Meet the Makers #11 Balancing Work And Hobbies Mailman By Day 3D Printer By Night With LookItsKulak

 In this episode of Meet The Makers, we dive into the fascinating world of 3D printing with LookItsKulak, a by day mailman who transforms into a 3D printing enthusiast by night. 

We delve into the realm of 3D printing, exploring LookItsKulak's innovative projects, creative process, and the impact of this technology on his life. From creating intricate designs to pushing the boundaries of what's possible, his dedication to the art of 3D printing shines through.

Tune in to Meet the Makers #11 - Balancing Work and Hobbies: Mailman by Day, 3D Printer by Night - with LookItsKulak and embark on a journey of inspiration, creativity, and the pursuit of passion.
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Where to find Chris
Tiktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@lookitskulak?lang=en
Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@papakulak4176
Etsy: https://www.etsy.com/shop/NerdyPeachCreations
Twitter: https://twitter.com/papakulak
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Come be a guest on meet the makers: https://forms.gle/wTqzxqGpsu9hZ39F6
Follow misfit printing on TIktok: https://www.tiktok.com/@misfit_printing
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Chapters 
Intro- 0:00
Why the orientation of your 3D print in a slicer matters - 0:41
Getting started with 3D printing -1:27 
How To Level Your large 3D Printers? - 5:42
Beagle camera Vs. Raspberry pi for 3d Printers - 9:42 
Best Filament for 3D printers -11:47 
3D printing for Kids - 15:33 
Why Millennials love nostalgia - 17:00 
What is it like being a mailman - 21:40 
Meeting Kevin Smith -26:49 
3D printing on TikTok -  33:23 
Designing logos for creators -36:03 
Using LEDs on 3D Prints - 38:56 
Where to find Chris - 41:43 

Transcript

 Welcome back to Meet the Makers. Today I am joined with another guest. He is a 3D printer  big fan of pop culture. Always has a bunch of fun prints that he's running, and if you're extra super lucky, you might actually one day have him hand deliver you a printer to your door.

Uh, today I'm joined by Chris from Look, it's Coolack. Chris, thanks so much for being here today with us. It's great to have you on. Thanks for having me. I'm real excited about this. It should be fun. Awesome. . I saw leading up to this, that, uh, you had your Blue Yeti microphone, which we're twinning right now.

Uh, I saw you had to print yourself a mic stand. How is everything holding up with that over there? Did it perform as expected? Uh, well, the one on the video did not last. Um, I actually, I was trying to clear off my desk and I put it down a little too rough and it snapped, but I did go ahead and make another one.

So this one's got silver and blue on it. It looks pretty cool. Uh, And hope I'm being more careful with that one. Awesome. That's cool.  A common problem I've had with like any sort of print like that where it's kind of got a narrow knock on it, I always have to rotate it and cure it now because I've had so many prints where if that's where it snapped, it always like seems to snap there for me if the layer lines are, uh, kind of thin like that.

Yeah. Yeah, it's definitely had to do that with it. Um, this one seems to to be holding up pretty well, so I'm happy with it. Hopefully we make it through the episode , without any missteps. But, um, for the people who maybe don't know you aren't familiar with your content, how did you kind of get into 3D printing and how, how did it all start for you?

Uh, my wife was big on TikTok. Um, she loved look, looking at the videos and stuff, so she kept showing me stuff and wanted to send me videos. So I eventually just downloaded TikTok. And as I was watching videos, I kept coming across, um, like the, the Ironman suits, the full body Ironman suits. Yeah. That people PR and the props.

So that I really got into like that. And then by liking those videos, it got me into 3D printers. So I got, my wife got me my first 3D printer, um, the Ender three Pro for Christmas two years ago. Um, and that, it was just after that man, I, I printed a little Darth Vader and my first ever TikTok was just, The bed of the printer said soon, and it was like a ten second video or something like that.

So that's the very first one. And then after that I've got, you know, a resin printer. I've got another cre reality printer and an any cubic. So I'm, I'm, I've dove headfirst into this hobby and I love it and I'm making a ton of stuff. We all seem to have a similar origin story of, you know, everybody starts out and they're like, oh, it's kind of cool.

And then slowly but surely not even like, uh, slowly, I guess pretty quickly all of us seem to end up with Yeah. A, a fleet of printers and very soon Yeah, it happens quick. You know, um, you get your first printer and it's, it's really good and you're printing stuff on it, and you're like, man, I, it's kind of small and everything just kind of, it seems like it shrinks, so you're like, I need something bigger.

And then you just. Find something bigger and you buy it and you're like, man, this is cool, but I need, I need more printers so I can print more pieces at the same time, so it's not taken as long, and then you end up buying another printer and it just keeps snowballing from there. Yeah. I remember when I first got into it, I was, I saw everybody know all their printers.

It's like, oh, that'll never be me. I'll never, I'll always just have one. And then literally within a couple weeks, I, I was. Adding to my collection. But uh, yeah, I know you have the CR 10 I, that's one that's like on my wish. I wanna get like a bigger printer. Um, has that kind of expanded out the horizons of what you've been able to print, what you've been able to make for you?

It's great. Um, it's, it's, it's amazing having a printer of, of that size because the ender three is really my, my go-to printer. It's something I can just hit the button and it prints ev almost every time. Just great. The CR 10 I had a little trouble with at the beginning, but once you dial it in and um, thanks to some upgrades I've put on it, I've got great prints out of it and I'm able to print helmets in one shot without having to like print pieces and put 'em together.

Um, cuz that's what I tried to do with my, my ender three the first time in it. I'm just not that good at like, welding and stuff. Yeah. Um, I'm, so, I am still learning. I, I got a bunch, I set this up so I had a bunch of my prints here. But like the helmets and stuff are real easy to print on one thing and then adding one or two things to 'em.

But if you print 'em in pieces, it really takes time and like a steady hand to get 'em together and then get the seam gone and all that kind of stuff. And I just didn't want to deal with that. So having the bigger printer really helps with that. It. Um, yeah, it seems like it's a game changer for that. I don't know if you've ever like had prints or you've had to do a lot of post-processing on that, but that's like, for me, that's where my prints go to d I have a whole graveyard of prints that are just like, they're done printing, but I never finished finishing them because either I had to put them together or I had to paint them or whatever.

So it sounds like that probably helps a lot. Yeah. Not having to do all that post-processing work. Yeah. It, it definitely cuts out some of that post-processing you get. You know, if you can get a solid print, that's great. You still have to go in sand it and fill it in and paint it, but that's a lot easier than having to print off four different pieces, put 'em together, wait more for them to, you know, stick together than fill in those specific lines.

And there's a bunch of extra work if you have to print extra pieces, and I just didn't want to deal with it. So the bigger printer definitely comes in handy. Yeah, just this weekend I ran my first print ever where I kind of had like welded all together and glue it together and it's, uh, it's a little more than I bargained for, but I guess it's exciting to finally, uh, have something that's, uh, more of a substantial piece in my house.

So excited to finish that up. It's a process. Um, it's exciting when it's finished, you know, and you can look at it and be like, yeah, I, I put a bunch of work into that. I'd finished it and it came out great. That's really cool. Um, but. You can do that with a bigger printer. So I figured why not just get a bigger printer, print the big pieces, and then do all the post-processing stuff, you know, skipping a couple steps cause I don't have to put anything together and I still get a great quality item.

Yeah, for sure. Um, now one of the things I hear people say with the bigger printers is that they can be more difficult to level the bed since it's like a larger surface that it's kind of going across., I've never seen anybody, but you talk about it actually is the easy a v l.

Um, can you tell, did I say that right? And can you tell people a little bit more about that? That's what it is. Um, it, it saved, it saved my CR 10. I, I was ready to just get rid of it, um, in the beginning because, They are hard to level. There's so much space on the bottom there, and it does like it, it's hard to do with the piece of paper method.

It's, there's so much space to get it completely level. So the easy abl um, I partnered with th 3D studio. Um, I, they're in a bunch of my videos, but they, they sent me this because I was telling 'em I was having, you know, bed level problems. They were like, this is gonna solve your problem. Because I tried the CR Touch, I tried the bl touch.

I just, I couldn't get 'em to work properly on there. Um, and I didn't like that it on the cr touch and the bl touch, they shoot out a probe. Yeah. And I didn't want it to crack the bed. I was real nervous about that. Um, so this one is, it's no touch, it's just a sensor. It installs right on the fan, like just like the cr touch and stuff.

And then it just sinks down into the bed, senses it. Goes around like, uh, nine points on the bed and now that one is literally just like my ender three. I can hit a button and start a print and walk away. I don't have to watch any layers or anything like that. And it just goes and it's, it's saved my printer cuz I was ready to get rid of it before that.

And that, um, I'm so happy that I, you know, I contacted them through Aku mods. He, he recommended them so, He, he said, you know, TS three studios, they got these products, you know, go check 'em out. So I, I talked to them, they sent this to me along with, you know, some filaments to try out, which were some of the best I've ever had.

Um, I mostly used Overture off Amazon, just cuz they're super easy to get. They're cheap. Um, but the 3D TS 3D studio filaments, I get cardboard spools, so they're recyclable, which I, I enjoy. Uh, and then they, the print quality, I mean, I leave 'em on my printers. I live in Seattle, so it's kind of wet out here, but Oh, okay.

Yeah, I leave 'em on my printers and I never have any issues with, uh, any kind of degrading or anything with them. They're real good, so I, I can't recommend them enough. Yeah, I, uh, I had a, I can't remember if I, I think I had the CR touch on one of my printers. I had a warped bed, which I think the CREs are kind of like notorious for having the warped beds.

Um, and it's not a Sierra Touch or anything, or, uh, pardon me, it's not a Sierra 10 or anything like huge like that, but, I was just like, nonstop. Every print that I was laying down was so difficult to get leveled. So, um, I'm curious. I I might have to reinvestigate and look back at that, cuz like you said, I didn't really love the probing of it.

It just, I, I always kind of had a hard time getting it to work just right for me. Um, in terms of like, I guess like installing firmware and stuff like that, how was that process with getting that started? It's extremely easy. Um, th 3D studio does something great where they're based in Indiana and they're.

Help chat is open for business hours. So until 5:00 PM Central standard time, they're open. You can go to their website and talk to one of their technicians right away. Mm-hmm. Um, okay. So if, if like, I needed help, um, everything is like step by step on their website. They can, it's like a big instruction manual with pictures and they make it super easy to follow along.

But if there was a problem I could go on there and be like, Hey, I got this product, I'm having trouble installing it. And then the tech would just walk you right through it and make sure you're doing everything right. Um, So it's very helpful and, and super easy to do. That's, uh, that's a huge benefit.

That's a, yeah, I sound like I keep fashioning cre, which I, I love Creole, I use CRE printers, but, um, I know getting support through CRE can be just a nightmare. So, um, to have a company that you can kind of go through and just have a really easy process that, uh, sounds like a huge benefit for their product.

That's awesome. Yeah. That's, that's one of the, one of the main reasons I, I love 'em and I talk about 'em a lot, is, is that customer service just because, With the, a lot of these machines, you know, they come from China and customer services in China. So even if you do contact somebody, you gotta wait a whole day to get a response.

Um, this one, if, if it's in the business hours, you can pretty much get a response right away, which is, which is, uh, something I, I really think is important with these kind of machines. Yeah, no, absolutely. That's, uh, that's really cool to hear. And as soon as we hop off here today, I, I'll have to be, uh, running over to their website and snagging one of those.

Very cool. Um, now another thing that I see you kind of on the technology side of your printers using, I believe you have a Beagle camera set up on your printer as well. Uh, I did. Um, it's gone now. Uh, T 3D Studio sent me a one of their Raspberry pie kits. Oh. Um, so I'm in the process of installing that and I'm gonna be using that to, uh, do time lapses.

So they got me a camera, they got me that, and it, what it it's gonna do is allow me to run my printer off my computer. Instead of using the little micro sd I can just send it straight over for my computer and print, and then it'll do time lapses and stuff for me too. Oh, that's pretty nice. Yeah. Yeah. I, uh, I, I've heard good things about the Beagle camera.

When you did have it set up, did you like that product or, um, I did. It was, It was okay. Um, the, it was hard to control the printer using the, the printer. You had to control it through their app, uh, either on the phone or the website. Okay. Um, and the camera, like, to be able to focus, it was hard to do. You had to take the whole thing apart and then kind of focus the little lens and then put it all back together.

So there was some, some issues with it, but overall, I mean, it was, it was fairly easy to use and it, it worked. For making, um, the time lapse is really easy. Interesting. Yeah, I, uh, I hear a lot of people who, they really love it and I, uh, unfortunately, I, I don't do many time lapses, cuz if I do, I'm pulling out my phone and letting my phone sit there for like, multiple hours, which is somebody who's addicted to my phone is very difficult.

But yeah. Um, yeah. Yeah. I have to get, I have to get some kind of better set up for that. It was difficult, um, because before I got the Beagle, I, I have extra phones, um, lying around, so I was trying to, you know, Set up some wires and a, and a camera timer with the phone. And, and I've seen these people do like, where the, the z axis will go all the way across and hit a timer Yeah.

To take the picture. And I was trying to do that and I just, I didn't have it in me to actually figure it out or, or anything like that. So that's why I invested it in the Beagle camera. And it, it worked fairly well for when I was using it. I was just, there was, with any kind of product you get, there's always something, uh, Something a little off or, or something that you gotta deal with.

But, uh, if I, if I had it set up on my printer now, I'd, I'd still be using it. It's just like cleaned everything off and, and took it off and then just haven't reinstalled it. And now that th studio studio sent me the Easy Pie kit, kind of don't see another reason to use it. Yeah, that makes sense. Now, in your videos, one of the things that I've noticed is like, compared to a lot of people that I see, you seem to use a lot of really fun and really unique like, Rainbow filaments, uh, glow the dark filaments, things like that.

Do you have any, I guess, uh, in your ventures of trying all these different things, any filament that stands out as kind of like your all time favorite? And are there any filaments that you see, um, that you haven't tried yet that you've really been interested in trying? There are, um, amo uh, okay. First off, Lin has is one of the greatest filaments I've used.

Uh, visually, like they have some really standout colors and I love the gradients. They have, um, they have my favorite filament of all time is there's, it's a black to green transition. Oh yeah. It's, it's really cool looking. Um, so I, I enjoy 'em, Molin. Um, I just started using egu, uh, just a standard black filament, um, cuz I'm printing some prop pieces and, and some cosplay pieces.

Uh, and it's $14 a roll or something like that. So it's, it's fairly cheap when I can just, Get one kilogram of it. Um, but my standard one, like I said, is overture, just because it's cheap and it's on Amazon. I can get it in a day if I need to. Uh, but yeah, the, the standout one would be the olein filaments.

Just be, their colors are crazy cool. Like with the, all the different transitions and the glow in the darks that they have. Maybe green, like a blue glow in the dark, a rainbow glow in the dark that I've used. Crazy filaments that they got. Um, and again, they're on Amazon, so you can get 'em really quick and, and for a decent price.

Yeah, it's funny you say that actually. Uh, right under my microphone. I won't pick it off cuz it'll make a horrible noise. But I have a role, my very first role actually of their filming, it's like the blue to green transition. Yeah. I ran it for the first time the other night and it was beautiful. It was so shiny.

It just like reflected the light perfectly. It was a jewel extrusion and man, it was, I was really jazzed about it was a cool fulfillment. Yeah. I'm, I'm really hyped on theirs. Uh, there, there's, and they have a, a big selection to a bunch of different colors and a bunch of different transitions. So I'm really excited to to jump in and try and get some more, um, cuz I am running out of that black to green, so I'm gonna have to make another order soon.

Yeah, for sure. Um, now one of the things I actually like, uh, I always wonder what to do myself. I have so many roles at this point that are getting down to maybe like a hundred grams of filament. I think you made a video about this at some point, but like, you seem to be really good at kind of working your way through an entire role, I guess, like what's kind of your process when you were getting down to the bottom of a roll?

What, uh, do you kind of like look for something that's smaller to print with it or how do you usually work through that? Yeah. Um, I, I helped myself, I, I got a direct drive kit for my ENDR three, so that helps out. Mm-hmm. Cuz it doesn't have to travel through a boating tube, so it gets to use a, just a little bit more of that filament.

Um, but I mean, I got two kids. They're five and, and nine, so they like stuff, so I can just go and, and print a little fidget something for 'em and use that or, or, I'm good at, I've gotten really good at switching out filaments. So if I find one that's coming to the end, either a quick swap or a pause and a switch works for me.

Um, but yeah, I'm, I'm, I, I have my roles that are really, you know, just one loop around. So they're sitting down there. I, I gotta find something to do with them. But, um, yeah, most of the time it's, I can usually get rid of a roll pretty good just because of my kids. Interesting. Yeah, I, uh, I've, I say this every episode, but I've become such like a hoarder 3D printer, but particularly on might rolls of film.

I, like you said, I'll have that one where it like goes around one time on the roll. I'm like, oh, I think I could probably get another print outta this. I hate to just tear it off of there. So, yeah. Yeah, there's always something you can print. And then, um, my filaments got real bad. I had stacks of them all over the place and, and.

You know, there are empty rolls on there that I didn't even know were there, just because I have 'em stacked so high and I had to go and I got a PEG board or some pegs so I can hang 'em now. And now they're all kind of, kind of neatly placed and, and cleared some space. But yeah, I, I do definitely know, um, the one or two rings around a spool.

I have that too. Yeah, for sure. Uh, it never seems to end with the, the spools of film and just stacking around my office. But, um, I know I see in a lot of your videos that you're printing stuff for your kids. Now, they're still pretty young, but do they have like any interest in, uh, kind of like learning, printing themselves or are they more so just like excited to get things off the bed?

No, they're both of them, um, they see me do it and they're like, all right, I want to do that. You know, that's something I want do. So my son is nine. Um, I actually got an Ubic Cobra from, uh, its boy and Space Ben. Oh, okay. Um, he, he was kind enough to gift that to me for my son because there was a debacle at Proto Pasta one day where I lost out on a printer.

So he, he, he gifted me that one, um, for my son and I, and I, technically, I use it a lot. Um, but it's his, and if he wants to print something, he'll look through the files and, and I'll make him, you know, take out the card, swap out the fill in. You know, re-uploaded and push print on it. So he prints some stuff on it.

My daughter's a little younger, she just turned five, so she just pretty much sits on my lap and just watches and, and picks stuff out to print and then, and then destroys it if she can. Yeah. That's a lot of fun though. I mean, I can't imagine as a kid having just a machine in my parents' house that would've like, let endless toys just be made.

That sounds like a kind of best case scenario. Yeah, exactly. And that's, that's how they, they tend to use it. They'll see me sitting at my desk and just, Oh, dad, can you print me this? Oh, dad, can you print me this? Or they'll see me scrolling on, you know, Thingyverse or Colts or something like that, and they'll be like, oh, print that.

Oh, I'll print that. You know, so they tend to use it as just a, a machine that's gonna make them a toy, whatever they want. It's, uh, it's fun until it's annoying. Yeah. Yeah. I believe it. I believe it. I don't have kids myself, but I could definitely see that. Um, one of the things that I think about a lot with like a lot of the people on, uh, print Ho  I, I hear this like thrown around a lot that like millennials are like, they're obsessed with nostalgia and, uh, I see you print like a lot of different, like, I guess what you could kind of consider nostalgic things from like, you know, different shows or different stuff like that.

Is that kind of like, just like something that you like to do from a standpoint of like content that's relatable for other people? Or is that, like, even if you didn't make content, is that kind of like what you would fall into printing, do you think? Um, that's a, that's a really good question.

There, there was a time when I first started TikTok, I was just printing everything. Um, I wanted, I wanted to get a lot of views. I wanted to get a lot of likes, so I printed anything I could find and everything I could find. Um, and I. Looked at other creators and I would get their, you know, what they were printing, what they were showing off.

I'd get that file and I'd print it and I'd make my own video on it. And for the last, I don't know, six, seven months, it's just been like, man, I wanna print what I wanna print. Yeah. I don't, I don't really care about views. If, if somebody likes my stuff, they'll find me. Um, you know, they'll see it, they'll like it, they'll, they'll follow along to see what I'm, I'm printing.

If they don't. There's somebody out there that, that they, they'll like, you know, uh, so there's some nostalgia things where it's, it's, oh man, I remember having that as a kid. Or That was my favorite TV show, or that's my favorite game to play, so I'm gonna print it. But then there's stuff where it's like, man, that's just a cool thing.

I want it. Like I have these machines where you can pretty much make whatever you want. And it's just like, yeah, I'm gonna make it like, um, The nozzle lamp back here. That's just awesome. Like once I have my own office, I would, that's gonna be my lamp in my office. It's so cool. And it's not nostalgic or anything, it's just this cool part of the hobby, um, that I was able to make that, and it, it looks really cool and it lights up and it's just something I'm proud that I made.

Um, but yeah, a lot of it in the beginning was I need to print something that's gonna get me views, they're gonna get me noticed. After a while though, it just gets down to the point where like, man, I'm wasting a lot of filament and I'm wasting a lot of time. I can't, you know, rely on TikTok to show my videos.

Like I, yeah, eventually 1 0 1 will pop off. But, you know, I can't keep making these little things that are just getting tossed to the side, or I wanna make something that cool, that stands out that I can be proud of instead of just something that, Hey, look at this, and now it's over there and doesn't, I don't care about it anymore.

Yeah, the, uh, TikTok algorithm seems to work in mysterious ways. Like you were saying too. It's, uh, it's almost funny of the things that sometimes I thought like, oh, this video is definitely gonna have like a big, it's gonna blow up, and then like, it'll get, you know, a couple hundred views. And then the thing that I am never in a million years, I'm like, oh, this is kind of lame.

Nobody's gonna watch this. And then that's always a video that like, seems to kind of take off, which is funny. Yeah, it's, uh, it's so weird. Like I got. Props and, and, and helmets and stuff that I made that've gotten a hundred, 200 views. And then just the other day, I, I uploaded a video that I just printed a tool for work, 7,000 views.

I have no idea how, it's just a little shelf. There's nothing special about it. It's not fancy, it's just a little shelf that helped me with work. And that video got a ton of views. I have no idea how. Um, so yeah, that whole algorithm they use or what they use to push out videos, just, it doesn't make any sense.

So, It was when I, when I started to figure that out, it was just like, all right man, I'm just gonna print what I want. I'm gonna make some cool stuff, and hopefully people see it. If they do, they like it. If they don't, I'll get 'em next time. No big deal. Yeah, for sure. It's, , it, it changes so often too.

Like, you know, I, I can't keep up with how it works, but  like you said, I think after a while you kind of just have to do what makes you happy and do, uh, you know, what you're gonna enjoy. Because I know for me, I have a whole stack of printers, uh, prints in my other room of just things I made for videos.

So eventually I think you have to kind of narrow it down , and it's, it's hard to do. Um, at first you see, you know, you'll, you'll see all these, these big printers like, you know, boy and Space, or Mandic really, or even Joel. You'll see 'em just make a little 15 second video about something they printed and it blows up and gets hundreds of thousands of views and you're like, oh man, I could do that.

I wanna do that. You know, I wanna, I want to get all these likes and, and have all these people commenting and telling me, you know, how good my stuff is. Um, you don't, Realize that they've built an audience for however long they've been doing this. They have people that follow 'em. So when you're starting off, it's like, all right, I can do this.

And then you get a hundred views and you're like, oh man, what? Why didn't I get the same views? Like, yeah, why isn't this happening? And you don't realize that they've just, they're themselves. They just post what they want to post because they think it's fun and. People have followed them because of that, and that's why they get so many views.

Now, it's hard not to compare yourself in the beginning when you start getting to it to them, but that's what you have to do. You have to just start from fresh and be like, all right, this is who I am. This is me. I'm not gonna go anything. I'm not gonna try to be anybody else. I'm not gonna try to do something I wouldn't normally do.

And it's, that's what you, you have to do. But it's hard to do it at first. Absolutely. Um, one of the things I've noticed for you for work. You had a thing that sat in your truck and kind of helped you organize things.

And for people who don't, uh, maybe know your content, you're a mailman and you have like, occasionally like videos where you'll post stuff about that. And it seems like people are always so interested in that content. I know you had one where like, uh, key had gotten stuck to like the outside of a box of the, it was just like, it was just funny and it's like, um, Like you said, it's something that not really anybody else on print talk.

Like I don't think anybody else has the same experiences as you, but like it's so uniquely you and I think people really enjoy that content and that perspective when you post about that. Yeah, it's, it's a funny thing because, um, nobody ever like deep dives into the mailman. They've, we just know we have a mailman.

Like growing up, I never thought a mailman. I wonder what's his story. It was just like, Hey, it's two o'clock, the mail's here. Um, and that, that guy's walking away from the house again. So when people get to see, like, even the, just the inside of the truck, everybody sees the outside of the truck. It's that white box with the bird on the side, but even the inside of the truck, you can see how bare it is.

I think that's interesting because not a lot of people see it. Um, but that video you were talking about, I, I have to give credit to its boy in space again, Ben, he's the one who told me to make that video. Oh, really? Yeah, I saw the video, the original one, and I, it made me laugh and I scrolled right by it.

Um, and then I was talking to him and he was like, man, you should have did a video where, you know, you were eating lunch or something, and you, you just kind of spit it out. And when he served the key and I was like, you know what, that's a good idea. I'll do it. And then, yeah, that got a hundred thousand views or something like that.

Um, but I, I, I try not to stitch videos, um, because I don't, like, I don't want to get views off of a stitch. Off of somebody else's content. I don't, that's, that's not, you know, something I'm trying to look, uh, look for, I'm not trying to get somebody else's views off of, or some, I'm not trying to get views off somebody else's content is what I'm trying to say.

Yeah, yeah. Um, so I don't, uh, you don't see me stitch a lot of videos, but when he told me that, that's kind of when I had to do, especially being a mailman. Uh, it, it was really funny when he said it, and I'm glad it turned out well. Yeah, I, uh, I love that one and. I, I, like I said, I love all that content and it's kind of one of those things like you, as you were saying, you know, most people don't think a lot about maybe the day-to-day life of a mailman, but there's so many weird little like industries like that where people kind of pull back the curtain.

And I think that's what I love about TikTok so much is those obscure things that you wouldn't think you're interested about. Like, I. Have people that I get videos for of like, they're, they trim hedges or they, you know, are they plumbing or like installing insulation? Like nothing that you would ever think to go seek out, but you see it.

And maybe it's not exciting to them and maybe for them it's just their everyday life. But like to me, I see it, I'm like, oh, that's so interesting. So it's kind of cool. Yeah, I, I get those same videos about the trimming edges and stuff. I would, scrolling on TikTok, I get the guy who cuts the lawns for free and cleans everything up.

Yeah. Yeah. Um, or you'll, you'll scroll through and you'll see like somebody just spraying foam and, and expanding. But you sit there and you watch that video. It could be a two minute video, and you'll sit there and watch the, the foam expand over the whole attic, and you're like, wow, that's, that's crazy.

But yeah, it's just some normal thing that this guy does. Um, so pulling back the curtain on, on my job, uh, I think it, it gains a lot of interest again because not a lot of people see it. Yeah, I think for, uh, a lot of people too who maybe like wanna get into content, you know, I know everybody has their own reason of like, things that they're nervous about or stuff like that, but I hear a lot of people who are like, oh, well, I'm not very interesting.

Nobody would be interested. But I think, uh, that's like a, a fun point is like, just because you don't think it's interesting, doesn't mean other people won't, uh, find interest in it. Yeah. Yeah. Every, everybody has a story to tell. Um, not everybody's had the same experiences, so. There's always gonna be somebody out there who would be interesting in hearing something from anybody.

Um, so I, I definitely say if you're looking into getting into content creation or, or you think you have some kind of story to tell, just go ahead and do it. It's not gonna hurt, so why not? Yeah, absolutely. Absolutely. I like that. Uh, I like that Ben encourage you to make that video too. I don't know him super well, but anytime I follow him, he seems to give really, he has a really good eye, it seems like, for kind of, uh, what's gonna do well, and he, I know he gives a lot of good advice on like lives and things like that.

So I really, Apollos point in space, he's, uh, very, very cool, very cool guy. Paul. It's crazy how smart he is. Um, yeah, with, with this kind of stuff, content creation videos or anything like that, it's. I, I don't, there there's, again, stuff that he sees that I don't think anybody else sees, and it, it makes his content great.

And he's, he's very helpful to the whole community, which, um, I appreciate. He's, he's, I think he was the first, um, well the second, he was like the second 3D printer that I followed. Uh, and I'm, I'm glad I did because I learned a lot from him and, and, uh, so I got a printer. So, Yeah, he, it's,  there's a bunch of lives that people do where you can just go in and ask questions and get, and get an answer.

Uh, which I enjoy. Um, the, when I first started there was a bunch of, you know, technical issues or stuff that I didn't know that I had to do, and I was able to just, you know, hop in his chat or, uh, Aku chat and just be like, Hey, I'm having this problem. You know, what can I do? And they'd be like, oh, well test this, test this, test this.

And then right there you got your answer and you can go ahead and fix it. So everybody that I've interacted with on the print talk community has been very helpful. And I can't say like a bad word about any of 'em. Yeah, no, I completely agree. Um, I know for some people too, it's like kind of intimidating when you're newer to like maybe approach like those bigger people or people who just like you perceive as being like a really big influencer.

I hate using that word, but influencer, whatever you wanna call it. Um, now what, I guess like, going off of that note, one of the things I kind of saw when I was scrolling through your content is, uh, you had this post about like the most famous person that you ever met and you had cov a picture of you and Coven Smith, which.

I thought was interesting. How did, how did that happen? Uh, well, he was signing, um, at a comic shop close to me. Uh, he had a comedy show, uh, that he was doing, that I had tickets for. So he was in town and then he was just signing at a comic shop. So I just went there and, and the whole family went and we all got pictures with him and I talked to him for a little bit and as simple as that.

Interesting. He's, he's, uh, Uh, man, he's, he's divisive. I guess a lot of people either like him or hate him, but man, I love that guy. Uh, he is so honest with, uh, with everything that he does and he talks about and just gives great advice. I'm like, be creative. So I've taken that and just been like, all right, be creative.

Do something creative. And it's really helped with, you know, TikTok and 3D printing and, and anything that I've done so, Like I'll, that's probably the only time I'll ever talk to the guy, but man, I like, I have a big thanks to him. Yeah. I, uh, you know, I'm not super familiar with him if I'm being honest, but I actually, this was like years ago.

I had stumbled upon, he was on Joe Rogan experience and, um, I listened to that interview and it actually, so this sounds kind of goofy, but I have this playlist on my YouTube, um, it's, it's like a private hidden playlist and it's. All these videos that I've collected over the years where if I'm just like, I'm feeling down on myself or if I'm having a bad day or just anything like that, it's like this collection of these magical videos that are just, uh, I don't know, they're just, they really stand out and it's just like such good messages.

And actually there is like multiple moments from that interview that I have saved on that playlist. And he just like, man, he really like, I don't know if storytellers is the right word for him, but. Um, just great advice that he gives. Yeah. And a great way of kind of explaining his experiences in life.

Yeah. Yeah. It's, it, uh, he is, one of the reasons that I, I listen to so many podcasts is because of him and I just, it's something about the way he tells a story and how positive he is, that that's what I want to be. So I just try to be positive with anything I'm doing, and I always try to be creative. So in a lot of my videos, you'll hopefully see that, hopefully I'm being positive.

Um, I'm sure there's times where I'm not too positive, but I like to be creative. I like to help people when I can, so I always try to respond to as many comments as I can. If somebody has a question or if there's something that I can help with, I'll, I'll, I'll try to do that. So I'm always mixing in the creativity and the, and the positivity and that basically stems from him.

Yeah. Well, I would agree. I think that you're definitely a very positive guy on the internet. I, uh, I kinda remember the thing that I got. It wasn't, you know, what I think I followed you from, but what introduced me to you was, uh, around Christmas time you were doing that series of the Christmas tree. Yeah.

And I had found you from that. I ended up doing a Christmas tree as well. But, uh, I loved that like you just had like this really fun energy around you of like bringing people together and taking suggestions and people really seem to love that, uh, series that you did. Yeah. That one, that was really fun to do.

Um, and it, it did, it connected me with a lot of people. Uh, which was great. It, it helped me build a, an au an audience and it was just really fun to do. Like I, I got to print, I had the Christmas tree, and then I got to print just a bunch of different ornaments that everybody suggested. So whoever was in my comments and they suggested something, it got put on a list and I printed it.

Um, I think by the end of it, we had close to 40 or 50 ornaments on there. Um, and I think the one you suggested was Bender. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I do actually have, The bigger bender back here. Oh, nice. So I, I printed that for a while, a while ago too. Um, but yeah, that was a lot of fun to do and I, I liked involving the community and involving people because it, it, not only it, it makes a connection with people so they stay around longer.

It helped me with ideas on how to print stuff. Yeah. And, and, and it gave me more stuff to print, which in turn gave me more problems, which made me a better printer cuz I could solve those problems. Um, so that was a really fun series to do, and, and your Christmas tree was great too. I remember seeing that and, and commenting, I don't know, I can't remember if you printed what I suggested, but I remember yours and mine and, and I think there were a couple other that Go ahead.

Decided to go ahead and run with that idea and glad that it took off and everybody got a chance to do something. Yeah, it uh, like I said, you were definitely the inspiration behind that on my end and. Um, I agree completely. It was, it was such a fun way to kind of interact. I, I was really new to printing at the time.

I think I had maybe only been doing it for two months at that point, or a month, something like that. But I, uh, I actually had ended up like connecting and meeting with so many fun people just from doing that. Exactly. And, uh, you know, people who maybe I wouldn't have normally interacted with would make suggestions and we'd go back and forth, so it was a lot of fun.

Yeah. And I, I remember seeing your first videos and I, I, as soon as I saw it, I was like, this just isn't fair. Um, how did, like this girl comes on, she makes one video and she's so charismatic and like the lighting is great. Like her videos look professional and she's so fun and bubbly and she's 3D printing like this.

I can't compete with that. And that's when you're first starting out, that's what it is. You start to get to that point where you're like, I'm competing with these other people. Um, and it shouldn't be like that, but it is. And I, I remember watching your videos being like, there's, there's no way like, this girl's gonna take all the views, like she's gonna get.

Everybody's gonna follow her. She's gonna blow up. And I know that's what's gonna happen. And I, I mean, it did, like you went, I think the video that really took off for you was the Fillman in the nose, right? Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. That was a fun one too. But I remember you, I was, I was sitting at like 2000 followers or something like that, and then you popped up and I'm watching, I'm like, oh man, she's gonna get up there quick.

And then all of a sudden, you know, you had 1000 and I had. 2,500 and then you had 2000 and I had 3000, and now all of a sudden you're like at 14,000 and I'm sitting here at 4,500. So it was very fun to watch you grow as, as a content creator and then build that following and your videos again, they're so, they look so professionally done.

Um, you have great lighting in them. They're colorful, and then your personality that you bring to it is just this. Fun-loving, like bubbly person who is just excited to be doing what she's doing no matter what it is. Like, it could be, you know, a small little benchy or a piece of cheese on your C n C machine or you know, a banana that you printed.

Like, doesn't matter what it is, you have this excitement and this, it's joyfulness for it and it, it's really fun to watch. Well, I appreciate that more than, you know, honestly. Um, I think being excited about things, that's, it's something that's really important to me. Um, before I was doing 3D printing content, I was actually doing plant content and, um, like house plants, I have.

A stupid amount of house plants in my house. But, uh, you know, to that point, I, uh, when I had first started making houseplant content, it was the same thing. I was so fucking excited, man. I would just like, go on and I couldn't wait to talk about plants. And, um, you know, slowly over time, like I, I kind of l I don't wanna say I lost that love for it, but like I lost that excitement and, um, That was actually kind of the thing that ended up getting me into 3D printing.

I just, I wanted something back where I could just be so excited about it. And, uh, I think that was, uh, it honestly like such a blessing. It sounds dumb to say, but like such a blessing to have found 3D printing cuz it just, uh, it like you, to your point, it gave me something to be like excited about, like some dumb little thing.

Maybe it's not exciting to other people to print a bunch of, or. Cook cookies on my build plate, but to me it's just like, I, I don't know, I get a huge kick out of it. So works. And it, yeah, it's something that you can, like, you have a love of plants and, and stuff like that. You like 3D printing. You can interact with any type of like community with that.

Like you have this love of plants now. You can print your own planners. Yeah. Um, you can print, you know, different, um, water sprinklers or something like that so you can combine. You know, a love for something with this hobby, and it's perfect for it. Like you can make whatever you need for something else.

Um, that's, that's another reason why I love doing this. And it's, it's really fun to see, you know, people like you and, and, you know, sniper and, and, and. You know, all these other creators just kind of soak everything in and just start printing what they like and creating different stuff and getting better at the process.

Not only getting better at the content creating, but getting better at, at 3D printing, you know, just being either orientating or, you know, fixing machines or even modeling. I'm, I'm getting a lot of modeling now, uh, on my thing because I've been searching it and trying to get better at that. So it's cool to see all these people that.

That joined TikTok and started making videos when, around the time I did, to see us all progress at these different rates and, and how, uh, how success is coming to us. It's, it's very fun to see. No, I, I couldn't agree more. It's, uh, it sounds weird almost, but like I've, aside from, you know, doing these podcasts, I've never formally met anybody from TikTok, like in real life or anything like that.

But I feel like I, I feel like I have like 500 friends on the internet because I keep up with what everybody's doing and everybody's projects. And like you said, just like how they've come along in either 3D printing or their content creation or. There are other interests. And um, also to your point, like, I, I agree, like I think 3D printing is unique in the sense that it can really intersect super well with almost any other interest that you have.

And as somebody who, like, I have a wide range of interests, so it's fun to me to kind of see like, you know, maybe I print plant pots or somebody else, prince, uh, whatever other hobby that they're interested in stuff or that you kind of almost get to learn along. About that hobby while still watching 3D printing content, which is cool.

Yeah, it's, it's very, very cool that ev it's again, like you said, interacting with almost all these different hobbies. It's, it's a hobby on itself, but can be used to, to just intersect with everything else. And I love that about it.  It's super cool. Um, I heard, no, you mentioned that you were kind of like leaning more into looking at like 3D modeling, designing things like that.

Um, one of the other things that I saw about you kind of as, as preparing for this is that, um, you, it looks like you have a background in maybe doing, uh, design yourself. I think I saw that, uh,  John Wads, uh, video is, I, I You did his logo or am I'm just thinking for thinking. I, I, um, no, uh, my profile picture is a cartoon of me, uh, that I drew a long time ago.

Um, when I, I used to think I was gonna be a Twitch streamer. So, okay. Yeah. Um, yeah, I did that. It's, uh, a little, just a little cartoon of me and John. Um, I've become friendly with him. He's, you know, from Chicago, so I, I, he likes baseball. I like baseball, so I go back and forth with him a lot. Um, okay. About baseball.

So I, I built this relationship with him and he was like, Hey, I, I like your logo, you know, could you draw me one? I was like, yeah, sure, whatever. So I've had, I've always been artistic and creative. My whole life. So it didn't come that hard to me just to do that. But yeah, I did, uh, his, I drew his face, uh, making his trademark expression with the backwards hat and the glasses.

Uh, and I did a logo for TikTok, which if you look close in his glasses is the TikTok logo. Um, oh, it's the same one on Instagram, but the hat is Instagram colors and then has the Instagram logo in his glasses. Okay. Uh, I did one for Facebook, which I. No, I didn't do one for Facebook. I did one for YouTube, uh, which his hat is the white and red for YouTube and then has the YouTube logo in the glasses if you look real close.

Uh, so yeah, I did those for him. He, he loved them, he enjoyed 'em. And it's really cool that I was able to take something on, I did and like kind of give it to him and have, have him enjoy it so much is cuz he's someone that I do look up to in 3D printing. So. To have somebody that I look up to ask me for something and then I deliver it and he's like, dude, this is awesome.

That really like, kind of boosted my self-confidence in it and made me go, all right, I'm, I'm actually doing something pretty good and and worthwhile here. Yeah, that was, uh, when I came across that post I n I had no idea and I honestly, I was so excited about it. Cause I've, I, obviously, I follow you and I followed him for a long time too, and.

Um, so like, you know, he's got such a, like, fun, positive energy. His videos are super fun. So, um, I've, his little, it's very like a recognizable, it's very recognizable when you see it if you don't follow him and or if you do follow him. Um, it's just, it's like it stands out when you see his image on TikTok.

It's mostly where I hang out, but, um, what's fun hearing you say is I didn't realize that he had different variations for the different apps. I can kind of picture his TikTok one. It's like the TikTok colors, so, yep. Hearing you say that, that's a fun, that's a cool detail that I did not know about. Yeah.

Yeah. It's, it's very subtle in the glasses, but they're there. Uh, and then, yeah, the hats are the, the different colors of the different platforms. Well, when we get off here, I'm gonna go, I'm gonna have to go creep on the other ones now because that's, uh, I love, I'm a huge fan of like Easter eggs or little like, hidden details like that.

I think that stuff's so cool. Yeah, me too. Uh, I love something that's just in the background or, or something that, you know, is a, is just a mention in passing and if you can pick up on it, it's pretty cool. I like slipping little things in. Yeah, for sure. Um, now earlier in the, in our conversation, one of the things that you mentioned was your, uh, 3D nozzle light in the background.

And I've been eyeing it up the entire time that we've been here because I remember seeing the video for that one too. And as soon as I saw it, I was like, man, that's fucking cool. Um, I don't do a lot of stuff with like lights or LEDs. I've done like, When I had the little twist ons, but I've never like done anything major.

Um, you seem to do like a fair amount of stuff with LEDs. How did you, how's like your experience been with that? Uh, they're fairly easy to use. Um, it's literally just strip lights. I got a Walmart, so a box of strip lights come with like a remote and, uh, two things of the strip. So they're peel and stick, like a regular sticker.

You just peel off the backing and stick 'em on and. Hit, you know, power on the remote and they turn on. Um, that one, I, I had this phase where I got really into like printing nozzles. Yeah. I don't know why. Um, it any kind of nozzle, uh, model. I was like, all right man, I gotta print that. I have to print that.

So I've printed that. Um, I printed a can cup from Mandic. Really? The nozzle? Yeah.

Right there. Oh, there it is. Holds a a can. Um, my pen holder, which is a hot end. Oh, that, I don't think I've seen this one before. That one's cool. It's a pen in there. Uh, well the pen goes in the cup here on the top. Oh, okay. Okay. So yeah, it's a hot end and then it's got a little bit of filament here, and then it's just a pen holder.

So that one's pretty cool. Oh, cool. Um, And then I, I just recently, uh, play conveyor, released this fidget, so you got a little filament here and then it just bounces up and down, uh, in a nozzle, which is really cool. So I don't know why. Something about the nozzle like Prince, they just, they tickle my fancy and I, I just, I like printing them and I think they're really cool.

Um, the light. Just, yeah, the, the, all those lights and there's just strip lights real easy to get, real simple and real easy to install. Um, that's why I like them. I think I've done, I did that and I did the U F O lamp, um, way back when with the strip lights. The U f O lamp didn't work out too well. They didn't stick that well.

But this one, it's gotta be over a year that I printed at. They're still in there. It works. I can turn it on and flash through all the colors. It's pretty cool. Yeah, it's, uh, I think it, I adding LEDs to a 3D printer, really like adding anything, like if you paint 'em or if you just like add another element, I think it really makes them pop and makes them feel special.

Um, and just kind of takes them out of feeling like, not that it's just a 3D print, but like it ma it just makes them feel like a really cool piece to have in your house. Yeah. It, it gives them a little more life. Um, you get like a 3D friend, you know, it's just a piece of plastic. Um, And you can turn it into something cool and it, it could look shiny and, and be this cool design, but when you add a little more to it, whether it be paint or light or you know, something else, it gives it a little extra life in it.

And like you said, it makes it pop a little more. Yeah. Absolutely. Um, well, Chris, I've had such a great time talking to you today. I learned so many interesting things I didn't know about you before, which has been a lot of fun for me. Um, for people who maybe are not following you yet, can you tell people where to find you on the internet?

Sure. It's, uh, just look at school like everywhere. Um, look at school like on Twitter, Facebook, TikTok. Yahoo, I think. I don't know. Uh, yeah, it's uh, Instagram, look at Coolack, um, uh, TikTok, it's where I mostly post. I'm trying to get, do YouTube as well. Uh, look at Coolack. So I'm trying to get that done. Every now and then is Instagram probably once or twice a week.

I'm just not great on doing that cuz I do have, you know, a day job and, and a family and children. So my time is, is precious. And when I can do it, I try to, but, uh, it's not consistent. Um, Yeah, everywhere there. Look at lac. Just Google me, I'm on there. They'll find you on Yahoo Answers. That's where I'm going to go.

Uh, yeah, they'll find you after this. Yeah. You can find me on IMDB as well. From a, a small stint, when I was in high school, I was in a short, like, uh, a short horror film that got registered on it. Oh, yeah, yeah. Registered on imdb. I don't know if the trailer still exists. It's crazy. It's wacky and I'm embarrassed by it, but there, I'm putting it out there.

If you, if you're interested, you can go find me on imdb. I thought you were joking about that, but now I'm on that. I'll add to my, I'm adding to my list of things that I'm looking up when we get off this call. Awesome. Well, Chris, again, thank you so much for coming on today. It's so much fun talking to you.

And with that said, that is Meet the Makers.