Last night was Makers Local public night. Greg and Phil where playing with an aluminum forge. Phil got the forge kit from BackYardMetalCasting.com and this was the first time it had been fired up. It seemed to work fairly well. The best part is that no one died!
Makers Local 256 will run a booth at the local International Space Development Conference (ISDC) and will present the Makers to and advise the conference’s project incubator, the Foundry Workshop. The conference runs from May 18-22 at the Von Braun Center. We’ll be in the Von Braun Center North Hall Lower. The workshop runs from May 19-20 at the Embassy Suites Huntsville Redstone Boardroom (2nd Floor). Come check us out!
We need volunteers to help run the Makers Local 256 Booth and present to and advise the Foundry workshop! Sign up on the wikipage. Booth volunteers get to have FREE access to the conference! Foundry volunteers get to access the workshop as functionaries. They will not need to pay conference fees.
If you are attending the conference and/or workshop, but not volunteering, you must pay for conference registration and workshop tickets on the online form; ticket purchases on Section VI.
However, Makers Local 256 members can register for the conference and workshops at the ‘co-supporter’ discount rate regardless of his/her NSS membership status. In the online form, under ‘Section I’, select ‘Makers Local 256’ in the ‘ISDC Sponsor/Co-Sponsor’ field.
The conference covers several broad areas of study related to building a spacefaring civilization, including transportation to and through space, technology needed to live and work in space, and Earth-based activities to advocate for or educate others about space development. The overall theme for ISDC 2011 is “From the Ground Up,” emphasizing the tools, resources, and social activities that must be accomplished to make a spacefaring civilization a reality. Participants are encouraged not just to describe an ideal “future state,” but to think about the technical, economic, or advocacy steps that must be accomplished to achieve a specific goal.
The Foundry is a project incubator workshop. The Foundry helps participants turn good ideas into doable projects. The Foundry brings together those who are willing to work for a project of their choice and (or those who want to help), the necessary expertise, and the resources all in one place.
ISDC Brought to you by HAL5, the local Huntsville, Alabama chapter of the National Space Society
Makers Local is hosting a Tech Expo with accompanying Mardi Gras Pig Roast on Saturday, March 5th. Members will be showing recent projects and demonstrating the technologies they use, as well as giving tours of the shop. Some of the demonstrations include 3d printing, robotics, vacuum molding, rocketry, microcontrollers and more. Mardi Gras treats will be delivered by the Makers new Candy Cannon!
The Tech Expo begins at 12, food will be served at the same time. Plates are $10, or two for $15.
A couple of nights ago, Bob and I started playing with a Maker Bot one of the Makers Local 256 members left at the shop. I asked the member who owns it if I could try to get it working while he was gone on work travel. Of course he said “Yes”. He had been trying to get it to make a shot glass for a while. Bob and I started playing around. We installed the latest version of ReplicatorG and some new firmware. Bob then determined that the head needed to be about .6mm off the printing service. After he tagged me in, and I started playing with laying down a raft. After a few failed attempts where the head didn’t seem like it was moving up the Z-axis enough, I learned to set the Flow Rate of the plastic to 230 instead of 250 in skeinforge. Along with Bob’s findings we seemed to have found a very nice solution. I was able to make a coin, most of a shot glass (something happen 3/4 the way through), and a companion cube.
When at The Next HOPE I bought The Brian Machine electronic kit for $20. It’s a product I have heard lots about and really wanted one. I figured I would spend the money and actually make it myself rather than buying a pre-made one.
The kit went together fairly easily once I figured out how to do it with a little help from other Makers Local 256 members. It took me a couple of hours to complete the project. I had a ton of fun making it and think I’m going to make more kits.
