<h1>How to (almost) finish something</h1> <h4>Thursday 22 January, 2026</h4> <div style="width:40%; float:right"> <video width="100%" autoplay loop controls muted><source src="https://i.imgur.com/zw0v5um.mp4" type="video/mp4"/>Your browser does not support the video tag.</video> <legend>"Outback Australia. I wonder how that all fits into the Fab Lab ecosystem."</legend> </div> Welcome back! It's been just about 8 years since my Fab Academy journey started. I did check in a few years ago, teaming up with my colleague and friend <a href="https://fabacademy.org/2018/labs/fablabuae/students/zahrah-alyahyaee/about.html">Zahrah</a> to teach the class of <a href="https://fabacademy.org/2021/labs/ecae/">2021 in Abu Dhabi</a> with <a href="https://fabacademy.org/2021/labs/ecae/students/cicely-hassell/">Cicely</a> and <a href="https://fabacademy.org/2021/labs/ecae/students/mohammed-noor/">Mohammed</a>. Updates to things that have happened \>>>>>>>>>>> FAST FORWARD #HEAD [Highlights reel 2018-2026] Worked at Torson Injex, starting out in a small team of four (Founders Oliver and Tobi, and joining alongside Besim) Did the MAS Architecture and Digital Fabrication. Thanks to Neil (in case you come across) this for encouraging me to apply. //<a href="2023-projects.html">Should consider doing the portfolio for the MAS ETH DFAB </a> <img src="media-2026/00-eth-mas-dfab-22-23.jpg"> In 2024 I was asked to develop a series of robotic end effectors for Gramazio Kohler Research (GKR), including Automated Finishing Systems and Robotic 3D Printing. I have a beautiful daughter now. She is my proudest project and I know for sure that I am extremely lucky to be her dad. There are definitely a lot of things to be said about becoming a dad (and I can imagine even moreso becoming a mother). I feel like I was preparing my entire life to be Emi's dad - waking up in the middle of the night to her needs reminded me of my career as a firefighter being called up at 3am to get on a plane and fight some emergency somewhere. Changing nappies sometimes felt like dangling off a rope with one hand doing something very important and precise and the other one very far away holding a patient together. The first couple of car rides drew upon all of my training in driving fire trucks and ambulances to minimise lat and long G-forces. If I have been preparing my entire life for this it does indeed make me marvel at other parents who were not emergency service workers. I also think back to my mum and dad, and remembering my sister growing up 10 years younger than me. ## How to (almost) finish something #### I have some unfinished business So why do I feel the need to justify my projects by documenting them? The answer is unfortunately a bit sad. Not too long ago I received the news from Wendy that our close friend, mentor and fellow Fab Academy Alumnus <a href="https://fabacademy.org/archives/2015/as/students/harmsworth.daniel/pages/about.html">Daniel Harmsworth</a> had suddenly passed away. Daniel was in fact the reason I left Perth to pursue Fab Academy in the first place. He encouraged me to be better despite us both being very happy and comfortable at the time in Perth (both career-wise and economically). His passing was not only tragic, but also existentially challenging because of the timing. Daniel began studying a Masters in Design at Massey University, working at FabLabWgtn, perhaps taking his own advice and leaving his comfortable environment that he had spent 15-odd years building up. For sure a lot of death is sad, but the thing that hits me hard is that he was on his way somewhere. He had renewed ambitions and potential that I am sure he was excited to explore. I think about the family, friends and Zene who Daniel left behind every time I use Git. I am hoping that: + Documenting helps me to stay motivated to finish at least some of the projects to a standard that I'm happy with + At least in sharing the ideas and my thinking, if I never finish them or if I die before we get there someone else can take the "essence" of it and make the world a better place with it Something existential ## More stuff is happening. Let's get into it So I'm going to do it like this: I'll explain it as if I'm teaching myself to finish this project. And maybe through this experiment I can unlock something that moves me on to the next stage of my adventure. I hope it works! Same rules as before: I'll be documenting as I go. If you want to see updates I think you can follow the repo on the FabAcademy Gitlab, and send me messages if you want to see something specific! Ideals and how to finish Scriptron, airpods auto pause, List of projects I had been conceiving but it turns out I don't really know how to do this. <div> <li><a href="01-solder.html">01. SOLDER 1206</a> - A description goes here</li> <li><a href="02-rubbish-truck.html">02. Rubbish Truck Retro Keyboard and Mouse</a> - Let's try to put a description here as well</li> <li><a href="03-bib.html">03. Ground Control Station: Battlestation in a Box (B.I.B)</a> - DC Power Supply, M12 Power Tool Batteries? Also recharging M12 Batteries</li> <li><a href="04-rs-indexer.html">04. Rocket Surgeon Indexer</a></li> <li><a href="05-welder.html">05. Extrusion Welder</a></li> <li><a href="06-shattered-horizons-vr.html">06. [IDEA ONLY] Shattered Horizons VR</a></li> <li><a href="07-faster-hid-input.html">07. [IDEA ONLY] Faster HID input</a></li> <li><a href="08-copilot-offline.html">08. [IDEA ONLY] Copilot Offline</a></li> It's taken a hell of a long time of having ideas but not being able to finish them I'm not trying to immortalise this, but thinking that there's no middle ground between now and forever would be a mistake I don't want to pretend that I'm not a philosopher, but like philosophers, even good ones, they have been wrong and or ideas change over time I've gone to the trouble of detailing everything out publicly, and even provided tips on how to finish these projects. Of course everything here is under the MIT licence, if you like it and you want to use it, go ahead. Just give me credit where it's due. You can even make money if you want. If I'm still around to see these any of these projects live to realisation, I'd rather live in a world where I can buy the solution to my problems than one where they never existed. // Let's reframe this one later Good If I am not around anymore (in an existential sense) and people see this and use it to develop new things, or finish a project and bring it to the world Better If I am around and someone brings this to the world and I get to see it | have one | buy it Best Someone wants to collaborate with me to bring this to the world or pay me to do it for them (looking at you Apple, Google, Sony, Microsoft, Meta, Asus, Razer, Logitech, etc) </div>