Make:PGH

Make:PGH Meeting 4

Matt.Mets — Tue, 01 Jun 2010 11:04:17 +0000

Whoa! Is it our fourth meeting already? Awesome! Here’s whats in store:

Soy Sos: Das pretty blinkenlites und buzzenzounds

Herman Pearl (AKA Soy Sos) lives to create immersive audio that spans multiple genre and aids in the expansion of world sound appreciation. His production aesthetic can best be described as lush, often dubbed out and organically electronic. He will be demonstrating his modular analog music synthesizer, which is built into a suitcase!

Matt Mets: Laser Harp

Engineer, Make: Online blogger, and aspiring inventor Matt Mets will share the secrets of his laser harp project, a MIDI-based instrument that you can play by waving your hands through the air. From designing and fabricating the thing in his apartment, to how it almost led to him running off with the freak show, he’ll explain everything, and then get out of the way so you can give it a try!

Activity: Record bowls

Following our fine presenters, we’ll try our hands at making bowls out of old records. We’ll have discs on hand, but if you have a favorite that you don’t listen to any more, bring it with you!

Wait, what is this group?

So what is this Make:PGH thing all about, you ask? Well, we’re a DIY enthusiast group that plans to meet monthly to discuss anything from knitting to 3d printing to designing homebrew space vehicles. Inspired by MAKE Magazine and enabled by cool open-source technology such as the Arduino,we are part of a rising number of city groups such as Make: Philly and Make: NYC. For now, we are planning to meet at Hack Pittsburgh, your friendly local hackerspace. We’re just starting up as a group, so if you are interested in getting involved then please let us know!

The meetings are open to people of all ages, however those under 18 need to bring a parent or legal guardian.

Event Details:

Make:PGH Meeting 4
Tuesday, June 8, 2010, 7pm – 9pm
Hack Pittsburgh
1936 5th Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Cost: Freeeeeeeeee

Make:PGH Meeting 3

Matt.Mets — Thu, 06 May 2010 07:15:22 +0000

Hello everyone! We’re excited to announce the third meeting of Make: PGH, Pittsburgh’s finest group dedicated to all things DIY! We’ve got some exciting speakers and activities lined up for this event, so join us on Tuesday, May 11th, and get your Make on! RSVP is requested, but not required. Here’s what we have scheduled:

Susan Felix: Crocheted Amigurumi Creatures

Susan Felix has an MS in Mechanical Engineering, but she doesn’t actually use it. She lives in Pittsburgh’s East End with her fiancé and she can’t imagine moving anywhere that’s further away from D’s Hotdog & Six Pack shop.

Susan will be talking about how she taught herself crochet by making a simple baby blanket and ended up finding a love for little amigurumi creatures. She’ll touch on the basics of what you need to know to get started, discuss great local and web resources, and share some of her adorable creations.

Mandy James: Felting

Keyword and pixel dominatrix by day and crafter by the light of the moon, Mandy is a connoisseur of all things that are simultaneously cozy and resemble body armor. She’s also a huge fan of finding new ways to use seemingly destroyed things once loved. Why throw it away when it can become something new?

Mandy will be reviewing two distinctive types of felting: Wet Felting and Needle (Dry) Felting. Sub-topics will include:

Will It Felt? (What in this big world of ours will felt?)
Make Something New! (Find a new use for that wool sweater accidentally shrunk in the dryer!)
Fix It! (Fill pulls, moth holes, etc. in an old sweater by adding a design OR repairing it.)
Bling-On-Bling* (Embellish your bling with woolly goodness)
Straight Up. (How to make a sheet of base felt )
Touchy-feely examples will be passed around.

Mystery Activity

Following our fine presenters, we will have a mystery activity of great interest and possible import!

Wait, what is this group?

The meetings are open to people of all ages, however those under 18 need to bring a parent or legal guardian.

Event Details:

Make:PGH Meeting 3
Tuesday, May 11, 2010, 7pm – 9pm
Hack Pittsburgh
1936 5th Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Cost: Freeeeeeeeee

Mandy James: Felting

Keyword and pixel dominatrix by day and crafter by the light of the moon, Mandy is a conoisseur of all things that are simultaneously cozy and resemble body armor. She’s also a huge fan of finding new ways to use seemingly destroyed things once loved. Why throw it away when it can become something new?

Mandy will be reviewing two distinctive types of felting: Wet Felting and Needle (Dry) Felting. Sub-topics will include:

Will It Felt? (What in this big world of ours will felt?)
Make Something New! (Find a new use for that wool sweater accidentally shrunk in the dryer!)
Fix It! (Fill pulls, moth holes, etc. in an old sweater by adding a design OR repairing it.)
Bling-On-Bling* (Embellish your bling with woolly goodness)
Straight Up. (How to make a sheet of base felt )

Touchy-feely examples will be passed around.

Meeting 2 a success: Thanks for coming!

Matt.Mets — Wed, 14 Apr 2010 17:49:36 +0000

Our second Make: PGH meeting last night was a great success! Thanks again to Dave and Eric for speaking, and for everyone who came out. Stay tuned for the next one!

Larger versions of the light writing photos are available here.

Make:PGH Meeting 2

Matt.Mets — Fri, 09 Apr 2010 02:59:59 +0000

Hello everyone! We’re excited to announce the second meeting of Make: PGH, Pittsburgh’s finest group dedicated to all things DIY! We’ve got some exciting speakers and activities lined up for this event, so join us on Tuesday, April 13th, and get your Make on! RSVP is requested, but not required. Here’s what we have scheduled:

Dave Findlay: iPod ‘Easy Button’

Dave Findlay is a cake-loving software developer. He hails from Aberdeen, Scotland, and resides in Western Pennsylvania with his wonderful wife and two great kids. He only occasionally refers to himself in the third person.

Dave will be talking about the iPod remote control that he developed using an Arduino microcontroller, which has evolved from an ‘easy button’ into a fully-featured system for controlling your music player!

Eric Singer: LEMUR

Eric Singer is a musician, artist, engineer and programmer and the Director of LEMUR: League of Electronic Musical Robots (a group that creates robotic musical instruments). He has over 20 years of arts and multimedia programming, engineering and performance experience. He holds a BS in Computer Engineering from Carnegie Mellon; a Diploma in Music Synthesis (Magna Cum Laude) from Berklee College of Music; and an MS in Computer Science from New York University. He has performed and lectured throughout the world with electronic musical instruments, as well as touring and recording with many bands on tenor, alto, and baritone saxes. He is also a founding member of the Brooklyn-based arts combine The Madagascar Institute, and he has contributed to many of the group’s spectacular projects in addition to reaching the semi-finals with the MI-originating team “The Brooklyn Benders” on The Learning Channel’s ‘Junkyard Wars’ television show.

Eric will be talking about his past, present and future projects and give us the inside scoop on what it takes to build unusual performance-ready instruments.

Special Activity: Light Graffiti

Like drawing, dancing, and shiny things? Well, you are in luck, because after the presentations, we will break out the LEDs and try our hands at creating some light graffiti.

We have enough parts for everyone to build their own LED Throwie to use in the activity, but if you have any cool glowing things that you would like to try out, then please bring them! Also, if you have a camera and tripod that can be set for manual exposure, bring those too. We suggest glow sticks, road flares, pointer lasers, and lighters (ok, skip the road flares, we don’t want to burn the place down).

About Make: PGH

So what is this Make:PGH thing all about, you ask? Well, we’re a DIY enthusiast group that meets monthly to discuss everything from knitting to 3d printing to designing homebrew space vehicles. Inspired by MAKE Magazine and enabled by cool open-source technology such as the Arduino,we are part of a rising number of city groups such as Make: Philly and Make: NYC. For now, we are planning to meet at Hack Pittsburgh, your friendly local hackerspace.

The meetings are open to people of all ages, however those under 18 need to bring a parent or legal guardian. See you Tuesday!

Event Details:

Make:PGH Meeting 2
Tuesday, April 13, 2010, 7pm – 9pm
HackPittsburgh
1936 5th Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Cost: Freeeeeeeee

Make:PGH Meeting 1 (take 2)

Matt.Mets — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 21:02:10 +0000

Action! Excitement! Danger!

We’re excited to announce the inaugural meeting of Make:PGH, the Steel City Makers! Interested in making stuff? Like the stuff that you see in MAKE magazine? Got cool projects to show off, or grand ideas that are soon to be realized? Want to hang out with other like-minded people? Then you should definitely come out to the meeting on Tuesday, March 9th, at 7pm!

We’ve got some good things lined up: presentations on the Makerbot, Fighting Domo with the ioBridge, and an awesome activity, so be sure come out!

Marty McGuire: Makerbot

Marty McGuire is a research programmer at Carnegie Mellon and a council member for HackPittsburgh. He hopes one day to make “mad bank” thanks to open source hardware and the desktop fabbing revolution.

Marty will talk briefly about the MakerBot open source 3D printer, where it came from, and how it works. He’ll also give a short printing demo, and answer your questions!

Andy Leer: Fighting Domo

Andy Leer will share with us his experiences using the ioBridge to create fun interactive web enabled dioramas. Find out how with a few minutes and some simple hardware you too can put almost anything on the web.

Mystery Activity

Following the two fine presentations will be an activity of great interest and possible import!

Wait, what is this group?

The meetings are open to people of all ages, however those under 18 need to bring a parent or legal guardian.

Event Details:

Make:PGH Meeting 1(take 2)
Tuesday, March 9, 2010, 7pm – 9pm
Hack Pittsburgh
1936 5th Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Cost: Freeeeeeeee

Make:PGH Meeting 1: Cancelled due to snow

Matt.Mets — Mon, 08 Feb 2010 19:31:09 +0000

Though were on board for replacing the scheduled meeting with a crack session on DIY snowmobile conversions, and how to build a $5 handheld flamethrower to just melt the stuff, it has come to our attention that the snowy conditions and looming second wave of weather mean that it really isn’t a great time to be out on the road. Because we fear for everyone’s safety (ok, because we are way too lazy to shovel off our cars or trudge 1/4 mile to the bus stop to get there ourselves), tomorrow’s scheduled MakePGH meeting is canceled.

Don’t worry, though, we are rescheduling for Tuesday, March 9th. Our apologies to everyone who was looking forward to it, we’re just as bummed as you! Stay excited, and see you next month!

Announcing Make:PGH Meeting 1!

Matt.Mets — Fri, 29 Jan 2010 02:06:40 +0000

Action! Excitement! Danger!

We’ve got some good things lined up: presentations on the Makerbot, a laser harp, and an awesome activity, so be sure come out!

Marty McGuire: Makerbot

Marty will talk briefly about the MakerBot open source 3D printer, where it came from, and how it works. He’ll also give a short printing demo, and answer your questions!

Matt Mets: Laser Harp

Mystery Activity

Following the two fine presentations will be an activity of great interest and possible import!

Wait, what is this group?

The meetings are open to people of all ages, however those under 18 need to bring a parent or legal guardian.

Event Details:

Make:PGH Meeting 1
Tuesday, Feb 9, 2010, 7pm – 9pm
Hack Pittsburgh
1936 5th Ave. Pittsburgh, PA 15219
Cost: Freeeeeeeee

Supplies acquired!

Matt.Mets — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 18:40:41 +0000

We received a shipment of cool stuff from MAKE headquarters, thanks y’all!

We Are Getting Moving

admin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 21:32:03 +0000

Keep an eye out for exciting things as we ramp up.