Tag Archives: milwaukee

Ho Ho Lights

Posted on by Collin Britt

My Husband and I wanted to put up some kind of Christmas decorations in our apartment windows over looking the city. After talking about it for a while, I decided to make lighted letters saying, “HO HO HO” …but since we only have two pairs of windows, it would have to just be, “HO HO”.

In the wee hours on Black Friday, we got the materials: 4 sheets of wood, 4 boxes of 100 count LED lights, and extension cords. After sketching out the design…

…and cutting out the letters…

…it was time to drill the 400 holes and hot glue all the lights in place.

It only took a weekend to make and hang these and I think the end result is well worth it.

MAHRER CHRERSTMAHS

Robotics @ UWM

Posted on by Pete Prodoehl

Robot

We’ve got a number of robot builders at Milwaukee Makerspace, but we’re not the only robot-lovers in town… via Frankie’s blog, check out this video about Tom Consi and the robotics work he’s doing at UWM.

(We’ve seen some renewed interest in the Milwaukee Robotics Club recently, so we’ll probably start up regular meetings again in the next few months… that way everyone can show off what they’ve been working on.)

Wraparound Milwaukee – The Block

Posted on by Pete Prodoehl

The Block

In March 2012 Jason H. introduced the group to Jessica Zoch from Wraparound Milwaukee. Wraparound Milwaukee is a unique type of managed care program operated by the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division that is designed to provide comprehensive, individualized and cost effective care to children with complex mental health and emotional needs.

Jason

Members of the Milwaukee Makerspace (led by Jason H. and Rich N.) helped create “The Block”, a work of public art that was hand-constructed by over 50 local youth. We basically did the construction of the piece, which was designed by local architect Alison Carlucci, and the kids all painted individual blocks. (There’s 170 of them!)

Rich N.

The Block is an interactive piece, as each block rotates to show four different sides. Want to see what it looks like? It’s on permanent display outside of the Milwaukee County Behavioral Health Division.

The Block

I think Jason H. and Rich N. (and all the members that helped with this project) deserve a big round of applause. It’s one thing for our members to show up at the space and work on their own projects, but helping out in the community, especially helping those who are helping others in need, is a good thing, and I think it shows another aspect of what a makerspace (and its members!) can accomplish.

(Also, thanks to David from Korporate-Media for documenting this with photos and video!)

Art Jamboree (at City Hall!)

Posted on by Pete Prodoehl

Art Jamboree

I was a bit disappointed that I missed the first Art Jamboree that we were invited to, so I really wanted to make it to the next one, and hey, it just happened to be at Milwaukee’s City Hall!

It was without a doubt, a total blast. We had the Friday Night Drawbot and the MakerBot CupCake running, and both drew a lot of attention. People were really fascinated by 3D printing, and the samples we had on hand.

Art Jamboree

From the Makerspace, Royce was there, and besides showing the spin cast jewelry he had made, I heard him explain the Drawbot to plenty of people, explaining Arduinos, and servos, and programming. MattN has his latest CNC Router work there, which is still in progress, but looks pretty amazing so far. Shane had one of his laser etchings, and Adam had the MakerBot doing its thing. (We even printed a few whistles that actually worked.) And Brant? He just did an awesome job talking about everything. Jason H was also there, and Kevin even showed up. We probably had the largest group of people, which was great to see.

Art Jamboree

The best part of the evening was all the great people we met. Lots of folks stopped by to check us out, but we also had a lot of great conversations with people too. I talked to two different high school teachers, one from Bay View who thought it might be a good idea to show her students that robots could do more than fight with each other. The other high school teacher told me he built furniture in his apartment, but could only do so when he knew his neighbors were not home. (Sounds like a potential member!) There were also people from UWM’s Art Department, a guy who used to sell vacuum forming machines, a girl who said “my boyfriend always talks about CNC machines, but I never know what he’s talking about!” (she took a photo of the MakerBot to send to him.)

Art Jamboree

As long as we didn’t need my laptop for the MakerBot, I figured I’d run a Processing sketch I had been playing with. It’s based on the ASCII Video sketch with my own tweaks added, and made to capture an image every 15 seconds. (Yes, a time lapse video will follow… Update: Here it is.)

Art Jamboree

I think we did a great job of letting people know what kind of stuff we do at the Makerspace, and beyond all that, it was just genuinely fun to share it all with people, especially people who got really excited about it.

And hey, if you saw us at the Art Jamboree (or heard about us from Art Milwaukee) and want to find out more about us, feel to stop by any Tuesday night at 7pm for our weekly meeting. We’d love to show you what we’re all about. :)

Makerspace Represents at Made in Milwaukee (Sept 3rd)

Posted on by Cohen, Adam

Made in Milwaukee

CATHEDRAL SQUARE PARK – September 3rd, 2011

We here at the Makerspace are always looking for ways to reach out and raise awareness in the community of our existence.  When an opportunity like Made in Milwaukee comes along, how can you pass that up.  We will be at this festival (click image above for more info) all day showing off our inspiring creations and supervising hands-on maker activities.  So please stop by our tent and show us some love!