MakerViking

So I'm writing a book series. With 3D Printing in it. Some of you know me as... tinkeratlas.com/post/6eb2518f-… #TinkerAtlas via @TinkerAtlas #sciencefiction #3dprinting

@AndreIdelange @loyalmoses Yeah, I had to sell them all to pay bills, eat and all that boring stuff. :P The @QIDI_3dprinter Plus 4 is the only one that I have left.

@loyalmoses I could adopt a few. I'll take really god care of them. And even donate one to @MakerViking who has only 1 working printer left.. %-))

This is true! 3D printer companies, stop sending me printers! I have hundreds of them, and I don't want any more... Just give me time to cook on what I got going on, and if I want something cool that you got, I'll ask! Thank you for your attention to this matter.

My first book just got its first review. Five stars. From a complete stranger. "Amazing story that really pulls you into it." I will not be taking questions about the noise I made when I saw that notification. Send the Humans is a military sci-fi prequel novella I wrote under the pen name T.V. Haugen, published through my own imprint, Munin Publishing — named after Odin's raven of memory, because when you're a Norwegian maker who writes science fiction, the branding writes itself. Here's the setup: Forty years ago, the Zyrathi arrived. They didn't invade. They filed paperwork. They parked a survey fleet in orbit, transmitted a sequence of primes to confirm intent, waited ninety-six hours, and delivered a legal document. Humanity retained sovereignty. The Zyrathi retained authority over "anomalous subsurface energy signatures" — which turned out to be scattered across the Northern Hemisphere and deeply resistant to their instruments. Their instruments got nervous. So they built the Terran Defense Corps and staffed it with humans willing to go look at things that made alien technology malfunction. The pay is adequate. The equipment is three generations behind. Nobody talks about the math. The book follows Jake Callahan and a hand-picked squad of people who have no business working together and every reason to become the kind of unit that walks toward whatever's waiting in the dark. There's Dex, a combat engineer from El Paso with a prosthetic hand he won't stop modifying and a different story for how he lost it depending on who's asking. There's Viking, a Norwegian master sergeant who brought a 3D printer named Gertrude to base and treats her like a colleague. There's Soup — Private Campbell from Tennessee — who keeps a mason jar of creek bed dirt under his bunk because his daddy said it would help him sleep. There's Chen, a combat medic who diagnoses you on sight and speaks only when speaking is required. There's Reeves, a card sharp whose grandmother taught her that a poker table is the most honest room in the world because everyone's trying to lie and the lying is the truth. And there's Silva, a veteran who turned down a promotion to Luna because "Gamma Battalion doesn't have this squad." It's character-driven. The comedy isn't a layer on top. It's how these people cope. And because I've been 3D printing since 2018 with 40+ published designs, I couldn't build a universe without putting 3D printing in it. It's part of who I am at this point. The series is called The Vagrant Suns. Send the Humans is the prequel — 18,000 words, meant to tell you exactly whether this is your kind of story before you commit to Book One. Book One — Touch Nothing — is over 110,000 words and nearly ready. Same squad. Higher stakes. A planet that has opinions about being surveyed. Send the Humans is $0.99 on Amazon. Free in Kindle Unlimited. amazon.com/dp/B0GRJWTRNJ If you read it and it lands, a review would mean more than you know. The book is brand new, the pen name is unknown, and Amazon decides who sees it based on what real readers say about it. One sentence is enough. #MilSF #ScienceFiction #KindleUnlimited #WritingCommunity #3DPrinting - Please like and share, it helps! :D

What I saw today after posting about HB 2320: Makers showing up. 180 comments on Reddit, most of them thoughtful and informed. Some people correcting me where I got it wrong, which made the article better. tinkeratlas.com/site-posts/you… Others sharing it with friends who don't even own a printer. 47 reposts on X from people who wanted their own followers to see this. That's the maker community doing what it does. See a problem, show up, share what you know, help each other get it right. I'm one voice among many on this. People like @joeltelling and @loyalmoses have been pushing awareness about these bills to much bigger audiences. The real story isn't any one post or thread. It's that when legislation threatens the tools we all use, this community pays attention and speaks up. That matters. And it's confirmed in the legislative record. The original version of HB 2320 was much broader. The rebuttable presumption got removed because people showed up to hearings, testified, and pushed back. Hobbyists, 3D printing experts, industry people. The bill got tightened as a direct result. Keep doing that.

I updated the article based on the feedback. Closer read of the actual bill text, and a fairer take on what it does and doesn't do. Full updated article here: tinkeratlas.com/site-posts/you…

One thing I haven't seen anyone talk about yet: the distribution restriction in the bill has no "knowingly" or "intent" requirement. Just: don't distribute firearm manufacturing code to unlicensed people. If you run a file repo or open-source project, that's a real question with no clear answer.

Earlier today I posted a breakdown of Washington's HB 2320 on TinkerAtlas. It got 74K views on Reddit, nearly 1,000 article reads, and some good pushback. Some of it was deserved. Let me explain. 🧵

Your son has nothing to worry about right now. HB 2320 targets the manufacturing of specific illegal firearms and components, and uses "knowingly or recklessly" as its standard. Printing miniatures, functional parts, cosplay props, anything non-weapon-related, isn't what this bill is about. The companion bill (HB 2321) that would have required detection software on printers hasn't passed. So no software restrictions. I'll admit my original thread was sharper than it needed to be. I didn't give enough weight to the protections in the final text, and I've since updated the article after some good feedback and a closer read. But here's something important: the original version of this bill was much broader. It included a presumption of guilt just from having certain files on your computer. That got removed. Not because legislators caught the problem themselves. Because people showed up to hearings, testified, and made noise. Makers, legal analysts, industry people. They pushed back, and the bill got tightened. That's the whole reason I'm posting about this. These bills keep showing up in new states, and the only thing that keeps them from passing in their worst form is people paying attention and speaking up before it's too late. But right now, today, your son is fine. Tell him to keep printing.

I've been quiet about Washington's HB 2320. That changes today. I'm Norwegian. I don't own a firearm. I'm a 3D printing hobbyist and I run a maker community. That's my stake in this. This isn't a gun thread. It's a maker thread. 🧵

This got 74K views on Reddit, nearly 1,000 reads on the article, and a 96% upvote ratio so far. The maker community is paying attention. If you missed the thread:

@Simon_Cleret Whole different situation than in the US here. It's not normal for most households to have a gun, few does, most those who do are hunters, or part of a shooting club. But yeah, my post wasn't really about the guns, it's about the maker community, which is my concern.

@MakerViking If you wait until you do need it to go get one, you'll be up shit creek.

@Simon_Cleret Ahh, like that. I don't have a need for it since I don't hunt, and I don't have really have the time to do another hobby like in a shooting club. I'm way overloaded with things to do as it is. Lol.

@MakerViking You don't need a license for a gun in the US. I'm saying you should get your Norwegian firearm license.

@Simon_Cleret That is not what is the case here, and it's not as simple as that. I'm not even in the US as I mentioned in my post. This post is about the maker community and that I'm worried for the US part of it, both friends and not.

@MakerViking You should get your firearm license.

ko-fi.com/tinkeratlas paypal.me/makervikingtin… Even a few dollars pushes that bar forward. Every bit counts. #makercommunity

TinkerAtlas is built by one person, funded entirely by the community. No investors, no ads. Nearly 400 makers and growing. If you've been on the fence — now is the time. 3 days.

🧵 We're at 75% funded for TinkerAtlas this month. Up from 59% a few days ago. The #maker community is showing up and I'm genuinely grateful. But there are 3 days left and we still need 25%.

If you're a maker, share this thread. If you own a printer, read the article. If you're in Washington, contact the governor's office. We didn't pick this fight. But we can't sit it out.

I wrote the full breakdown on TinkerAtlas. Every claim sourced, actual bill text analyzed, and why this matters to every maker whether you care about guns or not. tinkeratlas.com/site-posts/you…