TechShop Grand Open House!

The original member-based do-it-yourself workshop and fabrication studio is having an action-packed open house right here in the Raleigh-Durham location on Friday, June 29 from 5PM to 10PM and Saturday, June 30 from 10AM to 5PM.  Hey! That's this weekend!

There have been a lot of changes recently: they've renovated the space, upgraded the equipment, and acquired some incredible new tools including a brand new LASER cutter, a MakerBot 3D printer (Thing-o-Matic), and more woodworking and metalworking equipment to list.

There are going to be some CRAZY-GOOD DEALS on memberships and classes that weekend.  You'd be well-advised to take advantage of them!

We suggest you head over there, take a tour of the space, and see what all the members have been busy Making. The celebration is free and fun for the whole family. Prepare to be inspired!

Update on Thursday, June 28, 2012 at 9:14AM by Maker Faire:NC

I've just been informed that our friends at NC NearSpace Research will be launching another high altitude balloon during the party.  Check out their site for more info including scheduling information which, at time of writing, is still up in the air (zing!).

The APRS tracking link is here: http://aprs.fi/#!call=AK4CH-11  The team will track using APRS on 144.390Mhz under the callsign AK4CH-11.

CNC Fooderator Concept Will Not Make you Twinkies Yet

This machine, said to be, a "currently starting" project, is a (much nicer looking) Rep-Rap / MakerBot but for food creation.  The brainchild of MIT visionaries Marcelo Coelho and Amit Zoran, the tool appears to use the same fused layer deposition model that many of the various 3D prototypers out there use but it has a material changer which, other than in the multicolor Z-Corp printers, I believe is unique.

Using CNC tools to affect the food arts is nothing new and has been tried with often entertaining results. Set your Googles or Bings on cupcake cnc, and candyfab, for instance.

"Cornucopia's cooking process starts with an array of food canisters, which refrigerate and store a user's favorite ingredients. These are piped into a mixer and extruder head that can accurately deposit elaborate combinations of food."

I've been waiting for robots to make my food for a long time.  Hopefully it will taste better than anything we could possibly imagine and not like extruded food paste leftover from the Mercury project.  As William Gibson said, "the future is already here. It's just not very evenly distributed."

The Digital Carpentry Revolution

By definition a revolutionary tool is something that changes the game entirely.  Consider the first powered table saws, the first screws/screwdrivers, the first laser cutters, and the first CNC routers.

Tools like Durham's Shopbot are nothing new but they are pretty revolutionary.  The concept of G-Code has been around for decades!

It takes a creative set of artisans to uncover and use a tool's unique capabilities.  To that end, give this old Make Magazine article from Volume 11 by Bruce Sterling a read.  The article mentions the work of Dharmesh Patel; you'll like his website!

Sugru Will Make Your Life Complete

Sugru is the thing you've been wanting your whole life but never existed.  Well it didn't exist your whole life, did it?  It just came out last Wednesday!

If you've ever looked starry-eyed upon a brand new virgin packet of Blu-Tack in the store and fantasized about squidging it in your hands and then having it stay in the shape of whatever you designed well then that product is Sugru.  And Sugru comes in four rad colors of silicone-rubber awesomeness!

What's even better about this material is the philosophy behind it: repair, recycle, reuse, and their motto,  "hack things better."  The champion of Sugru, Jane, has hit the ball right out of the park with this stuff.  I've never clicked BUY SOME on a website faster!

Now which fantastic company or individual wants to sponsor the Sugru people to come to Durham in the Spring for the Maker Faire?  They're on Twitter and Facebook too.

Great Deals on Tools for Black Friday

"Black Friday" here in the USA is the day after Thanksgiving.  This year it is on November 27 (OMG next Friday!).  In years past it has unofficially kicked off the annual December-holidays spending-spree.  Given that us Makers and Crafters are going to be building and creating all of our gifts to our relatives and friends (right?!?) here is a great resource on some tools to help you accomplish that goal.  Home Depot, Sears, Harbor Freight, Lowe's, Costco, Northern Tool, and more are shown as of posting.