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):

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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!