I graduated in 2010 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering. I'm not a typical design engineer in the sense that it's not my day job - nor was I particularly good at Computer Aided Design in college. It just kind of bored me. Instead I focused on heat transfer and thermal systems and went to work doing none of that.
As one does.
| More my style of studying heat transfer. |
I was raised in a DIY family with my dad building a few of the houses and barns we lived in and had. In that order - not barns we lived in and houses we had. Naturally I learned framing and roofing, and was pretty good at it - landing myself some jobs here and there doing that kind of work during school.
I also dabbled in steel and found my way one summer to a racing shop in Charlotte, NC building some pretty cars in some pretty nice shops. Along the way I learned to paint and worked for a while building custom hot rods.
Enter DIY TV shows and the crazy (and often ugly) stuff they do on there. I believe that there are some good things and am glad they get people off the couch and creating things. But there's a lot of garbage out there too. Whether it's unrealistic expectations about budget, work load or skills required - people are confused. Now we are starting to see shows about disasters, come help me, save my house or whatever because of big dreams turned nightmares from a lack of proper instruction.
I hope to help that. This site intends to be a refuge for the DIY, OCD, curious autodidact that wants to create something that looks good and will last through your children's toddler years. Questions are encouraged if explanation is lacking. I'll add in some details and try to answer the "why" for the hidden engineer in everyone. Maybe some math to make it confusing. I don't claim to be the expert, but I'll attempt to show the best practice method. Comments are welcomed. Let's talk about it as a community and really create something meaningful.
Naturally, no offense to those of you who have been halfheartedly building every trinket you see on that site that start with Pin and ends with no- "interest."
