A Tour of Grant Imahara’s Shop [video](youtube.com)
youtube.com
A Tour of Grant Imahara’s Shop [video]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hsCSTO8SaQU
50 comments
I _know_ that all actors on all shows share some kind of relationship. Adam was one of the first I saw to show his off screen life (probably in some kind of persona). It's both interesting and sad seeing Adam relating to a former friend, I've seen him acting and I've seen him "not acting".
I'm thankful they did this video.
I'm thankful they did this video.
One of the things that’s interesting about looking at workshops is the “shop-smell” and how it seems to tell you a lot about a project/company.
I remember walking into the workshop at one well funded startup , and seeing they were using dollar store screwdrivers. Practically speaking, for what they were doing you could say it didn’t really matter. But it was also sitting next to a piece of equipment that was never used, and cost $50000.
I wouldn’t say it’s always the case, but it left me with a poor impression and a feeling that something was off.
Later this did indeed turn out to be the case.
I remember walking into the workshop at one well funded startup , and seeing they were using dollar store screwdrivers. Practically speaking, for what they were doing you could say it didn’t really matter. But it was also sitting next to a piece of equipment that was never used, and cost $50000.
I wouldn’t say it’s always the case, but it left me with a poor impression and a feeling that something was off.
Later this did indeed turn out to be the case.
I use hand tools, including screwdrivers, daily in my job. So they are good ones that grab the screw and feel comfortable. My tools are made by commonly recognized names. Anyone that uses hand tools frequently should know why dollar store tools are a poor choice. I'd take it as a bad sign, too.
Yep, they weren’t directly assembling prototypes but still… probably using on a daily basis.
It’s interesting though. Watching this video you see the CNC mill and think wow that was probably expensive and likely didn’t get a lot of use, but would have been fun (which they confirmed). But the relatively inexpensive drawer of screws really was something you look at and say:
a) oh wow, I want and would use that.
b) this person really had a use for this, thought and cared about what they were doing.
All these little things, and the stories they tell are fascinating to me.
It’s interesting though. Watching this video you see the CNC mill and think wow that was probably expensive and likely didn’t get a lot of use, but would have been fun (which they confirmed). But the relatively inexpensive drawer of screws really was something you look at and say:
a) oh wow, I want and would use that.
b) this person really had a use for this, thought and cared about what they were doing.
All these little things, and the stories they tell are fascinating to me.
I see this a lot when it's things you can compare on paper. The difference between a $200 lathe from banggood and an actual machine-shop lathe is pretty obvious even if you've never used one.
But the difference between a dollar store screwdriver and my weras .. you can't really compare them on paper, you actually have to use it. And that's when it gets interesting to see what choices they made.
But the difference between a dollar store screwdriver and my weras .. you can't really compare them on paper, you actually have to use it. And that's when it gets interesting to see what choices they made.
Can we get some more details please...
Probably not in a public forum. But if anyone wants to reach out, it’s always fun to chat (contact info in profile).
The one thing that I find different and sometimes a bit jealous of people who's passion is in some or multiple forms of making is the idea of having a bunch of projects and stuff to show. Of course there's the practical and sometimes relationship implications of finding the space to store it, but a bunch of in-progress woodworking projects looks impressive in a way that a desktop and NAS containing a bunch of in progress coding projects don't.
I've been getting (back) into making electronic music over the past year or so, and one of the interesting areas to explore is how much to lean on hardware versus software for musicmaking.
There's a whole subreddit, reddit.com/r/musicBattlestations/ where people show off their music setups with lots of expensive hardware. And there is something really cool about being able to occupy a physical space that inspires you and reminds you of what you are. We are physical creatures and it's much easier for us to play a role if we're in the right set with the right props and don't have to imagine it all in our heads. (This is also why working from home for an extended period of time can be hard.)
At the same time, hardware is expensive, takes up a lot of space, can be hard to reconfigure and can easily get mentally overwhelming. It's hard to switch between working on two different songs when each one requires you to unplug a bunch of wires and move boxes around. At the same time, it's maybe easier to finish that first song if you know you can't start the second one without unplugging everything...
Choosing the right space and workflow to be a productive musician is this weird sort of meta-creative process that's surprisingly hard and not talked about much (beyond fetishizing giant studios and expensive gear, or fetishizing minimalism).
There's a whole subreddit, reddit.com/r/musicBattlestations/ where people show off their music setups with lots of expensive hardware. And there is something really cool about being able to occupy a physical space that inspires you and reminds you of what you are. We are physical creatures and it's much easier for us to play a role if we're in the right set with the right props and don't have to imagine it all in our heads. (This is also why working from home for an extended period of time can be hard.)
At the same time, hardware is expensive, takes up a lot of space, can be hard to reconfigure and can easily get mentally overwhelming. It's hard to switch between working on two different songs when each one requires you to unplug a bunch of wires and move boxes around. At the same time, it's maybe easier to finish that first song if you know you can't start the second one without unplugging everything...
Choosing the right space and workflow to be a productive musician is this weird sort of meta-creative process that's surprisingly hard and not talked about much (beyond fetishizing giant studios and expensive gear, or fetishizing minimalism).
I picked up a Polyend Tracker last year and the artificial limitation has made me significantly more productive. I'll hook it up to a couple other bits of kit to sample from but then I'm on my way and working from anywhere.
I prefer reddit.com/r/synthesizercirclejerk, where people post pictures of succulents, talk about how much the next gear purchase will make them happy, and share their live ambient drone albums.
As someone who often has multiple meat-space projects in flight, I'm convinced there's a very thin line separating busy creative types having lots of physical projects taking up space and any other kind of hoarder.
Whenever I'm getting ready to push through another phase of a big project, or just getting started, the necessary accumulation of materials and tools makes it especially apparent. It's just a small loss of motivation, distraction, or injury away from becoming another burst of hoarded expensive junk.
Consider yourself lucky your project messes can hide away in a NAS...
Whenever I'm getting ready to push through another phase of a big project, or just getting started, the necessary accumulation of materials and tools makes it especially apparent. It's just a small loss of motivation, distraction, or injury away from becoming another burst of hoarded expensive junk.
Consider yourself lucky your project messes can hide away in a NAS...
As someone who has a bunch of projects and knows a couple people who have borderline hoarding problems the line is thicker than you make it out to be.
Perhaps, but I'm constantly reminded how trivially my personal situation can become indistinguishable from that of any other hoarder should my discipline to finish what I've started wane.
I think anyone who takes on large costly DIY projects taking months to years for completion can relate. Sometimes I feel the only thing driving me to finish some projects is the fear of falling into a hoarding pattern while I tell myself the project is just on the backburner. If I became comfortable with letting outstanding projects enter a backburner mode indefinitely, it'd just be mental gymnastics enabling hoarding IMNSHO.
Edit:
I'm reminded of an interaction I had recently with customer service @ Home Depot, while I was returning some unused tools and materials for a project I changed directions on and no longer needed.
I'd mentioned to her how close I'd come to just keeping it all instead of returning, despite not needing any of it now, since it wasn't a large sum of money. But that a fear of becoming comfortable with such a rationalization to not return things would just enable a form of hoarding.
It apparently struck a nerve as she entered into some kind of confession mode. She enumerated a bunch of projects she has bought everything needed to do from tools to materials, sitting collecting dust for years, and never finds the time to actually start, let alone complete.
I think anyone who takes on large costly DIY projects taking months to years for completion can relate. Sometimes I feel the only thing driving me to finish some projects is the fear of falling into a hoarding pattern while I tell myself the project is just on the backburner. If I became comfortable with letting outstanding projects enter a backburner mode indefinitely, it'd just be mental gymnastics enabling hoarding IMNSHO.
Edit:
I'm reminded of an interaction I had recently with customer service @ Home Depot, while I was returning some unused tools and materials for a project I changed directions on and no longer needed.
I'd mentioned to her how close I'd come to just keeping it all instead of returning, despite not needing any of it now, since it wasn't a large sum of money. But that a fear of becoming comfortable with such a rationalization to not return things would just enable a form of hoarding.
It apparently struck a nerve as she entered into some kind of confession mode. She enumerated a bunch of projects she has bought everything needed to do from tools to materials, sitting collecting dust for years, and never finds the time to actually start, let alone complete.
I found this video by Zach Freedman about finishing projects to be enlightening, especially the idea that "deciding to not finish a project" is a way to finish a project.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1j93RnIxEo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1j93RnIxEo
I've hauled around custom pcbs and torroidal transformers through like 15 different apartments. It was for an old audio amplifier project ('dx blame' i think). Someone on a forum sent me his 'favorite' mosfets and the pcbs from germany. Seeing them when moving reminds me avoid physical DIY projects unless simple stuff for outdoor rec.
It's all just personal experience, but it's quite easy to move from "having hobbies" to "collecting hobbies". Speaking from experience here, the difference between me and my father (who do this) and my brother (who doesn't) is stark.
Eh. I'm a scale-model builder, and that community is full of people who build amazing models...but even more full of people who just collect kits. Kits that they'll build "someday."
The existence of dissimilar extremes doesn't prove that the line in the middle isn't thin.
For programming projects, I personally find that the ritual of setting up all of the infrastructure is very likely to distract me from actually building the thing.
I can be obsessive about doing things the right way, but my most successful projects have always been the ones where the code looks like I dragged it kicking and screaming over the finish line and the infrastructure is basically nonexistent. And sometimes I clean it up afterwards, once I am motivated by the success of the project.
By infrastructure I mean things like CICD or even tests. If I have to choose between thorough testing and being able to finish the project at all, testing can wait.
I can be obsessive about doing things the right way, but my most successful projects have always been the ones where the code looks like I dragged it kicking and screaming over the finish line and the infrastructure is basically nonexistent. And sometimes I clean it up afterwards, once I am motivated by the success of the project.
By infrastructure I mean things like CICD or even tests. If I have to choose between thorough testing and being able to finish the project at all, testing can wait.
I can relate and I think that's because with the projects that I'm most passionate about, I can't wait to set up the infrastructure and do it right. I want to do it now! But generally, if there's a project that I'm struggling to find motivation with, I'll start the long process of setting up the infrastructure, hoping that I'll get motivation in the meantime and it sometimes helps a little but often it just ends up with me constantly pushing it back.
> If I have to choose between thorough testing and being able to finish the project at all, testing can wait.
The way I look at it, you can't test anything until you know what it's supposed to do. You won't know what it's supposed to do until it's at least close to being done. No sense in testing until you get there.
If you want to have a head start on testing, making sure to write your code so it's easy to test is probably fine, even if it's not what I'd choose.
The way I look at it, you can't test anything until you know what it's supposed to do. You won't know what it's supposed to do until it's at least close to being done. No sense in testing until you get there.
If you want to have a head start on testing, making sure to write your code so it's easy to test is probably fine, even if it's not what I'd choose.
I've watching this video multiple times now to keep me in check.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1j93RnIxEo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L1j93RnIxEo
As somebody who has those sorts of projects, all I feel is guilt when I look at the unfinished ones. At least with code you can shove it in a folder and forget about it…
I actually had the idea of "hobby as a service". Create a catalog of a few dozen hobbies to start, and build boxes that are a foothold to the hobby.
Could be: - a cheap ukulele, tuner, with a link to some youtube lessons - a drawing pad and box of pens with some tips on figure drawing - a whittling knife and some wooden spoon blanks.
You receive the box and give it a try. Maybe you like it, maybe you don't but you can always put the stuff back in the box and return the items and receive another hobby to try without the dread of having a drawer full of nice spoon carving knives that you thought you'd love but are now just a symbol of your abandoned dreams.
Could be: - a cheap ukulele, tuner, with a link to some youtube lessons - a drawing pad and box of pens with some tips on figure drawing - a whittling knife and some wooden spoon blanks.
You receive the box and give it a try. Maybe you like it, maybe you don't but you can always put the stuff back in the box and return the items and receive another hobby to try without the dread of having a drawer full of nice spoon carving knives that you thought you'd love but are now just a symbol of your abandoned dreams.
The thing is, it doesn't even have to be cheap if the gear is durable. The problem is many hobbies are sized to the user (eg bicycles, wetsuits, snowboards). It would be lovely to drop a few k into one hobby and be able to transfer it back out for the next if it turns out that hobby isn't a good fit.
two thoughts floated by in quick succession when I read this
1: whoa like a hobby library?
2: that's a hackerspace
1: whoa like a hobby library?
2: that's a hackerspace
This is very real. I have a 2000 lb milling machine taken part right now and it just depresses me when I go into my shop and I don’t work on it.
I know he is a stranger on the television, but seeing the loss of Grant and seeing his colleagues look over his workspace really hit hard. Grant's interest and mastery of robotics was and is still an inspiration to many. I truly believe he loved his work and will be missed by many close friends he never met.
It's amazing to see how much respect they have/had for each other and each others work.
It broke my heart a little when I found out that Jaime and Adam don’t actually like each other.
They aren't friends but to say they "don't like eachother" seems a bit extreme. They both have mutual respect for each other from what I've seen and values the others contributions. They're colleagues in my book.
One of my friends played college football in the USA and then went to play in the NFL for an elite team. I spent a lot of time “behind the scenes” with him in both cohorts—-at first I was surprised by how cool and impersonal the NFL cohort was.
As soon as the game/practice was over, the players would snap into a completely different kind of person, and go back to their own private lives, which was very unlike the college environment where the players spent almost all their waking hours together always during the season.
It took me a while to realize that the NFL players were just doing what most people do when they ‘grow up’ and become professionals—they were colleagues, not necessarily friends.
I know that there’s good reasons why this happens, but I can’t help but feel that there’s a bit of tragedy in it. We gain personal freedoms as we mature into these types of professional relationships, but lose that unique experience of ultimate comrade-ery, and descend into a ruthless world of competition, even with others on your own team.
As soon as the game/practice was over, the players would snap into a completely different kind of person, and go back to their own private lives, which was very unlike the college environment where the players spent almost all their waking hours together always during the season.
It took me a while to realize that the NFL players were just doing what most people do when they ‘grow up’ and become professionals—they were colleagues, not necessarily friends.
I know that there’s good reasons why this happens, but I can’t help but feel that there’s a bit of tragedy in it. We gain personal freedoms as we mature into these types of professional relationships, but lose that unique experience of ultimate comrade-ery, and descend into a ruthless world of competition, even with others on your own team.
I really appreciate this story, but I'm not sure I agree with seeing this tragically.
A working relationship is just something different. There is still emotion, because we're human. But more than anything, there's mutual trust and respect.
I have very deep and emotional connections with my family and with my friends, who I trust deeply and call on (and am called upon by) daily. But I wouldn't necessarily trust them with a technical project or start a small business with them or something in that realm.
Meanwhile the small startup I work with just released an app yesterday, one with lots of difficult problems that we worked through together to resolve over the past two years. I have such a thorough trust and respect for every member of that team - technical and not. I wouldn't call any of them for a personal issue.
I have friends who fall into both categories, but they are few and far between.
There's nothing wrong with these relationships, and there's nothing more or less valuable to them. They just work differently and for different reasons. I don't need to be my colleague's best person at their wedding or pall bearer at their sibling's funeral for us to have a long and solid relationship building amazing things. I don't need to start a business with my wife or teach my kid how to program for us to have full lives together.
It's not all competition and ruthlessness.
A working relationship is just something different. There is still emotion, because we're human. But more than anything, there's mutual trust and respect.
I have very deep and emotional connections with my family and with my friends, who I trust deeply and call on (and am called upon by) daily. But I wouldn't necessarily trust them with a technical project or start a small business with them or something in that realm.
Meanwhile the small startup I work with just released an app yesterday, one with lots of difficult problems that we worked through together to resolve over the past two years. I have such a thorough trust and respect for every member of that team - technical and not. I wouldn't call any of them for a personal issue.
I have friends who fall into both categories, but they are few and far between.
There's nothing wrong with these relationships, and there's nothing more or less valuable to them. They just work differently and for different reasons. I don't need to be my colleague's best person at their wedding or pall bearer at their sibling's funeral for us to have a long and solid relationship building amazing things. I don't need to start a business with my wife or teach my kid how to program for us to have full lives together.
It's not all competition and ruthlessness.
I had similar response but then also like this is the case.
Especially in today's more divided environment it's a nice example people can get on well, be professional and productive and they don't have to do this based on whether they like each other personally.
It kinda comes down to good manners and courtesies. I feel these are far more important for society than we give them credit for.
Especially in today's more divided environment it's a nice example people can get on well, be professional and productive and they don't have to do this based on whether they like each other personally.
It kinda comes down to good manners and courtesies. I feel these are far more important for society than we give them credit for.
They definitely aren't besties, but from everything I've read they have a mutual respect for each other creatively and professionally.
My impression has certainly been that everyone expected them to be best friends, and then when they stated that basically, no, they've got professional respect for each other but aren't at the level where they're seeking out joint projects for post-mythbusters projects or having frequent social contact, people started interpreting it as the other extreme and assuming there was animosity there.
Basically on the level of that guy you worked with in a previous job that you're not really going to put in the effort to reach out to as much as you both said you would.
Basically on the level of that guy you worked with in a previous job that you're not really going to put in the effort to reach out to as much as you both said you would.
As a matter of fact Adam said that its because they had different approaches and characters that contributed to show being interesting.
Personally I dont see them not being friends as something bad, they definitely respect each other and their respective skills, they just don't have compatible characters.
Its actually a great example of how people who dont 'gel' can work and create amazing things together, as long as they are capable of communicating respectfully with each other.
Personally I dont see them not being friends as something bad, they definitely respect each other and their respective skills, they just don't have compatible characters.
Its actually a great example of how people who dont 'gel' can work and create amazing things together, as long as they are capable of communicating respectfully with each other.
> Grant Masaru Imahara was an American electrical engineer, roboticist, television host, and actor. He was best known for his work on the television series MythBusters, on which he designed and built numerous robots and specialized in operating computers and electronics to test myths.
To say nothing of working on R2-D2, BB8, and Robot Wars.
[deleted]
His WFH desk, from March 2020: https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EUDavYbVAAAd-VU?format=jpg&name=... (direct link because twitter apparently doesn't like anonymous users anymore).
I feel like my noticing and caring that he's working on one of those flimsy white plastic folding picnic tables is exactly why I (probably!) won't ever be this advanced in my hobbies. Focused on insignificant details from the start (yes I know, a firm work surface is also good ;).
I'm struggling with a mixture of sadness and desire to build my own shop. The answer was obvious for Grant but how does a normal person decide to go all out and build something like that versus just trying to find space in the garage for yet one more thing?
Where I live, I think a shop space like that would cost a couple thousand dollars a month. Lots of hobbies cost that much (boats, rvs, cars, vacation homes, etc) so it's not outrageous, but also more than I think I could justify given that making do in my basement has no added expense.
If your hobby is making and building, embrace that fact and decide whether it's worth the leap. It might be a great life choice.
If your hobby is making and building, embrace that fact and decide whether it's worth the leap. It might be a great life choice.
If you are not comfortable spending x amount of money on one of your interests (which is totally a valid feeling to have), then it is time to prioritize and innovate! Necessity is the mother of all invention.
How nice to have the maker gods remember Grant in his happy place, nerding over his stuff, surrounded by his accomplishments: he would have been thrilled.
Love the 'main engineering' plate outside the door.
Url changed from https://www.tested.com/show-and-tell/a-tour-of-grant-imahara..., which points to this.
https://www.google.com/maps/@37.7539106,-122.4206627,2a,75y,...
I believe he also has plenty of videos on Tested that would show the current state of things.