More about the CAD to Gadget blog and Web site…

For this inaugural post, I’d like to first thank you all for visiting this blog and Web site. I hope you find it useful over time, and I encourage (even ask) you to contribute to blog conversations.

My intention is for this blog to host discussions on a range of topics on CAD and 3D printing, with a special emphasis on the design and prototyping of “utilitarian” things, and less so on “arts and craft” things. Conversations might also touch on the productization and marketing of our inventions, though admittedly these topics are worthy of their own blogs (and even sub-blogs).

In addition, I’ll be adding pages for reference materials, product ideas, tutorials, and so forth.

I should note that for topics on CAD software, I’ll be focusing on Autodesk’s Fusion 360, the reasons for which I’ll expand on in a future blog. In the meantime, if you are in the San Jose/Silicon Valley area, feel free to join the Silicon Valley Fusion 360 Meetup.  I’ve recently put this together with the sponsorship of AutoDesk, through the kind agency of Sachlene Singh, a Fusion 360 product evangelist. (See the Meetup description for more details.) Right now we’re in a membership-gathering phase. Also, we are looking for a regular place to hold physical meetings. If you know of a meeting room we can use, perhaps even at your place of work, please let me know. As for meeting room size, we could safely start with one that holds 50 people or so. (Signups for recent San Francisco F360 meetups appear to have numbered 30 to 65.)

A final personal note: Part of the purpose of this blog and Web site  is to get myself educated in these CAD and 3D printing subjects.  I’m a semi-retired technical writer, whose gigs primarily include software companies. So if you are anything more than a beginner in this field, please bear with my frequent coverage of the basics.