Yuri S. ’28 loves to create. Sometimes, that means 3D printing. Sometimes, it means performing in theater. And sometimes, it means spending a year building his own CNC machine in his garage.
“I get just so much joy from creating things,” he says.
A CNC machine, short for “computer numerical control,” works almost in the opposite way to a 3D printer. 3D printers use a method known as “additive manufacturing,” or adding material (plastic, in the case of 3D printing) in layers to arrive at the final product. On the other hand, CNC machines perform “subtractive manufacturing”: to create a part, CNC machines take a piece of wood or metal and remove material until it reaches the desired shape.
CNC machines vitally allow engineers to create quick prototypes by automating the process of turning digital designs into physical objects. They are also incredibly accurate, allowing them to create parts that need to be exact. For example, they are used in aviation to manufacture engine parts. CNC machines like Yuri’s work by following very precise computer-generated instructions; the instructions guide the location and depth of a fast-spinning tool, which easily cuts through many materials to carve the final shape.
Over the past year, Yuri’s machine has evolved from sketches on graph paper to a digital model and, finally, into physical parts. His CNC machine is still being assembled, and he doesn’t yet know what he’ll make with it, but that doesn’t matter to him. To Yuri, engineering is less about the finish line and more about the way you arrive there.
Yuri first started his project because he wanted to create a part for another project, but soon, this machine became his main focus. Yuri began by drawing out one of the smaller sections of the machine on paper. However, he wasn’t satisfied with the results and soon shifted to using CAD, or computer-aided design, software. “It was pretty much all myself, all my own work,” he said, “but I mean, you need documentation for certain parts on the internet to know how to use things.”
Once the design was complete, Yuri began working on his parts. For most of them, he bought raw materials — such as pieces of metal or metal tubing — online, and then modified them himself to match his design. He uses many standard tools such as drills, drill presses, and saws to carry out these modifications. He keeps most of his tools in a shed, while his bedroom contains pieces of what he is working on. “I live where I work,” he said.
At last, after a year of work, Yuri has reached the assembly phase. Looking back, “There’s definitely been a lot of things I did wrong, or I wasn’t sure how to do,” Yuri reflects. However, the hardest part for him was finding the motivation to continue working. “Every problem can be solved, but it can only be solved if you’re able to make yourself solve it,” he says. Yuri has learned how to turn setbacks into motivation to fix the issues. “It’s almost like learning how to be okay with being unhappy about something,” he says.
Though his CNC machine began last year, Yuri cites coding on Scratch as the beginning of his interest in creating. Soon, he began to take his creativity further, teaching himself to code his own video games using Python over the pandemic. “My evolution from knowing how to code was engineering. It’s just like realizing I want to do more,” he says. With coding, “you can make things, but it’s kind of contained to the computer,” he explains. “But when it’s engineering … you can do anything in the world.”
Yuri’s creative works aren’t limited to engineering. Outside of technology, Yuri loves participating in theater, and he plans to spend his spring semester in Washington, D.C. to study political science. Though his interests may seem totally separate, Yuri sees them as two parts of himself. “I kind of have these two opposites in my personality,” he says.
For people looking to try out engineering for themselves, Yuri recommends that they just start, as finding where to begin can be one of the hardest parts of engineering. An idea might appear exciting at first, but can easily become very intimidating once one thinks about how to actually build it. His solution is to put the idea onto paper: “If you’re starting out completely fresh, just get some square-lined graph paper and just draw the thing and draw parts of the thing.” For Yuri, the first attempt doesn’t need to be good — he expects it not to be. “The first thing you do is going to be bad, but, yeah, it’s all about just messing up, and then you get there,” he says. To him, engineering isn’t about being a mathematical genius. “It’s about caring about something and being able to keep caring about it even when it’s difficult,” he says.
Yuri has no idea what he’ll use the CNC machine for yet, and he isn’t sure if he wants a future in engineering or in the humanities. However, he does know one thing: he wants to keep creating.
“Go make something. Go do something. Never, never be afraid to waste your time if you’re doing something you love.”