Suggest edit — design-engineering

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# design engineering

physical design and fabrication are accessible skills. you don't need an engineering degree to laser-cut a part, 3D print an enclosure, or solder a circuit. if you have access to a makerspace — and more people do than realize it — you can build physical things right now.

## access to fabrication

### school makerspaces

my school's makerspace has laser cutters, 3D printers, soldering stations, wood shop, and metal shop. I spent a summer there (I-Lab internship, summer 2024) learning to use every machine and building out a section of the shop itself. see [[work-experience]] for more on what that taught me.

not every school has a professional-level shop, but many have at least a 3D printer or a basic electronics lab. use what you have.

### community makerspaces

if your school doesn't have a makerspace, community options exist:

- **public libraries** — increasingly have 3D printers, laser cutters, and basic electronics stations. many offer free or cheap access to teens.
- **dedicated makerspaces** — membership-based workshops with full tool access. look for local ones on makerspaces.com or Google Maps.
- **university makerspaces** — some university fab labs allow community access, especially for students. ask.
- **TechShop successors** — after TechShop closed, many regional makerspaces filled the gap.

the key: you don't need to own the tools. you need access to them for a few hours at a time.

### online fabrication

for things you can't make locally:

- **JLCPCB / PCBWay** — PCB fabrication starting at $2 for 5 boards. design in KiCad, upload the gerber files, receive professional boards in a week. see [[hardware-projects]] for the full workflow.
- **SendCutSend** — laser cutting and waterjet cutting from uploaded files. metals, plastics, wood.
- **Shapeways / JLCPCB 3D printing** — if you need materials your local 3D printer can't handle (metal, resin, nylon).
- **PCB assembly services** — JLCPCB and PCBWay will also solder components onto your boards for a few dollars per board.

## projects that teach you

design engineering is best learned by building things for real use cases, not exercises.

### things I built

- **magnetic chess set** — a gift. custom woodwork with embedded magnets so pieces snap into place. this taught me precision woodworking and thinking about user experience in physical objects.
- **wolf toys for a local zoo** — designed and fabricated toys that actual wolves would play with. the constraint of "this has to be safe and interesting for a wolf" forced creative thinking.
- **Rube Goldberg machine** — the classic. teaches systems thinking — each stage depends on the previous one working reliably.
- **soap box derby racer** — full-scale vehicle. structural engineering, aerodynamics (or at least an attempt at it), and the experience of building something big.
- **Boop boardgame** — game design is product design. you're designing for user experience, playability, and manufacturability.
- **puzzle box** — mechanical design with hidden mechanisms. teaches you to think about how parts interact.

### project ideas for getting started

- **custom phone stand** — 3D print or laser cut. simple, useful, teaches the design-to-fabrication pipeline.
- **enclosure for an electronics project** — if you're doing [[hardware-projects]], designing a case for your ESP32 project is a natural next step.
- **a gift** — making something physical for someone forces you to think about quality and finish in a way that personal projects don't.
- **a tool** — something you actually need. a cable organizer, a desk shelf, a custom bracket. solving your own problem is the best motivation.

## the design process

1. **sketch first.** pen and paper. don't jump into CAD. get the concept right before you commit to dimensions.
2. **CAD it.** Fusion 360 (free for students), Onshape (free, browser-based), or FreeCAD (open source). parametric modeling lets you change dimensions without starting over.
3. **prototype.** 3D print or laser cut the first version. it will be wrong. that's fine — the point is to find what's wrong cheaply.
4. **iterate.** fix what's wrong, print again. physical prototyping cycles are slower than software (hours, not seconds), so think before you print.
5. **finish.** sanding, painting, assembly. the difference between "I made this" and "this looks professional" is in the finishing.

## skills that transfer

design engineering skills transfer to:

- **[[hardware-projects]]** — understanding mechanical design makes your electronics projects better (enclosures, mounting, thermal management)
- **[[shipping-products]]** — if you ever build a physical product, you need to know how things are made
- **[[publishing-research]]** — experimental apparatus design is a huge part of lab research
- **[[work-experience]]** — fabrication skills are directly employable (my I-Lab internship was literally this)

the combination of software skills + fabrication skills is rare and powerful. most teen builders are software-only. adding physical fabrication to your toolkit makes you a more complete engineer and opens up project possibilities that pure software builders can't touch.