Eugene Maker Space

Friday meeting

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Posted on December 2, 2011

We haven't had an update post in a while. Last week we skipped our usual Friday meeting since it was Thanksgiving weekend and everyone was busy. We will be opening tonight at 6:00PM at the shop for another open project night. Please come down and see what we are up too and meet some new people! Hope to see you there.

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Thank you!

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Posted on November 12, 2011

Thanks to everyone who came out to project night last night. We had a great time. A small group discussed options for an electronic locking system as well as upgrading the security system for EMS. Kevin build a wooden frame for the new pegboard to give it some much needed strength. Another small group installed the stair case to the loft area, although it still needs a bit of work to increase safety. Bob brought pizza for everyone! Overall it was a lot of fun and we got a good amount of stuff done at the shop at the same time. We look forward to seeing everyone next week. In the meantime, here are a few photos taken last night.

Geek pizza

Can you tell geeks were eating this pizza?


Staircase

The donated staircase


Pegboard with frame

The pegboard with the new frame attached

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New Time for Project Night

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Posted on November 10, 2011

We are still having our weekly project night this Friday but we are moving the time this week from 7:00PM to 6:00PM. Please show up if you are interested in Eugene Maker Space! Last week we had a Makerbot 3D printer and Bob brought his new Arduino hardware as well as an Oscilloscope accessory for his iPad. A few of us were using an Android phone as a signal generator to test out the scope and figure out its basic functions. Clif also powered up a home built HeNe laser.

This week there has been talk of working on building a large storage shelf for member projects and other odds and ends. Another group is talking about working on an electronic access system for the shop so we can easily control access to the shop for members. Earlier this week we mounted some peg board to our large work bench but it could definitely use some improvement with additional framing. There should be plenty of stuff going on here tomorrow night.

If you are at all interested, please drop by some time after 6:00PM and say hello. We are always looking for new people to come hang out and share ideas. Hope to see you there.

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Project Night This Friday

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Posted on November 3, 2011

We are having another open project night this Friday November 4th starting at 7:00PM. The idea is to get some new people into the shop so we can meet, hang out and work on projects. Last week was a lot of fun. We met a few new people and played with a Van De Graaff generator, a Rubens tube, a microcontroller circuit and a DIY CNC machine that is a work in progress. Here is a short video clip of some fun we had with the Rubens tube:

We hope to see more people this Friday night at 7:00PM!

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Soft Open

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Posted on October 27, 2011

During our meeting last night, we decided it would be a good idea to have a sort of "soft open" for Eugene Maker Space. We haven't quite finished the paperwork that would allow us to officially accept new members, but we do want to meet up with people in the area and work on fun projects together in the mean time. As such, we have decided to start meeting on Friday nights at the shop as a sort of open project night. If you have a project you want to work on or if you just want to come check out the shop or meet some local makers, please come down to the shop after 7:00PM Friday night (Oct 28th) and hang out! Even if you don't have a project of your own to bring, there are a few improvements to the shop we can all work on together such as hanging some florescent lighting or installing our staircase.

The location of our space is 687 McKinley street, Suite #2 in Eugene. Here is a handy map to help you find the place.


View Larger Map

We look forward to seeing some new people on Friday!

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Almost ready!

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Posted on October 26, 2011

The founding members have been meeting to finalize the EMS bylaws and a few other paper work related things. We are hoping to be in a condition to officially accept new members within the next two weeks. In the last few weeks we have really filled out the space with work surfaces and tools to get us started. There is lots more work that can be done to make the space something really special though. Stay tuned for more updates. In the meantime, here are a few photos to show what the space is looking like.

Coming along

Work bench

More stuff

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Space Updates

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Posted on October 11, 2011

We have some more updates for everyone. We have been working to get our space in a condition that will allow us all to get some real work done. Last week a few of us got together and built a nice sturdy workbench for the space. Now we have huge work surface to use for more demanding projects.

Workbench Build

Workbench Build

Completed Workbench

Completed Workbench

We also have a few smaller tables and desks and we are building up our basic tool collection. We should be moving some more donated furniture into the space tonight. We also plan on re-painting the walls a white color so they look less dirty and damaged but we need to fix the paint sprayer first. Things are moving along quite nicely and we hope to open our doors officially to the public soon. If you are interested please leave us a comment or shoot us an email at board(at)eugenemakerspace.com to let us know!

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We have a space!

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Posted on September 30, 2011

I am incredibly pleased to inform you that Eugene Maker Space finally has a space to call our own. I just received the keys today. Right now it's mostly just an empty warehouse space but we hope to change that soon. We are going to try and get some basic furniture in there and make the place a bit more presentable before planning a sort of open house night. Hopefully we will have a proper workshop up and running soon so we can all build those things we've always wanted to build! Keep checking back for more updates.

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We are still here!

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Posted on September 20, 2011

I just wanted to post a quick update to let everyone know we are still here. I just looked at a potential space today and I think it looks very promising. It is about 1000 square feet and affordable. I am hoping the rest of the board will agree on the space and we can jump on it. We will definitely post here as soon as we sign any paperwork to let everyone know we are open and kicking. Please keep checking back for updates.

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Local Projects

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Posted on May 10, 2011

The core board members are still working on procuring a home for Eugene Makerspace.  We will be sure to update the site as soon as we have make a decision.  We decided that in the mean time we could post information about projects people have been working on in the Eugene area to get people motivated and excited about things to come.  I thought I would start by posting about a project I worked on last weekend with my friend Ellery.

We spent a few hours procuring parts an putting together a Ruben's tube.  A Ruben's tube is basically just a piece of metal pipe with a line of small holes drilled along one side.  You cap off one end of the tube, and on the other you mount a speaker.  You then pump flammable gas into the tube and ignite the line of small holes so you end up with what looks like a long line of Bunsen burners.  When you play pure tones through the tube, the pressure from the sound waves will cause the flames to vary in height.  This allows you to actually see sound waves in real time... in fire.  It's awesome.  Here is a video clip from one of our first successful runs with the Ruben's tube.

A full write up of how the Ruben's tube was built can be found over at my website.  There are also lots of photos of the build process and some other fun videos of the tube in action.

Do you live in the Eugene, Oregon area?  Have you been working on fun projects lately that you would like featured on our site?  Let us know about it!  For now you can email rick (at) eugenemakerspace.com and let me know.  I know there are lots of people in the area who do fun stuff.  Lets get it out in the open and start building our hackerspace community!

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