Mar 14th, 2013 by aceat64
The Dallas Makerspace now accepts donations in Bitcoins, the popular peer-to-peer cryptocurrency.
Mar 13th, 2013 by Doug Emes
I recently officiated the Pinewood Derby race for my local Cub Scout Pack 65 in Garland, Texas during its charter year. They did not have a budget to purchase trophies, so I decided to “do my best” and incorporate reclaimed 2×4 pine and cedar boards into functional trophy/display stands for the boys’ race cars.
I used some leftover thin plywood I had previously purchased to make wood tokens, and put the approximately 2 foot by 3 foot sheet into our large laser cutter. I vector engraved the BSA emblem as well as the world scouting emblem, and included the Pack, District, and Council information as well on the back-piece.
For the base, I ran the boards through our planer to smooth them and remove old markings from the boards. I then purposely unfocused the laser by lowering the cutting approximately a half inch to provide a different look – almost a wood-burn feel.
Total length of time to laser 10 trophies was 56 minutes, so my $6 of laser time provided a unique trophy for each boy and a small lesson about reducing waste and reusing when possible. Also, the pack didn’t spend upwards of $100+ to have the trophies engraved.
Tags: boy scouts, derby, laser, laser cutter, pinewood, scouting, scouts, trophy, wood, woodworking
Jan 29th, 2013 by aceat64
Dallas Makerspace will be holding a CryptoParty on February 20th at 7pm, running until about 9pm.
CryptoParty is a decentralized, global initiative to introduce basic cryptography tools – such as the Tor anonymity network, public key encryption (PGP/GPG), and OTR (Off The Record messaging) – to the general public.
The topic of the CryptoParty being held on the 20th will be: “Encrypting emails with GPG”
The class will be about 2 hours long, and the instructor will stay as late as necessary to answer questions/assist with issues. First hour is an overview and general lecture, with the second hour as the technical segment/hands on.
Everyone is encouraged to bring their laptops.
Copies of software will be available on CD/USB drive if people are unable or unwilling to connect to the internet.
Nov 9th, 2012 by nikropht
Kineteka Systems, a local electronics manufacturer and distributor of SparkFun, Pololu, Adafruit, and iTeedStudio has donated over $1,000 in prizes for the raflle taking place during DMS’s annual Open House event.
Raffle tickets are $5 each, funds from the raffle will be earmarked for acquiring a new laser cutter system for DMS.
Tickets will be drawn for prizes starting at 1 pm and continuing every hour. Prize order starts at the bottom of the list and ends at the top.
All raffle ticket purchases are tax deductible. Winners must be present to win.
6 PM
2 Pololu 3pi Robot $99
2 Sparkfun Inventors Kit $94.95
5 PM
3 Olimex AVR-MT128 AVR Dev Board $49.99
3 SparkFun LilyPad E-Sewing Kit $54.99
4 PM
3 SparkFun Netduino Mini $29.95
3 SparkFun Tool Kit – Beginner $21.95
3 PM
1 SparkFun LilyPad TechStyles Kit $24.95
3 SparkFun Simon Game – Through-Hole Soldering Kit $24.95
2 PM
2 SparkFun LED Christmas Tree Kit $17.95
2 Oreilly Getting Started with Arduino $12.99
1 PM
3 Sparkfun Weevil Eye Kit $9.95
2 SparkFun Wire Strippers 30AWG $4.95
4 Hackerspace Passport $1.95
Tags: open house, Raffle
Oct 25th, 2012 by PeterS
The Dallas Makerspace will be holding the 3rd annual Open House on Saturday, November 10th. It will run from noon until midnight at 2995 Ladybird Lane, one block east of Walnut Hill Station. There will be excellent food, cool projects, free classes, and lots of stimulating discussion!
Come out to see what’s going on! We’ll have:
We’ll also be showcasing:
See you there!
Tags: event, events, open house, projects
Oct 25th, 2012 by nikropht
Laser Lace Letters is a line of beautiful, laser cut cameos handmade in felt by artist Haley Moore. They’re perfect to pin to your a lapel, a hat, or a bag. Only these seven prototypes and a handful of others have ever been made, and now I’m asking you to help change that by pledging to outfit my studio with the right equipment.
Check out her Kickstarter here http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/toenolla/laser-lace-letters
Tags: art, fabric, fashion, kickstarter, laser
Oct 18th, 2012 by nikropht
DMS Members Mike Eber (KD5QLN) and Pat Hykkonen (NT5PH) will be teaching an Amateur Radio class for the Technician class license at the Dallas Makerspace.
Classes start on Nov 5th at 7:30pm and run each Monday until the 26th when we will have VE’s from the W5YI Group come and administer the tests.
Classes are Free, however the test will cost $14. To Register for this class visit http://dmshamclass.eventbrite.com/
What is Amateur Radio?
Most of the time, it’s the most fun you can have with a radio. It’s a way to talk with people around the world, or even orbiting the world; to send e-mail without any sort of internet connection and to keep in touch with friends across town or across the country. But it is called the “Amateur Radio Service” because it also has a serious face. It’s a very important emergency communications system too. When cell phones, regular phones, the internet and other systems are down or overloaded, Amateur Radio still gets the message through. Radio amateurs, often called “hams,” enjoy radio technology as a hobby –that’s the fun part. But it’s also a service –a vital service that has saved lives again and again when regular communication systems failed.
Tags: Amateur Radio, Dallas, hackerspace, Ham Radio
Oct 12th, 2012 by The Geek Goddess Kilobyte
The Dallas Makerspace, along with sister organization, Dallas Personal Robotics Group (DPRG) will be out for our annual Tanner Electronics event on October 20th. Event will start at 10 am and run till about 2pm. Both groups will have tables set up that showcase some of the neat projects we’ve been working on. This is a great chance for people to come out with kids to see what we’re all about, even meet some robots! It’s also a great precursor to our annual Open House which is coming up in November. There will be robots, electric bikes, 3D printers, and so much more! So come with family and friends to Tanner’s and meet the men and women behind the Maker Movement in Dallas!
Location: Tanner Electronics
1100 Valwood Parkway, Suite #100
Carrollton, TX 75006
Check out their website (link is above) for more photographs of past events!
Tags: dms, dprg, events, meetup, robotics, tanner electronics
Oct 11th, 2012 by nikropht
A few of our members, Andrew L., Mike E., Virginia T. and Nick S. have recently started a bi-weekly podcast called NerdAbsurd.
The group discusses all sorts of topics ranging from 3D printed guns to what the best computer game is out right now.
You can find them on iTunes and Facebook
Sep 5th, 2012 by The Geek Goddess Kilobyte
As we mentioned in our last entry, the Dallas Makerspace recently participated in the Redbull Creation Challenge, a 72 hour intensive ‘making’ session where teams are given guidelines at the start of the competition and then must execute their plans into a physical product. In conjunction with Team Midnight Invention, the Dallas Makerspace made the ‘Dizzy Fling’. Recently Good Morning, Texas stopped by to interview Makerspace member and project lead, Greg Needel, on the ins and outs of the game and what spurred its creation. You can check out the clip here:
