I met Ian through the Thames Valley RepRap Users Group, joining the build round after Ian, and he was generous with his time and advice to those of us just starting out building this complex kit.  Since then, in all our geeky interactions he has struck me as patient, kind, positive and good humoured.  Ian was very active in Richmond Maker Labs and a couple of years ago sought me out to repair a 3D printer for them, which I was able to do.  This happened very slowly as my small business is all consuming and it had a lot of temporary fixes to consolidate, but Ian's message to me after made it feel entirely worthwhile, as he had taken the time to notice and thank me for every aspect of the work I had done, including things I would not expect to be noticed.  We don't often enough give each other that sort of validation, but I think it came naturally to Ian.

Rest in peace, Alex

I first met Ian at a meeting about 3d printing in Reading in late September/early October 2011.

At that meeting, Ian helped found a group of 3d printing enthusiasts called Thames Valley RepRap User Group (TVRRUG). The group operated for around five years and enabled more than 70 people to build 3d printers that worked at a time that low cost 3d printing was, more or less, "bandit territory".

Ian was calm, thoughtful, collaborative and a beacon of common sense. He also had a twinkle in his eye and ready smile. I found his support invaluable

Towards the end of TVRRUG, Ian and I collaborated on a couple of projects. One involved getting a broken laser printer from Richmond MakerLabs repaired and then donating it to Surrey & Hampshire Makerspace. Another involved providing 3d printer demonstrations at the (now defunct) Sandown Model Engineering  Exhibition.

With Ian's passing, the maker community at large and serveral specific maker groups (including TVRRUG) have lost a highly respected member.

I found Ian a pleasure to collaborate with. Had Covid not intervened, we might well have managed another project or two together. He was someone that I looked forward to meeting. I feel sad not to have that opportunity again.

Farewell trusted colleague. May your first layer always stick and your electronics never release their magic smoke.

I met Ian in 2012 as part of a group building 3D printers. My abiding memories of Ian over the subsequent project and maker fairs are his constant grin, positive outlook, tinkering and willingness to help.

Farewell and godspeed.
David

the photo is from the 2013 model engineering exhibition at Sandown Park. Ian is in the foreground tinkering with his 3D printer ...  he is grinning.