Casting Maker Faire Ingots

Posted on September 10, 2016 by Carl Stevens

For the last few months Kayla has been working on casting a pile of ingots for Maker Faire Milwaukee. These ingots are made from scrap metal donated to the Milwaukee Makerspace by its members. Everything from Kayla’s personal favorite, hard drive casings, to parts of tools and engines. Its really cool to see her take trash and turn it into treasure in the form of aluminum bars.

casting 2 images

Be sure to watch for Kayla at Maker Faire Milwaukee pouring hot metal and helping people make stuff September 24th-25th at Wisconsin State Faire Park.

Maker Faire Signs

Posted on September 5, 2016 by Carl Stevens

IMG_2528 head

Over the last few weeks the Maker Faire team has been hard at work making some new signs to hang in the exhibit hall. These signs are 10 x 5 feet and will make finding your way around much easier. The logos are first traced on vinyl sheets and then carefully cut out.

signs 2 images

After the stencils are cut they are laid out on the fabric banner for painting. It can be a challenge to get the curved lines of these very large logos to lay flat. Kim, Mike, Kathy, and Pete have been doing a great job. This project has been a labor of love for Kim who designed these signs and has seen them from drawing to fabrication.

Be sure to look for these signs and lots of others this month at the largest free Maker Faire in the US right here in Milwaukee at Wisconsin State Faire Park. For more information about Maker Faire Milwaukee and all the amazing makers that will be there click here.

Power Wheels Racing

Posted on August 20, 2016 by Carl Stevens

Race Head Last month the Milwaukee Makerspace Racing Team packed up the cars and road tripped to 2 images vertical Maker Faire Detroit. After long nights working at the space until 4am for the week before the drive Ed, Kathy, Pete, Andy, Vishal, and too many others to mention got 3 cars race ready. The Bluth Stair Car, Super Tux Kart, and Hippie Rose made the journey to Detroit without damage are and were a blast to drive.

Our 3 cars raced with 34 others in the biggest Power Racing Series event to date on the biggest track ever made. It was great to see all the hard work paying off as the builders of the cars became the happy drivers of the cars. Both days of races were streamed live by our friends at Make Magazine to Twitch.tv where they can still be watched. Be sure to check out the race at Maker Faire Milwaukee September 24th-25th.

Check out the race from day one at the link below:

https://player.twitch.tv/?volume=1&video=v80805800&time=04h50m54s

Let’s Detonate!

Posted on October 9, 2015 by Pete Prodoehl

Dan Loves Fire!

Dan loves fire! It’s a fact! For Maker Faire Milwaukee we made a fire poofer which was triggered by pressing a button. Tons of kids (and adults) pressed that button over the course of the weekend.

While Dan the Blacksmith (and John McGeen from BBCM) were the primary builders of the fire poofer, I did the trigger electronics and enclosure.

The Detonator

I’ve written up a blog post with lots of images explaining the (somewhat rushed) build of the device. It’s Arduino powered, has some relays and a beeper, and looks semi-nefarious. Read more about The Detonator.

The Detonator Insides

Maker Faire Milwaukee Recap

Posted on October 2, 2014 by Vishal

If you haven’t heard, we co-hosted the Maker Faire Milwaukee last weekend. Over 26,000 people attended the inaugural event at the Expostition Hall at State Fair Park! Here’s a few highlights from the event.