Xavier Eldridge

Full transcript

Hello everyone, welcome to the first episode of the Beyond the Blueprint podcast. Today we're here with Mr. Xavier Eldridge, who is the Audi Makerspace Technician, and we're going to be asking a few questions. So, I'll ask the first question.

So, Mr. Xavier, can you share your journey and how did you become a Makerspace Technician? Okay, well first off, thank you for having me. Excited to be here.

It would be kind of cool to see how you guys do this. How I started would basically be way back in middle school I got my first introduction to robotics and I kind of did like a small little robotics competition, had an after school program at my school. And I kind of carried over to high school and when I got to high school I joined my high school's first robotics competition team. And we had one competition that year, we managed to win that one competition and make it all the way to the world championships.

And at that moment I realized that I kind of wanted to do something in engineering in that kind of space, whether it be kind of like robotics, computer science, or engineering. At the time I didn't know exactly what field it was going to be. I took a class in computer science and I thought that's what I wanted to do so I went to school for computer science. Over the years I've always stuck with robotics and mentoring high school teams such like that.

I went back and mentored my high school team and then started the robotics team here at Audie back in 2016. And I've always kind of had a connection to Audie through the robotics team and over the years I gained experience working with professionals in the industry of the robotics competition like engineers from NASA, engineers from you know like Google and Apple and all different one working with them and learning from them and through all of that networking and collaboration I was able to get the experience that I have now to become a space technician that's what I could hear yeah I'm glad you guys went to Rhodes in your high school yes it was a very fun experience I didn't really expect it to happen you know it was a funny story about do I go to world championships or do a little prom and so I picked the robotics world championship prom that was it was a tough decision but also wasn't really wasn't a tough decision it was just like a one-time kind of thing so unfortunately I don't well not unfortunately for me it was grateful but I didn't really have a prom date at the time so it didn't matter so I could just go ahead and say I'm gonna not go to prom and go to world championships so second question I guess C4 already answered but we can get specifically so Were there any projects or mentors early in your career that really shaped your path? Projects, I would say, was just doing robotics as a high school student. That kind of shaped my career path just because I liked playing with Legos growing up.

I didn't know to what capacity. And I kind of wish, to be honest, I kind of wish I would have done robotics more as a kid because I think that would have helped me kind of determine what discipline I wanted to go into because I did computer science, which was just a programming aspect, and I thought that's what I wanted to do. But in reality, I do enjoy the programming aspect. I do enjoy programming, but I probably should have got a couple more years under my belt to kind of fully learn what I wanted to do.

And that's kind of what the project was. That was kind of what the project that got me into it. As far as mentors, I would say it was my robotics team mentors, the first two guys that mentored my high school team those are the ones that kind of got me into the field and i kind of stuck and then i met a couple other mentors from other robotics teams that kind of also learned from them and realistically that's kind of what helped me kind of stay into this path and get to this point let's see this so what's your favorite part about working in a hands-on a very like creative environment like how to make this i would I would say my favorite part is probably seeing what the students create and just kind of like seeing what they come up with because I do have a little bit of creativity. I'm not the best, but I do.

I can. I like teaching the kids how to use the machines and they kind of see what they come up with. And that's the cool part is just putting them, giving the students the tools and the access to the different machines. And they kind of just seeing where their creativity takes things and goes from there.

So I like watching and seeing what students come up with. That's the cool part for me. Do you usually guide students in their creative path? I try to because at the end of the day I want the students to have like more of an ownership of what they've worked on and kind of feel like this is something that they came up with and so what I like to do is I like to partner with the students and like they tell me what they want their end goal to be or kind of what they want to learn from it and then we'll work together on the tools and how they can achieve their goals like for example we had a student last year that wanted to create a surfboard but she didn't know exactly the right tools to do it she thought she could just come in there and just use a table saw and then just kind of sand stuff down which is true she could have used a table saw but we have a cnc machine that would have made this that made the surfboard a lot more of an actual size so she have to spend hours of sanding it down to get the curves and stuff like that and so we taught her how to use the cnc and then she was like well i want to do this with it like maybe paint it or like engrave it and so we were able to kind of show her the tools and what they were capable of doing to kind of let her see how far she could take that so for specifically my guess role base for makerspace recognition what is a typical day for you look like in the makerspace um so a typical day is basically I kind of come in and I kind of make sure you know I look and see what's on my schedule as far as like what classes are coming in and what machines they need and then my job is to make sure that those machines are ready to go like they work they function make sure we have the material to use them for example if we have a class that's gonna be using the laser engraver make sure the laser is cleaned and ready to go and then make sure that we have whatever materials that they need because if we don't then I have to go order them depending on if the teachers give us a lot of like a lot of lead time which sometimes they do sometimes they don't they're pretty busy teachers are very busy around here so sometimes they may have lead time I can then go and order the stuff so it would be here in time for it other times I might have to just run to like a local Home Depot or something like that and get materials so yeah that's kind of my job is to make sure the machines are functioning working make sure we have materials for the classes and then when the class comes in I'll help them out with whatever materials that they need and such like that.

Speaking of machines, wait I'm sure you have favorites but like overall what kind of machines do you like most often maintain or use? So the machines that get the most used are 3D printers just because they're a lot easier for students to use and kind of it's one of those projects where one machine's where you can start the project and then you can just leave it and then come back and get it in a couple hours so the 3D printers get the most use and then I would say the laser and and Graver gets the second most used just because it's the second easiest machine to use. I personally like using the Waterjet and the CNC is because it's cool to take like a just big big like sheet of aluminum or wood and just put it into a machine and then it gives you something completely different. So those are my favorite machines to use and those are the machines that don't get used as much just because of the higher level of skill that's required to use those those machines and such of like using the software that is required to use them and stuff like that.

But those are my favorite ones. A lot of students prefer, they just love the ability to come in and just kind of sit down, do whatever they need to do, put on a 3D printer and then just come back later for it. Okay, so how would you, if you're like a student comes into something like a project, how would you like go through and try to help them make that project come to life? So the best thing I like to do when a student comes in and says they have a project, I like to ask them what's their timelines or how long do they have to take this project how far do they want to go with that project like how creative do they want to be with it do they want to make it almost like real size they would just make a small scale model of it um do they want to take make this project like multiple days or something that has been done very quickly and then so we kind of hash out the details of what this project entails and how far the student wants to go with the project and then once we figure that out then we determine what machines are best for those projects so if a student wants to do something that's something that they want to basically get it done by the end of the week we're gonna kind of push them to use a 3d printer or the laser engraver based off of what they're trying to make so that way it can be done quickly if there's something that's a long-term project that they want to take more time to work on then we'll kind of open up and say okay well let's see if we could use the CNC or the water jet to kind of make it more I don't want to say realistic because everything in there's kind of real the more robust and more I guess extravagant for lack of better word and so we'll we'll we'll say we'll give them more time just because those machines require a lot more prep as in the sense of like you have to design the part in a different software then transfer the part over to the software that needs to be done on the machine and then you have to go through the process of setting up the machine, writing the machine, having the material and stuff like that versus like with a 3D printer if you want to just print like a a little square or boat or something you can just find the file get the STL file put it into the software and just start to print so it really depends on their work project but that's how we go about it we assess the timeline of when it needs to be done and what material is required and then we go from there what safety protocols are like very common mistakes do you see in people who are new to all the equipment and robotics?

I mean in the maker space. The most safety concerns that we haven't had any safety incidents so far, knock on wood, we want to keep it that way, but the most safety possible things are just students forgetting to wear safety glasses or like not tying back their hair or wearing like long sleeve clothing and stuff like that, stuff that can get caught in machines. And those are usually pretty easy to catch just from students just because as the the mixed-race technician my job is to see how everything's gonna be used and so I can catch something before it happens. Those are the most common ones that we see because a lot of these students haven't been around machines of this size or machines of this caliber before and so it's really hard for them to just like they can see it from the outside they don't need safety glasses to see it outside but when they when they're in that room it's just a common thing I'm like you need to put on safety glasses and you do this just to make sure they're safe.

So that the most common thing that I can say happens but usually we very on top of it and we haven had any incidents So we want to keep it that way and that the goal Okay, so what's probably one of the most coolest projects you've helped a student work on? Coolest projects we've helped a student work on? That's a tough one because we've had so many projects and I've only really been here for like two years. I would say the coolest project is probably we had to build a stage a puppet stage for it was like a Spanish heritage month kind of thing or actually it might have been for a history project it was for a history project and these students decided they wanted to build almost like a three foot four foot stage out of wood and so we got to use the table saw the miter saw and the CNC and kind of working with those kids on all three machines so it was like a pretty big woodworking project and having them build that and then on top of that helping them build like the curtain and having a system to pull the curtain back and forth and then making them making the thing stand up on its own so it was a lot of detailed work that they got to kind of learn and create and a lot of it was the students doing on their own I was just kind of there just making sure they did everything correctly but that's probably the coolest project I got to work on just because of how we had to use all the different machines and the kids got trained on all these machines and how it came together and it was a very quickly built project because most times those projects of that size usually take about two to three weeks to do this one took about a week and a half just because they came in they were pretty good at learning and listening and were able to build things quickly and stuff like that.

That's impressive. How do you handle troubleshooting when a machine breaks or malfunctions? That's a good question we've had a couple machines break or we haven't had any malfunction yet we've had a couple machines break unfortunately when a machine breaks is one of those things where you just kind of tell everyone unfortunately you can't use the machine right now you've got to wait to fix it the quickest thing is basically I either will order a part to fix it or if you have a part on hand that can fix it we just replace it and the machine will kind of be down just for a day the longest machine was down was probably the water jet I think the water jet was down for two months because it's one of those machines that you can't just let it sit there for a long time and not work which reminds me we probably should run it right now just to make sure that doesn't happen um but it's one of the machines if you let it sit there for too long um it will kind of uh it'll like the abrasive will kind of clog up into the the line and that's what the abrasive is like a sand that you use to cut through the metal and if you let it clog up there's no real easy way to unclog it without having to like almost take the machine apart and so the race have clogged up and then it kind of backed up into a I don't know exactly the part that it backed up into but basically had to order a part to be repaired and so we found out that it was broken in like around November October and then we called in a technician to come fix it once I wasn't able to fix it. He was supposed to come in in January, but then he got sick.

And so then he was coming in around the end of January, but then we had the snow days. So that kind of pushed it out even more. And then in February he was supposed to come in and then he came in right before winter break in February. And so that machine was down for about three months and the student needed to use it to make a stencil for the band.

And so unfortunately we had to tell her we can't do it right now. we offered to use a CNC but the CNC hadn't been calibrated to cut metal yet and so we offered to do it but she said it wasn't a huge project that he'd be done and she rather she wanted to use a water jet so it was one of the first projects that we got to do in the water jet so we kind of wanted to allow her to go through that experience so yeah we unfortunately that was a long spin down and when those things happen we try to find an alternative like we can use a CNC to cut the metal but if it's not a time-sensitive task we will kind of just tell the students hey this machine is down you just need to fix it and then can you come back later but if it's a time since it will find a different route to find it to fix it. Okay so these sort of questions are for like someone else like to learn something that can grow from. So what type of skills or certifications have been most useful while you've been at Makerspace Ignition?

So skills, as a makerspace technician I think a lot of people don't realize that you need to kind of also still need to interact with students and teachers and work with them and stuff like that so I would say having good social skills helps with that. Certifications, just kind of knowing there's not really specifically technical certifications that you need because none of these machines require a certain certification to run them they just require you to go through the training that most companies will just kind of give you when you purchase the machine so there's no specific certifications or skill set that you need but I would say you want to have good social skills so you can interact and teach people especially because if you know how to use a machine you want someone else to know how to use it you need to be able to teach that person how to use it as well so that way they can use it and it's not just you always doing the work for someone because you don't want the makers to turn into just like a sweatshop or like a workshop where you just making projects for people and no one coming in there and learning how to use machines So social skills learning so you can teach people Basically time management as well just because you want to be able to manage all the different projects that have to happen so that way no one's project gets kind of put off to the side and doesn't get finished. And then also just basically knowing how to manage inventory so you know what you can do what you can't do so that way you can tell people hey this project is gonna take X amount of days so that way based what you have and what's kind of in going on. I guess the proper term is project management.

Project managing so that way you know how what projects are in the queue, what's happening, and how to better utilize the space. And then also just making sure you know how to interact with all kinds of students because some students are very shy and don't know how to, they're not they're not open to learning those things because they're kind of intimidated And then other students are just like, I think I know everything, even though they actually don't. And so it's kind of like knowing how to gauge that and read the students. And a lot of the best kind of a lot of the cool days is when you have students come in and they're like they're super scared of machine.

They don't want to work on it. And when you're teaching them how to use it, then they realize, oh, this is not as bad as I thought it was. And then you can kind of see that they're kind of excited that they learned it. And so those are a lot of things.

So, like, I would just say, you know, it's not a dead set skill to go by. I would say just have a knack for wanting to learn how to use machines and learn how things work and how to be willing to build things and have that excitement for that. So it has more of a teacher element. Yes, it's a little bit more of a teacher element than people realize.

Like I don't teach classes. I have a revised elective that I teach, but that's not tied to the makerspace. and so you it's more of you want to be able to teach people how to use machines so that way they can get the use out of it because like I said I can just go and use machines all day I can get like a work log of I need X amount of things done for these projects and I can just work in there and do that all day but that's not what the maker space is for the maker space is for students to kind of get in there and learn things so part of my job is making sure I can teach students how to use a different machine so that way they can come in there and do it. Yes.

So if someone wants to follow your career path, what would you recommend them to, what would you just basically recommend them? I would say if someone wanted to follow my career path, I would say focus on engineering. It doesn't have to be civil. It doesn't have to be petroleum.

It doesn't just focus on an engineering path because at some point in time you will be, you will get to learn how to do those things. I didn't go that route, but now that I'm in this role I feel like knowing engineering having an engineering background I have engineering experience not enough to say I have a bachelor's degree in engineering but I have engineering experience and that really has helped me and if I would have had more of it let's say I went to school for mechanical engineering or something like that I would have I would have a better I would be able to help the students better than I currently am able to because there there are a lot of times when students want to design something or build something and my lack of engineering experience or education can't fully help them fulfill their goal or the full potential but the engineering experience that I have can get them like 60 70 percent even 80 percent of the way there and that sometimes is good enough because a lot of the kids just need that extra push and they can kind of finish the last 10 to 20 but if they want if someone wanted to be a makerspace position maker space technician i would say educate engineering pathways the best way to go so you can learn how to use these machines to the fullest potential and kind of learn how to use them for projects that may or may not people might not know because a lot of times kids come in over projects that they want to do and it's always easy to just have them go to a 3d printer and just say through your print what you need to print the blah blah blah and go from there but if you have an engineering background you can say okay well you can 3d print this but it'd be a lot cooler if you did it with these machines or designed it this kind of way.