workshop – Milwaukee Makerspace

Aluminum Anodizing Time Lapse

Pete Prodoehl — Sun, 01 Dec 2013 16:06:13 +0000

If you saw the post about our Aluminum Anodizing Workshop, you probably wondered what the Metal Shop looked like with 20 makers running around prepping pieces of aluminum. Well, here’s a short time lapse video to show you.

Awesome Aluminum Anodizing!

Pete Prodoehl — Sun, 24 Nov 2013 14:14:09 +0000

On November 16th, 2013 we had an Aluminum Anodizing Workshop led by Frankie Flood. We had about 16 members in the workshop, which ran from 10am to 6pm. That seems like a long class, but the first few hours were really dedicated to learning all about the process, and about working with metal.

We learned about annealing metal, about forming it and shaping it, and how to add texture, and ping it with a hammer, and buffing and polishing, and about the anodizing process, and the dying of metal, and how to add resist, and the sealing process.

After Frankie dropped all the knowledge on us, we had the rest of the workshop to make things. Everyone got busy, first cutting pieces of metal, and then doing whatever they wanted with it. When a piece was ready it went into the first bath for 15 minutes, then a second bath for 5 minutes, and then it sat in a rinse until we had enough to anodize, which we did every 45 minutes or so. Almost everyone left the class with a few pieces (or one totally awesome piece.)

There was a lot of interest in the workshop, so we may run another one (if Frankie is willing!) and we’re also talking about permanently adding anodizing to the capabilities of the space.

We also want to give a big thanks to Frankie for teaching us, and to Michael for organizing the class. Everyone had a good time, learned a lot, and walked away with some nice looking pieces of metal.

Note: See Frankie’s post for a ton more photos!

Join us this February 23, for a Processing Workshop

mmassie — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 15:22:08 +0000

This 3 hour workshop will briefly cover the basics of Processing and then dive into a collaborative team project. We will link peripherals like Wii Controllers & Balance boards, PS3 controllers and mobile accelerometers to unite on a single art piece.

More details here

Contact Mic & Circuit Bending Workshop with CMKT4 January 28

plural — Wed, 25 Jan 2012 04:32:27 +0000

Join the members of the circuit-bent rock band CMKT4 for a workshop on building your very own EconoMIC Bottle Cap Contact Microphone (from Creme DeMentia). CMKT4 will show you how to solder up a piezo-electric pickup and house it sturdily in a recycled bottle-cap housing of their own design! Stick around for a set from the band as the tool-handle dip on your freshly built contact microphone dries.

CMKT4 is also going to offer their Build a Bending Buddy workshop. Attendees should bring simple electronic toys that make fun noises for experimentation. There will be some examples of some already bent toys and a little show and tell/performance. CMKT4 will provide literature on how to wire up different bends and ICs, for which the Bending Buddy will be good preparation.

Additional take-home kits and other surprises will be available, come build a mic and see and hear some of the circuit-bent instruments you’ve read about on www.GetLofi.com up close. Bring your own instruments and objects to amplify!

The Contact Mic workshop will be $15 and the Bending workshop will be $20. You can do both for $30. Additional kits will be on sale for $10, and there will be fully assembled mics in several varieties for sale as well. We’ll have some other fun goodies also. Interested onlookers are encouraged to donate if they don’t want to build a kit.

CMKT 4 are Austin Cliffe, Zach Adams, and Jeff Cox. The circuit-bent/rock trio has made it their mission to leave no hackerspace behind on their way to their next Maker Faire; they want to bring new devices, sounds, and ideas to your town. They are constantly working to make new and interesting devices and music.

The workshop is from 1-6PM on Saturday January 28th, 2012. We hope to see you there making some noise with us!