Autodesk decided to entertain the AutoCAD Bloggers Council and journalists with a trip to the world famous Autodesk Workshop at Pier 9 (well, mostly world famous).
You may be asking yourself, what is Pier 9? I thought I understood until I got through 2 floors of high priced toys and play rooms and hearing the mantra over and over “John, STOP playing with the machines!”
27000 square feet of industrial equipment to make, fabricate and obliterate anything you can envision. Since the Workshop focuses on sustainable practices and innovation, Autodesk has even provided an industrial kitchen for when team members want to experiment with occasionally edible things, that will ultimately be showcased on Instructables when done.
The facility contains space for:
- Machining
- Metalworking
- Woodworking
- Design (there were tons of workstations in different sections of the facility)
- Additive and laser machinery
- Meeting room complete with swinging conference table/bench assembly
- Paint booth
- Sound & Electronics Studio
- Food Preparation & (frightening) Experimentation
- Relaxation space
They even have a rack of sewing machines!!
Let’s go down to the lab, and see what’s on the slab
The fun room is calling my name
While the facility is staffed by Autodesk Instructables team, it is open to all Autodesk employees and resident interns (after taking and hopefully passing the 2.5 hour workshop safety course offered each month).
Phwoar Haas
Just how many parts can a person make with a row of Objet 3D printers in a workday?
There is no limit to the mayhem I could create with access to the facility. I came in expecting a cute collection of decent machines; you know, “get your Autodesk craft on”, and so forth. What I found was a well thought out facility where new thinkers and artists that can have access to numerous, wonderful technologies that some of us only dream of…but they get to have it ALL RIGHT NOW.
Fortunately for humanity, the people there are interested in developing new designs with innovative thinking that promote sustainable practices. These artists and designers (and I think most people) would not otherwise get the opportunity to access this combination of equipment, and Autodesk wanted to provide the ultimate place for these creative new minds to express their ideas.
Paul Munford holding the fully functional, rubber footed tank track printed by Objet 3D printers… in a single operation containing no fasteners
That’s 30 hp and 24 index-able tool setups – 24!!!!
The crazy swinging meeting table – Pier-9’s waterjet then strapped to steel I-beams and suspended by cables
It was quite difficult looking respectable while they were trying to remove me from the building by force. I was about to chain myself to one of the Haas workstations when someone said “last one out has to do an interview” and everyone scattered. The facility is impressive and contained almost everything I could hope to have access to when working out new ideas, and would be a dream come true to many aspiring minds. When Carl Bass said he wanted innovative young people to have access to all kinds of technology, he really meant it.
Yes, that’s a pizza pillow
The pizza pillow (and almost everything else we run across) just like the relaxation space, was made there in the Workshop at Pier 9.
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