Pumping Station: One

There will be an intro-level Arduino class next Sunday 2/19/12 from 3-5pm in the big room. The emphasis is on understanding circuits and hooking stuff up.

This will be a 4-part series or so. There are 10 seats available, but observers are welcome after the 10 seats are filled.

I’ll have a kit for sale on site to get people started. Price is $29.00. It has a board, chip, USB adapter, LED’s, and a couple of other things to get you started. Because I’ll be packaging the kits for the occasion, I ask that if you attend, you purchase the kit.

I’ll take reservations by email and payment for the kit on site or by Paypal.

The first session (2/19) basic description is:

• How to Solder: Solder up an Arduino workalike.
• How to run the Arduino development application on your laptop.
• Basic Arduino program structure. Run an LED. (Hello World blinky).
• Show where the built-in examples live in the IDE. Run an input example and an output example.
• For inspiration, demo a couple of circuits with an Arduino and some connected hardware.

That’s probably all that will  fit in two hours.
Future sessions may discuss Arduino-compatible accessories, motors, simple sensors, and so on. There are many possibilities.

Who: everyone (members and non-members are welcome), seating is limited to 10 people

Cost: $29 for the kit. Email ed at kineticsandelectronics dot com to reserve and to arrange payment.

When: 2/19/2012 3-5pm

Where: Pumping Station: One 3354 N Elston Ave Chicago, IL 60647

UPDATE: I previously copied 2/8 as 28.  Ooops. the event takes place on Wednesday, Feb 8!

Monthly DIY CNC night is upon us again!

Are you interested in automated manufacturing? Do you like 3D printers, laser cutters, automated mills, router tables, and other awesome automatons? Then this is the night for you!

DIY CNC night is an ever-growing group of enthusiastic amateurs and professionals in the field of do it yourself automated manufacturing (ie 3D printers, CNC mills, laser cutters, cake frosters, etc) hardware and software.

Please come if you’re interested in learning more, already have a CNC tool at home, want to show off your latest build, or just want to meet locals who are into this exciting technology!

• Who: Open to the public
• Where: Pumping Station: One, 3354 N Elston Ave, Chicago, IL
• When: Wednesday, February 8th, 7pm
• Cost: Free ($5 suggested donation for non-members to help us pay the rent)

Typical Schedule:

• 7-7:10: people show up
• 7:10-7:25: introductions round-robin
• 7:25-9pm or so: schmoozing, machine assembly and show off, discussion of tools and techniques

Image: Quantum ORD Bot by Thingiverse user (and friend of PS:One) bdring

streetlamp by prettysmallthings

Welcome back from the holidays!  Didn’t get the 3D printer you wanted under the tree? Come to DIY CNC night to learn how to make your own!

Our monthly DIY CNC (do it yourself computer numerically controlled tools) night is happening this week on Wednesday night at 7pm!

DIY CNC night is an ever-growing group of enthusiastic amateurs and professionals in the field of do it yourself automated manufacturing (ie 3D printers, CNC mills, laser cutters, cake frosters, etc) hardware and software.

Please come if you’re interested in learning more, already have a CNC tool at home, want to show off your latest build, or just want to meet locals who are into this exciting technology!

• Who: Open to the public
• Where: Pumping Station: One, 3354 N Elston Ave, Chicago, IL
• When: Wednesday, January 11, 7pm
• Cost: Free ($5 suggested donation for non-members to help pay the rent)

Typical Schedule:

• 7-7:10: people show up
• 7:10-7:25: introduction round-robin
• 7:25-9pm or so: schmoozing, machine assembly and show off, discussion of tools and techniques

Have you ever wished you could help direct investigations or do some hacking in areas like chemistry and biology (or others), but feel shut out of the scientific process because you don’t work in academia or industry?

Are you working in science within industry or academia, but feel locked into a narrow field of R&D that is dictated by conservative sources of funding either via business allocations to meet short-term profit imperatives or from government grants?

Open Science is the practice of making methodologies and results publicly accessibe as well as facilitating various degrees of distributed collaboration in the research process. “Hacking,” or altering the objects of study for various reasons, will be emphasized in our program for purposes that could range from art to biofuel development.

Please attend our meeting this Sunday and subsequent meetings every third Sunday of the month to help shape this nascent program. Early meetings will develop strategies for acquiring lab space and equipment, formating the program, and selecting initial group projects.

Who: Open to the public

Where: Pumping Station: One, 3354 N Elston Ave, Chicago, IL

When: This Sunday, December 18, 6pm (and every 3rd Sunday at 6pm)

Cost: Free

We look forward to meeting you!

2012 is almost here, so it’s time to announce both PS:One’s holiday schedule and the elections for the 2012 Board of Directors.

Holiday Schedule:

There will be no official meeting on December 20 or 27, 2011.

There will most likely be people at the space hanging out on both days for our regular open house (minus the meetings), so feel free to stop by.

Meetings will resume their normal Tuesday schedule on January 3, 2012.

Election Schedule:

Nominations for next year’s board are open NOW and will close on Tuesday, January 10, 2012. Members may nominate themselves and/or each other on the mailing list or at any Tuesday meeting.

On the evening of Tuesday, January 10, all nominees are invited to give a speech during the 300 Seconds of Fame event immediately following the meeting.

There are eight available positions:

• President
• Vice President
• Secretary
• Treasurer
• Chief Technical Officer
• Public and Press Relations Director
• 2x Director-at-Large

Elections will be held during our Annual Members’ Meeting on January 17, 2011 at 8pm.

UPDATE: I can’t read a calendar – this event takes place on December 14, not december 7 as this post originally stated.

It’s almost time for December’s DIY CNC Night, a growing group of enthusiasts of automated manufacturing: 3D printers, laser cutters, automated mills and routers, plus all the software and hardware tools that enable automated manufacturing technology!

Please come if you’re interested in learning more, already have a CNC tool at home, want to show off your latest build, or just want to meet locals who are into this exciting technology!

Who: Open to the public

Where: Pumping Station: One, 3354 N Elston Ave, Chicago, IL

When: December 14, 7pm

Cost: Free ($5 suggested donation for non-members to help pay the rent)

Typical Schedule:

• 7-7:10: people show up
• 7:10-7:25: introduction round-robin
• 7:25-9pm or so: schmoozing, machine assembly and show off, discussion of tools and techniques

Image: Sneaker Spurs! by Thingiverse user MikeBattaglia

Join us Saturday, Dec. 10th at Pumping Station: One for a gift Hack-a-thon! All are welcome, this is open to the public so invite ALL the people.

Need a really cool, last minute gift? We will be demo-ing and assisting you in creating one, or some of the following items:

Touch Screen Gloves!
- For those of you who like to wear gloves in the winter, but also need to use your touchscreen phone. A simple hack can have your favorite gloves working with your modern technology. Any gloves will do, buy a new pair or hack your current gloves.

Charms and Pendents * +
- Laser cut your favorite geometric shape, or fashion logo, or skeletal system out of wood or colored acrylic for a personalized necklace, charm bracelet, or earrings.

Transformer Jeans
- Jeans that can become boot cut by doing this: http://www.manrepeller.com/2011/11/art-of-slit-pant.html and adding a zipper. For those trendy people in your circle. Bring an old pair of pants to revive.

Fur-covered Earmuffs
- Because those store bought ones are never quite right… repurpose or recycle some of your old/faux fur into ear saving warmth for the impending Chicago winter.

Keyboard Letter Pendents
- For when you want to tell someone they are the “Caps Lock” of your life.

Feather Clutch
- The perfect accessory for your little niece for her next tea party with Prince Bunnykins.

Wood Coasters * +
- Laser etched Aspen looks mighty fine under a tall glass of Nog. Stay classy my friends.

We’re also having blacksmithing demos throughout the day! So stop by and warm up by the forge (Marshmallows optional).

Hacking will take place from 10AM to 6PM on Saturday, December 10th.  Come by and hack up some holiday fun!

* there is a suggested donation for the laser etching.
+ We have some designs available, however if you have a specific image you would like to etch/cut, email it to AdriannaMcKinley@gmail.com with a brief description of what you would like so we can prepare the image to work correctly with our laser. We may also be able to do simple logos day of, but we can’t promise.

On a trip all the way from /tmp/lab in France, Sam will present his work with music generation from participants’ brainwaves and 3D print small brainwaves collected via a headset as well! We expect to learn a lot about brain computer interfaces via music and tactile feel.

Where: 3354 N Elston, Chicago IL
When: Wednesday November 30, 2011, 8:00 PM CST
Bring: Yourself, your brain.
Take: Knowledge, inspiration.
Why: Because it’s awesome.

Photo courtesy Anvica on Flickr

It’s a proud moment for me to announce that Pumping Station: One – just short of the 3rd anniversary when this madcap adventure started – has reached a milestone every culture that counts in base 10 inevitably celebrates: Reaching 100 of something.

That hundred in this case is our combined list of active members. With upwards of 90% of our budget being funded through members like you, it’s easy to see why this calls for celebration. We live or die based on the enthusiasm our community has for us. I recall in the very early planning meetings at Mercury Café we’d talk about the spaces that came before us, namely Noisebridge and their astronomical 100+ members. I thought to myself that we – Chicago – wouldn’t have that problem for a long time with the decentralized and disparate tech community I’d come to know.

It’s the twilight of 2011 now and the phrase “silicon prairie” happens to exist.

In the short time we’ve been around there have been friends made, countless failures (read: learning opportunities) experienced, companies started, companies shuttered, projects built, connections strengthened, children’s toy cars raced, careers re-evaluated and so much more. Each person that’s stepped through our door has had their hand in getting us to this milestone. As we carry on, it’s worth noting our strength exists in the sum of our parts; together we move to realize our common dreams. Being able to see first-hand this experiment in community start as a seed and come to take root is a true privilege and honor.

Thank you all for continually upstaging many of our wildest imaginations.

Source: Wikipedia.org, Author: Anders Lagerås

• Date: Saturday, October 29th 2011
• Time: 9pm – whenever
• Place: 3354 N. Elston (Pumping Station: One)

Come join us for some ghoulishly fun festivities.  Food and drink will be provided.