ATTN DIYers: Maker Mixer happens this Saturday, 2pm-6pm.

It’s almost upon us! Here’s what you need to know:

Everyone’s invited. Originally conceived to connect busy Maker Faire exhibitors who didn’t get a chance to talk during the event itself, i3Detroit’s first Maker Mixer is open to anyone with a passion for DIY and a desire to meet more of their peers. Do you know of an individual or group who should be part of it? Please invite them!

There will be snacks. Also fire and burgers, probably. Feel free to BYO, as well! The party is free but donations help us defray costs and are always graciously accepted.

Parking will fill up. You might have to go down the block a bit to find a spot.

We don’t have a big sign. Haven’t tackled that issue with the city yet. So study the map before heading out, and note that Wordsworth doesn’t cross through the train tracks — you’ll probably come down Wanda from 9 mile. We’ll have balloons on the corner to guide you in.

There are more events around the corner. If you can’t make this one, consider the DIY Filmmaker Meetup on the 9th, the Get Lamp documentary screening on the 11th, or the Needlecraft Gathering on the 14th.

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.

Mower Gang Kicks Grass

The do-gooders of the Mower Gang http://www.mowergang.com are at it again! Last time it was reclaiming a bike racing track from nature, this time it’s about cleaning and mowing a Detroit public park and saving the whales… well, one whale… made of cement. Member Matt Switlik will be heading out for the 1pm event from i3Detroit around 12pm on Saturday with a self-propelled push mower and electric trimmer. Come by to grab a ride or bring your own equipment and help out! City budgets and red tape be damned! Let’s cut some grass!

Inter-Hackerspace showing of GET LAMP: The Text Adventure Documentary, Sep. 11th

Join i3Detroit for an evening of computer history, interactive storytelling, and more! On September 11th, in conjunction with other hackerspaces, we will be screening GET LAMP: The Text Adventure Documentary. After the show, we’ll have a video chat with filmmaker Jason Scott, and a brief workshop on how you can get started creating your own interactive fiction game. (Reserve your seat now!)

Long before 3D-accelerated video cards, or even graphics of any sort, there was text. Letters on a screen, a blinking cursor, and you. Imagine the mother of all “choose your own adventure” books — the text adventure game (neologized as “interactive fiction“) takes place as much in your imagination as in the computer.

With thirty-plus years of history, the stories about the games are sometimes as interesting as the games themselves. Independent documentarian Jason Scott (also of Textfiles.com and BBS: The Documentary) has interviewed dozens of people behind this fascinating scene, distilled their stories into an engaging film with its own interactive section, and released the whole package under a Creative Commons (“copyleft”) license.

Come visit i3Detroit (or your own local hackerspace, if you’re not in Michigan) to explore the past, present, and future of interactive storytelling. Bring a laptop, and we’ll get you started writing your very own game.  Seating is limited, so reserve your spot!

Solder of Fortune

Tuesday saw the first step in our plan to revive our class schedule now that our space and sleep schedules have recovered from Maker Faire, and what better way to get started than to have two illustrious makers as our guest lecturers? These two giants were none other than Mitch Altman of Noisebridge and TV-B-Gone fame and Jimmie P. Rodgers of LOLshield fame both of whom are currently on a road trip to promote their clever kits and educate young and old about how easy and fun soldering can be.

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Power Wheels Racing Is a Crowd Pleaser

Most of us have memories of seeing Power Wheels advertisements on TV, dreaming of far off adventures over rocky terrain in our own power wheels jeep or zooming around the Indianapolis Speedway trying to claim first place. Then we see the real things that barely have enough power to hit 2 MPH. Downhill. Most of us gave up on our grand fantasies in these tiny toys and bought real cars that ran on gas instead of dinky batteries, but a few bold men and women would not let reality crush their imagination. Collectively these people are known as crazy, but these crazy people have taken old Power Wheels vehicles and souped them up to herculean proportions in an attempt to show the world that they are not in fact crazy. This act in and of itself may too be crazy, but the results can only be described as awesome.

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Learn to Solder Workshop: Mitch and Jimmie at i3Detroit, Tuesday August 10th.

You can solder! Yes, you. It’s easy, and you can learn how this Tuesday at i3Detroit. Mitch Altman and Jimmie P. Rodgers will be here to give one of their renowned kit-building workshops. You buy a kit, assemble it with expert guidance, and end up with a cool toy to show for it.

If you already own a soldering iron, stand, tip cleaner, or wire cutters, please bring them — we’ll provide as many as we can muster, but more are always helpful. Regardless, you should reserve your seat right away!

Mitch Altman likes to bring newbies into electronics. He’s best known for inventing the TV-B-Gone, a one-button remote control that turns off TVs wherever you may encounter them. He’s also a big fan of hackerspaces, having co-founded one, and is currently touring as many as possible, selling kits and helping get people into electronics.

Jimmie P. Rodgers is a microcontroller geek who enjoys circuit-bending, teaching, and putting entirely too many LEDs on things. His projects include the OpenHeart, various Arduino shields, and lots of noisemakers. He and Mitch are traveling the midwest, holding workshops and generally being awesome.

i3Detroit is metro Detroit’s first hackerspace, an open workshop where members and guests share tools and ideas. i3 stands for “imagine, innovate, and inspire”. Located in Ferndale, the 53-member group builds things, holds classes, and launches high-velocity snack food.

i3 Detroit Girrrls Get Together – 8/8/2010 at 3PM

The girrrls of i3 Detroit are at it again!  Tomorrow at the space, they will be getting together to hang out, make cool stuff, and teach one another new skills.  We have even heard rumblings of an all female project for the 2011 Maker Faire in Detroit possibly in the works.  Awesome!  Dennay will be showing some basic knitting techniques.  Jaime will be showing off the various uses of the Cricut.  And others have been talking about an 8-bit Mario Blanket.  This is not a class and no registration or RSVP is needed.  Just a laid-back day to come share imagination, innovation and inspiration with our fun gals.

Have you been meaning to meet the girls of i3?  Now is your opportunity.

Have you been wondering what this i3 Detroit thing is all about?  Tomorrow is the perfect opportunity to come and meet some of our awesome female members and learn about the space from their point of view.

Ready to come make something, you maker gal?  Hands and minds are available for assistance!

This event is open to the public and anyone interested in learning more about i3 Detroit is encouraged to come by (girl or guy!)

Fun and Games at Maker Faire

They say there’s no rest for the wicked, and given the never ending stream of visitors at our Maker Faire tent over the weekend, we must have been very bad lately. Our popularity was only eclipsed by our success; garnering an amazing 8 editor’s choice ribbons among our projects, as well as multiple interviews with Leo Laporte on his livestream from the event. Keep reading below the break for details on individual projects.

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Announcing the Maker Mixer, September 4th

Detroit’s first Maker Faire was a smashing success by all accounts, bringing together hundreds of exhibiting makers, scores of awesome creations, and tens of thousands of onlookers and makers-to-be.   It was educational, entertaining, and most of all, busy.

So busy, in fact, that many makers spent the whole weekend in their booths, with little opportunity to meet each other.  And while the spectacle was great for short-term attention, the synergy is where long-term gains stand to be made. To that end, i3Detroit will host an event we’re calling the Maker Mixer. On September 4th, anyone who’s interested in DIY (and especially anyone who exhibited at Maker Faire) is encouraged to come down to Ferndale and spend the afternoon at i3Detroit’s shop.

Some food and drink will be provided, BYO is always welcome. Details to follow as the event approaches.