Tag: milwaukee

Categories
Uncategorized

Holiday Make-A-Thon 2012 [Time Lapse]

Hack Friday

Here’s a quick time-lapse video from the 2012 Holiday Make-A-Thon that Milwaukee Makerspace does in cooperation with Bucketworks. We’ve been doing it for 3 years now, and Bucketworks has been doing it on their own even longer.

It seems like a lot more hackerspaces are doing these type of events this year, which is awesome, and there’s even a nice name for it now: Hack Friday. In my mind, part of belonging to a makerspace/hackerspace is the love of creating things, sharing that with others, especially on a day that has become completely over the top in regards to consumerism. Our mission is plain and simple: Instead of buying useless crap on “Black Friday” join us and we’ll help you make something for the holidays.

I figured it was also a good time to test out the time lapse capabilities of the GoPro Hero3. I have a workflow in place that includes taking still images with the intervalometer and then combining the frames into a video, and then resizing and cropping the video to the correct proportions. It seems to work. Oh, and the camera motion near the end is actually the gaff tape giving out before the camera fell face-down. Enjoy!

Categories
Uncategorized

Radio Times

Radio

This post from NPR, Radio: The Port In The Storm, got me thinking about radio, and while I’m pretty well entrenched in the world of podcasts and my own music library, I do still love radio, and the interesting thing is, I think we’ve increased the amount of radio we listen to in our household this year.

Part of the rise of radio in our house might be due our dumping cable TV. We didn’t completely dump TV, as we still get the local channels, but it’s not that 500 channels (and nothing to watch) world we’re used to. We still use Netflix and Amazon, and we still record a few shows using an EyeTV Hybrid, but overall, our TV consumption is down, and our radio listening is up.

It’s mostly Radio Milwaukee and NPR, and the quality of both of those tends to outdo the TV we’d usually watch. It was just too easy to flip on the TV and let it play whatever… even with a laptop out and browsing/working, vapid television in the background isn’t that useful, and good radio is a better alternative.

I’d be interested to know if others who “cut the cord” ended up just replacing all their TV watching with online video alternatives, or if radio is taking some of their attention.

Categories
Uncategorized

Laser-Etching Tweaks

Laser-etched name badges

I made these laser-etched badges at Milwaukee Makerspace recently, and if you’ve see our logo before, you may have noticed it has some thin lines in it. Thin lines are great, except when they aren’t, and when etching with the laser, they might not be.

the photo above shows my three attempts, with the first being on the bottom, and the third being on the top. You can see the difference by comparing the helmet in each badge.

Logos

The image above shows our standard helmet logo on the left, and you can see the line widths, which work fine for graphics we use online, or printed materials like flyers and stickers, but for laser etching, the lines are just too thin. The middle logo shows how I tried to fatten up the lines to allow the etching around them to leave a bit more material (in this case 3mm Baltic Birch plywood.) Match the middle logo up with the middle badge in the photo above… it’s better, but still not great.

The logo on the right side shows the lines around the eyes and nose thickened up even more, and this is what worked the best, as seen in the final (top) badge in the top photo. (And yes, these were done using the 60 watt Laser Cutter at Milwaukee Makerspace.)

Example #1

Here’s a poor macro shot of the second attempt, where you can see that not enough material was left for the eyes and nose, even after the first attempt at fattening up the lines. (I didn’t bother to photograph the first attempt, as I sized up the logo on this, the second attempt, and then maintained the new larger size on the third attempt as well.)

Example #2

Here’s a poor macro shot of the third attempt, the one with the fattest lines. This one worked out quite well, especially for the eyes and nose. The detail in the solder iron were completely lost, which is fine, as it’s extremely fine detail, and we’re etching it at a small size.

I’m pretty happy with the final result, and I’ll keep in mind that thin lines may need to be fattened up in the future. (There’s always the issue of altering someone’s logo or artwork, but in cases like this it’s necessary if you want good results.) I don’t think there’s any hard and fast rules on this, as things will vary depending on size of artwork, material being etch, and other variables, but it’s a nice reminder that tweaking is needed for this type of thing to work well.

Categories
Uncategorized

BarCampMilwaukee7

BarCampMilwaukee7

Whew! It’s BarCampMilwaukee time! This weekend, October 6th and 7th, 2012 is BarCampMilwaukee7… that’s the seventh BarCamp here in Milwaukee, for those of you keeping track.

I’ve got a few things I’ll highlight, the first of which is the Raspberry Pi Roundtable, where people who have Pis, or want to use a Pi for a project can get together and talk about them. Having a super-cheap Linux-powered computer opens up some new possibilities, so we’ll talk about what those are.

The session I’ve got planned is titled Money. Maker. Business. and I’ll talk about how I started up my making business. At Milwaukee Makerspace (and other hackerspaces) members often talk about potential business ideas, so my talk will outline the process I went through, including touching on my Maker Business posts.

Thirdly, we’ll be doing our own Midwest version of the Nerdy Derby race. If you haven’t made a car yet, make one now! If you can’t make one now, Milwaukee Makerspace will be providing miscellaneous parts during BarCamp so you can try to build one. And it’s not just all speed and aerodynamics, and there will be style points awarded as well. (We might even call them “Moxie” points as an homage to the Power Racing Series.)

(And yeah, I’m sure I’ll also bring the RepRaster 5000 and enjoy some 3D printing hijinx as well.)

So yeah, barcampmilwaukee.org has all the details. I hope you’ve already registered, because if not, we may not be able to feed you. Come anyway! We’ll figure something out, there are restaurants nearby, it’ll all work out, somehow, as it always does. :)

Categories
Uncategorized

Spring City Launchpad

Spring City Launchpad

As regular readers may know, I’ve been involved with the Milwaukee Makerspace for some time now, and being a member has given me access to tools and equipment I’d never have on my own, but more importantly it’s given me access to a community of makers who have assisted me with projects, some personal, and some business-related. I wouldn’t be selling products right now if it weren’t for the advice of Milwaukee Makerspace members.

So while Milwaukee is fairly close to Waukesha, it’s certainly not in Waukesha, and I’m excited to learn that there are some makers & hackers in Waukesha working towards a new group/space called Spring City Launchpad.

Spring City Launchpad hopes to assemble a group of interested people: makers, artists, creatives, builders, etc. and create a collaborative workspace where people can share skills, tools, and knowledge. Will it be exactly like Milwaukee Makerspace? No. It also won’t be exactly like Sector67 in Madison, or PumpingStation: One in Chicago. Each space evolves into what it is based on the members and the interests and activities of the members.

If you’ve got an interest in seeing a new creative space in Waukesha, you can sign up on the Atrium site, and if that’s not enough, join us on Saturday, May 12th, 1:00pm-2:30pm at the Waukesha Public Library, 321 Wisconsin Avenue in Waukesha.