You asked for it, and we got it! One of most requested items in our events poll was welding, and our very own member Kit has graciously offered to demonstrate the basics this Saturday at noon at the Space. Please be aware that this is a hands-on demonstration only – it is not a replacement for any actual welding training, and can be very dangerous.

We will be covering the three types of arc welding as well as plasma cutting, starting with a safety lecture, a group how-to, then a short one-on-one section.  After everyone has been shown the basics and demonstrates a thorough understanding of the concepts and inherent dangers, we will offer participants the chance to try it themselves. Make sure to get a good welding fume extractor to avoid any health risks and stay safe.

If you wish to participate, please sign up at http://www.midsouthmakers.org/events so that we can know how many people to expect.

Details

What: A demonstration of basic welding and techniques as well as important safety guidelines that you must follow, with a brief hands-on opportunity for those interested at the end.

When: This Saturday, December 3^rd at Noon.

Where: The Space (2203 Freemont Rd., Memphis, TN  38114)

Cost: $10 (to cover the cost of the welding fuel and materials involved)

What to Bring: Make sure that you wear long-sleeves, and preferably nothing loose or flammable.

We discussed briefly whether we would have a 4th Wednesday meeting in December (We WILL NOT have a 4th Wednesday meeting in November).  As the 4th Wednesday falls in the holiday doldrums on December 28th it might be fine for an informal, project show and dream and tell meetup.  Roy will be there no matter what.

Rick showed the programmable LED artwork he made with pool concrete, LEDs and film canisters.

Roy  showed the LED t-shirt he screenprinted (his first) and lit with the knowledge he got from Rick’s LED class.  Roy also showed my first steps with Arduino — a PWM sketch that faded in, then faded out an LED.  Woo hoo!

Dru demonstrated us his excellent progress on the sewing machine that Judith had brought.  After removing the rust on a few key components he had it cranking and sounding like a real live stitching machine.

Rick’s LED Artwork

Judith’s Sewing Machine Dru Fixed

Sewing Machine

Roy’s LED Shirt

Hello to all you atoms out there!

Are you ready to get this laser going?!

You call that a response? It sounds like you’re in a ground state out there, and I’m going to need you at least two or three levels above that! That’s right, I’m going to need you to get excited tonight! Come, on let’s get this population inverted!

Hey, that’s better! It looks like some atoms in the back have a nice wavelength going – let’s all join in for a cascading effect!

If you’re digging this gain medium, let me see you get amplified!

Yeah, now you’re getting your photons in step!

Now, without further ado, please welcome to the stage, the reason you atoms are so excited to be here, the one, the only – Stimulated Emission!

Details

What: The Midsouth Makers are hosting a laser class and demonstration! The goal is to demystify lasers and how they operate. For the demonstration, we will be etching some aluminum business cards with your designs, which you will then be able to take home with you!

When: November 19^th at Noon

Where: The Space

Cost: $10 for Midsouth Makers Members, $20 for Non-Members. (The price covers both the business cards and the cost to run the laser)

What to Bring: Please bring a laptop on which you can design your business card. The cards themselves are 3.5” by 2”, and we ask that you try to come with your design ready to go, but open to changes if necessary.

Please sign-up on our events page if you wish to participate: http://www.midsouthmakers.org/events/

Great Scott! What’s the date? Oh thank goodness, we’ve still got time.  Listen, I know this may sound “heavy” to you, but we’ve got to get you to the Midsouth Makers soldering class on October 8^th at noon or the consequences could be dire! I can’t tell you why it’s important without creating a temporal paradox, but I can promise you that learning how to build a RBBB (“Really Bare Bones Board”) Clone will be pivotal in your future in some way.  An RBBB is one of the smallest, most affordable arduino-compatible boards available right now.  You don’t even need any plutonium to power this baby, just plug it straight into the breadboard that the Makers will be providing to all the class participants. How many gigawatts is it?  Where we’re going, we don’t need gigawatts, just bring a soldering iron and the rest will be provided. Once you’ve completed this class, you’ll have you’re very own arduino compatible microcontroller, power cable, data cable, and breadboard to build it all on, the combination of which should help you save you from – oh no, I’ve already said too much! Hurry and sign-up on the events page at the following link: http://www.midsouthmakers.org/events/.  Then you too can say, “I finally made something that works!”

Details

Class: Soldering Part II: RBBB Clone

Cost: $35

Date, Time, & Location: October 8th  at the Space at Noon.

What to bring: Soldering Iron

What you get: An arduino compatible microcontroller, power cable, data cable, and a breadboard to build it on, plus a greater knowledge of soldering and circuitry.

You must sign-up before the day of the class so that we know how many parts to order!

You can do so at the following link: http://www.midsouthmakers.org/events/

Hello, and welcome to Pan vs. Dude, the show where we teach random dudes how to cook things, sometimes even in pans!

I’m your host, Adam Poorman, and today we’ll be going to the mailbag to find a food related question to tackle.  Let me just dig into the bag here and… alright, I’ve got the request we’re going to fulfill today! It is from Mark Oppen, and he writes, “Dear Adam, please teach me about Crisco. Specifically, I’m curious about subnetting and Layers 1 to 3 of the OSI model.”

Well, this is a bit of an usual request. Okay, so Crisco is a brand of shortening useful in many recipes. Personally, I prefer traditional lard shortening when cooking, but I can understand how the budget conscious chef might prefer to go the Crisco route.

Now, let’s see… subnetting? That’s not a cooking term I’m quite familiar with, Mark. As for layers, I guess you mean that you’re baking something with Crisco that’s going to have layers? But what’s this about an OSI model? Are you making some kind of Crisco based layer cake model? Wow, that is an oddly specific question. I’m really not sure where to go with this request. Oh – wait a second, my producer is telling me that I’ve misread your card.  Perhaps he can help shed some light on this question.

What? Cisco? Networking equipment?  I don’t undest- oh, okay, I see what’s happened here. I’m so sorry Mark, it looks like your letter was meant to go to our sister show, LAN vs. Dude.  Well, unfortunately that’s all the time we have this week.  Join us next week for another amazing adventure on Pan vs. Dude, the only show that answers your cooking questions, whether we understand them or not!

Details

What: The Midsouth Makers are hosting a Cisco Lab which will cover some networking fundamentals, as well as topics such as subnetting, Cisco IOS
command structure, basic device configuration, Layers 1-3 of the OSI model, routing/switching, and VLANs.

When/Where: This Saturday, September 24th – Noon @ the space

Cost: $10 for Members / $20 Non-Members

Signup on our events page now before the class fills up: http://www.midsouthmakers.org/events/

We will also be hosting a cookout and gaming night at 6pm on Friday, so come for the Cisco lab and stay for the

fun!