Fab Lab gets a Facelift [Sign and Door]

Sign above door:

With the door/Sign Pending:

Our Fab Lab has been updated with a door that has auto closing capability thanks to HackRVA member Fred. This should help cut down on noise level and some element of particulate separation.

The Frame has been constructed completely in house using only the tools that we had available; a planar, joiner, miter saw, and chisel. Fred went all out with this project showing a natural instinct for carpentry.

[by ed]

Showing the capability of our D.I.Y Laser; Bryan torches wood

HackRVA member Bryan ignites a plank of wood with our long anticipated D.I.Y. laser build. Compare our open source version to commercial variants such as Jamieson, Epilog, or Boss.

This has been a concerted effort of using scientific precision with a little hacker ingenuity.
The C02 style laser is driven by the same Mach 3 software as our CNC machine. Safety glasses required.

Notice the classic Nintendo blaster style ON switch.

Slow but Solder

by Aaron

It's a bit hard to tell from the picture, but the board on the left is soldered much better than the one on the right. This is because HackRVA member Dustin has been soldering mega-much since joining a year go.  He showed me these two boards after noticing the difference himself and I snapped a quick pic.

If you want to get good at a maker skill, occupying HackRVA is an excellent method. It's hard not to learn with the constant project action. If you stand around long enough someone will put a soldering iron in your hand and make you solder. In fact, I did this twice today and two new solders were born.

And now that Dustin is practically a pro, he'll be all up and ready for the grueling 2015 badge build production LARPing. (note: he got plenty of practice last year too. we are all strong with the solder hand now thanks to badge builds)

3D Printing with Clear Filament

by Aaron

The clear filament is in for the Makerbot. Sidney's been busy printing up some pyramids. When you shine a light you can see through them. Because of the 3D printer he's been able to re-iterate through several potential designs. When he gets it just the way he want he may make some out of glass.

This video is of a 12 shell print and 0 infill attempt, which makes for a unique method not often seen. That's the reason for the thick wall and hollow center too.

CNC Router In Action

by Aaron

We're going to make a sweet video sometime soon, but until then, here's a quick video of the CNC router in action here at the space.

It's cutting out a prototype sign for the crowdfund contributors.

LED Back Lit Present

by Aaron

Small Scale Aluminum Casting/Smelting

Pictured below: Aluminum is smelted in order to reform it into a desired object by casting.

The process:

And the fruit of our labor:

[by ed]

Using our CNC machine to fabricate a sign

Our D.I.Y. CNC machine gives us the capability of cutting and etching wood and vinyl. 

Below is a sign that we created using plywood. The possibilities do not stop here. Everything from from furniture to artistic decals can be created with a crash course in proper operation.

When it is possible, Make it!

[by ed]

Former RC Car becomes Robot

When playing with RC cars no longer has it's thrill...make a robot! Member Thad shows his latest creation.
[by ed]

Space Saving Air Hose/Reel

An innovative approach to saving space, given a ceiling with mounts. Our air compressor hose is mounted on a reel and can be extended or retracted as needed.

Above: Up close view of hose/reel
[by ed]

Extreme Gaming spanning Three Monitors

HackRVA member Jonathan reveals that it is possible to play computer games that span across three individual standard Dell brand monitors.

[by ed]

Laser Cutter/Engraver Water Cooling System

HackRVA member Brian has finished assembling a water cooling system for our laser cutter and etcher. Nearing completion, this project will enable members to mark designs in wood. 

The cost savings of building our own system is almost as invaluable as the knowledge gained in the process.
[by ed]

Making the most of your space: A sofa for the future

A deceivingly normal looking couch...

 ...Becomes a  hinged table with stow-able components:

And finally...As a bonus feature: sensory deprivation chamber/presentation booth:

Innovate the ordinary

[by ed]

HackRVA member Bill creates Dr. Who fan art

Above is a hand drawn artistic representation of the villains and protagonists from the Dr. Who Sci-Fi series which was created by our member Bill here at HackRVA. 

A cross section view of the inside of the Tardis reveals the complexity and infinite curiosity of the Dr. Who franchise.

[by ed]

Tool Cart Derby - "ROLL OUT!!!"

by Aaron

So HackRVA is re-thinking the way we work in the FabLab. Specifically, we're putting many of our larger tools on carts for easy use and storage. All these tools being mobile means being able to position them where you want when you want. And it means more room for work space and building up a temporary bench or work surface for larger projects.

Above are, from left to right, chop-saw, drill press, planer, and band saw, each on it's own workstation cart.  Below the same, with the mobile table-saw/router combo in the foreground.

And just to add something non-sequitur, the new Electronics Test / Production Bench in the Tech Lab is pictured at the bottom.

BadgeBuild 2015 - Production Equipment

by Aaron

With Jonathon leading the way, we've been getting "hardware production ready" for BadgeBuild 2015 with a goal of "RIDICULOUSLY EARLY" by building new equipment. Seen above is a homebrew etching device that both agitates and heats the board etching solution.

Jonathon made this with a motor and a see-saw like mechanical setup. It slowly rocks the fluid back and forth while the griddle heats it up. Last year we were doing this by hand, so a big improvement to have it automated.

And below is a disemboweled laminator to help with the toner transfer process. With these tools, and more to come, including getting the small CNC tool to do machine through-hole and board de-paneling, we're hoping to make a more consistent and faster board manufacturing process.

We're getting started early on the hardware, so we can nail it down, giving our software team plenty of time to make this "The Year of Software" for the 2015 badge, where we hope to fully build out the coolness in the bits portion of the badge and spend less time on the atoms. Any coders in our collective are welcome to get in touch to build an app or game or driver for the new badge!

 

Longest of Boards

by Aaron

I was making something else, I forget what. Probably a workshop table or something. Anyway, I had some wood left over and decided to make a 46 inch long board. This is three sheets of plywood glued together with the grain turned different directions for strength and the edges routed down with the table router.

At least one ollie has been performed, and Arthur said it rides smooth but turns like an aircraft carrier. Maybe I got carried away in the longness, but I was imagining majestic smooth rides with plenty of space for relaxing. I also think it looks like a fence picket with wheels screwed on, but no, it was actually crafted in a skateboard like manor despite the looks.

This is my second skateboard project, and an improvement on my 2x6 ultra-kick flip hunk. The next one I'd like to steam shape and/or use a press to introduce some curvature.

See below for Shelly and I routing the board edges (face-shield overkill?) and "ALL THE CLAMPS" gluing where we purposely used all the clamps in the space for the fun of clamping... which yes... is fun!

Want Bookshelf - Got Hackerspace, Don't Need IKEA

A couple of our members who haven't been able to come around HackRVA for awhile we're having lunch and discussing their need for a bookcase. At first they considered making the trek up to the NOVA IKEA, but then were like, "What, no, we can make it ourselves, lets go to hack".

After finishing lunch, they moseyed over to a big-box for wood and hardware, then they came to HackRVA during what happened to be a Saturday hackathon. They had plenty of help with tools and lots of admirers. By the end of the day, a lovely bookcase was created.

We even loaded up the finished product in the car together to see it on it's way home. It came a pile of materials and left something awesome.

 I was blown away by the quickness!

One Saturday at HackRVA and they have a piece of furnurture that looks beautiful and they'll always remember building together. Forget gnarly I-95 trips to IKEA, make it at HackRVA!

More pics below after the break:

Megaldon Tooth Casting

I've been wanting to get into mold making and casting for at least a year. I just wasn't sure how to get started. I finally took the plunge with this kit from smooth-on.com.

I did this at last weeks HackRVA Saturday hackathon, which happened to be the "Make your Spirit Animal" event held by WoHack.

I wasn't sure what to cast, or what to make my spirit animal... then I remembered my "meg" tooth. Therefore my "spirit animal" or as what spectators rephrased as my "power beast" became the Megalodon. And I cast the tooth right up.

Smooth-On.com is a go-to site for learning how to cast things.  They have tons of how-to videos. For me it was almost overwhelming. I finally settled on the starter kit linked above.

My lessons learned where:
1) Mix in a bigger container. When you put the rubber silicone mold material together, you have to stir slow and methodical. You also have to get it to blend completely, leaving a pure purple from the pink and blue compounds combined. I lazily tried to mix them in a narrow container and left some material not mixed. The mold turned out fine, but I would have done better with a large container.

2) The plastic casting material sets up fairly quick, and gets hot. Nothing went wrong there, but if I'd walked away from it, my solution would have solidified before I had a chance to pour. And like I said, it gets pretty hot. Don't be surprised.

The cast came out great. So detailed that I could see the grain of the tooth's enamel decay.

For more pics, check out after the break. Looking forward to more mold making and casting experiments at HackRVA.

Learn to Solder badges for RVA MakerFest

We knew we wanted to teach people how to solder at RVA MakerFest.  Estimates put the need at anywhere from 20 to 300 badges.  We looked at various kits, but without knowing how many people we’d be teaching, they were simply too expensive, too complex, or not available in the needed quantity. 

As the date drew closer, we still hadn't found a suitable board to use for teaching people how to solder.  At (what seemed like) the last minute, we decided to design our own badge.  Once the board was designed, there wasn't really time for a prototype run, so we crossed our fingers and ordered the full batch of PCBs from ITead.

It’s a very simple schematic, and the board can be soldered in less than 10 minutes, even without any prior soldering experience. 

The circuit is about as simple as it can get, simply 2 LEDs in parallel with a battery.  The current limiting resistors are omitted due to voltage drop and the internal resistance of the battery.  We used blinking red LEDs due to the low forward voltage drop, but the blinking RGB LEDs can also work in this design and would probably last longer.

The schematic and board layout were created in Eagle CAD, and Itead provides a CAM job to create the gerbers.  The most difficult step was creating the silk screen image.  I followed a tutorial on Instructables called Adding Customer Graphics to EAGLE PCB Layouts.  It took a few minutes of playing with the bitmap import settings to get it to look right.  

Placing the order was straight forward following the instructions provided on the product page (although the process has now changed to upload on their site).  These boards were ordered on a 1.2mm red PCB with 1 oz. copper.  Although they offer very low prices compared to local houses, shipping nearly doubled the cost!  Overall, Itead was an excellent choice for such a simple board.

I didn't consider the additional thickness from electroplating the through holes, so the pin didn't quite fit.  It was possible to force it in with a pair of pliers, but it wasn't always successful, and just wouldn't work at the event.  I ended up manually drilling each board with a 1/16 inch bit. 
The pads for LEDs were also a bit small for beginners.  They should have been enlarged a bit to make things easier.  
The stainless steel pins are a real pain to solder.  Maybe they should be glued or something else next time. The pins had a large (12mm) head.  Headless pins would be a better choice.  We’ll get started a bit earlier next year, and I hope to try a interesting board outline.

Of course, since there wasn't a prototype run, there were a few issues. 

• The pin didn't fit.
• Pads were very small.
• The pin was very difficult to solder to the board.

I didn't consider the additional thickness from electroplating the through holes, so the pin didn't quite fit.  It was possible to force it in with a pair of pliers, but it wasn't always successful, and just wouldn't work at the event.  I ended up manually drilling each board with a 1/16 inch bit. 

The pads for LEDs were also a bit small for beginners.  They should have been enlarged a bit to make things easier.  


The stainless steel pins are a real pain to solder.  Maybe they should be glued or something else next time. The pins had a large (12mm) head.  Headless pins would be a better choice.  We’ll get started a bit earlier next year, and I hope to try a interesting board outline.

Download the Eagle files
Download the gerbers