By PVG viagra
November 10th, 2011 by Paul Sobczak
Our intro to arduino class is going on, this session is full. Be sure to keep an eye on the calendar for up-coming classes. Here are some pictures and a video from the first session.
November 7th, 2011 by pyrodogg
Board meetings for Twin Cities Maker are now held on the second Tuesday of each month. The time and place remain unchanged; 7pm at the Hack Factory. The first meeting on this new schedule will be held on November 8th.
The board voted and moved on the date change at the October meeting. The board is dedicated to transparency which is partly why the meetings were originally held on the Wednesday night, which corresponds with the weekly open house at TC Maker. While it provided a great intersection of many members at the space space and important things happening it became too much of a hassle for the board members to conduct a meeting and perform other duties.
By tying up the Boards time for up to two hours on the busiest night of the week, it prevented the board members from socialising with the members to solicit their opinions on how the organization is doing. It also tied up Brandon and Karin (our two primary member intake folks – thanks!) from helping new members fill out their applications and getting their key fobs.
This isn’t to say that the board members are going to have a decreased presence on Wednesday nights, far from it. They already remain quite active at the space on non-meeting Wednesdays currently. This just means that the board can have a more dedicated time where they can focus on the meeting at hand and still have time to socialize with the members. The meetings are still open to the public and participation from the membership is encouraged.
If you’re interested on the goings-on of the board I highly encourage you to show up to the next meeting, Nov. 8th at 7pm at the Hack Factory.
More information on the Board’s proceedings, including agendas and past meeting minutes, can be found on our wiki.
What: Board Meeting
When: Second Tuesday of each month, 7pm
Where: Hack Factory
November 6th, 2011 by swinkdaddy
http://firsttigclass.eventbrite.com
Date: Sunday, Dec 4th
Time: 12pm – 4pm
The big Mill-er TIG is up and running. And talk about power, this thing has juice to spare. That being said, we are having an orientation class to familiarize members with this machine. The class is mandatory for anyone using the machine. We need to be SURE everyone has been given the proper startup and shutdown procedures to keep from damaging the machine. Also for simplicity sake, we want everyone to use the same collet/tungsten electrode kit rated for this welder, so you will be getting your own kit as part of the orientation materials (dont worry we get a good discount on bulk orders so its cheaper than getting it yourself). Also this unit uses quite a bit of argon. We want to make sure we can keep this thing in gas, so we trying to get a shop sized tank. The rest of the orientation cost goes right back into feeding this beast a steady diet of argon.
This will not be an introduction to welding class. You will need to have had a mig or gas welding class before signing up and be a member in good standing of the Hack Factory. You can also test out of the prerequisite classes by finding either Dave or I and showing off your wicked welding skills.
Videoman testing the big TIG
You can also register in person with Karin (class/events coordinator) up til nov 25th (we need a week to order kits)
November 4th, 2011 by karinf22
550 cord (aka paracord) is strong, relatively inexpensive and versatile. Our “101″ course will teach you to make useful, decorative and interesting things using this material. No prior experience necessary. We’ll use a few basic (and surprisingly simple) knots to tie a variety of bracelets, belts, tool lanyards, handle wraps, key fobs and holsters.
The course will cover the basics of working with cord, design and measurement considerations and pro tips of executing and finishing your projects. Practical “lifehacker” applications for rope and cord and a few extra knots that everyone should know will also be shared. Don’t worry if you can’t even tie your shoes (we’ll teach you a superior knot for that too).
This course is very hands-on. All materials and tools will be provided. We’ll complete several projects in class and students will go home with extra cord and a basic tool kit to continue their exploration of cordcraft.
Jeff “Rigger” Berg will be the instructor. Jeff’s been fooling around with rope for over a decade. His resumé includes a stint as a yacht rigger.
November 2nd, 2011 by Paul Sobczak
Pictures from the Open Hack Night at the Hack Factory. Welcome to the 3 new members that signed up tonight!
November 1st, 2011 by karinf22
Make sure to check out our upcoming classes for the month of November! We have some exciting topics that will be covered this month. Sign up today!
Oxyacetylene this Saturday Nov 5 http://introtooxynov.eventbrite.com
Arduino for English Majors Nov 10 and Nov 17 http://arduino4em.eventbrite.com
Intro to Stick Welding Nov 12 http://introtosmaw.eventbrite.com
550 101 Fun with Paracord Nov 19 http://550101.eventbrite.com
October 27th, 2011 by Paul Sobczak
Pictures from the shenanigans that occur weekly at the Hack Factory of Minnesota, including but not limited to, robot, welding, (unfortunately not pictures of a robot welding) pumpkin carving, paracord watches, crystal oscillator testers, people talking in a hallway, archery, and a smiley face drawn in Hack Factory dust.
Every Wednesday Twin Cities Maker opens it’s doors to the public, stop by and meet the makers of Minnesota. Congrats to the new members that signed up as well! We are still in need of about ~15 to 20 members to make this work into the future, so if you are interested is seeing Twin Cities Maker exist in the future it’s worth becoming a member.
October 27th, 2011 by danbackslide
We meet a lot of people who want to play with the Arduino, but they don’t know where to start. Back when I was getting started with the Arduino I was in the same boat. I’m an English major. I had no electronics knowledge to speak of, and nothing like Twin Cities Maker to turn to for help. It would have been so much easier if there had been a friendly makerspace offering a class…
Good news, everyone!
Arduino for English Majors is a two-night class in the basics of the Arduino and electronics. It’s designed for people with no background in electronics or programming. Taught by an actual English major (with help from someone who actually knows electricy stuff), Arduino for English Majors will get you started down the path of microcontroller-y goodness.
Students will need to provide their own Arduino board, and a laptop for running the software. The class is on 11/10 and 11/17 (Thursday nights), from 7.00pm to 9.30pm. Details and prices are on the course registration page.
October 26th, 2011 by pyrodogg
Photo By Bre Pettis
Bring a pumpkin to open house and join the pumpkin hacking party! We will have some tools on hand but feel free to bring your own.
October 25th, 2011 by pyrodogg
What: Women’s Night
Where: Hack Factory
When: Tonight, Tues. Oct 25th form 6pm to 9pm
Why: Tonight we will be offering a crochet lesson and an intro to mig welding class at 7pm
The last Tuesday of every month we will holding an open night for women only. We would like to open the Hack Factory to all women in our community and showcase what we can offer. We believe everyone should have access to our resources and open exchange of information.
October 24th, 2011 by pyrodogg
Come out to the Hack Factory this evening for a few hours of electronic hackery.
Then this night is for you!
We’ll be set-up in the classroom between 7pm and 10pm. Come on out and explore your electronic hacking skills.
October 21st, 2011 by wammie
I love playing with words and I think I’ve come up with a new, original wordplay idea: HACKRONYMS. I’ve Googled this and not found an instance, so maybe my claim of originality is legit.
Here’s the idea.
Definition of HACKRONYM: a hacked acronym (e.g., butchered, baked, maked) from a commonly known acronym, for its appeal to the hacker and maker communities.
Especially good HACKRONYMS would bear a definition (or definitions) related to the acronym from which it originated, strike immediate accord with the hacker/maker experience, lingo, and ethic, and embrace irony or humor. They would also not be generated from special acronyms already well established in the communities, lest they cause confusion in use.
Examples:
FBI – Fixed, But Inscrutable
NASA – Needs A Space Assessment
IRS – Is Really Sucky
PBJ – Pretty Badly Jammed
UFO – Unidentified “Fixed” Object
BTW – Better This Way
AM – Ante Make
PM – Post Make
TBA – To Be Attacked
TGIF – Thank God It’s Finished
Can you come up with some good HACKRONYMS?
There is a discussion thread on HACKRONYMS in our forum.
October 21st, 2011 by Paul Sobczak
Pictures and video from 10/19/2011′s Open Hack night at the one an only Hack Factory in Minneapolis. Lots of interesting and weird stuff going on. Enjoy.
October 18th, 2011 by karinf22
Come out to the hack factory to enjoy an evening of tabletop gaming. Please bring a game, a snack to share and a couple dollars if you would like pizza. Event itself is free and open to all ages. Bring friends and family and enjoy some great social time.
October 12th, 2011 by Paul Sobczak
Pictures from October 12th’s Open House @ the Hack Factory (every Wednesday) and some photos from the E Hack nights (every Monday).
New estimates from the board put us around 90-100 members to be in the black, that meaning we need ~100 to make rent, pay our other bills, and fund some of the routine things the board needs to do. This new estimate takes into account the more than expected amount of members at the student/unemployed rate. Last month we had 71, so we are close but we have a way to go.
If you have been looking at TC Maker for awhile or just found us and are interested, as always, we recommenced you to stop by our Wednesday night open houses, if that doesn’t work shoot the board an email and they can usually give you some good advise on when to stop by. They are @ info@tcmaker.org.
Twin Cities Maker would also like to welcome 3 new members that signed up tonight, welcome!
Here also is a short video that Steve put together for a community access show that may or may not happen, but the intro is made, and here for your viewing pleasure.
and we are on a map!
October 6th, 2011 by Paul Sobczak
A brief list of some of the upcoming events at The Hack Factory, check the calendar for a full list of upcoming events.
Handmade music 10 (10/7/11)the Stella amp build night still has a few seats open if you want to build your own music amplifier.
Riley’s bow making class (10/8/11) is almost filled up, but there are spots open. Due to demand he is offering an additional class bow making course on (10/22/11)
Pumpkin Hacking (10/26/11) Bring a pumpkin to open house and join the pumpkin hacking party!
October 2nd, 2011 by swinkdaddy
Got back today from attending Barcamp 6 in Milwaukee. Basically it was a 36 hour (straight through the night) of talks/hacking/demoing/learning. The conference is set up to not be a bunch of big wig speakers, but passionate attendees that share their knowledge to the group. I was kinda of unsure how well this would work, but I have to say now, that I AM A FAN!
First off we sent a microphone around the room of 100+ people with the purpose of getting a name and what that person wanted to teach and what they wanted to learn. So that right there changed what was being presented that day, as someone wanting to learn X, inspire someone else to teach X as we went around the room.
Needless to say we need to send more people to this barcamp. The Milwaukee barcamp is very hackerspace focused, and the ideas presented were fresh and fun. I am planning to go back next year.
October 1st, 2011 by Paul Sobczak
Mike Hord previous president of Twin Cities Maker and former member (he moved to Colorado) is one of the featured engineers on EEWeb.
Michael Hord – Electrical Engineer, SparkFun Electronics
I came to electronics fairly late in the game. It was my senior year of high school before it occurred to me that I could make a career out of it. My high school physics teacher told us some stories about the fun stuff the electrical engineering students he knew in college had made, and that sealed the deal. That is not to say I didn’t have interest in it in the past—as a child I took apart a ridiculous number of electronic gadgets, some of which my parents would rather I hadn’t.
After high school I went on to study engineering at North Dakota State University. For me it was a great decision because of its engineering program, which is very well-respected especially in the Upper Midwest region.
My senses. I start out every troubleshooting session with four of my senses: does anything look wrong (size, shape, color), does anything feel wrong (hotter or colder than expected), does anything sound wrong (clicking, buzzing, whining), and what about smell (burning, unnatural odors)?
The best part is that setup and calibration time for these tools is zero. I always know where they are, and they’re pretty easy to use.
Mike was one of the members who worked on the Great Global Hackerspace Challenge that we entered and recently received our soldering irons from, thanks elemment 14!
Here is a video explaining the entry into the Hackerspace challenge
In another note if you look in the bottom left hand section of the photo above from the eeweb site you will a stack of plastic corrugated boxes, Mike is the one who was so kind as to donate hundreds of them to TC Maker when we first got our space, thanks Mike!
September 25th, 2011 by Paul Sobczak
HMMM is back building again, HMMM 10 will be a build night.
Twin Cities Maker Member and founder of Crazy But Able, John Wilson will be hosting a building of his new kit the Stella Amp. There are a limited number of seats available for the class so sign up early. Handmade Music will be providing the soldering stations and solder, you can bring your own irons if you would like as well.
No prior knowledge of soldering is needed there will be some people to help you along the way if this is your first time around the iron.
Due to the soldering irons this class is limited to persons of 8 years of age or older.
Details:
Date: 10/7/11 7:00 to 9:30pm
Location: The Hack Factory
Cost: $35,
Open to the Public
Register: Via Eventbrite
# of seats: 8 total for current count see the eventbrite site.
September 20th, 2011 by videoman
The power wheels racing series has created a Kickstarter project to help fund next years efforts! This was really a great opportunity for a few of the makers in our space to come togher at the 11th hour to create a car! I would love to see stronger and larger team from the Hack Factory next year!
To help support the project, go to the Kickstarter project page.
Donate via GiveMN.org (tax-deductible):
