■ The newly assembled PROBOTIX
Fireball V90 CNC router system,
ready to be explored!
constructed PROBOTIX Fireball CNC
router at hand, I plan to start working
with 3-D and 2-D CAD software,
GCODE, and learn as much as I can
about small part fabrication.
RESOLUTION #3:
SET DEADLINES
Another old saying goes "If it
weren't for the last minute, nothing
would ever get done.” It's important
to have a deadline to make sure you
can finish a project. Setting a personal
deadline is good, but if you make a
commitment to other people, you are
more apt to NOT allow the time-line
to slip.
Enter a contest. Volunteer in a
Science Fair. Join a team working to
create something for Maker Faire,
Dorkbot, RoboMagellan, or some
other competition. Doing this will
help polish your scheduling skills (or
delegation skills!) and also help you
get comfortable with pressure and
thinking on your feet. The feeling of
confidence and accomplishment that
comes from meeting a deadline for
an event or exhibit is like nothing
else I've ever felt.
If you want time, you must make it."
For me, time is one of the hardest
things to make. In this regard, I'm
my own worst enemy as I give my
time away as fast as I make it!
In the last year, I had to make
some hard choices about the
amount of time I had and the
number of things I wanted to do. I
discovered that there is really only
so much "me" to go around. In
order to give your all to a project,
you first have to have an inventory
of "you" from which to draw.
If you have time challenges to
deal with, your most powerful
weapon can be one word: no. This is
so much harder than it appears on
the surface. I know I could fix that
small stereo amplifier. I know I could
find and replace the bad light in that
string of rope lights. I know I could
help judge the Science Fair at the
local elementary school. Though we
may be capable (as in have the skill),
to perform a task, what we probably
don't have is available hours. In
addition, you want to make sure
you don't give away so much of
yourself that you don't have any time
left for you!
For example, I discovered it's
better to give 100% on one project
than to only be able to give 50% on
two projects. Measure the values and
try to balance your time. Examine
your motivations. Do you feel like
you have to fix that rope light string
just because you can, or do you want
to do it as a learning exercise/fun
experience? There is a critical difference. If the goal of the work is to
learn or keep your diagnostic chops
up, then by all means, get to work.
However, if the goal of the exercise is
to have lights around the bake sale
table before Friday (and you know
darn well the Mrs. will be in a tizzy
if the lights don't work!), it might be
better to put the broken string into
the junk parts bin and just go buy a
set of lights to get the job done.
embodiment of your vision. It's been
months in the making and now
exhibits the sheen of your high-gloss
polishing. Of course, it's not really
done yet, but it's close. Just a few
changes left to do. A bit of
optimizing ... add in that new bit of
circuitry and another re-work of the
software to support it, then it'll be
ready. Except for that one more thing
you thought of doing while you were
re-working the software.
The preceding results are what I
refer to as “The Perpetually Almost-Done Project.” I have a few of these
going (some I can see from where I
sit right now, as a matter of fact).
I'm not saying don't improve on
projects or designs as you go, just
know it's important to remember the
scope of the work and make sure
you put the real good ideas down for
the next version of the device and
just do the needed stuff now. At
some point, you just have to call your
current iteration complete. Give it a
revision string, i.e., MY PROJEC T
V1.0 and save those great ideas for
MY PROJECT V2.0.
RESOLUTION #6:
STAY HEALTHY
RESOLUTION #4:
LEARN TO SAY NO
RESOLUTION #5: KNOW
WHEN TO SAY WHEN
Charles Robert Buxton once said,
"You will never find time for anything.
16 January 2009
It's a masterpiece — the
When our focus is centered on
the project, when we're concentrating
on solving a problem, or stressing to
meet a deadline, we tend to forget
that our bodies are the ultimate
machine. Like any machine, we need
to pay attention to operational safety
and maintenance. In many cases,
electronics work is sedentary by
nature, sitting at a workbench, using
the computer, or even reading an
exciting electronics magazine. :) All
tends to lead to chair-butt syndrome
(a.k.a., the middle-age spread).
Stretch, get up, get outside,
see some sunshine. Knock off work
well before midnight or heck, take
the entire night off and go to bed
early. Tomorrow will wait. Lay off
the junk food and have a salad now
and then. Do all the things the old
wive’s tales (and sometimes the old
wives!) tell us. It really is important
to watch out for yourself since you
