Ben Heckendorn recently ended his YouTube show with Element14 after several years of wonderful maker videos. Whilst the channel continues with a new name and other presenters, Ben has moved on.
I had a hiatus from electronics for 20 years after I left UCD Elec Eng in 1992. In 2012 I discovered the world of Arduino and quite soon after, the Raspberry Pi launched. I’ve had so much fun building stupid (and every so often, not stupid) things over the past 6 years and I think Ben had a lot to do with that.
I’m not sure how I discovered his channel but I’ve been subscribed since that day, usually watching his weekly or bi-weekly builds on a Friday evening. And what a set of builds they were. Like many people I adored his conversions of consoles into portables and his recreation of things like the ZX Spectrum.
I learned a huge amount watching him in action. Unlike many maker channels where the detail is edited out, Ben revelled in that detail and made you feel like you could learn those skills. I’m pretty sure he’s the reason I have a 3D printer and a stash of 500 tact switches.
I even learned really simple things from him like repurposing old floppy/hdd cables as patch wiring.
So I just wanted to say thanks Ben. I believe you’ve have a global impact on the maker world and I hope you continue to build and talk about fun interesting imaginative projects.