Raising Geeks & Gear-Heads

WE'VE MOVED THE BLOG!

2011-08-28T13:34:00.001-07:00

We've converted to wordpress, and I think you will find it MUCH better!

All old posts have been converted...no need to come back here anymore...

Please update any bookmarks to point directly to www.raisinggeeks.com

Electronics Merit Badge: Class Night #3

2011-07-20T08:50:00.000-07:00

We've been taking some of the Boy Scouts in Troop 6 through the Electronics Merit Badge. This night, we built the Electronics Merit Badge kit from www.electronicsmb.com, and did requirements testing.

Thanks to the Scouts - they were all prepared and did a GREAT job soldering their kits AND with their requirements testing. By the end of the night, we had 6 Scouts who had fully completed the requirements!

Thanks to the Parents who not only purchased the materials and gave their boys the opportunity, but also supervised their Scouts and helped with other Scouts.

Thanks to FamiLAB for loaning the soldering equipment, and to the FamiLAB members that helped prepare for the classes and instruct / supervise soldering.

Thanks to my friend and co-worker Jeff for also helping instruct, supervise, and take some photos (hey look - I'm in a photo!)

A quick inspection of a completed kit. This process allowed me to ask questions - they were completing requirements without even realizing it :)

I used this kit from Radio Shack to demonstrate Binary using a BDC to 7-segment LED integrated circuit...

Showing off his completed kit...

He learned to solder AND built his kit AND did his requirements testing on the same VERY LONG night - Love the determination!

This scout also learned to solder, built his kit, and completed his requirements testing. Great preparation!

TV Tennis kit from Radio Shack - built by an eight year-old

2011-07-17T19:55:00.000-07:00

(Updated: HD Video of game play at the bottom of the post...)

While on over the July 4th holiday, I was in Radio Shack with a friend (yeah, that's what I do on vacation...) and I saw that they'd added the Velleman soldering kits at that store. When I saw the "TV Tennis Game" kit, I heard Phineas say, "I know what we are going to do today, Ferb!"

I'd grabbed my soldering gear on the way out the door to vacation so that the boys could try out the Electronic Merit Badge kits, but now I had something even more fun to build...AND we could play it at the "Retro Arcade" event that I was hosting with the FamiLAB crew at The History Center.

We opened the kit and spread out all the parts - then I setup all the soldering gear...

Instructions - better than IKEA...

One day, I'll have my name on an integrated circuit...one day!

Ready to build!

About this time, my friend's eight year-old daughter asks if she can help... My friend & I exchanged looks, and I said, "Sure!"

She started by handing me components, and before long was trimming component leads...

She didn't want to solder, I think the fumes were concerning her, so I did the soldering with the cheap, portable iron...

By this point she was placing components AND cutting leads...

Showing how the PCB indicates diode direction...

Making good progress...the components are well organized in the packaging, and the board layout is not complex...

She's installing one of the up / down switches...

She asked if she could solder...I thought her Mom was going to fall over...

I do some basic demonstration...

And help her solder those big legs on the switches...

I need to pack kid-sized safety glasses...always...

Letting her do the solder while I hold the iron...

Now she's on her own - I'm stabilizing the board - the helping hands weren't helping, so I put my hands in the danger zone in the name of education!

She's REALLY proud at this point...

A good shot of all the siamesed pads on the PCB...and another shot of a proud girl...

We worked together to finish adding the components and power to the PCB...

Then we mounted the battery pack and the feet...

A little continuity testing to be safe...

Connected to the TV in the condo at the beach...

The game kept starting on 1 Player mode Level IV - something was wrong...

let me check the board...

There it is - a lifted solder pad with a broken trace...

Resoldering the connection and adding a jumper (component leg scrap)...

Jumper installed...

Once the game was repaired, we played for a bit, then took it to a few outings...one of the Electronics Merit Badge classes, and the Retro Arcade at The History Center...

TV Tennis game being played at The History Center's "Retro Replay"...

Next time I'll have a fancier label :)

Electronics Merit Badge: Kit from electronicsmb.com - Part 2

2011-07-17T14:29:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in a previous blog post, I'm teaching the Electronics Merit Badge for Troop 6. Since my nephew is staying with us for the summer, I gave him the option of taking the class - and he did. He soldered his kit today, after doing "Intro to Soldering" last week.

More detailed step-by-step information can be found on this post...

He built the entire kit himself, I gave him a few tips, then left him to build it. He's now ready to build his next kit, we will have to find something fun for him - given his age and amount of texting, he needs the MintyBoost that holds two CAR batteries to keep his phone charged - so a big USB charger might be just the thing...

Don't tell him that I caught him smiling on camera :)

Electronics Merit Badge: Kit from electronicsmb.com

2011-07-17T14:04:00.000-07:00

I'm teaching the Electronics Merit badge for Troop 6 this summer. We will be building a kit from www.electronicsmb.com to meet the requirements. My son is part of the class and we did his kit as a practice run... He'd only been awake for a few minutes that morning, but he was ready to go!

If you are building this kit, the instructions are here: http://electronicsmb.com/ElectronicKit.htm - look for "Class 4: Building Kit / Soldering"

Opening the bag...

Parts sorted...

Instructions ready...

The ATTINY ready to be soldered...

Carefully soldering IC pins, and commenting that Dad's Hakko iron is MUCH better than the Harbor Freight iron he started with...

Its not in his mouth, just the photo angle...

Inserting the LEDs - with the correct polarity

Inspecting the LEDs to make sure they are flush...

all the LED leads are bent over...

Someone just learned that LED leads stay hot for a while... He's not letting me see that it hurt... I feel bad, but it is an essential part of learning - I did not hold his hands - he built it himself.

Sometimes the solder gets stuck in the joint - don't remove the iron and the solder at the same time - keep the iron on the joint for another second after removing the solder...

Soldering in the resistors...

Finishing up the with the capacitor and switches...

All components installed and soldered...

Battery pack soldered - the only component that is soldered on this side of the board...

Mounted in the box...

Electronics Merit Badge: Class Night #2

2011-07-17T11:04:00.000-07:00

This summer I'm teaching the Electronics Merit badge for Boy Scout Troop 6.

The first night was almost all "book learning" with me standing in front of the group discussing the basics of electricity, current, voltage, resistance, and the different electronic components. In hindsight, it was too many slides and not enough "hands-on" - which I will change for the next time I offer this merit badge.

Night two contained some basic review, a discussion on the Binary number system and electronic gates. Once we finished that, we moved on to measurement devices and soldering - and things were much more fun!

The older scouts were off at camp this week, so we had the younger Scouts present - they did a FANTASTIC job with measurement and soldering - I was very impressed.

First, the boys used multimeters to measure voltage from a AA battery and one of the completed Electronic Merit badge kits. Then they measured resistance of some loose resistors.

Next, we covered soldering basics using the material in the BSA Electronics Merit badge book, and the Soldering is Easy comic by Mitch Altman and MightOhm that local group FamiLAB uses to teach soldering to children and adults. FamiLAB provided the soldering gear from their classes...if you live in Central Florida and want to learn to solder - check out their classes page...

I found some SLA battery charging circuits at Skycraft Surplus, so each boy was able to examine the circuit, then remove components from it...

My friend and coworker Jeff signed up as a Merit Badge counselor to help me facilitate the class - Thanks, Jeff!

While at Skycraft, I also picked up some small perfboards and some inexpensive ICs for the boys to practice their soldering. The Electronics Merit Badge kit contains an IC, so I wanted them to be ready to soldering it in the next class.

My boy decided his MakerFaire shirt would be perfect for a soldering class...I must agree :)

My nephew is staying with us for the summer, and he's sitting in on the class and learning along with the Boy Scouts...

Brian Enochs brought a circuit board from an old TV and a pump desoldering iron so the boys could remove components from it...

Thanks to the boys who participated in the class, and the adults who stayed to help the boys learn. Stay tuned for more fun with this group!

Retro Arcade at The History Center

2011-07-17T10:07:00.000-07:00

The "Retro Arcade" event at The History Center was a huge success - my family had a great time, as did the other FamiLAB members, their families, and the History Center visitors. Check out the fun with the FamiLAB blog post...

Games People Play - Orange County Regional History Center and FamiLAB "Hands-On" Retro-Gaming Event

2011-06-29T17:17:00.000-07:00

The Orange County Regional History Center is running an exhibit called "Games People Play - The Evolution of Video Games" from July through September.

I've provided a few items from my personal 8-bit video game and computer collection - AND - I'm happy to say that the History Center is partnering with FamiLAB for a "hands-on" day, Saturday, July 16th from 11pm to 3pm. The History Center's event page is here.

I hope you will come out and join us for some retro-nostalgia - and check out the rest of the History Center while you are there. If you haven't been before, it is the site of the old courthouse, across the street from the downtown branch of the Public Library.

Determination: Required Trait for 3D Printer Owners

2011-06-25T18:47:00.000-07:00

After my meltdown earlier in the week, I borrowed ANOTHER hot end, and this time, did some printing!

Of course, RepSnapper died about 20% through the print, so I didn't get a complete cube, but this is major progress.

I'm also now able to detect some of the finer issues - still having slippage on the X-Axis pulley, and the Z endstop was set too high. I'll keep at it - Determination is a required trait for 3D printer owners!

New Kitteh

2011-06-25T05:29:00.000-07:00

Apparently the chaos knob in our household wasn't quite to 11 yet. My soft-hearted wife (don't let that tough girl exterior fool you...) brought home a new kitten this week.

She was abandoned somewhere near my wife's office - She's missing a foot (but has 4 legs), but otherwise is very healthy.

She is still unnamed - but given the big "M" in stripes on her forehead I suspect she will get a name that starts with M. Someone suggested "meter" (just over 3 feet...get it...) and another suggested "minus" - while "minus" is pretty cute and goes well with our dog "Cygnus", I'm still not sure about a name that highlights a physical deformity.

Time for some "awwww" pics...

So far she's adventurous, and likes to explore, but pretty quickly finds a corner and hangs out there.

She found a gap that led into the filler panel of our bathroom vanity yesterday morning - that was about a 30 minute extraction process to get her to the Vet on time.

Time to build some kitty-likes-to-chase-small-things robots! :)

Living on "The Melting Edge"

2011-06-23T18:44:00.000-07:00

Notice anything wrong with these pictures??

So far my RepRap experience is - receive parts, assemble parts, break parts, order more parts, repeat...

Tonight, from the time I opened the box with the new heat core until I was ordering more parts - 33 minutes.

Installed the heat core, built the hot end, let it hit temperature, then did a test print. Something was off, so I stopped it. about 20 seconds later, white smoke comes out of the nozzle. By the time I pulled the plug, this was the damage. The insulator is melted to the barrel and the heat core. The heat core was cracked, and didn't survive my attempts to free it.

I know 6 people with 3D printers - both MakerBots and RepRaps - at the moment, none of them are working - I think I'll call this being on the "melting edge" instead of "bleeding edge".

I knew this would be an adventure, just need to rebuild the enthusiasm a bit. Luckily the folks at MakerGear are awesome AND fast.

8-bit Nostalgia

2011-06-14T04:53:00.000-07:00

In 2005, I was looking for new ways to get my team at work to embrace their inner geeks - and I remembered how fondly people talked about their first computer, which in many cases was an 8-bit home computer before PCs made their way into the home.

Over the next few months, I set off to build a mini collection from craigslist and eBay - collecting up bits of circuit and plastic that would give someone I worked with 10 minutes of joy as they relieved their first computing experiences.

A few months ago, my 11 year old asked, "How do you learn to program computers?" - I pulled out the C64, the disk drive, the monitor, and a few books. Within minutes, he was coding in BASIC and calling over the rest of the family to see his creations.

I'm in discussions with a local museum to display these 8-bit computers as part of an upcoming exhibit. I pulled them all out & took some quick pictures - I thought I'd post them in case you wanted to find a few minutes of nostalgic joy with me. BTW, if you live in Central Florida and want to play with one or all of these, send me a note, I'm happy to share.

(I also have some PC stuff, old handheld games & video game consoles - but that is an entirely different post!)

These are in order of my ownership or encounters with them as a kid.

The Timex Sinclair 1000 was my first computer. I wanted the VIC-20, but my grandfather received a Timex Sinclair 1000 FREE for taking a timeshare tour. Using the Timex Sinclair was torture - that keyboard was painful, and with the 16k ram expander inserted, you had to tape down the CPU to keep it from tipping backward!

Wow.

It is as small as it looks. No, it is actually smaller.

I love a keyboard with BASIC keywords on it.

Ahhh, the VIC-20. My first "real" computer. I remember that a friend had the 16k RAM expander, so I would write programs in segments, then go to his house to pull them all into RAM at once, then test them. I had to go to his house to run the programs after that. I couldn't tell you what I was writing, only that I needed more RAM!

Yes, that label does instruct you to type SYS 32592 - IIRC you needed to restart the VIC without the BASIC emulator in order to have enough RAM for the game.

Tape drives - simple, and somewhat effective. I didn't have this model as a kid.

This was the tape drive I remember.

Prepackaged software even came on cassette.

A Jr. High friend (One of the smartest people I've ever met, need to find him again...) had an ATARI 400 - I remember entire nights of playing Ghostbusters on his ATARI 400.

These computers all had VERY distinctive looks. I the ATARI 400 design could have influenced the movie TRON IMHO.

And the ATARI 400 had METAL in it. That cartridge slot HAD to be MILSPEC!

The kid that lived behind my grandparents (where I spent summers) had a TI-99/4A - I'd take the VIC-20 down to my grandparents house, but since they only had one TV, I'd go to his house when my Grandmother's soaps came on.

After some time with the VIC-20, I begged for a C64, and some combination of raking leaves, saving and begging allowed me to obtain a used one. I slowly built up a full system like you see here. I even had the VIC line printer... I had a good friend in the next neighborhood that also had a C64, so we'd pool our disk drives to "backup" software. The C64 also brought my first model - a 300 baud VIC modem - MANUAL dial. I still can't believe my mother let me drag that long phone cord back to my room so often...

I never owned a "COCO", but a good friend in High School had one, and it was also the first home computer of several coworkers.

Some manufacturers couldn't accept the ATARI joystick as the standard...these analog sticks were great for some games, but terrible for others...

Solar Powered Camping - Lessons Learned

2011-06-12T05:17:00.000-07:00

Lessons learned from the Solar Powered Camping project

Constraints help!:

It needs to power a tent fan for a few hours a night (all night would be GREAT, but a few hours minimum)
We had to make it fit in the locking Rubbermaid tote bin with all his other camping gear
It needs to be lightweight, and durable enough to with stand the packing / unpacking / setup process
An 11 year old needs to be capable of setup / teardown with a minimum of adult help
We had a deadline (we knew the day he headed to camp!)

Be flexible, a better design often emerges:

We designed the solar panel stand "on-the-fly" and a great design (SIMPLE manual tilt) emerged while we were playing with fittings.
A better, less expensive, and smaller battery option proved to be best. (see below for more...)

Prototyping close to the store (or in their parking lot!) can save lots of driving, gasoline, and frustration

We setup in the Lowe's parking lot, and made 3 return trips inside for additional fittings. Even if I'd purchased extra (good practice), I still would not have thought to grab the fittings we needed.

Don't forget Ohm's law

I'd done my calculations on runtime, etc. using the current draw from the Coleman camping fan / light, and the capacity of batteries. When we decided to do an "experiment" to see how long the fan would run, it ran for twice the time. I'd forgotten that the Coleman fan was a 6v fan (everything else was 12v). It was using half the POWER that I thought it was using...

Electronic solar chargers exist for a reason!

Overvolt protection, Undervolt protection, battery voltage sensing, battery type charging logic, temperature compensation - these things all maximize the little current available from the solar panel. Any other solar project will include an electronic solar charger.

Bigger isn't always better

I'd selected this big 7Ah sealed lead acid battery to maximize runtime. Problem is, this battery takes a VERY long time to charge if run down too far (undervolt). The fans do not have an auto-shutoff timer, so taking the battery all the way down overnight is very likely.
We decided to go with the smaller Coleman rechargeable batteries that fit right in the back of the fan. They are 6v batteries, and even when run down, the solar panel could full charge them in a day.
The smaller size also allowed him to take 2 of them, which automatically means two nights of charge as he heads to camp - and a backup if he has a problem charging one day.

Verify Specs, manufacturers take too many liberties

The "12v" solar panel output 24v. It is current limited (by the panel's efficiency), but still. We added an LM317 voltage regulator. An electronic solar charger would be better in the future...
The panel said that it had power-drain protection (assumed a diode...) - but I found nothing. We added a diode.

Solar Powered Camping - Setup & Teardown Process

2011-06-11T15:33:00.000-07:00

Basic setup & teardown instructions for the Solar Powered Camping Project...

A pile of parts!

Drive in the bottom post (has pointed tip)

Push in the top of the post (use the mallet if needed!)

Rotate the attachment fitting if needed

Place onto post

Rotate until it is flat

Unpack solar panel

Place solar panel onto stand

Turn the top fittings to secure the panel

Aim toward sun (make menacing look towards the adult with the camera)

Unpack connectors (towel keeps them out of the dirt)

Connect the 12v power socket to the solar panel

Plug the 12v charger into the socket

Lift the rubber cap on the battery

Plug the charger into the battery

The light is red when charging, green when charged - but leave on the charger as LONG as possible!

Mount the fan

TO PACK IT...

Turn the safety fittings, remove the panel, place on towel

Wrap neatly back in the towel

Put the excess towel on the GLASS side!

Please it back in the PVC holder for safe transport

Solar Powered Camping

2011-06-10T04:01:00.000-07:00

We've been working on a project for my older son's Boy Scout Camp trip that starts June 12th. He has a week of VERY hot nights coming, and a tent fan is recommended, but I didn't like the idea of buying 2-4 D batteries per night of camping. We decided to build the "Solar Powered Camping" project - it contains a 12v 5w solar panel, a custom stand made from PVC (in the LOWES parking lot to save return trips!), a sealed lead acid battery, and a Coleman camping fan / light. There were (still are!) quite a few unknowns, but it seemed like a fun thing to work on together.

We still have work to do before he leaves for camp - for now I'll just share some video tests we did using this project as something to present - please ignore the sound of the air conditioner, the references to items off screen, and me taking a phone call from Mom during the shot...this was a test for us to see if we wanted to do more video for raisinggeeks.com - and the good news is that we both had fun - so look forward to some better produced videos, coming soon!

We will also fully document the project once he gets back from camp, and he can also share the results of our efforts...

Spy Net Real Tech Night Vision - Toy? Review

2011-06-09T20:44:00.000-07:00

While in Radio Shack last week, my 11 year old BEGGED me for a pair of these:

They were $32.99, and I assumed that this "toy", like most, didn't work nearly as well as it appeared on the packaging. I talked him out of them in the store, but made a mental note to research them later.

We've had good luck with Jakks Pacific toys in the past (especially the Phineas & Ferb game we used as part of an MBA class presentation with the boys!). I came home and read a few Amazon reviews - most of them said something like - "these really work, I can't believe they are a toy!" I was about to order 2 of them, when I realized that Radio Shack had a great price on them. Amazon, my go-to vendor was $45+. I decided I'd swing back by Radio Shack this week to grab them.

Wednesday was the last day of school for the boys, and I decided that every elementary school kid needs night vision to celebrate their ability to stay up late for the next 104 days of summer vacation. (If you didn't know there are 104 days of summer vacation, you need to watch more Phineas & Ferb!)

The boys were surprised - and they immediately informed me that they were going to spy on the neighbor kid. We had a discussion about privacy (and the penalty for "spying" on your parents...) and sent them off to dark rooms of the house.

Overall, the boys love them - they work surprisingly well (for $32.99!) They have a bit of magnification to them, so I recommended that they not try to walk around with them on.

Here is a some good pic of the binoculars...they look just as "awesome" in person (according to my boys!)

Big Geek & Little Geeks Recommended (Especially at $32.99 at Radio Shack!)

R2D2 is in TROUBLE - Game Review

2011-06-04T08:46:00.000-07:00

Monday is Board Game Day in my 8 year old's classroom. The school year is almost over, and they are going to have a little fun while the class is still together. We were out shopping last night for an upcoming project (we are building a solar-recharging tent fan & light for the 11 year old's Boy Scout Summer Camp week...) and we grabbed this new version of the classic "TROUBLE" game by Hasbro.

The game board contains Star Wars elements including R2D2 and Clone Wars animated characters

The blue and yellow pieces are "The Good Guys"

The red and green are "Separatists and Droids"

The highlight of the game is the R2D2 "popper" in the center. It has a mini R2D2 and when pressed it makes R2D2 sounds

If R2D2 lands "on his feet" then you get an ADDITIONAL 6 moves!

This game is REALLY AWESOME!!!

The boys (and Mom!) had lots of fun playing, and it should be a hit on Monday :)

Big Geek, Little Geeks & Mom recommended!

Maker Faire Bay Area 2011 - Vehicles!

2011-05-28T12:58:00.000-07:00

My son and I were amazed at the diversity of exhibits at Maker Faire - here are some pictures of a few of the vehicles we saw (not including the LEGO Van which was in the LEGO! post, and the LEGO Jeep which we didn't photograph for some reason)...

Electric Powered Stagecoach

I should have gone to see what was in that trunk...

Loved this Zeppelin

The original "Beetle"

There was a cool backstory on this one - it is a chariot pulled by a robot, and IIRC, it was solar powered. Made by a race car maker, but I don't remember the details...

Why not?!

The bicycle squeeze horn is a nice touch...

They put powered wheelchair motors in these...I had a nice conversation with the woman who made this one, she was quite proud of it. She had to rework the folding mechanism to make it work...

That cannot be light...

This awesome on / off road racer was one of the few street vehicles at Maker Faire...

I didn't get a good shot of the car - this one is from their website

Maker Faire Bay Area 2011 - Mega Post

2011-05-28T12:30:00.000-07:00

I've been doing smaller blog posts as I get through all the photos and reflect with my son. I've told everyone I've met this week about Maker Faire - and when they say "that sounds awesome!", I share our plans to bring a little bit of the awesome back to Central Florida.

Here's the list (in rough chronological order of events)

Pre Maker Faire:
What is a Maker
Off to Maker Faire

At Maker Faire:
Friday Night
LEGO!
The State of Arduino from Massimo Banzi
Life Size MouseTrap
Vehicles!
Arc Attack + Mike Rowe + Adam Savage

[More to come!]

Maker Faire Bay Area 2011 - Arc Attack + Mike Rowe + Adam Savage

2011-05-28T10:01:00.000-07:00

My 11 year old son & I attended Maker Faire Bay Area 2011 recently. When people asked why we were going, I typically mentioned 3 things that I thought they could recognize. Most people know Mike Rowe from the show Dirty Jobs, Adam Savage from Mythbusters, and some have heard of Arc Attack from their time on America's Got Talent. On Sunday morning, we had an action-packed few hours with a mixture of all three!

Note: This is a long post - if you get bored, scroll down to the videos of Mike Rowe and Adam Savage each having their turn in the Arc Attack Faraday cage...

You can learn more about Arc Attack at their website - www.arcattack.com

At Maker Faire, they were in the "dark" hall - we were surprised to find such a large dark space, but it was PERFECT for all the LED projects and the giant Tesla coils on the main stage. Arc Attack seemed to be playing on the hour - they were constantly picking people from the crowd to put into their large Faraday cage. Below are some pics of one of their performances...

Yes, he's wearing a special suit!

There were thousands of people crammed into the hall for every Arc Attack performance...

Mike Rowe told the crowd he wants to make a show about Makers called "Shut Up and Make It!"

The whole thing made for a great network pitch move - "look how many people were there for the announcement!"

Mike took questions from the crowd like "Will the new show be on Discovery Channel?" That one seemed waaaay too convenient...but effective...

This girl asked if she could hug Mike. "With a hat like that, of course!"

Apparently she makes those kitteh hats...

This girl asked Mike a tough question, so he called her out to the front of the stage. Hmmm, that's two of them - maybe Mike has realized Geek Girls are pretty awesome!

Surrender the microphone, Mike - you are headed into the Faraday cage!

I shot some video, but this youtube video has a better perspective...and they captured the banter before and after his time in the Faraday cage...

Later, Arc Attack took some audience members based on their pledge to dance for the crowd while in the cage...

Adam Savage made his 4th? appearance at Maker Faire, commenting that he didn't know he was on the front of the program guide...

He read inspirational passages from some of his favorite books. I appreciated the content, but it was tough to follow without having the passages on screen. He had a tough time managing the mic and the various books too. I was amazed my son stayed with it, but he seemed to enjoy it. Luckily, FORA.tv was there, and I can watch it again and look up the references...

We'd been standing there for close to 2 hours when Adam started taking questions. My son asked if we "had to stay for questions" - and I took that opportunity to duck out. We missed seeing Adam Savage in the Faraday cage, but luckily youtube had it readily available, and FORA.tv also has it... Enjoy!

Maker Faire Bay Area 2011 - LEGO!

2011-05-25T17:48:00.000-07:00

And now for my guest blogger - My oldest son...

At Maker Faire, there was a Lego van, and it was AWESOME!

I put on the red guy with no head...

Then I put a Lego piece on the front and I talked to the owner of the Lego van. I told him about all the Lego pieces on his van that I have.

In this pic, I'm looking at a Lego city. It is completely WICKED!

I especially liked the skyscrapers in the back.

They don't make that Spiderman anymore...

Look at that basketball court!

They even had the Sta-puft marshmellow man from Ghostbusters

Maker Faire Bay Area 2011 - Life Size MouseTrap

2011-05-25T16:11:00.000-07:00

Everyone has a "larger than life" idea at some point - yet most don't pursue them. Mark Perez had a LIFE SIZE idea, and well, he built it!

Remember this little board game?

Now it needs its own semi trailer!

There are TONS of youtube videos that are better than what I shot, here's a great example...

Pick me! Pick me!

One of the "mice"

If you couldn't make it to Maker Faire Bay Area 2011, don't fret, the Life Size Mousetrap team raised enough money on kickstarter to also visit the Detroit and New York Maker Faires... and they just launched another kickstarter campaign to fund their adventures after that... Life Size MouseTrap on KickStarter

Maker Faire Bay Area 2011 - Arduino - Massimo Banzi

2011-05-25T15:46:00.000-07:00

My older son & I hit Maker Faire in the Bay Area this past weekend. I intended to blog from there, but there was SO much to do that we decided it could wait until we were home...

We've used the Arduino platform in quite a few projects, and I gave my son his "own" Arduino for prototyping on his last birthday. He was excited to hear from Massimo Banzi, the most visible member of the Arduino team.

Massimo covered "The State of Arduino" which really was an overview of the community (web stats) and "official" board sales...

He also covered the opening of the Arduino store (open now), the release of the Arduino ethernet (June 17th) - has POE support, Arduino wifi shield (July 4th) - sounds like the processor is hackable leading to custom protocol support without adding code to the host Arduino, the MegaADK for Android (June / July?), then Arduino 1.0 in September (sketchy details...)

After the big update, my son went up to talk to Massimo. He couldn't fight off the Arduino fanboys though, and after about 10 minutes of waiting, we bailed. It was one of the few times he didn't get to talk to a maker or speaker, so I don't think it had a lasting impression. Maker Faire isn't just kid-friendly, it is KID-ENABLING.

Maker Faire - Friday night

2011-05-21T07:01:00.000-07:00

Hanging out in LAX with George

A FAMiLab member and great guy, Dave hooked us up with super VIP passes to get in on the setup night and see a few things before the crowds on Saturday...

Colossus is COLOSSAL!

"I have super strength!!"

This swing had lots of crazy stuff at the top, but it wasn't powered up, so he enjoyed it the old-fashioned way...

Two guys pedaling to power it, one guy playing sit-up but what is it?

May 20th: Off to Maker Faire!!!

2011-05-20T07:19:00.000-07:00

I'm flying to Maker Faire today with the 11 year old. This should be quite the adventure...

Want to know more about Maker Faire? Visit www.makerfaire.com, or check out the mini event guide (the full one is >60 pages)!

We will be blogging from the road...stay tuned!

What is a Maker?

2011-05-17T04:33:00.000-07:00

As I'm heading to Maker Faire in California this week, I've been asked a few times - "What is a Maker?"

This article from the NY Times explains it well - The Kitchen Table Industrialists

Excerpt from the article:

If you lived in Detroit in 1961 and watched Alfred Hitchcock’s “Psycho” at a drive-in, you might have caught a 30-minute trailer called “American Maker,” sponsored by Chevrolet. “Of all things Americans are, we are makers,” its narrator began, over footage of boys building sand castles. “With our strengths and our minds and spirit, we gather, we form and we fashion: makers and shapers and put-it-togetherers.”

Fifty years on, the American maker is in a bad way. Such is the state of American industry that waste paper is among the top 10 exports to China, behind nuclear equipment but far ahead of traditional mainstays like iron and steel. Manufacturing employment has fallen by a third in the last decade alone, with more than 40,000 factories shutting down. More Americans today are unemployed than are wage-earning “put-it-togetherers.” But the American romance with making actual things is going through a resurgence. In recent years, a nationwide movement of do-it-yourself aficionados has embraced the self-made object. Within this group is a quixotic band of soldering, laser-cutting, software-programming types who, defying all economic logic, contend that they can reverse America’s manufacturing slump. America will make things again, they say, because Americans will make things — not just in factories but also in their own homes, and not because it’s artisanal or faddish but because it’s easier, better for the environment and more fun.

What makes this notion something less than complete fantasy is the availability of new manufacturing machines that are cheap, simple and compact enough for small companies, local associations and even amateur hobbyists to own and operate. What once only big firms with hulking factories could fabricate can now be made in a basement or by e-mailing a design to an online factory-for-hire. These machines can produce all sorts of things, including plastic pencil holders, eyeglass frames and MP3 players.

Makers, as they call themselves, can’t compete with the long, orderly rows of workers from the poorer provinces of China or India who cut, stitch and solder bras, shoes and cellphones for pennies — or even with the hundreds of billions of dollars a year worth of stuff that continues to pour out of large, old-fashioned American factories. Their method involves creating “hacker space” cooperatives, where a few dozen members share a 3-D printer, a laser cutter and an oscilloscope and engage in collaborative manufacturing projects. Makers have created companies like Shapeways and CloudFab, which for a fee will manufacture small runs of products that you design. They are becoming kit makers like Bdeir, manufacturing building blocks that allow others to create things.

Neil Gershenfeld, an M.I.T. physicist who is an intellectual godfather to the maker movement, suggested to me that the new tools would over time change global industry as we know it. He predicts a wave of new competitors for the megacorporation that designs, makes and sells products all under one brand. Instead, Gershenfeld imagines a consumer of the near future downloading a design for a mobile phone through an iTunes-like portal; buying an add-on from another firm that tweaks the design; and having it printed at a neighborhood shop in a plastic shell of your choice.

The new personal factories may seem like crude toys for only the most die-hard D.I.Y.-ers. But in technology circles, they are talked about as a looming revolution that could change the way people work and create new opportunities for millions. Personal factories can perhaps be compared to the earliest personal computers — versions of their giant counterparts that are drastically cheaper but also slower and more clumsy. This futuristic vision is the one that the White House endorsed in a recent report on personal manufacturing: “Within a generation, you will have a hard time explaining to your grandchildren how you were able to live without your own fabber,” it said, using a popular word for the new manufacturing tools. “Personal-fabrication technologies present an opportunity for our nation to continue to lead the rest of the world in manufacturing, but in a new way.”

Of course, I can't say all that to people when they ask, so I typically answer - "Garage Inventor" - people who explore the possibilities of what they can dream up and build using their minds and tools, and the minds and tools of their friends...

If they are still paying attention at that point, I _attempt_ to explain that a Hackerspace is not a den of evil...

2011 Central Florida Scout Show - Pics from the Scout Show

2011-05-08T19:11:00.000-07:00

My boys & led the design and operation of this years Pack 6 booth at the Central Florida Scout show.

Given that we are self-proclaimed geeks & gear-heads, doing a booth about gears seemed only natural.

I've previously posted about our adventures building a 3-speed Lego NXT robot-based transmission with clutch, building a mini mobile billboard, and laser-cutting some souvenir gears- now for some pics of the big day...

Get out a camera, and watch what happens...this is the view from the backside of our view. Candy is playing treasurer for all the fundraising cards & my older son and our Pack's Committee Chair are hanging a banner...

He's crossed over into the Troop, but he was HUGE help to the Pack (and ME!) at the Scout Show

Big dude showing off the transmission...

Little dude showing off the transmission...

Big dude has a future in sales...

Big dude answering questions...

My younger son doing his part to demonstrate the different kinds of gears...he even noticed that one of the gears was a combination helical and spur. He was so proud when he ran over to tell me!

The transmission ran CONSTANTLY that day. I finally gave up on the rechargeable batteries and wired it to my bench power supply that I'd grabbed on the way out the door.

This bent binder clip saved the day when I decided to ditch the batteries and run the NXT transmission off the power supply. I _should_ have pre-built this, but luckily I made it work at the show. Thanks to Paul for having a binder clip!

2011 Central Florida Scout Show - Laser-cut Gear Souvenirs

2011-05-08T15:03:00.000-07:00

I've been wanting to learn to use the laser cutter at FAMiLab, and the Gears theme for our 2011 Scout Show booth was a PERFECT excuse to cut some acrylic.

I was shopping for acrylic rod for the FAMiLab GGHC project, and when I asked, the nice people at Laird Plastics gave me some scrap acrylic to use for the Scout Show.

I downloaded a gear design from thingiverse, then added "PACK 6" and "2011" to the gear. Each gear is approx two inches across. The pics here show them with the blue protective backing still on the gear. If I'd had more time & knowledge, I would have engraved the text, but my first try took >30 minutes to do 6 gears and I didn't have the or 3 days it would have taken to cut the 100+ gears that I wanted.

In the end, we cut just over 100 gears in the 4 hours we were at the lab. We gave them to the Pack 6 Cub Scouts that participated, their parents, and people that were very interested in gears. You should have seen their faces when we said - "we cut them with a LASER" :)

I think my helper for the day liked them too - he kept 10 or 12 of them for his efforts...and I couldn't talk him out of them.

This is the Full Spectrum Engineering 40w "hobby" laser cutter we used at FAMiLab..

You can see the design file on the screen. Since I had thin strips of scrap and a 12" bed length, I could only cut 12 at a time.

Cutting acrylic STINKS and so we both wore respirators, and were ventilating the space...

2011 Central Florida Scout Show - Building a Mini Mobile Billboard

2011-05-08T14:48:00.000-07:00

For the Pack 6 Scout Show booth about Gears - we built a Mini Mobile Billboard - aka a sign on a remote control car :)

You can see the car on the table here - we used it to keep our Scouts amused and to draw visitors to the booth during some of the slower periods of the day...

We started with a cool remote control car - its has 4 wheel drive, and the wheels pivot flat instead of turning left to right. (See the last pic) It has a clear bottom and a LOT of gears are visible - PERFECT for a booth about gears.

We cut some foamcore, put blue tape on the car and then hot-glued the foamcore to the blue tape. The "hot glue to blue tape" trick is getting lots of use around here lately...then we made a powerpoint slide with gears on it, and varied it for the curvature of the car body on each side of the sign.

The car was a bit hit, and brought people to the booth every time. More pics below...

2011 Central Florida Scout Show

2011-04-25T06:16:00.000-07:00

My boys and I are participating in the 2011 Central Florida Scout Show on April 30th at UCF Stadium.

If you live in Central Florida, you've likely seen the billboards, or bought fundraiser discount cards from a Cub or Boy Scout.

My boys & I are running the booth for Cub Scout Pack 6 - the booths are intended to show Scouts and local visitors about the Scouting experience. I'm a big believer in the educational side of Scouting, and love that they have science and engineering in the program very early. With that in mind, our Scout Show booth will be all about GEARS! To make it appealing for this age group, we will be teaching about gears using LEGO GEARS and LEGO ROBOTS!

I'll use this blog post for updates since the show is a week away and we are now in execution mode.

Yesterday, we used some family time to create a 3-speed transmission with a clutch using the Lego NXT set. We used the plans and code from nxtprograms.com - if you have a Lego NXT robot, you MUST check out this site - we've had many awesome building sessions with their plans.

Here are some pics of my older son building the transmission with his grandfather & me. We used our normal system - I stage parts by section number, he builds. I generally only get to build if he gets really stuck - he takes great pride in being the Lego Master of the house...

More soon...

A nice little diversion...

2011-04-21T04:34:00.000-07:00

Just when I thought I had my spring projects planed out, I met a group of local "maker" types at a group called FAMiLab. The people at FAMiLab run the geek spectrum from "makers" to networking guys, artists, etc. I went to meet them a few weeks ago since they have a reprap and while I was there, they were discussing the Great Global Hackerspace Challenge (GGHC) sponsored by element14. I'm not a huge fan of the term "Hackerspace" since the general public still thinks that "hacking" is an illegal act, but the wikipedia definition for Hackerspace captures the right spirit:

A hackerspace or hackspace (also referred to as a hacklab, makerspace or creative space) is a location where people with common interests, usually in computers, technology, science or digital or electronic art can meet, socialise and/or collaborate. A hackerspace can be viewed as an open community labs incorporating elements of machine shops, workshops and/or studios where hackers can come together to share resources and knowledge to build and make things.

I started brainstorming with the FAMiLab group one night on their project for the GGHC, and well, now I'm part of the team.

There are ~30 worldwide hackerspaces entering projects. The primary requirements for the project are:

Supports education
Uses a microcontroller
Uses a portable power source

There are some other judging criteria that include:

Reproducibility
Cost of the design
Documentation
Creativity

Three semi-finalists will be closen the week of May 2nd, and then these three semi-finalists get to present their device to a panel of celebrity judges at...Maker Faire :)

Rather than explain what it is here, check out the new website (its a work-in-progress) at www.sensingplatform.org.

We also now have a git repo, and some slideware here.

I'll use the space below to capture some of the things I've learned on this project:
1) Writing Arduino Libraries

This seems very simple, but it will test your C++ skills. Specifically the Wire library uses callbacks, and doing the callbacks into member functions of my library class...ug.
#includes - they don't work in libraries in the Arduino build environment. Why is beyond me, but they don't work. Your end sketch must have your library includes AND any includes that your library needs as well.
Your library code must be in ../[arduino-ide-folder]/libraries to be compiled and included. This makes working using a source repository like git a little more complicated. I used windows symlinks to create a folder under libraries that pointed to my rep library folder.

2) Git - I know about version control, but rarely work on software with others. It is pretty awesome to be able to work on shared source without having to email and play the "did you make changes" game.

3) ...more to come

April 17th: Indy Racing Experience

2011-04-17T18:15:00.000-07:00

My family gave me the Indy Racing Experience for Christmas... I scheduled it for this weekend hoping for nice weather, and it was VERY nice.

The whole family went along, and they let the boys right by the car as I was getting strapped in...

All suited up!

Sure looks fast...

Posing for the picture that you KNOW you are going to buy at the end of your "experience"...

The sun was in their eyes - they were excited...

"Is now a good time to tell you I need to go to the bathroom?" :)

On my extra lap - apparently the instructor didn't see the checkered flag, so we took one more spin...

Done soooo soon...

So in the end, it was a LOT of fun. Very exciting even at only 135 mph max speed. I averaged a little over 105 for all my laps - you follow the instructor and he slows down if you get too close - and I did a few times :)

I was a little disappointed to hear that its a motorcycle engine, not a de-tuned INDY motor. The biggest surprise was NO SHIFTING. They were breaking clutches too often, so they start you in 5th gear and give you a push... Oh well...at least I didn't have to worry about screwing up the gear...

It was an awesome present, I'm a very lucky man :)

April 10th: MakerGear Prusa Mendel Kit - Build Day #3

2011-04-10T20:23:00.000-07:00

I bounced around today, working on things as I figured out what parts went where. I'm sure it took much more time than it needed to, but it was fun anyway.

Today's work was on 4 major subsystems:

1) RAMPS electronics

2) MakerGear Stepper Plastruder

3) EndStops

4) Heated Build Platform

Remaining work:
1) Servo wiring
2) Hot End build & wiring
3) Heated Print bed thermistor install
4) RAMPS mounting
5) Power supply setup & connections
6) Use the green high-temp wiring for the heated build platform. Oops.
7) Pull the $#*$ X-idler and put in the rear fine adjustment screw I missed.

Tons of pics below, with brain-dumps in the comments for now. I need to help improve the community documentation soon, these brain-dumps will help.

RAMPS - I started the RAMPS build a few weeks ago. Someone else was taking pics, so I don't have the beginning shots...

This is where I'd stopped a few weeks ago...

Soldering the Pololu drivers - no, I wasn't following the instructions here, I had other things to finish on the RAMPS board, but I figured this was some easy soldering to get out of the way...

Another Pololu...

Look

Added the caps...

Adding the MOSFETs

Adding the fuse. I DID NOT install the optional diode.

Add caption

I pulled the jumpers & did lots of continuity testing looking for bad soldering...

Installed on the MEGA...

The MakerGear RAMPS kit (the 3 1k resistors are for the endstops, oops)

Fully populated RAMPS and a bare RAMPS board...

Adding the heatsinks provided by MakerGear

Yes, I did debate heatsink orientation with myself for a minute or two...

All heatsinks installed...

MakerGear Stepper Plastruder

My stepper extruder motor was backordered, thats why it isn't shown here. Luckily someone VERY COOL loaned me one until mine gets here...

Example of the print quality for some of the RP parts. Not great, but should be functional. Gives me something to print later...

I guessed on this part...

Hope this is right :)

Once I built it to this part, I had a MUCH better understanding of how it worked. I was so used to seeing WADE'S extruders, I couldn't quite figure out what was happening in the pics...

Endstops - this was a bit of a puzzle figuring out what went where...by using the pics and pestering MG|Rick, I think i've got it...yesterday's build pics show the locations of the RP parts on the printer, these are mostly closeups of the mounting / wiring...

I cutoff about 4" from the endstop wires. Cutting off nicely crimped connectors pains me, but this seemed like the right thing to do. I then tinned & soldered the bare wire directly to the microswitches. I found the wiring notes here:

http://groups.google.com/group/makergear/browse_thread/thread/d8c926dc96f6b98d?pli=1

I used shrink-tubing and the heat gun to clean up the connections...

I will use approx 2.3 million wireties before this thing is done. I tend to be obsessive with wire routing - too much time running wire with my buddy Lou who likes the wires nice & tidy :)

Heated Build Platform - this took some time. I REALLY should have traced the holes for the platform before I built the Y-Carriage. Oh well.

MG|Rick - "socket -> board -> spring -> nut -> space -> nut -> carriage -> nut"
My version - "socket -> board -> washer -> spring -> washer -> nut -> space -> nut -> carriage -> nut
Later, when I asked, the nice locking nylon nuts are in the kit for the build platform.

I'll switch to the nylon locking nuts later...

Always good to make polarity OBVIOUS

Remove the tape covering over the solder pads

My FIRST surface-mount soldering!

Those LEDs were NOT easy to hold in place while soldering!

I went with the suggested plan of an LED that lights with either polarity. I think I'll swap out the reverse polarity LED later with a RED one, but its good for now...

[Replace image once the high-temp green wire is used]

Shrink tubing is good. A little red electrical tape indicating the positive wire can't hurt either :)
[Replace image once the high-temp green wire is used]

I used two sizes of shrink tubing to make a nice jacket for the connector.
[Replace image once the high-temp green wire is used]

[Replace image once the high-temp green wire is used]

A quick bench test - the heated print bed pulling approx 10A at 12v. It warmed up quickly. I didn't get out the temp probe, I just let it get too hot to touch and unplugged it...

April 10th: MakerGear Instructions Links

2011-04-10T06:04:00.000-07:00

I'm tired of hunting around for instructions, so this is my summary link page...thanks to all those who have documented these items!

Gary Hodgson's Visual Prusa Instructions

Brock Tice's Maker Gear Prusa Mendel Instructions (Differences from the Visual Prusa Instructions)

MakerGear Stepper Plastruder Instructions (and links to build the HotEnd, BrutHead Filament drive, etc)

MakerGear Flickr Photostream

MakerGear Critical Photos - PRINT THESE BIG and KEEP THEM NEAR! I've linked to the "all sizes" page for each photo - once I realized you could download / print them at "original" size, I could then make out MUCH more detail...

(More links after the photos...)

http://www.flickr.com/photos/makergear/5559963697/sizes/z/in/photostream/
Note: you can see the Y-endstop in this pic on the left side smooth Y-axis rod at the back. The X-endstop is visible on the back smooth X-axis rod on the right side.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/makergear/5560549408/sizes/z/in/photostream/
Note: This is a bowden cable setup, but a good view of the Z-end stop, the X-carriage belt, etc.

GrooveMount
http://www.flickr.com/photos/makergear/5487863467/sizes/z/in/photostream/

MakerGear Stepper Extruder Prusa Mendel Mount - Top
http://www.flickr.com/photos/makergear/5488460856/sizes/z/in/photostream/

MakerGear Stepper Extruder Prusa Mendel Mount - Bottom
http://www.flickr.com/photos/makergear/5488460910/sizes/z/in/photostream/

RAMPS build Instructions - Note: I believe the 10nf notation to be incorrect on these instructions, my RAMPS 1.2 board had a 100nf label and came with a 100nf cap.

April 9th: MakerGear Prusa Mendel Kit - Build Day #2 - Afternoon

2011-04-09T18:15:00.000-07:00

(This is Part 3 of the build - links to: Part 1, and Part 2)

The afternoon didn't go as smoothly. It would have been really handy to have some Prusa experience or someone reading the instructions with me. Trying to piece together the right steps from the Prusa Visual Instructions and Brock Tice's MakerGear instructions left me with some rework.

I also made a pretty big mistake - I opened up the holes on the x-idler and the x-motor brackets for M4 bolts when they should have been M3 bolts - I was reading Brock's instructions and got confused, mostly because I wasn't reading carefully enough. The Z motor brackets take M4 vs the Prusa M3. Ooops. I think there is still enough plastic in there to keep the nuts and smooth rods captive.

At this point I'm out of instructions and need to figure it out as I go. I added the end stops with some MakerGear pics and some IRC answers from MakerGear|Rick

Tomorrow I will finish up the RAMPS / Pololu build that I started a few weeks ago (I ordered a spare), and I'll get the heated print bed installed, and the servos + end stops wired.

Sometimes, having graphical instructions makes things worse. The MakerGear parts are quite different then their standard Prusa counterparts. Once installed, they made sense - the Prusa ones are open on the sides due to the PLA bushings instead of the round metal bushings.

You can see some of the bolt holes have been enlarged due to my inability to follow directions (or the right directions at the right time...)

I really wish the instructions had told me to install the nuts / bolts for the smooth rod adjustment at this point. Doing it later was a real pain.

Adding the bearing to the x-idler pulley with the mallet as I did earlier.

Installed flush. Note that the inner surface of the pulley has two different diameters, one is sized for the bearing.

Hardware installation order for the x-idler

X-idler pulley installed (this was a later pic where I'd also installed the bushings - I really wish the instructions told me to finish these parts all at once...

I thought this was assembled. Later steps add the x-carriage, bushings, and the nuts / bolts to adjust the smooth rod - I wish I'd read ahead and done it all at one time.

I used a bolt with fender washer to seat the captive nuts

Z-motor smooth rod holder installed

x-carriage bushings installed

Taped in the Z motors for now...

Z motor coupling. One side was super easy, the other side didn't want to grab the servo shaft and I really had to tighten it down.

x-carriage belt holders

I used the manufactured pulley on both X and Y. (this is the X motor) MG|Rick said that he recommends using the manufactured one on X, but the printed one "works fine" on Y.

Y-axis endstop

X-axis endstop

Z-axis endstop - note the split design for "fine tuning" as per MG|Rick

April 9th: MakerGear Prusa Mendel Kit - Build Day #2 - Morning

2011-04-09T11:11:00.000-07:00

(This is part 2 of the build - Part 1 is here)

I'm splitting today's progress into pieces, mostly so I can remember things along the way.

This section took from 9:30am to 1:30pm, so 4 hours - with about 45 minutes of trying to get the feet to sit flat and another 45 minutes of rework by forgetting the PTFE sleeve that prevents belt / rod contact :(

Quote of the morning from my 11 year old - "Dad, we should get a laser cutter..." I couldn't agree more!

UPDATE: I'm a dork, I used the wrong rods for the Y-Carriage. They are the ones with red on the ends. I've swapped them for the right length, you can see them in the Day 2 afternoon post...

Note: the PTFE sleeve is missing in this photo

Add caption

Note: the PTFE sleeve is missing in this photo

Pile of debris from cleaning out all the laser cut wood pieces.

The top shows how far I could get the bushing in by hand...the bottom was after using a socket and a rubber mallet to seat them. Pics below...

I'll be suggesting to MakerGear that the middle brace be notched if possible to not block the holes for the belt holders - it was tricky to get them on...

My 11 year old bolting together the Y-Carriage

Note: the PTFE sleeve is missing in this photo

Add caption

I'll be suggesting to MakeGear that the middle brace be notched if possible to not block the holes for the belt holders - it was tricky to get them on...

Hey wait, wasn't there supposed to be a PTFE sleeve that...oh no...

20 minutes later...

Hey look - a PTFE sleeve!

Had to recenter the rod since I'd removed it to put on the PTFE sleeve. Figured I'd show the using the plumb bob...

I really should have taken that red paint off the smooth rod...

April 8th: MakerGear Prusa Mendel Kit - Build Day #1

2011-04-09T06:31:00.000-07:00

The below images show the unpacked MakerGear Prusa Mendel (Hybrid) Kit, along with some extra filament that I ordered. Each build image corresponds to the steps in the Prusa Mendel Visual Instructions by Gary Hodgson, with MakerGear specific changes coming from Brock Tice's "MakerGear Prusa Mendel Instructions" which are a set of changes to the Prusa Mendel Visual Instructions. I printed both and worked through carefully. I only had a few confusing moments, and I'll send them my build journal notes as suggested improvements.

This first build effort took place from 9pm - 11:30pm on a Friday night - so 2.5 hours when I was already tired from a long week. I completed Parts 1 through 4 of the Prusa Mendel Visual Instructions and decided that I should come back rested for a QA review and THEN do all the frame tightening in Part 5.

We still have LOTS of work ahead, so if anyone is interesting in seeing how these things are build, give me a shout, we'd love to have another set of eyes & hands :>)

Our new 3D printing robot has been named "Phineas" - if you don't know about the cartoon Phineas & Ferb, you are missing out! The items on the table all come from the MakerGear Prusa Mendel (Hybrid) kit, with the exception of the filament which I ordered from MakerGear at the same time.

Note the right side has WASHER | NUT and it should be NUT | WASHER (I fixed it later...)

The print quality on these wheels is a little rough. I had to remove some material from one face (raft?) and then remove some material from the inner race to get the bearing to fit in. I forgot to take a pic with the bearing in, but I still have one more bearing / wheel, so I'll add it later.

Washington DC - Day 4 - Saturday

2011-04-03T06:03:00.000-07:00

Another full day, although I think we pushed it too much on Friday. We had a slow start with some cranky boys. I think it had to do with big crowds, day 3 of walking around museums and the subject - American History. We spent more time in the cafe and with bathroom breaks than all other days combined :)

We DID get to see the Star Spangled Banner, and a bunch of other really great American History Artifacts. I personally liked the Edison exhibit showing his notebooks and early filament tests along with the resulting light bulb designs.

We also managed to avoid a seriously rainy day by spending it indoors (with all the other people avoiding the rain) - we also went BACK to Natural History to hit the Gem & Mineral gift shop for the 3rd day. It was more popular with the boys than the Air & Space gift shop - who knew?!

We had a LATE dinner back in Alexandria and the kids let us know that it was too late. After some food, all was right with the universe and we had a great evening.

We are all ready to be home though, and are officially done playing tourist. A lazy morning in the hotel, then we will hit the airport...

One BIG telescope...

I REALLY need to build one of these for the garage!

The Original Kill-a-Watt

"If you want to go to the gift shop, each boy has to put his toes in the circle without standing on each other . Now, stand on one foot, and touch your head"

Van de Graff's ORIGINAL working generator!

@Natural History - Day # 3. The gem & mineral gift shop was more popular than the Air & Space gift shop. Who Knew?!

Jackets, Shopping Bags, Map in hand - can you say TOURISTS?!

A pic for Mom...

After an evening meltdown due to a late feeding - all is right again in the universe.

Washington DC - Day 3 - Friday

2011-04-02T06:00:00.000-07:00

Friday's Adventures:

Friday was "Air & Space Day" although we managed to surround it with a few more items from the list...
Capitol Building area - we took the metro to the Capitol station, and saw the Capitol, the Supreme Court and the Library of Congress. Repeated pleas of "We don't have to go IN do we?" meant we did a quick walk by... It leaves us something to do on their next trip.
National Air & Space Museum - we were there from 10:30 to 6:00 and we didn't stop moving. They LOVED it. Somehow we managed to save the gift shop until the end. It took quite a while to get them to decide on something, given he 3 stories full of planes, rockets, science kits, LEGO and Star Wars. I also got the boys dog tags that have their name and say "Washington DC, Spring Break 11"
We split up after dinner - our friends went to visit their friends and it gave me a little time with just the boys. We had a GREAT evening.

We cruised back by Natural History for some food (ended up having the identical meal we had at lunch the day before since the large cafe was closed), a little more shopping (some gifts) and I convinced them to walk through the section we'd missed the day before. It was the section on bones and forensic anthropology - after a day of cruising exhibits, they were still exited by what they saw. The science aspect of the forensic anthropology exhibit was great and they were still reading exhibits late in the day. Temperance Brennan would be proud :)
After Natural History closed we saw the Washington Monument at dusk and then walked by the White House at night. It was a fun walk culminating in the use of a metro stop where the boys saw a homeless man urinating into a trash can.
They boys enjoyed the Metro, and since we passed through Foggy Bottom, they were able to sing their new song "Foggy Bottom Blue" again. Unfortunately the song only has those three words, so its gets annoying pretty quickly.
The Westin Shuttle took us from the Metro to an ice cream shop on King St. in Alexandria, and picked us up again. It was a nice treat and a great way to end the day. On the way back, the driver played tour guide and showed us a restaurant, a home, and a church where George Washington visited.

This is the ORIGINAL Starship Enterprise used to shoot the Original Star Trek television series...

Pointing to Perry the Platupus' relative in the display case...

Another pic for Mike...

I wish that swordfish would stop looking at me.

The below pics are from the Forensic Anthropology section at the Natural History Museum - This will be first stop for Candy when she comes back to D.C.

I wonder if it squeaked?