TechWorks
High-school internship at a digital fabrication lab, helping college students turn designs into builds on FabLab tools.
TechWorksThe Makerspace on FabLabs
Problem
College students at the FabLab often arrived with a sketch or a CAD file but not yet the fabrication know-how, or the comfort with the machines, to turn it into a real, physical part.
System design & approach
Day to day that meant CAD and CAM walkthroughs, helping a student choose the right machine for their design, and coaching them on the shop floor until a sketch became a part - repeated for whichever student's design was next.
Challenges
The hard part wasn't fabricating something myself - it was building someone else's judgment in real time: helping a student pick the right machine, walk through CAD and CAM decisions that actually affect whether a part comes out right, and stay with them until it did.
My role
My role was mentorship, not ownership - I wasn't shipping a product of my own. The job was helping college students turn their own designs into real, physical parts on tools they hadn't fully mastered yet.
- CAD
- 3D printing
- Laser
- CNC