Clark Young

Benchmarking & Making by Ryan Antenucci

My project is to create a YouTube channel where I will post my own homemade maker videos. I may also set up an online store where people can purchase whatever I make. So far my project is going pretty well.

I’ve set up my workshop for the most part with a butcher block pine workbench that I have been building for the past couple of weeks. Of course, there are still many small things and storage issues I need to sort out but for the most part it is ready for video production. I desperately need to clean but once I tidy up it should be fully functioning with the exception of the metal shop. The schedule I put together has really crept up on me and I can’t believe I’m going to start making videos so soon. I plan to make five videos in six weeks.

I haven’t ever shot a video of me building anything and so I was nervous to try it out. I experimented with filming a short project to see what challenges lie in the video making and building simultaneously process and learned quite a bit. The video and the project came out terribly, however, I have some easy changes that will fix some of the larger issues. Plus with the amount of time I’ve allotted for the first project I will be in no rush and can focus on high quality shots and lighting.

The first project is going to be a metal toothpick that I hope to mass produce and sell on an online store and I think it will make a nice video as well. I bought materials yesterday and have a shipment of equipment coming Tuesday. That is a little behind schedule but I will be able to work around it. The biggest issue I think I’m going to have with this project is the fact that I haven’t lathed anything useful before. Today I spent a few hours getting familiar with all of the functions and the turning speed and feeding feeds I need to use to get a smooth surface finish. This made me feel much more comfortable going into the project but it will still be a learning process as I’m doing kind of situation.

As for REDI lab, it seems to be giving me the time and focus to do what I am passionate about. However, I have been much more stressed recently gearing up for these videos and the time restraints I put on myself. I have never really given myself a set time period to get a project done, so this will definitely be a new path that I hope will make me more productive and less distracted. Usually I spend as long as I need and leisurely make my way through longer projects. I may be being a bit bold with the number of videos I want to produce, but I think it is quite reasonable if I keep myself on track. It’s going to be very interesting!