New Year, New Book! Coming Soon To Kickstarter 🚀

Hello Maker Family!

To kickoff the new year with a bit of excitement, I just wanted to give all of you who are following the blog a sneak peek into a top secret new book project I've been working on.

I’m simply calling it The Maker’s Field Guide: Updated and Expanded Edition, and it will be a newly updated paperback version of everybody’s favorite maker book — this time with a new black / red cover!

Shortly after it’s release, and after many great positive comments and reviews, I ultimately felt the gold color scheme of the former updated & expanded edition hardcover didn’t quite reflect the democratic nature of the Maker Movement. I immediately had the vision of wanting to repackage the book in a way that mirrors some of the more iconic power tools and 3d printer brands that exist within the DIY marketplace (i.e. Milwaukee Tools, MakerBot, etc.), and also thought the cover to do a much better job at reflecting the wide breadth of  different technologies, tools, materials and processes that are contained within. That includes 2D soft goods / cut & sew, 3d printing, and electronics / robotics in addition to many more besides an overly-simplistic set of hand tools and a can of spray paint  (it's honestly been harder than it looks to reflect all of the content covered within the book on one single cover design in a clean, modern and minimalist way — without appearing too cluttered, gaudy or gimmicky). 

In addition, the new edition of the book will be offered at lower mass-market price point, which will include free shipping throughout North America and a greatly reduced international shipping rate. The latter should be great news for international backers / readers, and will be possible since this time around I’ll be working with a 3rd party fulfillment partner (final intl. S/H price is still TBD).

Finally and probably most importantly, a few extra goodies such as an expanded terminology section and Index at the back of the book will also be added this time around — resulting in page increase from 346 pages in the former expanded GOLD edition, to a roughly 378+ page behemoth this time around.

This ultimately means the 346 page GOLD edition will be treated as a limited edition print run of 3,000 copies only, and will be effectively phased out and replaced by this new black / red paperback version going forward. That said, there are only a few hundred copies of the GOLD edition still available, so the is your last chance to pick up a copy of one of those on Amazon or from the direct book website here. When they’re gone, I will not be reprinting them again, since it will be a borderline-impossible feat to sell and distribute two different books at the same time as a small independent author & publisher.

I’m also considering phasing out the first 208 page non-updated / non-expanded paperback edition — since that is a print-on-demand arrangement and the costs are much higher to produce — in comparison to a mass produced book which is made by a professional book manufacturer. I also plan to use the same USA based factory out of Illinois, who manufactured the hardcover book which many of you backed here on Kickstarter — since they're extremely professional and reliable, and the print quality was phenomenal. 

The price hasn’t been finalized just yet, but will be somewhere around the ballpark of $25 - $28. Be sure to stay tuned for more information to come out shortly, with a Kickstarter launch planned somewhere by the end of January or the start of February. 

You heard it here first!! Please be on the lookout for more details to drop soon here on the blog or by subscribing to the email newsletter on the MFG book website here!

🛠️ Christopher Armstrong

Maker Faire 2019 Report — San Mateo, California

We recently visited the Maker Faire in the San Francisco Bay Area last weekend, for a meet and great and to introduce the book to this extremely passionate community. The show was an incredibly cross-collaborative fusion of design, engineering, technology, DIY, and arts & crafts — from 3d printing, to drone battles, Star Wars baseball, and everything in between. It was especially exciting to see so many young children there, having such close exposure to the revolution in manufacturing known as the Maker Movement, from such an early age (we’re quite jealous actually, that we didn’t have access to something like this at such a young age). Many of these kids will grow up to become the next great engineers, designers, and entrepreneurs of the future, and will be responsible for building new technologies which we can only dream of today.

If you haven’t been, we definitely recommend stopping by a Maker Faire in your area if you ever get the chance. The key takeaway from the show was a boundless optimism towards the future, and what’s possible through new ideas — which is a viewpoint we share entirely. Here are a few highlights from the event, enjoy!

This installation was completely hand made (from tape!) by the artist Danny Schieble, known as Tapigami:

Technology corporate sponsors like Google appeared for a show and tell, and to host DIY workshops like learning to breadboard and solder:

A Google project that’s currently under development — a package delivery drone:

Makey, the official mascot robot of the Maker Faire was literally everywhere around the event:

Many great speakers appeared at the show, from Startup entrepreneurs to DIY youtube influencers and everything in between. This talk were a few employees from Google. The man on the left is Dale Dougherty, the founder / CEO of Make: magazine and the creator of the first Maker Faire in 2007:

Star Wars baseball — this display used an automatic ball pitching machine, where the lightsaber would light up and make sound effects after the balls were hit:

HUGE molded plywood skateboard — those trucks are custom cast aluminum, and the large wheels are cast out of Smooth On urethane resin!

This impressive human-powered quadrupedal mech design by Furrion Exo Bionics stold the show in the outdoor courtyard:

Crazy Monowheel design by a local burning man artist, spotted at the outdoor courtyard:

Adam Savage giving his Sunday Sermon, in the pouring rain atop a custom Mad Max style hydraulic vehicle:

Silicon Valley startup company Zipline, giving a presentation on their autonomous medical delivery aircraft:

Of course, Star Wars was on display everywhere throughout the show. There’s even a local home-built R2D2 club in Silicon Valley:

Now even mobile maker spaces are popping up! What better way to encourage STEM and creative tinkering than this?:

Intimidating fantasy prop armor by Hoku Props:

Impressive cast metal anatomical sculptures by Taiwanese artist / founder Roy Hung of Perkūnas Studio:

One of the more memorable pieces from the show — a customized steampunk 3d printer by the team at Josef Prusa:

Gotta love Iron Man…This bust was 3d Printed in SLA (stereolithography):

The Maker's Field Guide: Book & Ebook Available Now

These tips and more can be found in The Maker's Field Guide — the most advanced guide to making anything on the planet. Written from a professional industrial designer with over 8+ years experience in the industry. Now available as digital ebook or premium quality coffee table book through the online store!