I Have the Maker’s Itch

I’ve always had the urge to make things.

If I see something interesting, my first thought is rarely “I should buy one.” It’s usually “How could I build that?”

Projects tend to sit in my head for weeks, months, or sometimes years before I finally start building them.

So I have an affliction with making stuff. I always have some project or other on the go. I get a whacky desire to make something and mull it over for weeks, months, or years before having to start.

If I don’t start I just keep thinking about it and thinking about it! I am either planning, making, fixing, or repurposing something. I have many projects on the go at one time.

I have to say I enjoy the whole process. I see something and think I can make one of those. I don't have much of a desire to buy it but given the chance to build or make it. How can I build that? and then I'm off.

Projects That Stay in My Head

The perfect project is something that takes a long time and has many stages to it. It can evolve and be shaped. I love to spend time subconsciously sketching out in my mind how I can make parts, how I can adapt parts, and how I can engineer something. It's those moments when I am waiting or daydreaming I will be engineering something in my head.

Looking back now, I can see this connects strongly to how I think visually. A lot of projects are mentally assembled long before anything physical gets built.

Learning Through Making

Building the boy's Jeep was a perfect example of this. It had lots of parts, it required research, it needed different types of skills and I had to adapt and repurpose things. The front steering mechanism was a problem I spent ages thinking about. I needed a way of having a 3 axis mount that could swivel in all three directions. I'd sketch out diagrams, play with bits of metal, Lie in bed awake thinking how to solve the problem. Inspiration and a final solution came while in the local hardware store. Large eye bolts normally used for gates bolted together in an X-Y-Z orientation were a quick reasonably cheap and strong solution. Relief, I can stop thinking about that problem.

The Joy of Solving Problems

Both my boys sleep in custom beds I have made. Jamie wanted a high sleeper in the shape of a Campervan, and Thomas wanted a Pirate Ship. Both required research, planning, and design. The Campervan was drawn out using a digital projector that beamed the outline of a Campervan onto a giant sheet of MDF that I then traced around with a black Sharpie.

It has working lights a real sliding door, and a surfboard as a ladder to get to the top bunk.

Thomas's Pirate Ship bed is a similar construction and has an anchor, a ship's wheel, and a bell (last orders at the bar type bell from eBay). The anchor and ship's wheel were cut out on my mini X-carve CNC machine.

I am a bit of a petrol head and one of the big projects I wanted to do was build my own car (I mentioned this in previous posts). My first attempt was to dismantle my mum's Mini Clubman estate when it was parked up after terminally failing its MOT. I didn’t get very far. I was only 12 and had a limited budget and tools. Years later I set about researching and choosing something new I could build, I had the maker's itch that needed to be scratched. It was a long project that took 4 years to build and get on the road. I took my time and enjoyed all the detailed parts of the build. Again I loved all the little projects and spent lots of time daydreaming solutions along the way.

Why I Keep Making Things

This year is no exception. I started collecting materials to make a “Mega Den" for the boys... A sheltered hangout In the garden that we can escape to, we can draw, play games, and pretend we are on holiday all while still in the garden at home. It needed to be bigger than the fort (another scrap wood project I made a few years ago).

I found some windows free from Gumtree, and some old doors also from Gumtree, and they sat under a tarpaulin for over a year as I planned out in my head how I could use them. A chance discussion with a farmer saw me collecting 12 scaffold boards and I had enough to get started.

I have spent a few happy weeks and evenings sawing, hammering, and drilling to get to the stage of something resembling a "summerhouse" no MegaDen in the back of the garden. Roofing materials arrive next week and it will be fully watertight and ready for action.

Electrics arrived this week (thanks to Amazon Prime) and a length of armored cable that I have squirreled away in the garage for over 10 years will see power running up under the grass for lights and sockets.

A couple of weeks should see it finished and that will be another project completed, and I can stop thinking about it.

There is more in the pipeline…

I have to build another Jeep. I have all the parts. The boys are bigger now and starting to outgrow the first one. I want to make something all metal and try to use the full 900W capacity of the motor's power in this one. (The Jeep currently is only using a third of that)
I need to build a double computer desk for the boys. They will have a workstation and storage each for homework and school projects

I have an Arduino Yun bought with the sole purpose of warning when the garage door has been left open and it's dark. I can’t see the door from the house unless I go outside. It has an electric opener and the plan is for it to email me to tell me it is open and from my phone, I'll be able to close it. It will involve some wiring and some code but I have planned out in my head what it needs to do. I am tempted to also connect the Arduino to a Speaker and have it play the Thunderbirds theme via WAV file when the door is opened. But that might annoy my neighbors

So yeah, I have the maker's itch and the only way to stop it is to keep on making.

I think of projects as good therapy, and if you remember that 80's kid's TV program "Why Don't You"...

P.S... top marks if anyone knows the next line?

Looking back, I think making things has always been a form of problem solving, creativity, and probably even therapy for me.

Some people switch off by relaxing. I seem to switch off by building, fixing, planning, and figuring things out.

The only real cure for the maker’s itch is to keep making.

A lot of this connects closely to my reflections on LEGO Technic and engineering mindset, where my fascination with systems and mechanisms probably began.

It also links naturally to my thoughts on visual thinking and mentally modelling projects before building them.

Many of these ideas also appear in my posts about fixing things instead of replacing them and building the Megaden.

I’ve always enjoyed building, fixing, adapting, and simplifying things—whether physical or digital.

A lot of the same mindset now goes into helping people untangle technical problems and improve systems.

You can take a look at my TechFix service if that sounds useful.