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Laser-Cut Cardboard House

Laser-Cut Cardboard House

I took the family to Discovery World over the weekend and we checked out the Design It! Lab where we built laser-cut cardboard houses. (Well, the kids and I built houses, Dr. Dana made a snowflake ring.)

I was a little disappointed there wasn’t as much “designing” and “making” as I thought there would be. We were handed a piece of laser-cut cardboard (with no instructions) and were tasked with putting it together by folding it along the score lines, and inserting tabs. I was hoping for a bit more… I wanted to use a laser-cutter, or at least see one in operation. It sounded like if you sign up for classes, you get to do a bit more hands-on things like that. Maybe the kids and I are just so used to making things that this seemed fairly simple to us. For first-time makers, maybe this is a good starting point.

On the bright side, I did drop the names of some people I know who work there, and the Design It! Lab guy brought out the Makerbot for me to see. It’s not quite up and running yet, but should be soon.

(If you’re interested, I’ve written up a review of our Discovery World experience over at Yelp.)

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Misfits: wants vs. needs

Misfits: Wants vs. Needs

Sometimes, when a band acts childish or selfish, you try to reason with them, and show them what is really important in life… you can often do this by asking them to make a list with two columns, one listing the things they want, and another listing the things they need.

In most cases, this wants vs. needs list puts things into perspective. (In most cases…)

(And yes, I was totally inspired by the horror business chart.)

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My first sugru hack

sugru

I remember hearing about sugru last year, and looking through some of the ways people have used it, and thought I should get some of this magical substance to play with. What is sugru? Well, it’s a magical material that cures at room temperature, is self-adhesive, waterproof, flexible, and dishwasher-proof. See the blog for more info.

One thing that’s been broken in our house for a while is the electric griddle. I’ve had it for a long time, and it still works, and I’m a fan of repairing rather than replacing things, as it helps save money, as well as the planet. We’ve been using the griddle for years, but have always been annoyed at the cracked edge piece.

Griddle (before)

I ended up drilling a few small holes and twisting up some wire to bind the broken pieces together. Wire worked great for this. I didn’t want to mess around with trying to fit a small piece of metal, or any sort of screws in place. But the wire isn’t exactly pretty… and it’s got those pointy ends.

Griddle (after)

sugru to the rescue… I took the black sugru and molded it around the top of the crack, covering the wire. It’s still not the prettiest thing in the world, but it’s a big improvement.

My only complaint about sugru is that it has a shelf life of about 6 months, but then again… once you start using it, you start to see all the little things around the house that sugru could make better, so chances are, I’ll have used it all up 6 months from now anyway. :)

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Milwaukee Makerspace

Milwaukee Makerspace

I stopped by the Milwaukee Makerspace for a few hours last weekend, and I was pretty impressed with the progress they’ve been making.

If you’re not familiar with a Makerspace (also sometimes referred to as a Hackerspace) check out hackerspaces.org where you’ll learn that they are: community-operated physical places, where people can meet and work on their projects.

CNC Mill (In Progress)

At the Milwaukee Makerspace you’ll meet people who know how to build robots, hack Arduinos, weld, cut, drill and use every power tool/hand tool you can imagine. These guys have built electric cars, furniture, camera control systems, and even gained some recognition in the PowerWheel Racing series at the Detroit Maker Faire.

What was going on Saturday? Brant was working on building shelving space for projects, Matt was planning his guitar repair, Ron brought his keychain video camera (and I played with it a bit) and Royce repaired the access control system. There’s still much to do before the open house on April 9th, 2011.

Makerbot

So even though the Makerspace has drills and saws and tools and welders and electronics testing equipment, and they’re building a CNC mill, and repairing a laser cutter… you might wonder why you would really want to be a member… and the reason is: community.

The guys at the Makerspace are passionate about making things, but they want to do it around other people, not in their basement or garage, but in a space where collaboration takes center stage. And these guys are pretty smart, so if you’re trying to do something but don’t know how… chances are there’s a Milwaukee Makerspace member who knows how to do it, and can help you.

"If you can hack it, you can have it"

This might be my favorite photo of the Makerspace, and it’s a great motto: “If you can hack it, you can have it.” :)

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Three Apples

Three Apples

Milwaukee-based developer Josh Dean wonders what Apple product he should get?

Well, I’ve got two of the Apple product he’s considering, so I thought I’d share my opinion…

iPad
I’ve only had an iPad about two months now, and for me, it’s a consuming device. I do very little creating with it. That said, it’s an amazing consuming device. I use it for reading, mainly with Google Reader, for which there are many good clients. I also use it around the house as it’s often much more convenient to grab it for quick searches than any full-fledged computer. If you took away my iPad, there would be a hole in the way I access information around the house. That “around the house” bit is key to my usage. I rarely take it out of the house, but that’s just me. I could live without an iPad and still get all of my work done. For me, the iPad is much more about enjoyment and fun than it is about work.

MacBook Pro
I have a MacBook Pro, and before that, I had an iBook, and before that, a PowerBook… A laptop, for me, is a supplemental device to get more work done, or be able to work anywhere. I tend to do probably 80% of my work on desktop machines, but having a laptop lets me take the show on the road, and also lets me do two things at once. As a sidenote, the iPad has filled in much of what I used to use the MacBook Pro for around the house. As for work, the MacBook lets me do (almost) any work I need to do away from the office. It’s got FireWire, USB ports, an SD Card reader, video out, etc… The MacBook Pro is a full-fledged computing device for creating anything I need to create.

MacBook Air
I do not have a MacBook Air, and I don’t think I’d get one. It looks like an awesome netbook (though Apple will never call it that.) I used to use an Asus Eee PC 701, the first real netbook to hit the market. I loved the small size and light weight of the device, but it left a lot to be desired (not running Mac OS X was one thing.) The netbook was limited, but I learned to live within those limitations. I think the MacBook Air would be a little limiting for me, but then, I tend to want to do hardware as well as software stuff, and I need FireWire. If was just a developer writing code and didn’t need to worry about interfacing with certain hardware or having an optical drive available, the MacBook Air would probably be fine. Still, I tend to prefer the extra features a MacBook Pro affords, but again… that’s just me.

I don’t know if this will help Josh, or anyone else, make a decision, but I figured I’d share my opinion.

Here’s a few previous blog posts that may also be helpful: