An Afternoon With Blender

by Aaron

 

An introduction to Blender was given at HackRVA during our Saturday Hack-a-thon. We've been trying out the idea of moderated video-driven classes at HackRVA and this was one of them.

 

Instead of the overhead and planning involved with a full-on class, we hangout and watch the best tutorials available from the web and learn together. Dustin was our moderator and resident expert for this class. Many people learned and were able to ask questions as we went.

 

The slight drawback to this method is that videos tend to cover things quickly. If you're sitting at home, you can hit pause. On the other hand you miss out on the fun of doing it with friends and you don't have the ability to ask an experienced user the specific thing that you might want to know not covered by the video.

 

In short, it was a success and the moderated video class is a viable option for learning.

 

Here's a link to the tutorial video we covered. It's an excellent primer.

ATX to Lab Power Supply

by Aaron

Power projects of the future with trash from the past. Michael built this utilitarian lab power supply using an ATX power supply from an old computer during one of our weekly Saturday hackathons. A little rewiring, add a few three-way binding posts and resistors... and voila. Here's a link to a very detailed build log to make your own.

Light Up Your Extra Lives - An 8-Bit Inspired Sign

by Aaron

We created this sign by projecting an 8-Bit Font onto a 1/8" Baltic birch plywood sheet then tracing it with a pencil. We then cutout the letters with a jigsaw, built a 2x4 frame, and applied paper as a light deffuser. Finally, we lit it with an LED light-strip along the inside frame driven by a 12V DC power supply.

It's Good!! - Thingiverse Back to School Challenge

by Aaron

Amy spearheaded the effort to get HackRVA more involved in hackerly contests around the web by entering us in the Thingiverse Back To School Challenge. After kicking around a few ideas at our weekly Saturday hackathon, we came up with this paper football themed pencil set. Several members contributed on the CAD design and after a few rounds of tweaks we completed the project. We didn't win... THIS TIME. But it was good practice for contests to come.

Festival of Community Makers

by Aaron

HackRVA tabled at Festival of Community Makers in Fredericksburg, VA. Neal got to show off his Xbox controlled power wheels project and we spent the day discussing the merits of hacking and making. Also in attendance were Mark Fraunfelder, Frederickswerken, and several other area makers. Mark flew in from LA to present a wonderful talk about the history of making and the origins of Make Magazine.  He also signed copies of his book Made By Hand.

 

⇓ More pics after the break.

"The Spooklet" Zine Assembly

by Aaron
 

The sub-sub-sub group assembled the 3rd edition of their zine "The Spooklet", a Halloween-themed literary arts publication, which will be featured at the RVA ZineFest in October. We sewed simple pamphlet binding and created special edition copies of The Spooklet with paper circuits and light-up covers. Snacks and spooky entertainment were enjoyed by all. More pics of the event here.

 

⇓See paper circuit after the break. 

Floppy Disk Bag

by Aaron

 

One floppy disk bag created using the drill press, zip ties, bus cable, and 50 megabytes of sweet retro magnetic storage medium. Here's a link to the original Instructable.

There's still plenty of disks around HackRVA, so if you want a bag, a vest, or an 3-piece suit, just come to a Saturday hackathon and we'll have you looking snazzy faster than a reformat.

⇓ More pics after the break.