Jigsaw Renaissance http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org Learning and Making Community Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:26:54 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 SCoW Report 2012-02-22 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JigsawRenaissance/~3/A5QXYcaSfco/ http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/scow-report-2012-02-22/#comments Thu, 23 Feb 2012 17:26:54 +0000 mpark http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/?p=2577

Soldering, coding, robotics, and more tonight!

John brought in his two boys. Max had a kit he wanted to solder, and solder he did. Meanwhile Jared made various sound-generating devices from one of Jigsaw’s experimenter kits.

Born to solder

Jared hooking up a circuit


In the coding category, Mike worked on his Epoch compiler.

Mike coding a compiler


As for robotics, Ned managed to power up the erstwhile pipetting machine and got it moving. He got some code from the machine’s manufacturer, so he should have the thing doing his bidding in no time.

Ned bringing a machine to life


Lawrence continued with his reflow oven project. This week he was doing some testing with a hot plate.

DJ Low-Rentz spinning tunes


Concurrently in the classroom, Brian led a workshop on github.

Budi, Brian, Lion, Scary Monster, John


Thanks to Budi for keeping the space open after I had to leave.

]]> http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/scow-report-2012-02-22/feed/ 0 http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/scow-report-2012-02-22/ Movie Magic at Jigsaw! http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JigsawRenaissance/~3/36uwF7Wv-HY/ http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/movie-magic-at-jigsaw/#comments Wed, 22 Feb 2012 21:09:50 +0000 mpark http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/?p=2565

Jigsaw Renaissance is looking rather like a movie studio these days as it hosts the Journey Quest production. Here are some behind-the-scenes photos of the players rehearsing their fight scenes and some of the props.

Fight training

Learning to punch

Scary Monster!

The insides of the Scary Monster

Armor


Hey, while I have your attention, come to SC(R)oW tonight and get your soldering/coding on, and/or learn about github.

]]> http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/movie-magic-at-jigsaw/feed/ 0 http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/movie-magic-at-jigsaw/ SCoW Report 2012-02-15 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JigsawRenaissance/~3/YZN5XO91L2w/ http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/scow-report-2012-02-15/#comments Fri, 17 Feb 2012 19:12:59 +0000 mpark http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/?p=2534

Just a small group at the last SC(R)oW: Alan, Branwen, Lawrence, Budi, and yours truly.

I guess the theme of the evening was heat.

Lawrence cooked a PCB in his modified pizza oven. As you can see in the pic, the device tracked the heating profile pretty well. Unfortunately, it didn’t cool down quickly enough. Mind you, this was just a first try with an untuned PID.

Lawrence's reflow pizza oven following a temperature profile

Meanwhile, Budi took his laptop apart to try to fix an overheating problem.

Budi and his disemboweled laptop

And we had a bit of fun watching Alan prepare his vegetarian burger MRE. Quite the involved process. A chemical pack provided a surprising amount of heat for cooking.

Warfighter approved

Join us every Wednesday evening for soldering and coding (and robotics).

]]> http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/scow-report-2012-02-15/feed/ 0 http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/scow-report-2012-02-15/ Maker at Work: Matt http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JigsawRenaissance/~3/HuTFiSC6-h8/ http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/maker-at-work-matt/#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2012 16:41:56 +0000 mpark http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/?p=2518

I watched Matt using his homebrew vacuum former and he kindly explained what he was doing.
At the top of the device is an electric heater which heats a sheet of plastic until it’s pliable.

Plastic sheet under the heaters


Under the heated plastic is the mold.

The sheet will be shaped to this mold


Once the plastic is soft enough, Matt drops it over the mold and turns on the vacuum pump (the guts of a vacuum cleaner are in the box under the mold.

Matt holding the sheet while the vacuum pulls it to the mold


The pump draws air out through a perforated sheet, sucking the plastic right up against the mold. When the plastic cools, he has another piece of his Ghostbusters proton pack.

Ta-da!


Pretty neat!

]]> http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/maker-at-work-matt/feed/ 0 http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/maker-at-work-matt/ Soldering Workshop 2/13 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JigsawRenaissance/~3/6QhuEU82dF8/ http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/soldering-workshop-213/#comments Thu, 16 Feb 2012 15:53:29 +0000 mpark http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/?p=2502

Ned had a really good turnout for his soldering workshop. People just kept showing up! Fortunately we had enough soldering irons to go around.

Ned (standing) leads workshop


Ned taught everyone the fundamentals of soldering and had them build an electronic firefly simulation (several LEDs driven by a microcontroller).

Good technique


Getting high on solder fumes


Everyone managed to build a working circuit!

Robin: Success!


Another success!


Ned will be repeating the workshop in a couple of weeks. Watch the Jigsaw calendar. He also got some suggestions for other workshops, so keep an eye out for them too.

]]> http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/soldering-workshop-213/feed/ 0 http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/soldering-workshop-213/ Housewarming Pix! (Part II) http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JigsawRenaissance/~3/0s4UpNjci38/ http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/housewarming-pix-part-ii/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 22:52:57 +0000 mpark http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/?p=2487

Expectant audience

The housewarming featured several great presentations. Willow kicked things off.

Willow


Budi described upcoming events at JR.

Budi


Josh Kopel talked about Dorkbot.

Josh Kopel


Joshua Madara talked about meta magic.

Joshua


Robin taught us how to draw Celtic knots.

Robin


Rob Flickenger related the epic Making Of story for his portable Tesla coil.

Rob and his little friend


Christin Boyd got everyone fired up about the Seattle Mini Maker Faire.

Christin Boyd

]]> http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/housewarming-pix-part-ii/feed/ 0 http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/housewarming-pix-part-ii/ Housewarming Pix! (Part I) http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JigsawRenaissance/~3/mob-fffdcto/ http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/housewarming-pix-part-i/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 20:00:27 +0000 mpark http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/?p=2473

Jigsaw Renaissance celebrated moving into its long-term home by throwing a housewarming party. It was a fun time with lots of cool people, yummy food, project demos, and interesting presentations.

Robin preparing food


Sakura and Da5id


Waffles!


Charles and the color sequencer


David Bryan from Minneapolis


A party, much like Soylent Green, is made out of people


Part II coming soon with pictures from the presentations. Here’s a teaser:

Oh, just a lightning gun

]]> http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/housewarming-pix-part-i/feed/ 0 http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/housewarming-pix-part-i/ SCoW Report 2012-02-08 http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JigsawRenaissance/~3/cfyQhB3IwlI/ http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/scow-report-2012-02-08/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 19:00:54 +0000 mpark http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/?p=2465

SCoW this week was more about party prep and “infostructure” planning. With the housewarming party mere days away, people got busy beautifying the space.

Roy, Willow, Danny


Meanwhile, a small committee met to discuss Jigsaw’s infostructure needs (e.g., membership software).

Infostructure discussion


There was some some soldering and coding going on too. Alan was getting the access control system ready to demo at the housewarming.

Alan

]]> http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/scow-report-2012-02-08/feed/ 0 http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/scow-report-2012-02-08/ MLP Drawing/Sculpting Class (Feb. 4) http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JigsawRenaissance/~3/4XxJpgBQHEQ/ http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/mlp-drawingsculpting-class-feb-4/#comments Tue, 14 Feb 2012 18:44:36 +0000 mpark http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/?p=2452

(From the Better-late-than-never Dept. We had some issues with our web hosting; now I’m going through my backlog of posts.)
Mike Humes taught about a dozen Bronies how to draw and sculpt My Little Ponies.

Drawing a pony in three easy steps

Some of the results were pretty darn good!

Someone's Little Ponies

Watch for Mike’s next class.

]]> http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/mlp-drawingsculpting-class-feb-4/feed/ 0 http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/mlp-drawingsculpting-class-feb-4/ Jigsaw Housewarming (Saturday) http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/JigsawRenaissance/~3/YSPYt3NkwyU/ http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/jigsaw-housewarming/#comments Tue, 07 Feb 2012 21:01:53 +0000 Joshua http://wp.jigren.org/?p=2402

Jigsaw Housewarming

Jigsaw has moved around a bit in its life. We started off in a tiny Quonset hut beneath a construction-riddled bridge. Then we were in the Madison space, and then in our temporary Inscape home. But now, gentle readers, the time has finally come! We’re in a space that was specifically built out for us, all organized (or at least it will be by this event) and made up just the way we want. There will always be room for improvement, but we’re pretty happy with the current state of things. Please come help us rejoice in this newness, this stability, and this accomplishment.

On Saturday, February 11, from 15:00 to 19:00 (or 3 to 7 pm if you prefer) we will open up our doors and welcome in the public to celebrate our new home. Please join us. Invite your friends. Bring your projects to show. Children are absolutely welcome.

Want to help? Print out this flyer or make your own and hang it up! Add your art to the comments of this post. Spread the word! Want to speak or have a fancy area to show off your project? Add yourself to the wiki or ping willow@jigsawrenaissance.org.

Cheers, and happy making!

]]> http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/jigsaw-housewarming/feed/ 2 http://www.jigsawrenaissance.org/2012/02/jigsaw-housewarming/