DIY & Making

Overview

Building, fixing, and creating things by hand. Electronics, woodworking, repairs, fabrication. The satisfaction of understanding how things work and being able to fix them when they break.

This isn't about being a master craftsperson or having a fully-equipped workshop. It's about developing practical competence across domains, understanding systems, and maintaining agency over the physical world. The modern world encourages passivity—everything is designed to be consumed, not understood or repaired. Making and fixing things is a form of resistance to that.

Electronics

Soldering, circuit design, microcontrollers (Arduino, ESP32, Raspberry Pi). Current projects include building custom keyboards, LED installations, and sensor-based interactive pieces. The appeal: electronics bridge the digital and physical—you write code that makes physical things happen.

Recent builds: mechanical keyboard with custom firmware (QMK), motion-activated LED strips for closets, ESP32-based weather station. Failures include: multiple fried microcontrollers from improper voltage regulation, a "smart" coffee maker that wasn't so smart.

Skills & Competencies

• Through-hole and SMD soldering
• Basic circuit design and breadboarding
• Microcontroller programming (Arduino, ESP32)
• Reading schematics and datasheets
• Multimeter usage and debugging
• Power supply design and voltage regulation

Current Learning

• PCB design in KiCad
• More advanced microcontroller features (interrupts, timers, DMA)
• Low-power design for battery-operated devices
• RF circuits and wireless communication

Woodworking

Mostly utilitarian—shelving, storage solutions, furniture repair. Limited by apartment space and lack of proper workshop, but learning to work with hand tools: chisels, hand saws, hand planes. The constraint of limited tools forces you to think through problems differently.

Current skills: joinery basics (dowels, pocket holes, basic mortise and tenon), finishing techniques, sharpening tools. Aspirational skills: proper dovetails, curved work, using a router without terror.

Projects Completed

• Custom shelving units for awkward apartment corners
• Standing desk conversion with height-adjustable platform
• Repaired vintage furniture (re-gluing joints, refinishing)
• Built simple workbench for apartment workshop

Constraints & Adaptations

Working in a NYC apartment means:

• Limited space for power tools
• Noise restrictions (no table saw at midnight)
• Focus on hand tools and portable power tools
• Using makerspaces for larger projects
• Emphasis on joinery that doesn't require specialized jigs

Repairs

Fixing instead of replacing. Appliances, furniture, electronics, bicycles, clothing. The modern world is designed for disposability—everything is glued, riveted, or made proprietary. But most things are fixable if you're patient and resourceful.

Philosophy

If you can't fix it, you don't really own it. Also: repairing something teaches you how it works in ways that simply using it never will. Every successful repair is both practical (saved money) and educational (learned a system).

The repair community is generous with knowledge—most people are happy to help you fix things rather than throw them away. Makerspaces, repair cafes, and online communities (iFixit, YouTube, Reddit) make repair knowledge accessible.

Notable Repairs

• Disassembled and repaired coffee grinder (seized bearings)
• Fixed washing machine drain pump (saved $300+ service call)
• Resoldered Xbox controller with stick drift
• Repaired vintage lamp wiring (safety hazard → functional)
• Bicycle overhauls (many, see biking page)
• Furniture refinishing and joint re-gluing

Resources

• iFixit: Comprehensive repair guides with photos
• YouTube: Visual walkthroughs for specific models
• Reddit: r/fixit, r/repair, product-specific subreddits
• Makerspaces: Tools and expertise (NYC Resistor, Fat Cat Fab Lab)
• Service manuals: Often available online with some searching

Tools & Learning

Building a tool collection slowly. Buy quality once rather than cheap replacements. Current favorites: Klein wire strippers, Engineer SS-02 solder sucker, Knipex pliers wrench. Also learning to sharpen blades properly—sharp tools are safer tools.

The real skill isn't using tools—it's knowing which tool to use, when to use it, and when to improvise. Also: measuring twice, cutting once isn't just about precision, it's about thinking through the entire process before committing.

Essential Tools Acquired

Organized by priority and use frequency:

Electronics:

• Soldering iron (Hakko FX-888D) - best purchase
• Multimeter (Fluke 115)
• Wire strippers, cutters, and needle-nose pliers
• Helping hands with magnifier
• Solder sucker and desoldering wick
• Breadboards and jumper wires

Woodworking:

• Japanese pull saw (cuts on pull stroke, less effort)
• Set of chisels (Narex, slowly upgrading)
• Block plane and No. 4 smoothing plane
• Combination square
• Cordless drill/driver (Makita)
• Random orbit sander

General:

• Workbench with vise
• Measurement tools (tape measure, calipers, level)
• Clamps (never enough clamps)
• Safety equipment (glasses, hearing protection, respirator)

Tool Philosophy

• Buy quality for frequently-used tools
• Buy cheap first for unknown needs, upgrade if you use it
• Borrow or rent expensive specialty tools
• Maintain tools: keep blades sharp, clean after use, proper storage
• Learn proper technique before blaming the tool

Notable Projects

Philosophy of Making & Repairing

Agency Through Understanding

Making and repairing things develops agency over your environment. You're not dependent on manufacturers, repair services, or replacement cycles. You can diagnose problems, source parts, and fix things yourself.

This extends beyond the immediate practical benefit. Understanding how systems work—how a circuit functions, how wood joints distribute force, how mechanical linkages transfer motion—builds intuition that transfers across domains.

Anti-Disposability

Modern consumer products are designed for planned obsolescence. Glued construction, proprietary fasteners, unavailable parts, sealed enclosures. This is economically rational for manufacturers but ecologically and socially destructive.

Repair is resistance. Every successful repair is a small victory against disposability culture. It's also often more satisfying than buying new—you understand the object more deeply, you've invested effort, and you've developed competence.

Learning Through Doing

The best way to understand a system is to build one or take one apart. Reading about electronics teaches concepts; soldering a circuit teaches reality. Mistakes are expensive but memorable. You remember the lesson from a fried component better than any textbook warning.

The Right to Repair

Access to repair documentation, parts, and tools should be a consumer right. Right-to-repair legislation is slowly advancing, but manufacturers still fight it. Supporting repair-friendly companies (Framework laptops, Fairphone, etc.) and open-source hardware projects pushes the culture in the right direction.

Community & Knowledge Sharing

The making and repair communities are remarkably generous with knowledge. People write detailed guides, answer forum questions, create video tutorials, and organize workshops—often for free. This collaborative culture is worth preserving and contributing to.