Turning ideas into real things.
Learning CAD, 3D printing, 3D scanning and product design by actually making things — car parts, merch, useful products, prototypes and occasionally ideas that probably should have stayed in my head.
I’m starting from where I am, learning as I go and sharing the wins, failures and everything in between.
Learning by making.
Nathan W Makes started because I wanted to do more than just print other people’s designs.
I want to learn how to take an idea from a problem or rough concept through design, prototyping and testing until it becomes something real and useful.
Problem → Idea → Design → Make → Test → Improve
That means learning new skills, getting things wrong, wasting some filament, redesigning things five times and eventually making something that actually works.
The journey currently revolves around 3D printing, CAD, 3D scanning and product development, but the bigger idea is pretty simple:
If I can imagine it, can I learn how to make it?
What I’m Making
Projects with a reason to exist — solving problems, learning new skills, creating things I think are fun and testing ideas that might eventually become products.
3D Printing
Prototypes, finished products, functional parts and experiments while learning what different printers, materials and settings can actually do.
CAD & Product Design
Learning how to design my own parts properly instead of relying entirely on models somebody else has already created.
3D Scanning
Capturing real objects, reverse engineering existing parts and exploring how scanning can speed up the journey from real-world object to digital design.
Automotive Parts
Useful parts, replacement pieces, brackets, mounts and ideas for older cars — with my R31 Skyline providing plenty of problems to solve.
Merch & Products
Key tags, signs, accessories, collectibles, brand merchandise and other ideas that start as a sketch and hopefully end as something worth owning.
Building the Side Hustle
Testing what things really cost to make, what people actually want and whether these skills can become a worthwhile additional income stream.
Definitely not an expert.
There are plenty of channels where experienced engineers and designers can teach you the perfect way to do something.
This isn’t one of them. I’m learning too.
You’ll see designs that don’t fit, prints that fail, settings I get wrong, ideas nobody wants, prototypes that take far too many attempts and hopefully plenty of things that eventually work.
I’d rather show the real process than pretend I already know everything. And if something I learn saves somebody else a few hours of frustration, even better.
Old cars create interesting problems.
One area I’m particularly interested in is using modern manufacturing tools to solve problems on older cars.
My R31 Skyline is a perfect test bed. Plastic parts break. Trim disappears. Factory components become difficult or expensive to find. Sometimes the part I want simply doesn’t exist.
So rather than always asking “Where can I buy one?”, I want to increasingly ask:
“Can I make one?”
That might mean measuring an original part, scanning it, recreating it in CAD, modifying it or designing a completely new solution. Some of those projects may eventually become products other people can use as well.
Can I make this pay for itself?
Nathan W Makes is also a business experiment.
I’ve invested in equipment, materials and learning because I want to build additional income streams around skills and projects I genuinely enjoy.
So I’ll share the less glamorous side too — what products cost to make, failed prototypes, pricing decisions, product ideas, sales, mistakes and whether any of this actually makes money.
The long-term goal isn’t to become a print farm.
Learn valuable skills → Create useful products → Build intellectual property → Sell things worth making.
What I’m Working On
A few of the areas currently taking up space on the workbench — physically or otherwise.
Drift & Automotive
Developing useful parts, accessories and solutions around the R31 and grassroots motorsport.
Merch
Turning Nathan W, Unicorn Drifting and other artwork into physical products worth making.
Learning CAD
Building the design skills needed to move from printing things to actually creating original products.
Made by Nathan W Makes
Some experiments will stay experiments. Others will become actual products.
When something is good enough that I’m happy putting my name on it, you’ll find it in the Nathan W Makes store — parts, merch, accessories, useful things and probably a few things made purely because they amused me.
Designed, tested and made as part of the journey.
Have an idea? Make it real.
I’m figuring this out one project at a time. There’ll be mistakes, failed prints and probably unnecessary amounts of filament sacrificed along the way.
But that’s kind of the point.