Hello, World! (Open Shop Science Friday!)

In advance of World’s Maker Faire in NYC this weekend, NPR’s Science Friday did a feature on hackerspaces.  Cool stuff!

We’d like to welcome anyone who heard that story, and anyone else for that matter, to our semi-regular Open Shop Friday.  Starting around 6pm, the doors will be open.  Come in and meet a few members, we’ll be doing tours and intros all night.  Bring a project to work on, bring a friend, but most of all, bring your curiosity!

Also be sure to swing by Ferndale’s DIY Street Fair and Funky Ferndale Art Fair this weekend. You might see a few familiar faces cruising around on a very strange vehicle…

Come Party With i3Detroit Tonight!!!

Ferndale, MI – i3 Detroit, Metro Detroit’s premiere community hackerspace, will be recognizing its one year anniversary at its Ferndale location with a public celebration and ceremony today, April 9^th, 2011 at 6 pm.

The 8,000 square-foot workshop has provided an ideal location for hosting classes and events for the community. Events held in the last year include introductions to welding, metal-casting, air brush, soldering, painting and even how to make home-brew soda.

The new location has also allowed its members to work on larger-scale projects using more advanced equipment. The space now boasts a growing wood and machine shop, a fabrication lab with access to laser and vinyl cutters, a chemistry lab, a bicycle repair area, an electronics room and a craft room, as well as other areas that encourage collaboration and creativity.

The event is open to the public with tool and project demonstrations.

i3 Detroit
1481 Wordsworth
Ferndale, MI 48220

For more information, write to contact [at] i3detroit [period] com or call (248) 566-9995

https://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=119421008133654

Lathe, Rinse, Repeat

i3 saw its latest addition to the tool shop Tuesday night with the addition of a massive Bridgeport mill as well as a honking 14×40 Acer 1440G lathe.  While both were pre-loved, with the lathe needing a great deal of “rinsing” before use, they are both in excellent condition and will make for a wonderful expansion of our machining capabilities. The lathe also had the added bonus of coming with a good deal of tooling, finally making viable my plan of creating a 4 foot candle holder. While I don’t currently have a problem holding 4 foot candles, or any 4 foot candles at all for that matter, I’ll be the only one prepared the next time a giant birthday cake shows up!

Meanwhile, as the literally tons of tools were being “gently” maneuvered into place, many of our other members were engaged in some decidedly less brute force pursuits, participating in the evening’s papercraft meetup. Rather than one of our usual classes with an instructor leading the group, this was run much more as an open forum, with several people taking the reigns and teaching the rest of the group various crafts from origami to paper star beads. The meetup also served to improve the aesthetic qualities of the space by hanging origami cranes and other creations from the floor of the loft area.

For more pictures of Tuesday’s fun, check out the Flickr stream from the event. Also, keep a lookout for other upcoming events such as our inter-hackerspace viewing party for “GET LAMP” on Sept 11th, as well as this weekend’s opportunity to live out your “White and Nerdy” fantasies by mowing someone else’s front lawn with the mowergang!

Also this weekend:

• The People’s Arts Festival celebrates its 4th year of bringing art to Detroit’s Central city.
• The Motor City Haunt Club is having their 5th annual Haunted Garage Sale this weekend.

Maker Faire Project & Build Out Party

With Maker Faire just over a month away, it’s time to get cracking on your projects.  Join us at i3 Detroit this Saturday (6/19) starting at 10a and going all day to work on your submissions for Maker Faire.  Did you know you can still submit projects for the 2010 Detroit Maker Faire?  Go to MakerFaire.com today to submit your project.  If you need help, come on down to i3 Detroit this Saturday.

Also, we will be working on cleaning up the space and working on some more build-out for our Maker Faire After Party on 7/31 after the faire.  Please come and help out with your building, painting or cleaning skills.  No skills necessary – we can train you on any of the desired tasks.

Hope to see everyone there.  Contact us with any questions.  contact@i3detroit.com

Haking around at i3

Here are the results of a weekend hacking around with Darren Kitchen of Hak5.  Thanks again D for an amazing weekend!