That one guy at the makerspace who kept checking on my 3D printer project

I was at the local makerspace downtown trying to finish this custom lamp shade I started like 4 months ago. This older dude walked by like 3 times while I was struggling with the filament settings, and finally he just sat down next to me and asked what I was trying to make. I told him it was a geometric shade for my girlfriend's reading nook and he got this look like he remembered why he started making stuff. He spent 20 minutes helping me dial in the heat settings for some cheap PLA I bought at the hardware store, even though his own project was waiting on the laser cutter. What stuck with me was how he didn't just fix it for me, he made me figure out the last step myself. Has anyone else had a stranger at a shared space totally reignite your motivation to finish something?

2 comments

2 Comments

patricia_hayes7d ago

So he let you sit with the frustration long enough to actually learn something instead of just handing you the magic fix. Did you ever run into him again on another project or was it just that one time? I've noticed those moments hit different when the person doesn't make you feel dumb for not knowing, just pushes you to think through it. Makes me wonder how many people gave up on stuff because nobody was around to do that for them. What was the lamp shade like when it finally printed?

jason_kelly87d ago

Man, @patricia_hayes nailed it, that guy basically tricked me into learning something I should've known already.