Originally we wanted to make the raft how most people do, wood and barrels. However, after settling on a size, we quickly realized that wood and metal barrels are quite heavy.

Eventually, after tossing around ideas ranging from aluminum square channels and dock pieces, we settled on 6 premade plastic pallets and 8 plastic food-grade barrels. The combination left us with a very sturdy initial platform to build our raft on.

Prior to settling on a pontoon orientation, we experimented 4 sets of 2 side by side barrels but determined that the water resistance and transportation would be a challenge.

The first task was to secure each pallet together over the length of the raft and then the width. To accomplish this we took 12 foot pressure treated 2x4s and hammered them into the fork spaces of the pallets.

Hammering the 2x4s into the pallets proved to be difficult so clamps plywood cutoffs were used to align the pallets.

Once hammered through the length, the 2x4s were hammered as close to the edges as possible and screwed into place with long wood screws through the bottom of the pallet. This processed was repeated for the other set of three pallets.

The two sets of three pallets were then secured together by drilling holes through the 2x4s and running cut lengths of 3/8 inch threaded rod between them. These were secured with nylon lock nuts and washers.

Another experiment with mounting the barrels, this time with steel strapping to the hammered 2x4s, this ended in abject failure.

Our raft now needed a way to get around, for this we went with a small 3.5 HP outboard off Amazon.

Being a 2 stroke that runs off a gas-oil mix we had to break-in the motor per the manufacturer manual, very loud in a suburban driveway…

The project was then moved to a different location and sat for a while before being picked back up this year. We discovered that the threaded rod held the pallets together, but didn’t stop them from flexing and coming loose. To address this we added 2x4s along the top and bottom short edges and bolted them together.

We also added a ladder off the front for swimmers to get back on.

No raft is complete without carpeting and shade! This pavilion off Amazon with mounting holes in the feet was able to bolt with nicely through the pallet deck. We also tested a few types of carpeting and turf before settling on marine “boat bunking” carpet.

Using leftover 2x4s we built a motor transom off the back.

The end result was too large for our trailers and had the barrels attached on-site. Due to the motor, the raft had to be registered as a boat with the DNR and required a licensed operator.

IT FLOATS…always knew it would…

The Wisconsin River is quite shallow in some places and requires the use of our high-tech stick.

When the river was deep enough, the small motor had no problem moving the raft at a blistering 5 MPH!

To say the raft was a hit with friends on the trip would be an understatement, the 8 of us spent most of the time enjoying the sun as we floated down the river.

Unfortunately, the trip was not without incident. As we were disassembling the raft at our take-out point, a strong gust of wind blew over the decking and crushed our plastic light and fire extinguisher mounts. Luckily, no one was hurt and we got the raft and barrels back on the trailer.

That’s likely it for this year, river levels continue to fall in the summer months and would make the trip much harder. We’ll likely revisit this project next year and make improvements on the weight and transportation side. 

Written by Michael Reichard

Members of Milwaukee Makerspace, led by artist Kathy Cannistra, were bummed that they could not take their installation to Burning Man this year due to the event being canceled (like all other large-scale events this year) but they thought they could still put it on display while also helping draw some attention to Hales Corners’ restaurant Clifford’s Supper Club, which is owned by Kathy’s father.

A team of ten makers, friends, and family members helped build “Atomic Forest”. Between painting, sanding, soldering wires and custom-fabricating the metal components, the team estimates they spent 2,600 hours on the project. The sculptures debuted at the Olbrich Botanical Gardens in Madison, Wisconsin in fall of 2019. After the exhibit closed, the giant flowers went into storage, and with Burning Man canceled, had nowhere to go, so Kathy thought that sharing the art with the community by putting them up at Clifford’s Supper Club would be a great way to provide an outdoor seating area allowing patrons to eat outside or simply enjoy the artwork.

The “stalk” of each flower rises from the center of a large table that also covers the underlying support structure. The “petals” are LED lights encased by white tubing looped back on itself. Each flower can run different colors and patterns, and grow dimmer as the evening winds down. Barriers separate the “garden” from the parking lot.

Within days of the flowers going up, the Hales Corners Village Trustees held an emergency vote by phone to have the installation removed. With so many restaurants struggling to survive, Kathy hoped that her art could offer a solution and some solace to the neighborhood and those looking to eat outdoors, but it looks like the city is not on-board with a temporary art exhibit meant to help a local restaurant that has served the community for over 60 years.

If you’re as upset about the Village Trustees decision as we are, please express your support for keeping the temporary installation up for the summer. Visit Support LED Artwork at Cliffords on Facebook and leave a comment.

On November 3rd, 2017 Feeding America Eastern Wisconsin held an event called Feed Your Soul where artists and makers presented object to be auctioned off for charity. Each object began as a plain wooden bowl, and was transformed into amazing art.

(Check out some of the coverage from Fox6 and CBS58.)

We really enjoyed being part of the event, and we’ve got members who are already planning for next year. :)

The design work took several months and the actual creation of the piece took about a week, working 12-16 hours a day.  The frame is made from CNC routed aspen (thanks, Jason H.!) which is a rather “fuzzy” wood and required two days to hand finish, including the use of a set of needles files to smooth out the inset edges.

The acrylic panels were hand-stained with Gallery Glass stain and simulated liquid leading. They’re not quite finished yet, but I plan to complete the staining within the next week.

I’ll also be using this as a backdrop for various events including the Sustainability Summit coming up as well as the Concinnity sci-fi/gaming convention on April 5th. Additionally, this might be making its way to Embellishments in the Grand Avenue Mall for a window decoration.

I can’t wait to make another one!

Around 25 members have hopped in the new Milwaukee Makerspace Theater after the last two Tuesday meetings.  Its up and running in a “no hearing protection required” way!  The bass still goes way down to subsonic tones, but its being powered by a small & sensible surround sound amp.   Its a very immersive audio experience, and likely sounds much better than any 5.1 system you’ve heard because there’s only one seat!  The sound has been optimized for the single theater-goer: You!  The theater is hooked up to a DVD player, and is available 24/7  for any member to watch a movie in: no check-out required.   Note that any video source you have can be hooked up via the HDMI cable.  Alternately, you can follow the lead of JasonH, who used the theater with a portable audio player to rock out while he worked on his own project near by. See the photos below for the simple instructions on how you can start up the theater, and feel free to take a break from making by using the theater!

If I include the Pi in the traveling mascot, I’m convinced it will not survive the inevitable rough treatment. The only other use I can think of for a Raspberry Pi in a travelling mascot is as a home base server for the mascot, publishing the travelogues. Yet it’s too unstable for even that task.

I still like the idea of a traveling mascot that can track it’s own travels, but I’m convinced that building it around a Raspberry Pi is not the proper foundation. I really like the little GPS unit that came in this kit, and will try to build a scaled down version of the traveling mascot with a USB interface to hook up with any computer for collecting data.

Thanks again Adafruit Industries, we really appreciate the kit, and we’ll continue to work with the parts on other projects. Like vultures, some other members have already picked off some pieces of the kit for their projects.

Two of the biggest questions we asked survey-takers were: 1) What do you come to Milwaukee Makerspace for? and 2) What is important to you?  The following results can be found in our 19 page report, available for download here:  http://wiki.milwaukeemakerspace.org/_media/2013_annual_mms_member_survey.pdf

[See image gallery at milwaukeemakerspace.org]

It seems like just four months since the last Bay View Gallery Night… oh wait, it was!

We’ll once again have a group show, this time titled: More Awesome Things From the Makerspace, which is our way of saying “come check out all the crazy things we do!”

It’s all happening Friday, September 27th, 2013 from 5pm to 10pm. And as always, we’ll have some sort of magical surprise to knock your socks off!

(Or who knows, maybe it’ll be something that gently removes your socks and then carefully places them into the nearest laundry basket…)

Remember way back in 2011 when Milwaukee Makerspace took part in the South Shore Frolics Parade? Well, I guess we were so awesome that they had to skip a year, but it’s back, and so are we!

That’s right! The Parade is Back! South Shore Frolics is this weekend, and you’ll want to catch the parade on Saturday, July 13th, 2013 at 11am. The parade begins on S. Kinnickinnic Ave. near E. Smith St. and proceeds south on Kinnickinnic Ave. before turning northeast on S. Ellen St., and finally east on E. Nock St. to South Shore Park.

This is known as “Milwaukee’s Best Parade” and we hope to help it live up to that reputation… So what are we planning?

In the words of Dr. Song: Spoilers!