The future of making... has arrived

The BambuLabs P2S 3D Printer is a new addition to my shop and I'm in love.

I’ve been designing and building things for as long as I can remember. Give kid‑me a pencil, a pad of paper, and a piece of cardboard, and I’d disappear for hours making… something. Didn’t matter what. If it could be sketched, folded, taped, or Frankensteined together, I was in. Eventually I moved on to Lego and Erector sets, then fell in love with woodworking as I got older. I guess you could call it the natural evolution of a kid who never quite outgrew the thrill of making stuff exist.

But 3D printing? That’s brand new territory for me. You mean that I can make whatever I want magically appear on a plate in a couple hours? Something I can hold and look at IRL? I think I’ve found the the ultimate tool for making whatever I want  

And to be completely honest with you… it’s so easy that it feels like cheating.

Last winter I picked up a BambuLabs P2S, and it has been an absolute game‑changer. I’m no longer constrained by the usual “well, I could build that, but I don’t have the tools/materials/patience/extra limbs required.” Now, if I can dream it up, this machine will quietly hum it into existence while I go about my day. Watching it lay down that first perfect layer still feels like witnessing sorcery.

Which brings me to my latest creation: a storage container for a Kreg dowel jig.

Kreg makes fantastic tools and their pocket hole jig is practically a must-have for any woodworker. So when I ordered their dowel jig, I assumed it would come in the same nice, molded case their other tools ship with. Nope. Instead, it arrived in a cardboard box so flimsy it practically apologized when I opened it. Inside was a thin plastic tray doing its best impression of “organized storage,” but my Type‑A brain took one look and said, Absolutely not. This will not do.

Everything in my shop needs a home. Even if that home lives in a drawer. Even if no one but me will ever see it. I work where chaos lives so I'd like my home to be as organized as possible.

Luckily, I’ve been getting pretty comfortable with simple CAD work in a free, online program called TinkerCAD. So I grabbed my calipers, took some measurements, sketched a few ideas, and started building a design that fit the jig and all its little parts. A couple iterations later, I hit print and out came a perfectly fitted, satisfyingly solid storage case that gives everything its place like it was always meant to be.  I even added a slide to the lid which allows the jig to live prominently at the top. Simply slide the jig on and off when you're ready to use it or put it away. It couldn't be any easier (or sexier.)

There’s something deeply satisfying about that moment: when an idea goes from a scribble → to a model → to a real, physical object you can hold. It’s the same feeling I had as a kid with cardboard and tape, just… upgraded. Sharper. More capable. Less “hope this holds together” and more “of course it fits, I designed it that way.”

It’s funny that I bought a dowel jig for a woodworking project, but what I really got was more inspiration to chase. It's just another reminder that making things is still magic. And now that I own a 3D printer, I’ve got an amazing tool that lets me chase that magic whenever I want.