Makerspace Challenge #2 - Flight Video

https://youtu.be/ycH8Er3x59o

Meanwhile in the makerspace, it's a bit late for a monthly challenge, so we're just going to call this a second challenge, and the second challenge is is make something fly.

GranddadIsAnOldMan is a great maker with lousy video production quality. His videos hardly get any views, perhaps because he uploads too many of them. But that's what it's about. It's about documenting his inspiring project to turn junk into something awesome. He's great for playing around on for a few hours and getting mega inspired. I'm a fan of his work and I've been looking for an excuse to feature him on my main channel.

If I ever make a big time TV show out of making, I would love if he were to my channel what Biz Markie is to Yo Gabba Gabba. That guy who shows up, does a thing, everyone goes "Who the heck is he?" and the show goes on without caring.

Makerspace Challenge Video - Weighted Dice

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aDHPh5ZFgJM

Okay, so the web cam plugged into the USB port equals bad frame rate. I kinda knew this already, but sometimes you have to relearn the simple lessons.

I'm starting a Makerspace challenge, to give people reasons to come into the Makerspace and ideas for projects to work on. This is, of course, open to anyone who wants to participate, you don't have to come in, though you will need a dice tower.

Here are some suggestions of how to weigh a dice:

• Make sure the corners of your dice are rounded
• Make a dice with a void in it
• Make a dice with a void and fill the void with something heavy
• Make a 3D printed dice and use gradual infill in Cura to add more infill to the top that the bottom
• Make opposite sides of the dice the same number (you might get away with it and double your chances)
• Put a magnet in the dice and roll with a metal plate under the dice tower

Perhaps there are other ideas you can come up with?

Makerspace Project - Laser Cut Puzzle Project Video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iv7Nh2q8iNQ

I am loving laser cutting. It easy. It's fast. And it can produce some amazing results. Including some wonderful, personalized gifts.

This video differs from the last I did for the Makerspace in two ways. First, I got my lav mic this time so the sound is much easier to listen to. Second, I tried out the 7" Waveshare touch screen as a second screen/OBS input device. I like that the increased resolution made the screen less squishy than last time. I don't like that the "Type C" that I'm using apparently means capacitance and will therefore not work with a stylus. Looking at the "type B" I don't see a stylus either, so who knows what that meas. Also, neither the type C or type B seems to have the Plexiglas frame that the 5" Waveshare screens come with. But because I hope that that's just inaccurate marketing pictures and I'd like to try out a Type B so I can know if I can recommend them whole heatedly.

Without a Plexiglas frame I had to slap something together from the box it came in and some spare parts I had. The final result is that I have a box to carry my mic and equipment in, and a 2nd screen for when I'm traveling. I actually kinda like this, even though it's terribly Jerry Rigged. Would recommend.

My last day as a substitute teacher and my first Maker Fair

So, first things first, thanks to the makerspace where I'm now full time, I'll be going to the Bay Area Maker Fair this weekend. I'll be there Friday and Saturday and I'll have a pocket full of maker coins to pass out, so if you see me, don't be afraid to say "Hi" and get one. I've got something for you.

(PS, the cream colored ones glow in the dark.)

Friday last week was momentous for me. It marked the last day I would supliment my income with substitute teaching, since (did I mention?) I am now full time working at the makerspace.

This was made particularly poetic because I started teaching more than a decade ago in a 7th grade classroom (before a career detour to software development), and this classroom that it ended in was also 7th grade math. 7th grade math is without a doubt the worst. 7th grade sucks. They're too young to be grown up, but not young enough to be a child any more, and no one, especially themselves, have any idea who they are. But on top of that we're adding letters to our numbers and expecting them to keep up with it. This is the bookends of my teaching career.

I actually taught in this same classroom the week before, on Star Wars Day, and took the opportunity to make a drawing on their whiteboard of the Death Star surrounded by rebel and imperial ships joined by some non-Star Wars space ships as well. When I returned it was still there, so I added a few more references and a key to explain them.

If I were more of an artist, I'd love to do this sort of thing in full color, though with a slightly different layout as I'd probably have the X-Com ship landed on the surface and the squad moving out. Maybe replace the death star with the Sinistar, but in the same capacity, and just pack it with cross-overs. Throw in some Space 1999, Interstella 5555, Star Control, Flash Gordon (both Buster Crabbe and Sam Jones), and whatever else I can think of.

Sorry, I may have gotten a bit carried away in my head, there.

Hey, they're talking about me!

So there I was, just listening to my podcast fee, when the 3D Printing Today Podcast, episode 226, starts calling me out by name at around the 14:50 minute mark! They were doing a segment they called  "Makers vs DIY vs Crafters" and my work with the St. George Library Makerspace had caught their attention. They were talking about making sure your makerspace find it's audience and properly focuses on it.

Makin' sparks at the Makerspace

The St. George Library Makerspace, and my relation with it, puts us in a unique position to be successful, without being stressful. Our pricing model is ludicrously low. Our metrics for success are very lax. We're not running a business here. We're providing a public service.

Andy and Whitney were making a point about being flexible enough with your Makerspace to adjust to your audience, whether they be hackers, makers, or crafters. That's true. In fact that's just kind of basic business sense. If you don't have an audience you don't have anything.

But I would not want to run a makerspace/fablab as a for-profit business in this area. If we were in a big city with people on top of people and no one has any space of their own, it makes sense to rent out a corner of a shared space and have access to their equipment. But here, where a trip to the store is a chore, everyone will weigh the cost of a monthly membership, and then say "Naa, I can just get a few printers myself and put it in my garage, and I'll be good." The counter argument is that by having high end equipment that people couldn't buy for themselves, you can draw them in. And that's true, to a certain point. But equipment like that would drive up fees, and why would that equipment be a draw enough to spend $30-$80 a month in membership fees meaning they'd have to be high enough demand to justify the extra cost in the long term. I don't know of any equipment that would do that. I just don't see it being feasible in a rural area.

Actually, that's not entirely true. I have an idea that could work, but it would pretty much only work where I am. See, I live on the road to Zion's national park. Lots of tourist traffic. So, I set up a shop on the main strip, a couple of computers with customization projects, and a bunch of 3D printers. Let people come in, make their own keepsakes, get paid, get their address, print it off and ship it to them. Maybe eventually get a full body photogrametry 3D scanner to really drive the wow factor. And maybe have a fab-lab in the back if people want to hang out. But no monthly fees or at least no relying on that to pay the rent. And there's quite a bit of software to write for customized projects like this, but I think it could work.

Makerpsace Soldering Safety Video

https://youtu.be/oGzI1zLJ-sg

FOCUS! FOOOCUS!

Today's work project is a video for the soldering station. Shot,edited, and uploaded this very day. And I like when that happens.

But, do you see how the focus is off, or rather the focus is on the wrong thing? This is what happens when you're the camera man, editor, and talent all in one.When I check the framing on my recording rig, it looked fine for the size and distance that I was looking at. So I went and shot a great take, tore down the recording rig, set it up for editing, and only then did I notice the focus problem.

I wonder how I could find some assistance.

With this video done I've got one more safety video to do, then I'm going to do some videos to introduce people to making designs for the 3D printer and laser cutter. And then, who knows. If you have any suggestions for videos that would be perfect for the makerspace, let me know.

New safety videos for the St. George Maker Space

New Laser Cutter Safety Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uZ6U1lTSD_Q

Edited 3D Printer Safety Video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R4RtH1QNO5k

This is big week for me. If I get a video out on Friday, that will be, technically, 5 videos this week. Okay, one of those videos is a minor edit of a video I previously uploaded for the Maker Space, but it still needed to be opened up in the editing software.

The goal of these videos is to allow more people to certify, and free up my time at the maker space. It's intersting the amount of time it takes to film, edit, then document the process for a 1 hour training. Honestly, I think each of these were in the area of 12-18 hours of work. Which means until I have a dozen people going it won't pay for itself.

Oh, wait, I've already has more than a dozen people go through 3D printing. Dang, that was easy.

If you're ever in the area, stop by and say high. I'll see you at the Maker Space.

Call me the Laser Cutting Professor

Don't call me the laser cutting professor. But I am super stoked to have a laser cutter in the new Maker Space. To learn how to use it, and how to design for it, I decided to make a gear clock. The idea is that the minute hand has a small gear and the hour gear has a 12x circumference so that one full rotation of the minute gear turns the hour gear one hour. I liked TexasLaser's take on it, but having not embedded the fonts or converted them to splines, they became lost. So I edited the file, chose my own fonts to be a little more futuristic, and made my own gear clock.

Of course now that I'm looking it it, the whole thing just kinda looks like something fell down. Plus, I see that I missed a golden opportunity to brand it there in the middle. Darn it. Well, I guess I'm going to have to try again.

TexasLaser's original had 8 different line colors, line colors being the way to communicate to the laser cutter the different types of cuts you want. However, besides cutting and engraving, I don't know what other tricks you can do with a laser cutter, so I don't know why there were so many colors. Now that I'm thinking about it, maybe it's a clever way to force the order of things? Cutting the inside objects before cutting the outside? I don't know. I still have much to learn.

One thing I have to learn is about using cheap plywood. Ran into some delamination issues and I lost a number of parts. Fortunately, there were a ton of spares and since this clock didn't come with assembly instructions, I had to guess, but I think I had everything I needed.

I want to make the next clock out of plexiglass, but I'm really going to think hard about the design, so it may be a while.

January Schedule of Events for the Maker Space in the St. George Library

http://mailchi.mp/107105c9655b/january-2018-schedule-for-st-george-maker-space

Maker Space Grand Opening Report

How many time am I going to type "Makerspace" before my hands accept that it's not a word?

The St. George Library maker space is now officially open for business. Local news coverage spread the word about the space and a whole host of local people signed up. All day long I was able to answer adult's questions and help kids and adults with the activities I designed for the day.

A wall full of LED Throwies is always a good sign

For day 1 activities in a maker space, without anyone having gone through the safety training, only simple crafts without soldering or training could be used. LED throwies, duct tape ties, and lock picking are excellent activities, with the 3D printers pre-loaded with gCode for Decoder rings, 3D block zoo animals, and other quick prints that people were encouraged to take with them.

There's still a lot to do, with organizing certification classes and other classes, notifying people who have given me their e-mail addresses. Mailchimp is helping with that, though I just learned about the fact that I can (and should) have separate lists for local and global lists, which would allow me to have different landing pages. I'm still learning a lot. Maybe I should write another book for the next person who wants to run a successful maker space. I guess first, I should run a successful maker space, though.

Makerspace intro and behind the scenes video

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tZgVUw5kZAw

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5a2SLKDvYI

Let's start with the positive, shall we? That maker space intro video turned out great. exactly what I had in mind. A perfect way to launch the new channel. The only thing I forgot to say was "Make something of yourself" which is kind of my tie in with new years resolutions, and stuff. But otherwise a great video, in my humble opinion.

The new YouTube channel is for the maker space, which means there will be videos there about how to setup and use the machines, how to make designs for 3D printing, and other tutorial related stuff. In other words, if that's your jam, if that's the sort of videos you want to see on this channel, then subscribe there and ring that bell so you get notified of uploads there. I don't often make that request, but this channel will be the good stuff. No fluff. No filler. No click-bait. Just educational material. And the occasional announcement or report about local events.

The behind the scenes video, on the other hand... sometimes, you know, you're doing well just to get something together and out the door. Such is the case with that behind the scenes video. Camera, shakey. Script, non-existant. Thumbnail image? A screen cap from the video because I didn't have the presence of mind to get a better one.

I started recording the behind the scenes video without even a rough outline in my mind of what I wanted to say. I just knew I needed to drive traffic to the new channel or no one would ever see that video. But I thought of a lot of things I wanted to say after the fact. I guess that's what these posts are for. I've already mentioned subscribing to the new channel and ringing the bell to be notified when it updates. Cannot stress that enough.

The maker space grand opening is on January 6th. If you're anywhere in the area, or just passing through after that, consider stopping by, but check the website or call for hours before doing so. Right now it's a part-time gig, so we can't be open all the time.

By the way, tried that Pulfrich effect on the intro video and it totally works. Kinda blows my mind.