Cypress Table by David Springs
MakeICT’s Featured Maker for this month is David Springs. David rents space in one of our front cubicles. “Our makerspace is like Disneyland for anyone who is creative,” he says. “It’s a place that enables folks who like to make things to actually make them!”
Being a maker is a big part of his life. Among other things, to him MakeICT means access to top-notch equipment, making dreams into reality. “It means a nice, warm wood shop instead of a dimly-lit, freezing garage, equipped with a contractor saw on a rickety stand. It means ideas and advice from other members when I’m trying to solve a problem.”
A hard drive jukebox, by David Springs
David is often at the space working on the many projects he has in development. “There’s nothing quite like taking an idea that’s in your head and turning it into an object that you can hold in your hands and share with others. I’ve always got about ten projects in various stages of development. Every time I come up with some idea, I write it down and put it on a plastic bin in my studio. Then I start collecting the materials I need, adding them to the bins as I get them. Eventually I have enough stuff to actually start building.”
Some of the projects you might have seen him working on around the makerspace:
Face for the parking meter clock
- A talking Darth Vader/jukebox/night light
- Self-balancing cane
- Street art space paintings, including his entire vehicle
- A full-size old school arcade game cabinet
- Clocks out of anything – parking meters, skeletons, light up ping pong balls, analog panel meters.
- Intel Edison-powered punching/kicking dummy “for a bunch of little kids who will one day be Taekwondo black belts”
Last year while driving through western Kansas, David was inspired by the many metal whirligig-type sculptures that turn our state’s wind into moving art. He designed and completed his own gear-driven model of Godzilla eating Tokyo. “This project is probably a one-off,” David says.
And just like every project, he learned new things while working on it. This time, he learned “that sometimes things don’t work in quite the way you envision them in your head!” David used many of the resources available at MakeICT to put the whirligig together. “I’ve used the wood shop for the structure, the laser for Godzilla and the buildings of Tokyo, one of our 3D printers for some gearing and adapters, the electronics lab to give the buildings of Tokyo and Godzilla’s eyes LED lighting and sound.”
David’s Godzilla Whirligig
Thanks to Gordon Murray for contributing to this post.