I'm sick of the "maker" generation. Most of what constitutes "making" amounts to pressing a button on computer-controlled equipment.

In industry of course, you want to cut out the human element. You want repeatability and speed, which is what robots do best. But it's now almost standard for users of sites like Etsy to describe a laser-cut item as handmade.

I want a laser-cutter with handwheels. A giant etch-a-sketch, for which you wear welding goggles and turn big shiny steel handwheels on the sides of the table as you gingerly pump the foot pedal. I want a machine that only the most steady-handed students of dexterity can master. I want a manual 3D printer that can only be worked by artists with Jobian patience. I want the individual skill to be evident in every construction. Then -- then, we may call it handmade.
-- mitxela, Sep 12 2015

Perhaps a behandwheeled tool is too hands-off. Perhaps the time has come to create the hand-held laser chisel.
-- MaxwellBuchanan, Sep 12 2015



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