January 31st, 2010 by uptownmaker

Meet Jazari, a band of funky robots who could have come straight out of a Jules Verne novel. Patrick Flanagan, a Minneapolis local, has kept these machines under wraps until now, showing them only to a lucky few. This evening he will introduce his robot groove ensemble to the world. These steamfunk automatons will make you shake it to a new kind of home grown groove.

This also marks the birth of Smart. — a mix of parties where it’s hot to be Smart and where people who build crazy beautiful things rule the roost.

Smart. will be at CodeSpace- a workspace on Harriet Ave in South Minneapolis. Note that at least some of this event overlaps the standard Wednesday meeting- if you want to get your key or pay your dues, it might be smart to come to the Hack Factory pretty close to 7pm…

To RSVP for Smart. check their EventBrite page.

January 25th, 2010 by uptownmaker

This Wednesday night, we’ll be passing out keys to the Hack Factory to those who have paid their dues and become members of Twin Cities Maker.

We’ll be asking for your February dues, plus a $50 membership deposit.  $20 of that deposit is for the key fob itself; our landlord will charge us that much for lost fobs.  The remaining $30 is to help pay the deposit on the space; if you choose to terminate your membership, we’ll refund that to you.

If you plan to come, please give us a heads-up, so we can get enough fobs.  You can e-mail me directly, mike dot hord at gmail, or post a comment here or on the forum.

Let the hacking begin!

Mike Hord

President, TC Maker

January 11th, 2010 by uptownmaker

Twin Cities Maker will be having its usual weekly meet and greet at the Hack Factory this Wednesday, Jan 13, at 7 pm.  This event is open to the public as well as members.

For those new to the organization, our weekly meetings are usually geek fests where you can meet up with and talk to people about whatever catches your fancy.  Ask for help, share thoughts, inspire and be inspired.

We’ll also start planning for the future of the Hack Factory.  We would like to start planning a kickoff event for the near future, and we’ll need a small committee of enthusiastic makers to help pull that off.  If you’re interested, come to the meeting and we’ll get you in the loop on that.

Of course, anyone wanting to pay dues or bring in tools (or anything else they want to contribute to the stocking of the space) is welcome to do so.

We’ll see you there!

Hack Factory

3119 E 26th St

Minneapolis, MN 55406

Use the side door, it’s yellow and just around the corner from the garage door.

View Larger Map

January 3rd, 2010 by uptownmaker

As a part of the lease agreement for Hack Factory of Minnesota, TCMaker was offered the option to rent space in a tiered fashion: more space for more money.  Initially we elected to take the smallest section, with the understanding that, if another tenant wanted the whole space, the landlord could rent it to them instead of us, but only after offering us first right of refusal on the entire space.

Another tenant has approached the landlord, indicating an interest in acquiring the entire space.  TCMaker has until this Thursday- January 7- to decide what to do.

Here’s what we need from you: we need 31 more of you to pay your $50 in dues for the month of January by this Wednesday.  Pretty simple, right?  Some of you have paid your dues already, and for that we thank you.  Others of you intended to pay at our meeting last week, but were stymied by a technical fault, and for that we apologize.  But, the long and short of it is we need to KNOW how many people we can expect to pay dues this month, and next month, and the month after that.

Donations are, of course, still welcome; we’ll need more than this if we hope to buy cool toys to stock the space with.  And if you really can’t afford $50 a month, please contact me directly and we’ll try to work something out that will keep you involved and get you access to the space.

If we can’t get this member support now, this venture stands a good chance of failing.  If you want to see a hackerspace open in the Twin Cities, now is the time to step up and make it happen.  We need YOU.  Dues can be paid (cash or check, receipts will be issued) at this Wednesday’s meeting at the Minnesota Hack Factory, by PayPal to twincitiesmaker at gmail, or by mail.  The mailing address is available upon request- do not send checks to the Hack Factory address.

Mike Hord
President
Twin Cities Maker

PS- If you haven’t seen the Hack Factory space, this Wednesday we’ll be having a meeting at 7pm there.  As an added bonus, some members have volunteered to bring in electronics for salvage and sharing- you’re welcome to bring your own scrap to share if you like, or tools to aid in the destruction!  We’ve done this before and it’s always a blast!  You’ll find the Hack Factory at 3119 E 26th St; see the the TCMaker blog post for more details, note it is still a good idea to bring a chair with you if you plan on coming.

* 12/4/09 6:00 update we have already raised over half of the needed amount to secure the space for next month. We all are very hopeful and with everybody’s help we can make this happen. Again TC maker is also accepting donations above and beyond the $50 dollar mark, if you want to see this hacker space take off like many of the others around the country have it time to help out.

Also to be clear we are asking for more money because we are getting a bigger space, the whole thing and it’s pretty significant and still a bargain for what is included.

If you have any other ideas that might benefit the group please leave a comment or contact Mike Hord you can private message him on the forum his handle is uptownmaker.

November 5th, 2009 by uptownmaker

There’s been a lull (partly due to my becoming a parent, partly due to summertime/school opening blues) in work on the rapid prototyping system. It turns out that this was a blessing in disguise because I recently got my hands on something that will make this project a significantly different scope.

My company threw out an old solder paste inspection machine. It WAS a machine intended for use inspect printed circuit boards after they’ve had the solder paste applied to them but before they’ve had components placed. As far as I know, it is in full working order.

Before. After. The first accessory.

In short, this is a working X-Y gantry with sub-millimeter accuracy. It does have SOME Z motion, too, but not much- I’d guess in the end we can adjust the limits and get something along the order of one inch in Z.

For a platform to build a prototyper, you can’t get much better than this. And it’s in my garage.

See the forum thread for further details or schedule changes.

October 19th, 2009 by uptownmaker

Twin Cities Maker is having a couple of Halloween Contests,  Saturday October 24th!

See the forum for the official rules, information on prizes and entry fees. Note that all entrants will receive their choice of a Make: t-shirt or one of the latest two copies of Make: magazine!

The event starts at 2:00 pm and ends (about) 6:00.  The location is 15323 Painters Ln N, Stillwater 55082.

October 12th, 2009 by uptownmaker

Twin Cities Maker is having a business meeting, Wednesday Oct 14 at 7pm.  As usual, our meeting will be in the back room at Common Roots Cafe, 26th and Lyndale, Minneapolis. Topics for discussion:

• Halloween Event
• Grants
• Maker Faire
• Building the prototyper
• Financial Update
• Secretary position, still available!
• Officer reports
• AOB

Hope to see you there!

September 8th, 2009 by uptownmaker

Twin Cities Maker will be holding a business meeting on Wednesday, Sep 9, at 7pm, in the backroom at Common Roots Cafe, 24th and Lyndale, Minneapolis.

Agenda:
Discussion of continued efforts on flutterwumper build
Report on salvage night
Secretary position still open
Further discussion of clothesline races: location confirmation and rules confirmation
AOB

Please add items under this thread to the agenda.

Note that I (Mike) will be unable to attend this one, so Wayne will be exercising his VP superpowers to maintain peace and order.

August 21st, 2009 by uptownmaker

TCMaker is sponsoring an electronics salvage night. Bring in old electronics and we’ll all pull them apart finding useful and usable parts.

Please bring tools, if you have them! Useful tools for this project are heat guns, butane or propane torches, soldering irons, solder wick, solder, screwdrivers, bit drivers with replaceable bits, extension cords, and side cutters.

Join us at Leonardo’s Basement from 6:30 to 9:00 on Wednesday, Aug 26th!

August 16th, 2009 by uptownmaker

Twin Cities Maker has decided to build a flutterwumper!

Interested parties may join in by participating in the discussion on the forum, on the Wiki, or by attending our first brainstorming session this Wednesday (Aug 19)  night from 6:30-9 at Mike’s house.

We haven’t yet decided on a plan of attack- there are a number of good things out there on the web (RepRap, MakerBot, Valkyrie).  Come join the fun!