For the last three months I have been teaching an intensive,  twenty-hours-a-week class for underprivileged adult students in CAD design with Solidworks and Fusion 360,   and metalwork starting with manual milling machines and working up to modern HAAS CNC machines.   I first gained these skills by self-teaching myself at makerspaces like Techshop and Autodesk Pier 9, and consider these skills amongst the most empowering abilities to a designer or person with creative ambitions,    so I was excited to share  my enthusiasm with the students.   But it was also incredibly daunting-  this was an incredibly ambitious undertaking.  Many of my students had not previously had any experience with metal work or machining,  and a normal course covering the breadth of topics I set out to,  budgets a year or more for all this.   However,  all of the students were interested and motivated,    so I took them on a whirlwind tour over the 12 week class.    At the end of the class, each student had designed and manufactured their own part, start to finish:   from creating their own 3d CAD drawings, to setting up the machines,   generating toolpaths,   and correctly setting work and tool offsets and speeds and feeds.   100% of my students achieved their HAAS basic CNC mill operator certification,    too.   Over the next few weeks I’ll be collecting my reflections about the course in this post with frequent updates,    especially attempting to explain in the right words:  What worked well,   and what didn’t,  in this experience?