Learn To Solder @ The Hack Factory

August 21st, 2011 by Paul Sobczak

Modeled after SparkFun’s Soldering class, TC Maker is offering a soldering class. The kit and the price is all the same but the location is a not Denver, it’s Minneapolis.

Description: If you’ve never soldered before, this is the class for you! This course teaches through-hole (90% of electronic kits) soldering and is recommended for the beginner. This is a hands-on class where the students learn techniques to help them solder through-hole components. Soldering can be daunting for the first solder joint, then the 2nd solder joint is not so bad, and by the time you’ve assembled the Simon game, you will be quite confident and proficient in basic soldering skills.

Classes take place at The Hack Factory. We provide all the tools, irons, solder, parts, and seats for 8 students. You’ll be soldering the Simon PTH Kit. By the end of the night, you will have a functioning game to take home and show off to your friends (we get funny looks all the time).

There is a minimum age requirement of 8 years old, but other than that, anyone is encouraged to sign up. We teach people all the time with no previous soldering experience!

The class is expected to take around 1 hour to complete, there is a buffer built in in case we go a bit longer.

Prerequisites: None! Just bring you. The class price includes the cost of the Simon Kit. The class is open to the public and to members.

What to bring: TC Maker will provide all the tools, irons and solder.

Proceeds above will go to help keep TC Maker electronics area, we want to get some decent components for the place. We will also be accepting other donations, including components if you have any around. If you are so inclined please do donate.

Time and Place: Friday Aug 26th 7:00pm to 10:00pm at the Hack Factory.

Who is Teaching: Paul Sobczak, Electrical Engineer, and other TC Maker members.

The class is $40. Sign up on theEventbrite page.

Handmade Music Minneapolis: Nine

August 21st, 2011 by Paul Sobczak

Handmade Music 9
Sunday, August 28 at 8:00pm
Location: Hack Factory, Minneapolis

facebook page

Birthday Party for Leon Theremin!!

Ice Cream
Theremins
Documentary
Paul Metzger
Kevin Cosgrove
Dustbuns

Arduino for English Majors

August 21st, 2011 by Paul Sobczak


Arduino for English Majors

SOLD OUT!

Watch the TC Maker Blog for future classes.


An introduction to the arduino, the development software, and interfacing with basic hardware. The class will be broken up into two days, split one week apart. The first session will be an introduction to the arduino, and coding. We will also be making a LED blink.

The second session will be working with sound and resources related to arduino.

No experience with arduinos or as an English major necessary.

What to bring: 1 arduino, 1 laptop, and the usb cable to connect the two.
Cost:$15 for non-members, $10 for members
When: 9/22 6:30 to 9:30pm, 9/29 6:30 to 9:30pm
Where: The Hack Factory. Minneapolis, MN
Total Students: 8
Teachers: Scott Hill (English Major) and Paul Sobczak (Engineering Major)
Sign up: EventBrite (if you are a tcmaker member you will need to pay $15 on the eventbrite page and we will refund you at the event)

If you do not have an arudino, please take some time to order one from sparkfun, or pick one up in town at Micro Center. If you do not have a computer send Paul a message to sobczak.paul at gmail.

Wednesday Night Roundup 7/13/11

July 14th, 2011 by Paul Sobczak


Pictures from 7/13/11 Open Hack at the Hack Factory.

Two post from TCMakers went up on Make:Blog which is always fun to see.


Our very own Sunsh1ne was interviewed along with a few others on Women in Hackerspaces! The full article is up on Make:Blog.

Paul Sobczak’s video showing a prototype of a sound based led switch that he was working on last during last weeks open hack video below.

Arduino PD LED Adudio Thing from paul sobczak on Vimeo.

Handmade Music Minneapolis Number Eight

July 7th, 2011 by Paul Sobczak

It’s time for another round of Handmade Music!

Number 8 will be held on July 25 9pm at the Hack Factory.

  • Rifflord is gonna play heavy music on Handmade gear.
  • Mike Hutchins is gonna talk about that gear.
  • Adam Loper is gonna play his modified organ and leslie cabinet.
  • Dust Buns is gonna freak out the squares

Bring your ears and toys. The event is free and open to the public.

Handmade Music Minneapolis Blog

Join the Facebook event and pass it on to your friends!

Open Hack Night 7/6/11

July 7th, 2011 by Paul Sobczak

 

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Pictures and videos from the 7/6/11 Open Hack at the Hack Factory.

Twin Cities Maker operates an open house every Wednesday from 7:00pm till late, and it’s open to the public! If you are interested in getting to know what TCMaker is about, or just want something to do on a Wednesday night stop by and say hello. Bring a project if you’re working one, or a problem if you need something fixed, we might be able to help.

We now have over 2,000 images in the Twin Cities Maker Flickr pool too!

Open Hack June 29th

June 30th, 2011 by Paul Sobczak

If you’re on the blog you can see that we exceeded our member goal for June by 13 members! That is really great news for Twin Cities Maker! Thanks to all the members that have decided Twin Cities Maker is worth their time an effort.

We are currently at 83 members including the three that joined up on the 29th. Because some members get the $25 dollar rate for being a student or unemployed and the associated fees from paypal, the funds from membership are not as simple as 83×50, but we are getting really close to being in the black. We need about 85 to 90 members each month to be there, and it seems we are well on our way.

So again, welcome new members, we are glad you’re here.

TC Maker @ Uptown Pride Block Party, Today 6 PM

June 24th, 2011 by wammie

See TC Maker @ Bryant Lake Bowl Uptown Pride Block Party, June 24, 2011, 6-10:30 PM

Twin Cities Maker will have a table today at Bryant Lake Bowl for the Uptown Pride Block Party, which starts at 6 PM. Visit with some of our group members to talk shop and find out what TC Maker is all about!

June 22nd Open Hack

June 23rd, 2011 by Paul Sobczak


Roundup photos from the June 22nd Open Hack Night at the Hack Factory, enjoy.

June 15th Open Hack

June 17th, 2011 by Paul Sobczak


Pictures and video from the June 15th open hack at the Hack Factory.

Saturday Brewing Class Filling Up

June 16th, 2011 by Paul Sobczak

Spots are open for the upcoming class on brewing at the Hack Factory on the 18th. We will be going over an introduction on how to brew, sanitation, equipment, ingredients, and process. Best of all beer will brew!
Sign up on the Eventbrite page, and the facebook page.
More information on the forum post.

And now there is a city pages article!

Make: Live @ the Hack Factory

June 10th, 2011 by Paul Sobczak

Twin cities maker was featured on episode 10 of the Make: Live series! Here is the section that we were in.

The rest of the show and a bit more information can been seen here.

Wednesday Open Hack 6/8/11

June 9th, 2011 by Paul Sobczak


No slide show this week from the open hack at The Hack Factory, but that doesn’t mean nothing happened, quite the opposite. It was our annual meeting and we had quite a few of the members all in the the building at the same time, always a great thing.

There where two main orders of business the vote on the 501c(3)/bylaw stuff which all passed so we are moving forward with that process, lots of great discussion on what it means, clarification on that, new committees, lessons learned.

The other main piece of business was an overview of the financial situation. The whole details are going to be posted soon. The basics, we need to keep on the member drive a total membership around 80 – 90 will allow us to start building up money again. That said we have reserves to hold us while we get more people.

The space planning committee has been hard at work figuring out how to organize all of the new space we moved into on the 1st of the month. So changes are being implemented, lots of neat and exciting things are happening be sure to keep an eye on how things progress. More to come as more of it gets fleshed out.

We were featured in Make:Live Episode 10 along side our friends at NYC Resistor, Milwaukee Makerspace, i3Detroit, and Noisebridge (San Francisco). We will let you know when the video gets posted.

A few more bits. If you get a chance take a look at the upcoming classes and events (part of the sidebar on if you’re at the website), there might be something your interested in, and, as always, there are some in the works so be sure to check for updates. If you have an idea for a class as well let our events at tcmaker dot org know. There are a few group projects in the works over on the fourm, check them out and get involved, or post your own project.

Finally, If you are thinking about coming down and checking out the Hack Factory, Wednesday nights, as the tradition has been, are the best time to do so lots of activity and great tour guides. Bring a project to show off if you want, we are a curious bunch. If you can’t make it on Wednesday you can stop by other times, there is usually someone in the shop all the time these days, don’t hesitate to ask them for a tour and a bit of information about the place, if you have other questions we have all quite a few ways to get a hold of the group, see the communication section of our wiki and take your pick.

SWAP-O-RAMA-RAMA is coming to the Hack Factory

June 5th, 2011 by Paul Sobczak

@ The Hack Factory

Sun Sept 11, ’11 @ 11am-7pm
@ Hack Factory
…$5 & a bag of clean clothing or $10 w/o donation
http://www.swaporamarama.org/

Join in the communal process of reuse and celebrate our collective creativity! You are invited to Swap-O-Rama-Rama, a giant clothing swap and series of do-it-yourself workshops in which a community explores reuse and creativity through the recycling of used clothing.

June 1st Open Hack

June 2nd, 2011 by Paul Sobczak

Pictures from June 1st’s Open Hack Night at the Hack Factory. Lots of new faces, new members and lively discussion on the up coming annual meeting. Oh and Robots in Yurts!

A Few Class updates

May 30th, 2011 by Paul Sobczak

The welding class has been opened up to beginners who havent’t taken the intro class.

The DIY Brewing class has been added to eventbrite so you can now sign up.

There is some talk of putting together a wood joinery class, have your say on the forum post if you want to see it happen.

Also the calendar has been added to the side bar of the homepage, to give a bit more upfront idea of what is happening at the space.

Oh and the whole space can now be accessed by members so come and check our our new added space!

Edit: Also, we have the Intro to Woodworking class on June 16 and 17! – wammie (via Skyler)

Brewing Class @ the Hack Factory

May 27th, 2011 by Paul Sobczak

June. The 18th @ the Hack Factory

starting fairly small, the future is wide open, perhaps the perfect balmer brew.

 

Apple uses automated schnapps IVs.Image XKCD

Suggested $10 donation. More info at the forum post.

Now with eventbrite http://june18homebrewing.eventbrite.com/

Woodworking 101 @ The Hack Factory

May 27th, 2011 by Paul Sobczak

Woodworking 101 Thursday, June 16, 2011 at 7:00 PM -9:00 PM and Friday, June 17, 2011 at 7:00 PM – 9:00 PM

This class is for the beginner with no or limited woodworking experience. It will cover shop safety, woodworking hand and power tool safety and knowledge, basics of joinery, etc.
The first night will consist of general shop intro and basic training on all the tools and safety. The second night will continue with tool instruction and work on small project. The two night class will be $25.

We will cover some basic tools
Table Saw
Radial Arm Saw
Compound miter saw
Band Saw
Jig Saw
Drill Press
Jointer

After going over the tools and getting everyone a chance to use them, we will talk about building & assembling projects, what glues to use, clamping, and finishing. We can use the remaining time answer any questions you may have, and to work on an in-class project of your choosing. Keep it simple is the best advice I can give you here. I’ll have some example ideas with me the first night of class.

Class will begin at 7:00 pm and will go until 9:00 pm.

Any questions please see the forum post

http://woodworking101-autohome.eventbrite.com/

May 25th Open Hack

May 26th, 2011 by Paul Sobczak

New members and more hacking, can’t get better than that right?

May 18th Open Hack Roundup

May 20th, 2011 by Paul Sobczak

Pictures from the May 18th Open Hack Night at the Hack Factory.


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