Tag Archives: shop

The Shop

Posted on by Pete Prodoehl

The Shop

Alright! We’ve covered The Pallets, The Library and The Woodshop, so here’s The Shop.

It’s a lot more empty since the reorganization, but there’s still a lot going on. Over on the left you’ll see that it’s Safety First! with goggles, masks, gloves, hearing protection, and even the first aid kit. Past that are a variety of hand tools, the pinball machine, the BADASS, and then the bandsaw, and drill presses, and the mill, and the laser cutter, and a chair, and some secret project that isn’t done yet and…

There’s a lot more, but you should probably see it yourself, in person, with your own eyes… and luckily, you can! We have our weekly meeting every Tuesday night at 7pm, and our “Builder’s Night Out” every Thursday night at 7pm. Come on down either of these nights to get a tour, meet the members, and find out if you’d like to join us.

We hope to see you at Milwaukee Makerspace soon, making something awesome!

The Woodshop

Posted on by Pete Prodoehl

The Woodshop

We’ve already seen the Library, so here’s a shot of the Woodshop.

On the left you’ll see Ron and Brant working on the CNC Router, and in the middle you might notice the “Old Milwaukee Makerspace” graphic from last year’s Beer Can Parade Float and the giant Arduinos from our other parade float.

Oh yeah! There’s also a lot of woodworking equipment! Someone said “Hey, those seem to be really close to each other!” and we said “No worries! They’re all on wheels!” So what you see here are the various pieces of woodworking equipment in their resting state. When it use, they will probably be a lot more haphazardly arranged in the space.

If you’ve seen this area of the Makerspace before, you’ll know this is a big improvement. The next step should include building a number of workbenches so we have some solid spots to work on things. We were just using tables, but we’re a makerspace… we can do better!

Future Makers

Posted on by Pete Prodoehl

hammer

After the welding demo last night, and a successful run with the MakerBot, I came home and couldn’t sleep. I don’t know if it was all the new ideas running through my head, or something else, but I started to think about what Royce has said about being a “Skill Collector” and having a checklist of new things you’re able to do. I didn’t take a welding class when I was in high school (they did offer it, and lots of kids took it) but I did take woodshop for a few years, and my dad (and his dad) had a great basement workshop where things would get built, and taken apart, and repaired.

It’s been over 20+ years since I’ve been in high school, and things have changed. From what I hear many schools don’t have any sort of shop classes, and that’s a shame. Maybe they should have some sort of “DIY” or “Make/Craft” classes at least.

Anyway, while I couldn’t sleep, I came across this article: Why your teenager can’t use a hammer.

As a maker, and someone who loves to learn how things work, it’s a little sad. I remember teaching my kids to use a power drill when they were less than 9 years old, and while they haven’t used the saw yet (they’ve asked) that’s also on the to do list.

(Someone also posted the link to the Pumping Station: One mailing list. There’s some good insight there as well.)