Free Shipping from the MakerShed

Great news, Thinkers!

The MakerShed has free shipping on all US orders until 0200 2011.09.01 when you use promo code SHIPIT.

If you are impatient and want your Arduino, LOL Shield, or any other product now is the time to be impatient.

I tend not to use the MakerShed due to the high cost of shipping to our coast and slightly higher prices, but now I plan to splurge on some heavy products for myself and the lab.

What products do you all plan to pick up? Let us all know in the comments. I am thinking this awesome chemistry set.

Grand Opening Day 2 Results

Our second day of the Grand Opening was a bit more organized, if only a bit less attended. Perhaps Sundays aren't the best day for the ideaLab. Let me know when you want the lab open in our survey.

We assembled the Boe-Bot, made headway on getting the CNC Mill interfacing with the computer once again, started work on the vacuum former, and looked at the insides of an old iMac.

While discussing future projects for the semester, it seems that we will be working on a rather large hexapod for us to ride on. Another project discussed is the CNC embroidery/sewing machine that could really garner some attention from the crafters in our audience.

As for classes offered, we will be putting together a more vigorous Arduino course for next month (date TBD soon) and we will include a soldering course alongside. Just pick up an Arduino ($30) and a LOL Shield ($25), we'll provide the soldering irons, solder, and support. If you want, you can preorder one at a discount through us and we will make a large bulk order.

We're also curious if anyone is interested in a potential course covering how stepper motors are driven with H-Bridges. Let me know in the comments and we can put one together. Take note, this is a bit more advanced than the Arduino course, so you may need to re/learn some basic EE principles.

That's about all for today's session. ideaLab will be open at the hours posted, just come on by. Updates on the blog will be weekly unless we have something really good to say. Also, stay tuned for a gadget on our page that changes colors from green to red depending on if the lab is open (for those times we come in at odd hours).

Grand Opening Day 1 Results

Greetings Thinkers!

We had our first day of the Grand Opening today in the ideaLab and had a great turn out. Important things to know are that we have some projects for the second day.

• Building a Parallax Boe-Bot.


• Starting work on a vacuum former.


• Introduction course for Arduinos.

While we discussed many things such as potential future projects, the important things to note are:

• Funding is expected soon, so start making plans for that awesome laser cutter we will be getting.


• We will be supporting both Arduino and Propeller boards in the lab, though students are welcome to use any board they wish.


• We are in talks with Orlando's FamiLAB for sharing members and knowledge.


• We are also in talks with the Art Department at UCF to gain access to their metalworking equipment for their sculpture course.


• The proper branding for our lab is actually "ideaLab".


• This semester, we are going to be working on some "advertisement projects" such as a Rube Goldberg machine display outside our room and a QR Code pressure washer robot that can travel around and clean a code into the sidewalks around UCF.

I look forward to seeing even more new faces on Sunday.

Grand Opening

The ideaLab will have its Grand Opening on 2011.08.27 and 2011.08.28 from 1200 to 1700. We will be showcasing several potential projects for the semester, as well as collecting feedback on how we should use the lab.

While we wait for final approval for funding, I have placed several boxes of parts in the lab that everyone is free to use. There are circuit components, PVC pipe sections, a power wheels kids car, and many other interesting components just waiting for you to reuse them.

If you have time, please take a few minutes to complete our survey. It will help us learn what students want, and allow us to provide those things to you.

Please feel free to bring your friends and we will have a fun day of inventing.

And yes, food will be provided.

Guidelines

First and foremost, I want to welcome you to the ideaLab. Here we hope to inspire fellow students to learn and create freely and hope the space will be well utilized. In order to maintain an optimal experience for everyone involved, I would like to put out a few guidelines on how people use the ideaLab. I think that creativity works best when unbounded, so I will endeavor to remove as many boundaries as possible. However, we will need to respect each other and the lab. Other than that, I think these entirely voluntary guidelines can improve the quality of the lab.

I'd like to hear what everyone thinks about these new guidelines.

• Metric System instead of SAE

In the best interest of standardization, we should use the metric system. Both the scientific and global communities exclusively use metric and I think we should join them. I'd like one of the things that the ideaLab succeed at is getting students to work hands on with metric measurements so the amounts become intuitive.

• Google accounts for everyone

I will freely admit to being a Google fanatic. Their free and integrated cloud services are amazing for students. I also like their approach to Open Source products. If all members of this ideaLab use their services, it will assist a great deal in standardizing how we document and share our discoveries (if we want to share).

• Instructables style documentation (helpful for contests)

Documentation will help show that the ideaLab is helping students and bring the lab much needed recognition. Another reason to use Instructables' template is that I would like students to submit projects towards the numerous free contests offered through Instructables.

• Instructables Winnings

As ideaLab resources are used to develop for Instrucatable Contests, what portion of the winnings should be gifted to the ideaLab (and written off as donations if possible)? I am personally fine with any amount from 0 to 100%. I think this amount should only be stipulated in the group agreements (elaborated later on), if ever stipulated.

• Agreements for group research/projects.

If all things go as planned, we should be inventing new products and services. However, copyright and ownership can easily ruin the best of groups unless they fill out a form detailing what each member is adding into a project and getting out of a project (whether it be time, money, resources, etc). To prevent problems, I suggest that a series of Partnership Forms be created and linked to on this blog to prevent as many problems with groups as possible.

•  Creation of new equipment

With access to the CNC equipment in this lab, it is incredibly easy to produce new pieces of equipment (especially 3D printers). I think that the best solution to this is that the students produce a second piece of equipment with parts paid for by the ideaLab if requested to do so. This also implies access to any needed software and calibration.

An example is the fact that I plan to create a vacuum former once the lab equipment is set up, and will gladly produce one for the use of the lab. 

EDIT: Corrected proper branding on ideaLab.

Work in Progress

Welcome Beta Thinkers!
This website, like the ideaLab itself, is currently a work in progress.
As such, expect things to change a great deal before the ideaLab opens. I have placed a survey page to the right for you to give me feedback on what you want from this site and from the ideaLab itself.
There will also be a To Do List posted where you can see what we are working on and you are more than welcome like to help complete.

EDIT: Corrected proper branding on ideaLab.