Meet the Makers – John Olafson
Tell us about yourself.
My name is John Olafson. I’m the VP and Co-Founder of SeeMeCNC. I am originally from the Seattle area, and moved to the Midwest when I was 13. I’ve been a maker and tinkerer my whole life. I grew up working on cars and dirt-bikes and motorcycles, but also spent a lot of time taking other things apart like electronics. I remember how I used to get in trouble sometimes when I’d get a birthday or Christmas present, I’d run in my room, where I had a pretty sweet workshop under my loft bed, and i’d take whatever it is I got apart to see how it worked. Most of the time, i’d get it back together before anyone found out. Sometimes they wouldn’t work. Those were the things I used to try to create other cool things out of, like mods for my RC cars etc…
What are you presenting at Maker Faire Milwaukee?
I’m bringing our amazing 3D printers to Milwaukee for the first time for us to show off what we do. I’ll ALSO have some of our newest products, our SeeMeFPV line of multi-rotor parts for FPV racing and fun fly multi-rotors. It’s become a major hobby/addiction for me and a few of the other guys around the shop like Guanu and JJ. So we decided to launch our own line and bring our amazing community and customer service to the world of FPV racing and multi-rotors.
What was the first thing you remember making?
The first thing I remember making was model cars. My dad had a lot of the old hot rod models, and I can remember making a lot of those, and painting them (poorly, I can’t art!)
What have you made that you are most proud of?
The thing i’m most proud of making is definitely the 3D printers. I’ve seen so many people using our machines for amazing, life changing things, such as the e-Nable project and other assistive technologies, and to be a part of the process in any way is truly awesome. I’ve met some really great people that do so much more than I could even think of. When they share what they created on our machines with us, it makes the whole shop kind of go ‘awww’ knowing that we’re helping people help others.
Given an unlimited budget, what would you make?
Hmm, unlimited budget, what would I make? For me personally, I think an electric car. It’s been on my list for a while to build a car I could drive to the shop and back. I have a big truck, as we drive all over the country to Maker Faires and have to haul our trailers full of stuff, so that’s not too economical when I’m home 🙂