed getting my kids involved with making. It’s fun to observe them thinking about how to make stuff and working with them to figure things out (they are 3 and 6).
By monetizing my hobby I can also write off tools I’d like to have. Note that I started pretty low cost using tools at my local makerspace[2].
I’m using mine to produce enclosures, replacement parts and new mechanical parts for my other interests. As well as printing things for the kids who have an endless stream of ideas. It turned into an unexpected family activity. Finishing and painting stuff is fun too.
Genuinely if you are a creative person it’s an excellent tool to extend your abilities.
Good call on Make Magazine! I suggest that daniel_ start a project that he will probably need help with, and meet new people through the project. Tons of fun to be had from that magazine, I wish I had time to pursue all the DIY projects I could, oh well.
I know a few people who make stuff to do with hobbies. For example I know one person who makes fishing lures and another who makes ham radio antennas. Oh, and another friend who make rubber melee weapons for LARPing.
What they do is fairly simple and doesn't need CAD experience or the use of CNC machines/3D printers. The key thing is to make a good quality product, offer good customer service and work to get word of mouth advertising.
People with hobbies and disposable income are a good market to target.
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