Mantis DIY CNC Mill Progress
November 7th, 2011
Splatspacer Jeff C. has just posted this update on his project to build a Mantis CNC mill. These mills are good for milling PC Boards, and we’re all excited to see how well it works when Jeff gets it all together. Just imagine… no more messy etching solution, goofing around with irons trying to transfer laser toner to boards, and no waiting days for a custom board from a commercial fab! Hopefully this thing will truly turn out to be the holy grail of DIY PCB fabrication.
It’s Been a Busy Summer…
August 17th, 2011
Just an update for all of our friends — Splat Space is alive and thriving! We’ve had a busy summer. Here are the highlights:
- We made and shipped our Global Hackerspace project — The Piano Player. Check it out in all its glory here. Aside from the awesome video and blog post available there, we also have lesson plans and schematics up at http://gghc.splatspace.org/
- We attended MakerFaire on June 18th and met a lot of awesome people. Thank you MakerfaireNC for making such an awesome event happen.
- To kickstart our 3d printing interests, we borrowed a RepRap from Winstom Salem’s hackerspace, Fablocker. We learned a lot, and some Splat Space members were motivated to get their own makerbots working in the space. Win! Thanks to our friends @ Fablocker!
- We’re gaining membership after nearly a year together. Lots of plans are forming and this is only the beginning. Now is a great time to get involved in Splat Space. Do it!
Recommended ways to follow what we’re doing:
- Join Our Mailing List: http://groups.google.com/group/durham-makerspace
- Follow Our Meetup.com Presence for Upcoming Events: http://meetup.com/splatspace
Lightning Talks – Friday, June 10
June 10th, 2011
We’re having another round of lightning talks Friday, June 10 at 7:30 pm. Talks will begin at 8pm. The event is free! Everyone is welcome and encouraged to give a talk. Technical and non-technical topics are equally loved. See you there!
Comments Off The Hackerspace Challenge Projects
April 13th, 2011
Over on element14, we’ve started a series of posts describing the projects we’re pursuing for the hackerspace challenge. The first one just went live, and more will be up soon.
The whole idea behind the dock blocks is extensibility. They’re goal is to provide a physical prop for all sorts of math activities (and any other activities an enterprising teacher can think of to use them for). The current focus has just a numeric display and lets the various blocks communicate by “docking” to each other, or to a master “station” blog (which holds the more expensive programmable bits). The reason for this is so that it’s easy for a teacher to buy or create more of the little bits–which students actually use–without risking the costs of a broken computer or more expensive heavy duty microcontroller.
Check it out!
Comments Off Element14′s Hackerspace Challenge
April 8th, 2011
Splatspace is participating in a great hackerspace challenge hosted and sponsored by element14. We just put up our first post on their site describing what we’re up to.
Our early brainstorming revealed a number of small, elegant ideas. We had some early inertia around one project, which looked like critical mass, but debate continued around the merits of a couple other projects. In the spirit of “do-ocracy”, we decided to just do all three projects until the relative merits become clearer. They’re all great ideas and each one has a unique mixture of challenges and opportunities.
Consider it a small intraspace challenge–the winner in a week or two will become the project we all pursue wholeheartedly for the remainder of the challenge. And we’ll all be happy with it, because we’ll know it’s one that’s already survived a challenge.
Go read the whole post there. We’ll be updating there and here as the challenge progresses.
Comments Off Lightning Talk Schedule
February 25th, 2011
Here’s the schedule for tonight’s event! Directions on how to get to Splat Space can be found here: http://splatspace.org/location
–7:30pm
Welcome, Impromptu Talk Signups, Introduction to Splat Space & food/drinks (potluck style)
–7:45pm
Scott Hall – Lightning Talk Timer Circuit
–8:00pm
Dean Segovis – You bought it, pwn it and hack it!
Jeff Crews – Fab Lab Carolinas
Peter Reintjes – Stretching Homologies to the Breaking Point
Shannon Prue – Augmented Reality Will Save the Human Race!
Rodney Radford – Bowl Turning
Dane Summers – diy electronics
Peter Reintjes – Definite Clause Grammars, or the prettiest program I
ever (re)wrote
Scott Hall – The 555 Timer
Alan Dipert – Learning Stuff and Making Decisions in the Age of
Light-speed Crap, or Skepticism Makes a Comeback
–8:45
10 minute break & last minute impromptu sign-ups
–9:00pm
Impromptu talks
See you there!
Lightning Talks Are Coming To Town!
February 23rd, 2011
It’s that time again… Get your Friday Night Geek on at Splat Space. This Friday, February 25th @ 7:30 pm.
We’re having our second ever series of Lightning Talks here at Splat Space. Lightning talks are 3-5 minute talks about anything you’re interested in, projects you’re working on, or things you think are just plain awesome. Technical and non-technical topics equally encouraged. We want to hear about what YOU think is awesome, so come out and share! Don’t like public speaking? Well, we can’t promise you a more welcoming crowd than what you’ll find here.
Last event was tons of fun, with a wide range of topics from Burning Man to to Android Development to Tips on How To Get Your Next Job. A plethora of awesome impromptu talks came out of the woodwork in the latter half of our event too, from Getting Started With Arduino to Hacking Chocolate Chip Cookies.
Our last event will be hard to beat, but we challenge you to come out on Friday night and test the waters. If you’d like to give a prepared talk with slides, we ask that you send in your proposed topic, along with your slides, before 11:59 pm on Thursday, February 24th. We’re not asking much advance notice, we just want you involved. If you miss the deadline, don’t worry. We’ll plan an extra half hour at the end of the event for Impromptu Talks, if being unprepared is more your thing. (We won’t hold it against you, we understand.)
The event is FREE, and it starts at 7:30 pm. The talks will begin at 8pm sharp. This event will be a “potluck style,” and attendees are encouraged (but not required) to bring a food item, and your beverage of choice (BYOB). There will be some food and refreshments provided as well.
See you here! Oh, and RSVP not required, but greatly appreciated!
Event brought to you in part by the gracious folks who donated to the Splat Space projector fund. 
Comments Off Help Splat Space Get a Projector
January 26th, 2011
Splat Space is trying to buy a much needed projector!
Why Do We Need a Projector?
Splat Space is the proud host of a weekly geek show & tell, many free tech events, and other local meetups in the Triangle, from web development to arduino hacking. With our new purchase of a projector, we hope to become an even better space for meetup groups in the Triangle to congregate and hold their tech-oriented meetups!
Why We Need Your Help
Splat Space is a member-driven and member-funded organization. We’re also a new organization and just beginning to grow our presence as a hub for all kinds of tech and “geek” activity. We’re a non-profit (501c3 status pending), relying completely on membership dues, donations and community support.
We’d like to better accomodate our own meetups and other meetups in the area (meetups are always free to host at Splat Space!) We hope to become a hub for all types of tech activity in Durham and the greater Triangle area. A projector will help us become a more comfortable venue for hosting your next meetup at Splat Space.
Please donate to our cause below! Any amount will help us get closer to reaching our fundraising goal of $360. So far, we’ve raised $70
Comments Off We Shipped It!
January 22nd, 2011
Splatters hard at work
This past weekend, Splatters got together to work on the Global Hackerspace Cupcake Challenge during the hackerspaces.org monthly synchronous hackathon. Splat Space simultaneously hosted a Triangle Arduino hack afternoon. It was a fun afternoon of hacking, eating cupcakes and watching uStream to see the antics of other hackerspaces while they, too, were working on their cupcakes.
Cupcake all ready to be shipped to Tokyo!
We had to wait until after the Martin Luther King holiday, since the post office was closed, but we shipped it! The Tokyo Hackerspace can expect a delicious chocolate cupcake topped with a daikaiju monster with glowing eyes, attacking two fondant skyscrapers. The cupcake capsule was within a icosahedral capsid, suspended with shock cord. That should fun to unpack! Fortunately, according to the rules of the challenge, the lucky recipients will have to film it! We’ll see just how fun it is.
Comments Off Hackathon & Cupcake Challenge
January 12th, 2011
Splat Space will be participating in the global hackerspaces.org monthly hackathon this Saturday, January 15th. Join us at Splat Space at 1pm for a full day of collaboration and innovation. We will be hosting an Arduino Hack Afternoon as part of the hackathon as well!
During the hackathon, we’ll be working together on the hackerspaces.org Cupcake Challenge. For this event, all the hackerspaces in the world have been challenged to ship a cupcake over 1,000 miles to another hackerspace in tasty and pristine condition.
Since additional points are accrued for the distance the cupcake travels, we contacted some friends over at the Tokyo Hackerspace and will be sending our SplatCake overseas, approximately 7,000 miles! More details on the challenge can be found here. Come out on Saturday to participate or follow the excitement on uStream!
The Cupcake Challenge
Rules
- * Cupcake must be a standard sized or larger cupcake with frosting and at least one sugar based topper/decoration.
- * The cupcake should be home made or in the hackerspace.
- * Distance sent must exceed 1000 miles, bonus points for over seas.
- * The package can have dimensions up 1ft by 1ft by 1ft and weight up to 4lbs.
- * The package must be sent by a reasonably priced shipping method, days in transit will be considered in the scoring.
- * A video must be taken while the receiving hackerspace is opening the package and uploaded.
- * All participating spaces must also participate in the Synchronous Hackathon.
Judging Criteria
- * The creativity of method used to stabilize the cupcake
- * The stability of mixture / quality of ingredients
- * Appearance
- * Taste
- * Condition
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