The 7 Best DIY Channels to Master Woodworking, 3D Printing, and Maker Projects

Finding really good DIY maker content on YouTube can be frustrating. We reveal the best channels to watch to learn some serious skills.

The phenomenal growth of YouTube has quite annoyingly increased the signal-to-noise ratio between great maker content and stuff that’s practically unwatchable. It nevertheless remains the best visual learning medium for budding makers eager to get better at their craft of choice.

As luck would have it, we have conveniently consumed enough maker content on the video streaming platform to give you a handy list of the best YouTube channels across 3D printing, woodworking, and general maker content.

Best Woodworking Channels on YouTube

Woodworking is a hard-won skill best mastered under the apprenticeship of an accomplished craftsperson. A visual learning medium, such as YouTube, is the next best option for those who can’t invest the time and dedication that warrants. These woodworking channels approach the subject from the perspective of DIYers hoping to get into the craft with minimal investment.

Rex Krueger

If you are getting something for free, you’re not the customer; you’re the product being sold! This applies to a large swathe of woodworking channels that are primarily funded by power tool manufacturers to make content that drives sales for their advertisers. Rex, on the other hand, is committed to getting the viewers involved in the craft without breaking the bank or relying on expensive power tools. And he does this by keeping the channel purely crowdfunded.

That makes it the rare woodworking channel that drives you away from power tools to cheap hand tools utilizing ancient woodworking techniques that have existed for hundreds of years. How cheap, you ask? Well, how about a $30 DIY workbench that can be put together by a beginner with basic tools and yet accomplish everything an expensive alternative can. What’s more, the channel even teaches you how to make your own basic tools and procure decent ones on the cheap.

Steve Ramsey: Woodworking for Mere Mortals

Don’t care much for woodworking with traditional hand tools? Steve Ramsey’s "Woodworking for Mere Mortals" video series is designed to help total beginners set up a woodworking shop for less than a thousand dollars. Ramsey’s concise videos distill everything, from tool selection to no-nonsense tips and tricks, into a format that’s easily digestible for the inexperienced.

The YouTube channel is a treasure trove of guides spanning how to make a simple box to complicated cabinetry and furniture projects. We recommend heading over to the channel playlist section and navigating your way through the woodworking video trajectory from beginner to advanced tiers.

Best 3D Printing Channels on YouTube

Unlike the problem of plenty associated with woodworking YouTube content, it’s extremely hard to find decent 3D printing channels. The relatively nascent maker hobby is plagued by bad advice and YouTube channels lacking expertise and quality content. You are a lot more likely to find better guidance through 3D printing Discord communities instead. This selection of 3D printing channels, therefore, defers to YouTube channels run by proven experts in the field, who base their content around nudging beginners in the right direction.

Nero 3D

If you have read our beginner’s guide to Voron 3D printers, you already know how Voron’s brand of open-source approach to DIY 3D printers has disrupted the consumer 3D printing space. Having built a couple of Voron 3D printers ourselves, we can attest to the vastly superior engineering chops of the Voron design and engineering team. Wouldn’t it be nice to learn the basics of 3D printing from these fine gentlemen? You’re in luck, because the Nero 3D channel is run by a member of the Voron design team.

Unlike most 3D printing channels focusing on gimmicks, Nero 3D is a brilliant repository of video build guides, sourcing tips, and entire livestreams where 3D printers are built from scratch. Want to build or service your own printer? Follow along with various build and maintenance livestreams, where Taylor (aka Nero) eases you through the complicated process intuitively.

The channel covers reviews, build guides, tips, and how-tos for popular 3D printers ranging from Creality and Prusa models to advanced DIY printers such as Voron and Rat Rig. The quality of advice, however, is leagues ahead of anything else in the space owing to Taylor’s Voron pedigree.

Vision Miner

Virtually all 3D printer channels focus on consumer-grade 3D printers with common materials, such as PLA, PETG, ABS, and TPU. However, printing with advanced engineering materials, such as nylon composites, polycarbonate, PEEK, and carbon/glass fiber reinforced materials is more challenging and requires a radically different approach.

The folks behind the Vision Miner channel specialize in supplying the defense and aerospace industries with 3D printing solutions based on the aforementioned specialized engineering materials. Not surprisingly, this makes it one of the foremost authorities on advanced 3D printing techniques. However, that doesn’t stop the channel from covering beginner topics with a level of practical insight that amply demonstrates its experts' professional pedigree.

CNC Kitchen

The process of 3D printing is a bit like cooking—that is, purely empirical. Achieving desired results isn't just about turning knobs and punching in absolute vales. You have to run calibration prints and modify settings in a closed feedback loop of tuning. CNC Kitchen, as the name suggests, does exactly that.

Want to know which layer height gives the strongest prints? How about the finding out how cooling and extrusion width affect part strength? CNC Kitchen’s practical approach to testing and evaluation regularly yields results that are not only surprising, but they also tend to shift paradigms in how hobbyists approach 3D printing.

It also helps that the man behind the channel, Stefan Hermann, is a Metal Additive Manufacturing Research Engineer by profession. Taking your 3D printing skill set to the next level is vastly easier if you keep up with Stefan’s experiments.

Best YouTube Channels for Maker Content

What do you get when you combine advances in embedded systems and consumer-grade manufacturing solutions (although contemporary 3D printers still have a long way to go) with the infinite repository of knowledge and creativity that is the internet? You get crazy maker content that straddles the intersection between entertainment and engineering. This eclectic selection of maker YouTube channels range from insane projects for pure entertainment value to ones that can genuinely improve your life.

Stuff Made Here

You’re quite unlikely to even consider replicating any of Stuff Made Here’s maker projects. But you sure as hell are going to watch every second of the half-hour-long videos documenting the crazy projects. The channel documents Shane Wighton’s elaborate DIY machines tackling seemingly impossible challenges, such as an automated pool cue that doesn’t miss a single shot.

That doesn’t sound dangerous enough? Well, how about a baseball bat that uses explosive charges to hit guaranteed home runs, or a robotic hair-cutting machine? Apart from the obvious entertainment value, gleaning insights from Wighton’s ingenious approach to solving complicated engineering problems is the real draw for makers here.

DIY Perks

The DIY Perks YouTube channel is a convenient pivot from projects that you cannot replicate to relatively more DIY-friendly gadgets. Named after its British creator Matthew Perks, the channel focuses on building technology gadgets with minimal expense in the form of tools and materials. But unlike janky DIY gadgets found on such channels, Perks infuses his projects with phenomenal craftsmanship and artistic value by combining modern gadgets with classy enclosures fashioned from brass, aluminum, wood, and leather.

The best part is that he achieves all this with simple tools and off-the-shelf materials, in an approach that’s firmly cost-effective and beginner-friendly. And aesthetics are only one part of the equation, because Perks’s DIY projects often outperform their actual name-brand consumer electronics counterparts. All thanks to careful design and parts selection. With the exception of Tech Ingredients, it’s hard to find another YouTube maker channel that comes close to the mastery of DIY Perks.

Moving Beyond Visual Learning Mediums

While YouTube is a great visual learning medium that lends itself exceptionally well to complicated maker projects, it shouldn’t be your only approach to mastering your DIY discipline of choice. Books and online articles tend to delve deeper and are important for perfecting the craft. Interacting with fellow hobbyists on forums and Discord communities is another way of expanding your horizons and staying abreast of the latest in the hobby.