My "GE Light Bulb Coating" Experience
Referencing Guy Kawasaki's story about "harnessing naïveté"
Creating an "impossible" 7-sided Part
on a manually-operated "hex" milling machine
In high school machine shop class,
we were instructed to create 6-sided salt and pepper shakers,
Using an ancient manually-operated milling machine,
limited by the manufacturer to mill a max of 6 sides.
I asked my teacher if I could make a 7-sider.
He laughed and said it was impossible...
Spatial Projecting
This literally involves getting inside all of the anticipated angles of the project
After 45 minutes at the machine, handing him the 7-sided part.
I did this by entering “the zone”...
after thinking about the problem for a week,
going to the machine,
holding the angular permutations in my head,
whilst manually operating three levers