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Woodworking as an escape from the absurdity of software

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Re: Woodworking as an escape from the absurdity of software

#331

Post by dekhn »

My woodworking often uses absurd software; for example, the tool I use Fusion 360 is one of the most extraordinary programs I've ever used. It embeds so much engineering and technology in service of making my life easier. The end result is a static "program" that I send to my CNC which creates art that could be made by an extremely skilled woodworker- but I just sit here waiting for the machine to do the work. I actually enjoy this much more than spending the hours to carve the same work with my own hands, but I also do enjoy the visceral experience of using analog hand tools. I mostly start with STL meshes sold on etsy.

THere is a programmatic aspect, too: Fusion360's modeller has a Python API that lets you programmatically build and evaluate designs. I rarely use this, but it does come in handy. For one project, where I wanted to make a 3D topo-style map of California (basically this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZkQ8pA_TLY) it was a great opportunity to learn geo (using the great GIS package, "OS4Geo", especially QGIS), turn that geo info into a mesh, and then render it in wood.

Stay-at-home-for-COVID made my life a lot easier, as I could start a carving in the morning and let it go all day while sitting nearby and programming.

Re: Woodworking as an escape from the absurdity of software

#332

Post by ne8il »

colecut wrote: post #247
_yb2s wrote: post #239

I don't understand why more adults don't have awesome hobbies... most of my childhood friends don't seem to do anything fun now as adults. I really love physical things I can do with my body as a counterbalance to working on the computer- weight lifting, woodworking, and sailing add a lot of value to my life, and have gotten me outdoors and in shape. I'm currently building a wood sailboat in my garage together with m…

If you inherited woodworking tools from your grandfather, I'm assuming that either your grandfather or father taught you some woodworking skills? I grew up on the computer since I was a preteen. My dad moved 2000 miles away when I was 11. Every job I've ever had since I was 14 was web/software related and I am nearly 39. I feel like I have no practical skills outside of computers and the idea of building things with…

You can download a book called "The Anarchist's Tool Chest" by Christopher Schwarz free as a PDF here: https://lostartpress.com/products/the-anarchists-tool-chest

You can also download his follow-up, "The Anarchist's Design Book", free here: https://lostartpress.com/products/the-anarchists-design-book

Between those two, they will teach you what tools you need and how to build simple furniture by hand. Start small.

Re: Woodworking as an escape from the absurdity of software

#333

Post by ToucanLoucan »

dekhn wrote: post #331

My woodworking often uses absurd software; for example, the tool I use Fusion 360 is one of the most extraordinary programs I've ever used. It embeds so much engineering and technology in service of making my life easier. The end result is a static "program" that I send to my CNC which creates art that could be made by an extremely skilled woodworker- but I just sit here waiting for the machine to do the work. I actu…

What CNC do you use? I've been into 3D printing for a bit and was debating getting into CNC as well.

Re: Woodworking as an escape from the absurdity of software

#334

Post by JasserInicide »

usrnm wrote: post #56
sukruh wrote: post #35

Most of the people I know who pursue creative/crafting hobbies alongside a software development job have chosen to work for well-known big companies, for prestige and safety, and ended up unfulfilled in their jobs. Most big companies are not good if you want to solve problems and build stuff. Especially "the enterprise", where software is seen as a cost center so the less of it the better. The effort of managing up e…

What's wrong with doing a boring job for a lot of money and then getting all the fun elsewhere? This actually seems to be the best way to do it to me

Willing to bet that most people who take up something that pays much less don't have kids

Re: Woodworking as an escape from the absurdity of software

#335

Post by knighthack »

As a lawyer, I find the law (which is supposedly 'logical' and 'rational') to be highly absurd at times. It's unavoidable, given that the law heavily involves humans.

I am in part drawn to software development and programming, because it's logical and comparatively rigid (at least programming itself is, if you take away the environment/ecosystem/cults that develop around the idiosyncracies of different languages). I find programming very far from absurd.

I am therefore surprised to see software programmers claiming that software development is absurd - and that woodworking could somehow be less so.

The grass is always greener on the other side. (And I still can't accept that programming itself is absurd.)

Re: Woodworking as an escape from the absurdity of software

#336

Post by dekhn »

ToucanLoucan wrote: post #333
dekhn wrote: post #331

My woodworking often uses absurd software; for example, the tool I use Fusion 360 is one of the most extraordinary programs I've ever used. It embeds so much engineering and technology in service of making my life easier. The end result is a static "program" that I send to my CNC which creates art that could be made by an extremely skilled woodworker- but I just sit here waiting for the machine to do the work. I actu…

What CNC do you use? I've been into 3D printing for a bit and was debating getting into CNC as well.

I have a Genmitsu 4040 Pro https://www.sainsmart.com/products/genmitsu-4040-pro-semi-as... with the upgraded XZ (if you experience chatter, you can send support an email with a photo and they will send a replacement part; I just installed it yesterday and it's greatly improved my results). I haven't really accessorized it, other than to replace the included spindle with a Dewalt 611 router.

Before that I had an XCarve but it was just too big and not rigid enough. I owned several early Shapeokos, which were simply not rigid enough. The 4040 pro is the first router I've had that's actually worked the way I expected (and even then, it clearly has some issues) in the cost window I care about.

CNC brings challenges (and joys) that 3d printing does not have. You have to spend a lot more time thinking about the tools and their paths, mounting the work in the CNC, dealing with dust, etc, etc, but it's really reawrding to hand somebody a carving and see them blown away by the results.

Re: Woodworking as an escape from the absurdity of software

#337

Post by underlipton »

_yb2s wrote: post #239

I don't understand why more adults don't have awesome hobbies... most of my childhood friends don't seem to do anything fun now as adults. I really love physical things I can do with my body as a counterbalance to working on the computer- weight lifting, woodworking, and sailing add a lot of value to my life, and have gotten me outdoors and in shape. I'm currently building a wood sailboat in my garage together with m…

>I don't understand why more adults don't have awesome hobbies...

If the prerequisites for having awesome hobbies are, "Having a garage," "Inheriting tools from one's grandparents," and "Having the time do something with both," there would be your answer.

Re: Woodworking as an escape from the absurdity of software

#338

Post by [deleted] »

jimbokun wrote: post #256
ravenstine wrote: post #52

Earlier quoted context omitted.

At a level or two down from the abstraction of company size, crafting hobbies are also a reprieve from the tyranny of linters. So many programmers today believe that code is always better when it all looks identical. Consistency is a good thing, but not when it's expected to be absolute. Programming should actually allow for creativity, and where you decide to add spaces and newlines can actually add subtle but impor…

How you choose to add whitespace to your code is not a meaningful outlet for creativity. Linters are a great tool for eliminating bike shedding. I don't think wood working per se gives you more flexibility than building software. It's wood working as an individual, not part of a team, so you can make your own decisions and not answer to anyone. If you were a one man software consultant you would have the same amount…

[deleted]

Re: Woodworking as an escape from the absurdity of software

#339

Post by kcrwfrd_ »

foobarian wrote: post #204
resters wrote: post #201

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why not just set up a rule to auto-format the code before it is committed so that nobody wastes time discussing formatting trivialities and the repo stays consistent?

It would be fantastic if there was a good normal-form formatter I could use for local work, and let automation format the code back to lint style. Unfortunately with something like IntelliJ/Java the commit-time reformat is not reversible. Maybe google's Java formatter is, hmm.

In JavaScript land, prettier auto-formatting the code on file save is quite lovely.

I would not be a fan of commit hook auto-formatting.

Re: Woodworking as an escape from the absurdity of software

#340

Post by ToucanLoucan »

dekhn wrote: post #336
ToucanLoucan wrote: post #333

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What CNC do you use? I've been into 3D printing for a bit and was debating getting into CNC as well.

I have a Genmitsu 4040 Pro https://www.sainsmart.com/products/genmitsu-4040-pro-semi-as... with the upgraded XZ (if you experience chatter, you can send support an email with a photo and they will send a replacement part; I just installed it yesterday and it's greatly improved my results). I haven't really accessorized it, other than to replace the included spindle with a Dewalt 611 router. Before that I had an XCarv…

That price is not bad at all for that kind of machine, especially if it's stable. My dad had an XCarve for a long while but he eventually just gave up on it. He was going to give it to me but I was reading about it and it just seemed like more bother than it was worth, especially given the physical space required.
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