[HN Gopher] How to make almost anything (2019)
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How to make almost anything (2019)
See also: 2020 Version with videos:
https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/863.20/
Author : teleforce
Score : 126 points
Date : 2025-08-03 11:28 UTC (11 hours ago)
(HTM) web link (fab.cba.mit.edu)
(TXT) w3m dump (fab.cba.mit.edu)
| criddell wrote:
| This course looks like a lot of fun. I've been thinking about how
| this is a golden age for makers ever since I read Neil
| Gershenfeld's book _Fab_.
|
| I think Gershenfeld was a little early, but high quality,
| sophisticated personal fabrication is here.
| westurner wrote:
| The "Week 8: Molding and Casting" link 404s.
|
| This is important because bioplastics are so tensile.
|
| Ideas for another week of material?
|
| Programmable matter, nanoscale self-assembly, AI material design
| ape4 wrote:
| Year 2: How to make a permalink
| bee_rider wrote:
| Probably that should be covered in "how to maintain
| anything."
| probably_wrong wrote:
| Any course on making "almost anything" that doesn't include
| sewing is short-changing its students.
|
| And given that I see neither woodworking nor welding, I'd argue
| that the course should be renamed to "How to make some things
| (most of which require a computer)".
| andrewrn wrote:
| Sewing feels so underrated to me. Nobody talks about it.
|
| I had a little stint doing sewing projects and I found that I
| could make totally legitimate, durable, functional outdoor gear
| in a single weekend (~15 hrs) from zero experience. As
| functional and close to as attractive as something you'd buy at
| REI. I think the nice industrial machine I was on helped, but
| still!
| ndileas wrote:
| Good tools are very important. Especially for things like
| woodworking, metalworking, sewing. A good machine has decades
| or centuries of trial and error and has systmatically
| eliminated pain points and possible mistakes.
| walterbell wrote:
| Refurb sewing machine prices on eBay are comparable to
| mobile phones, quite the bargain for long-term value.
| zevon wrote:
| Well, there is the Fabricademy (an offshoot of HTMAA / the Fab
| Academy) for all sorts of things related to textiles:
| https://textile-academy.org/
|
| But yes, generally speaking, the focus is on digital(ish)
| fabrication which is probably not entirely surprising - it's a
| course by the Center for Bits and Atoms.
| lax_och_potatis wrote:
| I took this course recently! The class is mostly digital
| fabrication, but when working through it, you end up learning a
| lot of other techniques through your own work, the TAs, and
| seeing what your classmates bring.
|
| In recent iterations, they have a choose-your-own week which
| included embroidery machines (which while admittedly barely
| scratching the surface of sewing, fits easily in the digital
| fabrication theme!) I also learned a fair bit about woodworking
| in the CNC week! The class is a whirlwind, but I left the class
| not being afraid of many types of fabrication, even if I was
| well aware I had a lot to learn.
| sgnelson wrote:
| FabAcademy which is the course taught by the same professor,
| but not part of MIT, includes a "wildcard" week where you can
| choose what to do. Many students will do embroidery using a
| embroidery machine. A number of final projects will also
| include sewing/textiles.
|
| A friend of mine final project:
| https://fabacademy.org/2022/labs/charlotte/students/nidhie-d...
|
| Also, as someone already mentioned, see fabricacademy.
|
| Edit:
|
| What about making a cast iron skillet from scratch?
| https://fabacademy.org/2024/labs/dilijan/students/shushanik-...
| mannykannot wrote:
| It is exciting to see this course addressing the biology space
| and the chemistry space, but the final frontier is the space
| space.
| low_tech_punk wrote:
| That blog is the student notes from a famous MIT Media Arts &
| Sciences class called HTMAA. Course website:
| https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/MAS.863/
|
| Lex Fridmen has a podcast with the professor:
| https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF35Udv1DBU
| rtbrz wrote:
| the 2020 iteration (Covid times) also has recordings:
| https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/863.20/
| sgnelson wrote:
| See https://fabacademy.org/ for the version of the MIT HTMAA
| class open to all. It's run by Neil Gershenfeld.
|
| Also, the class documentation itself is not where the "cool"
| stuff is, it's in all the student documentation. Here is a list
| of all the students in this past years FabAcademy:
| https://fabacademy.org/2025/people.html
|
| And here are some highlights for this years final projects:
| https://fabacademy.org/2025/highlights.html
|
| And what I always really liked where the weekly highlights as
| well (I don't have a link handy at the moment, I'd often make
| notes for myself of different projects.)
| Animats wrote:
| Aw. Reminds me of the TechShop days.
|
| This is like one of those 10 countries in 10 days tours of
| Europe. The next step is to get good at one of those skills,
| which takes weeks to months. But time is too tight in college for
| that.
| zakqwy wrote:
| I took this class with D. in 2019! Was a great whirlwind through
| digital fab and microcontrollers.
| dhosek wrote:
| One of the things I regret from my undergrad days at Harvey Mudd
| was that there was a class that the engineering majors took where
| they made a set of tools from scratch and I kind of wish, even
| though I wasn't an engineering major, that I had taken it.
| car wrote:
| There is also the amazing MIT synthetic biology class 'How to
| Grow (Almost) Anything' by David Kong and George Church. I took
| it during the pandemic, and it was great. It's open to anyone,
| but requires quite a bit of commitment.
|
| https://howtogrowalmostanything.notion.site/htgaa25
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