How to make almost anything (2019)
20 comments
·August 3, 2025dhosek
One of the things I regret from my undergrad days at Harvey Mudd was that there was a class that the engineering majors took where they made a set of tools from scratch and I kind of wish, even though I wasn’t an engineering major, that I had taken it.
low_tech_punk
That blog is the student notes from a famous MIT Media Arts & Sciences class called HTMAA. Course website: https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/MAS.863/
Lex Fridmen has a podcast with the professor: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF35Udv1DBU
rtbrz
the 2020 iteration (Covid times) also has recordings: https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/863.20/
sgnelson
See https://fabacademy.org/ for the version of the MIT HTMAA class open to all. It's run by Neil Gershenfeld.
Also, the class documentation itself is not where the "cool" stuff is, it's in all the student documentation. Here is a list of all the students in this past years FabAcademy: https://fabacademy.org/2025/people.html
And here are some highlights for this years final projects: https://fabacademy.org/2025/highlights.html
And what I always really liked where the weekly highlights as well (I don't have a link handy at the moment, I'd often make notes for myself of different projects.)
car
There is also the amazing MIT synthetic biology class 'How to Grow (Almost) Anything' by David Kong and George Church. I took it during the pandemic, and it was great. It's open to anyone, but requires quite a bit of commitment.
Animats
Aw. Reminds me of the TechShop days.
This is like one of those 10 countries in 10 days tours of Europe. The next step is to get good at one of those skills, which takes weeks to months. But time is too tight in college for that.
criddell
This course looks like a lot of fun. I've been thinking about how this is a golden age for makers ever since I read Neil Gershenfeld's book Fab.
I think Gershenfeld was a little early, but high quality, sophisticated personal fabrication is here.
zakqwy
I took this class with D. in 2019! Was a great whirlwind through digital fab and microcontrollers.
null
mannykannot
It is exciting to see this course addressing the biology space and the chemistry space, but the final frontier is the space space.
westurner
The "Week 8: Molding and Casting" link 404s.
This is important because bioplastics are so tensile.
Ideas for another week of material?
Programmable matter, nanoscale self-assembly, AI material design
probably_wrong
Any course on making "almost anything" that doesn't include sewing is short-changing its students.
And given that I see neither woodworking nor welding, I'd argue that the course should be renamed to "How to make some things (most of which require a computer)".
lax_och_potatis
I took this course recently! The class is mostly digital fabrication, but when working through it, you end up learning a lot of other techniques through your own work, the TAs, and seeing what your classmates bring.
In recent iterations, they have a choose-your-own week which included embroidery machines (which while admittedly barely scratching the surface of sewing, fits easily in the digital fabrication theme!) I also learned a fair bit about woodworking in the CNC week! The class is a whirlwind, but I left the class not being afraid of many types of fabrication, even if I was well aware I had a lot to learn.
andrewrn
Sewing feels so underrated to me. Nobody talks about it.
I had a little stint doing sewing projects and I found that I could make totally legitimate, durable, functional outdoor gear in a single weekend (~15 hrs) from zero experience. As functional and close to as attractive as something you'd buy at REI. I think the nice industrial machine I was on helped, but still!
ndileas
Good tools are very important. Especially for things like woodworking, metalworking, sewing. A good machine has decades or centuries of trial and error and has systmatically eliminated pain points and possible mistakes.
walterbell
Refurb sewing machine prices on eBay are comparable to mobile phones, quite the bargain for long-term value.
sgnelson
FabAcademy which is the course taught by the same professor, but not part of MIT, includes a "wildcard" week where you can choose what to do. Many students will do embroidery using a embroidery machine. A number of final projects will also include sewing/textiles.
A friend of mine final project: https://fabacademy.org/2022/labs/charlotte/students/nidhie-d...
Also, as someone already mentioned, see fabricacademy.
Edit:
What about making a cast iron skillet from scratch? https://fabacademy.org/2024/labs/dilijan/students/shushanik-...
zevon
Well, there is the Fabricademy (an offshoot of HTMAA / the Fab Academy) for all sorts of things related to textiles: https://textile-academy.org/
But yes, generally speaking, the focus is on digital(ish) fabrication which is probably not entirely surprising - it's a course by the Center for Bits and Atoms.
See also: 2020 Version with videos: https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/863.20/