Lets put some clothes on Red

On this bright Sunday morning we will knock out stage two of the “Lets put some clothes on our GIANT Red Green monument”.
So far pants, shoes, undies, and a belt have been dressed on our GIANT.

Starting early at 9am members leading the build will be at the space to help with the dressing of the Red Green Giant.  Using seven foot sheets of Tyvek, duct tape will be layered to make up the tartan pattern that is seen on the common flannel shirt Red is seen wearing.

So if you’re just waking up checking your RSS feeds, head on over to the space and lend a hand.   We’ll be here most of the day.

Red Green Build Update: Tartan Test

The Red Green build continues to make forward progress.  Tuesday we brainstormed the shirt and decided we need to use a very specific tartan for the flannel shirt.  Bonus points for all who can identify.  To the left is our test pattern.

This is all duct tape and backed by a cool material called Tyvek.  We are actually going to build a giant shirt for our giant to wear out of duct tape.

Keep checking the blog for more progress.  We will be working on the statue on Saturday and Sunday.  Please stop by to help.  Members and non-members alike are welcome.  Some back of the napkin math says we need 128 squares like this to the left.  Hope to see everyone there.

Busy weekend: Hamvention, Open Shop, Jam Session, RepRap meeting, etc!

Been watching that Google Calendar sidebar fill up, have you? We’ve got a busy couple days coming up, so if you’ve been looking for an excuse to swing by the space, now is a great time! Bring a friend…

Starting Friday and running all weekend, Hamvention happens in Dayton, Ohio. Okay, technically it’s Trotwood, but every amateur radio operator and electronics hobbyist in the eastern US just knows the annual pilgrimage as “Dayton”. Hundreds of vendor booths, forums on a variety of topics, license exams, and thousands of hams occupy every inch of Hara Arena, but most of us actually go for the thirty-acre fleamarket in the parking lot. A handful of i3Detroit members and mi2600 regulars are headed down, and if you are too, say hi!

Saturday at Noon, Nate_LapT opens the doors for a Maker Faire work party, suspiciously similar to a regular Open Shop day. Members and non-members alike are encouraged to bring projects to work on, or just come hang out.

Saturday at 6pm, the monthly Unusual Musical Instrument Jam Session gets underway. Bring a hand-made instrument, or just bring parts and assemble it on site! Normal instruments are fine, too. As always, visitors are welcome! This event usually runs pretty late…

Sunday at 1pm, the Michigan RepRap group invades the shop with their army of clones. Or not; nobody’s actually printed a complete replica of a human yet, but that doesn’t mean they’re not trying! If you’re interested in the RepRap project, or if you just heard of it now, come in and get involved, regardless of your experience level.

Monday evening at 6:30 is another Maker Faire work party. Is your exhibit coming along? Have you submitted your application yet? Come by the shop for help, or to help others further their own efforts. Note: Even i3Detroit members exhibiting with the group must submit each project separately!

On Tuesday it’s meeting time again! The group assembles to discuss, decide, and work on issues that affect us all. We say 7pm but it’s usually more like 8. Meetings are open, though not guaranteed to be interesting.

(CC-licensed RepRap photo from CabFabLab on Flickr.)

From hackerspace to art show, lamps headed to NYC

Where would a couple of artists/designers go for help with converting their latest lighting project over to LED illumination? Why, their friendly local hackerspace, of course!

Lisa Smith and Caroline Linder‘s “Pipette Lamps”, pictured here, got blisteringly hot when equipped with halogen bulbs. Before showing the lamps at Cite, they wanted to switch light sources. But multiwatt illumination-class LEDs are a bit tricky to drive, and that expertise proved elusive. After pursuing dead-ends with overworked grad students, local electricians, and other leads, the designers asked a geeky friend, who happened to be an i3Detroit member. The connection was instant and, in retrospect, obvious.

Smith and Linder’s request was modest — design hints, electronics help, links to parts suppliers — but shipping takes time, and the looming deadline made it clear that the arm’s-length approach wouldn’t succeed. Read the rest of this entry »

i3 Detroit V2.0

So we are getting closer and closer to moving into our new space in Ferndale and oh boy what a space it is. With 8000 Sq. Ft. of space and lots to look forward to we thought we would share some photos from this past weekend. All photos have been taken by our very own Brad McMahon.

i3 Detroit on Kickstarter.com

We are really excited to announce that we are live on Kickstarter.com.  Kickstarter is a really cool website where projects and groups like us can obtain outside funding.  We have a determined goal of raising $5,000 in the next 31 days to expand and develop our new space.  We are growing and it is time to expand.  But we really need your help for the initial up front costs of this task.  Your money will go towards paint, lumber, flooring, drywall, and even nails and screws. It will help us build mobile tables and electronics benches. It will help us expand our craft area and create more classrooms. It will give us the raw materials to physically build our vision of a better community for all.

Kickstarter is a pledge based system which means you don’t get charged until we have actually met our funding goal.  So when we meet our funding goal on April 4th that is when your donation goes through.  You have time to save up!

One great part about Kickstarter is that we can give back to you when you donate.  For example, a $50 donation means an i3 Detroit Tshirt, button, sticker, card and a Free class.  How awesome is that?!  The community has been such a great supporter of i3 and we want you to know just how much it means to have your continued support.

The best part about all of this is that you can watch where your donation goes.  In fact, you can even come pick up a hammer and build with those supplies that you helped us buy.  We are ready for i3 Detroit v2.0.  Are you?

Robots: DONE

As regular readers may know, i3Detroit has been sponsoring two FIRST Robotics teams, giving them full use of our shop and other resources. It’s been hectic, crowded, noisy, and very productive. And now it’s (almost) over.

Tonight was “ship day”, meaning that all work on the robots had to be completed before midnight, and bags and tamper-evident seals affixed. After that, there was some of the silliness that accompanies a late-night sink-or-swim deadline, and some cleanup. We made it! Two functional robots, a whole bunch of involved students, no fights, no injuries, nothing more than minor tool breakage and wear. Competition starts in two weeks. In the meantime, there’s software to work on, t-shirts to distribute, buttons to design…

Congratulations, 1216 Oak Park and 3302 Clawson! You’ve come a long way, and we’ll be rooting for you at competition!

New twitter based open messaging system!

We have had a lot of people interested in knowing when there are members in the space so guests know when they can come out and play. So a few of the members have put together a new switch system in the space that we use to turn on the open sign for example. When this happens this will post a message on our twitter feed to let you know if we are open or closed for guests. So if you are interested in knowing when people are there so you can come by and play be sure to follow our twitter feed.

We are still working on a few new features that will be turning on & off a open or closed sign on our website to also let people know that we are open and you are welcome to come hang out or play. Along with the open & closed sign we will be placing an image from the camera on our website as well for your viewing pleasure. Be sure to check back soon to see the new system and features in place.

Royal Oak Spooktacular!

Sunday was Pumpkin Carving and Halloween Costume Build Day at i3 Detroit. It also happened to be Spooktacular in Royal Oak where all the families can go trick or treating at the businesses in downtown Royal Oak. We thought it would be fun to take the Cup Cake car for a drive downtown to hand out candy. The response to the Cup Cake car was great as usual and a lot of fun handing out candies and photos with the kids.