Author Archives: Pete Prodoehl

Project Remake

Posted on May 14, 2012 by Pete Prodoehl

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It’s Monday, May 14th, 2012 and that means we’re just about to hit the deadline to submit something to Project Remake!

MAKE Magazine and Schick Xtreme 3 launched a contest to see how you can turn what would normally be waste into something useful or beautiful. They’ll be giving away five MakerBot Replicators. Oh, I guess there is also a 2012 Nissan LEAF™ and a trip to World Maker Faire New York, but honestly I was most interested in the MakerBot, as the CupCake we have at Milwaukee Makerspace is a little wobbly, and it would be awesome to get a Replicator for people to use.

I entered over a month ago, and now that it’s down to the wire, all the totally awesome entries are flowing in. Looking through the gallery I keep saying to myself “Whoa! That’s an awesome idea!” and then I think I have no chance…

But honestly, it’s been fun just watching all the new entries, and by continually bugging the other members, we’ve now got 6 projects that came from Milwaukee Makerspace, and that’s pretty cool. We actually take a lot of pride in the amount of scrounging and re-use we do at the space, so even if none of us win, we’ll just keep remaking things anyway, because it’s what we do, and we have fun doing it.

Frankie Flood

Posted on May 12, 2012 by Pete Prodoehl

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As mentioned in a previous post, we got to meet with Frankie Flood at the Kenilworth Open Studios recently, and being such an enthusiastic maker, it’s hard to convey his work through just text and images. Well, you’re in luck because I happened across this video of him talking about his pizza cutters. (And yeah, I am a UWM alumnus.)

Common Pitch

Posted on May 11, 2012 by Pete Prodoehl

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Common Pitch Milwaukee is coming up! What is it? Here’s how they describe it:

We’re on the hunt for eight promising startups working hard to redefine business in America. The best candidates will represent products or services that improve on (or completely reinvent) an existing American industry, helping to make it more sustainable, more profitable, more community oriented, more ethical – and maybe even more fun.

Our own Tom G. (one of the founders of Milwaukee Makerspace) has an idea, and he wants in! Here’s the short video he put together for his application.

I think it’s a killer idea, because I’ve seen some of the stuff people at makerspaces come up with. Only a small portion of them get turned into products, probably because it’s not easy to do. Tom wants to make it easy to do. And hey, it may help kickstart American manufacturing and create some jobs in right here in Milwaukee. Win-Win!

The Milwaukee Makerspace Makership

Posted on May 4, 2012 by Pete Prodoehl

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Milwaukee Makerspace is proud to be a part of Milwaukee and to provide a shared workspace where people can explore their passions in making and exploring things, whether it be art, technology, electronics, alternative energy, or rapid prototyping and fabrication. Our members are eager to share their skills and equipment with others, and we recognize that we learn better when we learn together, so we’re introducing a “makership” program, which will allow a local maker to become a full member though a sponsorship from the group.

For our first Makership, which will take place during the summer months, we’d like to offer the opportunity exclusively to college students. You’ll see that one of the eligibility requirements is that the applicant must be a student currently enrolled in an accredited post-secondary institution. (Don’t worry, we do plan to open this up to everyone, student or not, in the future.)

If you’re interested in joining us and gaining access to our space, our tools and our community, come up with a killer idea and apply today!

Find out more at: http://milwaukeemakerspace.org/makership

The Group (Photo!)

Posted on May 2, 2012 by Pete Prodoehl

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Kudos to David (known to the group as a videographer and motorcycle enthusiast) who must have experience herding cats, because he managed to get a whole bunch of members to take a break from making and stand still long enough for a group photo.

I’m not sure which one should be the “official” group photo, so I’ve posted all three of them below. Let us know which one you like the best!

Option #3: “Serious”

Option #2: “Lighthearted”

Option #1: “Machete”

Note: Whichever photo gets chosen as the “official” Milwaukee Makerspace Group Photo will remain the “official” Milwaukee Makerspace Group Photo until we take a new “official” Milwaukee Makerspace Group Photo.

Note #2: This photo does not represent all of our members, just the people that were there on a Tuesday night after the weekly meeting. If you want to stop by and meet us, any Tuesday Night at 7pm would be a great time. Men, women, and robots are all welcome!

The Amazing Milwaukee Ping-Pong Balls

Posted on April 29, 2012 by Pete Prodoehl

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Adam B. is a fellow here at Milwaukee Makerspace, and the guy behind The Amazing Milwaukee Race. He asked for some help using the Egg-Bot, and I stepped up to help him out.

Part of the race this year involved playing ping-pong, but why would you use plain old ping-pong balls when you’ve got an Egg-Bot!?

Here’s the end result: a big pile of “The Amazing Milwaukee Race” ping-pong balls.

So the next time someone asks what you can do at Milwaukee Makerspace, let them know that you can easily custom print a whole bunch of ping-pong balls. (Note: we also do other things.)

Kenilworth Open Studios

Posted on April 23, 2012 by Pete Prodoehl

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On Saturday April, 21st, 2012 a few of our members visited the UWM Kenilworth Open Studios, and got a look at some of the work produced by the Peck School of the Arts faculty and students.

My only complaint is that the event only lasted 3 hours!

Seriously, we could have spent twice that long seeing the work, the workspaces, the tools, and the people.

We had a great tie talking to Frankie Flood about his work, RepRaps, tools, the Makerspace, and just making in general. Check out his handverker blog for a great behind the scenes look at some of the things he’s working on.

There were plenty of other things of interest to our members, including printmaking, photography, screen printing, music, film, CNC machines and 3D printers… and a personal favorite… Cake!

If you missed it, put it on the calendar for 2013. They only open up like this once a year, and it’s definitely worth seeing.

And if you don’t feel like waiting that long, there’s some great Summer Workshops in Jewelry & Metalsmithing that at least a few of our members may be taking part in.

Space Apps Challenge

Posted on April 18, 2012 by Pete Prodoehl

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If you don’t have enough to do this weekend (or you really love space and consider yourself a citizen scientist) you might want to join the International Space Apps Challenge.

On Saturday, April 21st, and Sunday, April 22nd, 2012 hacker and makers around the world will be joining together to work on software, hardware, data visualizations, and other projects to solve current challenges relevant to both space exploration and social need. Even the folks on the International Space Station will be taking part!

Learn more about it here, browse the list of challenges, and if you want to get involved, register!

Kudos from Kompost Kids

Posted on April 11, 2012 by Pete Prodoehl

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We got a visit from Kompost Kids last week, and we assisted in laser cutting a stencil for them, because we love helping people make things!

So what does Kompost Kids do? Here’s what they have to say:

Our mission is to educate the public, individuals, businesses and institutions about the benefits of compost and to reclaim organic materials from landfills to create soil for community-based agriculture projects.

Nice! (If there were ever a group of people who are into re-use, it would definitely include a lot of the Makerspace members.)

If you’re one of those Facebook users, you could always go “Like” them over there.

Gallery Night – Spring 2012

Posted on April 10, 2012 by Pete Prodoehl

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Our friends over at Bucketworks serve as the home to Artworks for Milwaukee, and since they’re a stop for Spring Gallery Night on Friday, April 20th, 2012, they figured the more the merrier, and invited us to take over part of Bucketworks and show the art appreciating crowds the sort of stuff we do… which is often a cross between art, technology, engineering, software development, and… well, we just call it making.

So join us April 20th from 5pm to 9pm and see what crazy things we come up with this time.