Mar 22, 2015

My Box of #Fails is a Box of Learning


Right next to my 3D Printer is a small box partially filled with a bunch of my failed prints. Most are partial objects with globs of plastic or streams of spaghetti-looking plastic hanging off. Each one is special. Each one an example of something gone wrong and a reminder of a lesson in how to correct it.

Whenever my kids come to print something or bring their friends by to see the printer, the first thing they see is my box of fails. It intrigues them, and they invariably ask what happened with each one. They also get a good chuckle from the silliness of how each one looks. But the most important part is how they see my pride in my failures, and hear how each one of my fails is a lesson - a step toward success.


Keep your #Fails close by. Share them. Smile when you see them, even if they frustrated you when they happened.

NOTE: This post was inspired by a visit from my daughter and her friend to my printer - after they spent more time talking with me about the Box Of Fails than the successes I was showing off. While I was writing this post, a print I was working on failed. Here it is below before it was even removed from the print bed - and you can see above, as it has already been added to my collection of lessons learned, in my Box of #Fails (although, I must admit, I haven't solved this one yet ;)



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