Pumping Station: One

Patrick recently altered a sonic screwdriver to create a sonic flask. Here’s some photos.

And the video where he covers part of the creation, among other things: Things I’m Doing 300 Seconds of Fame.

One day after a Pumping Station: One meeting, Patrick and I arbitrarily set ourselves to making a light box.  This is what ensued.

The design was completely ad hoc and the workmanship was sub-sub-standard, but it came together exactly as I pictured it.  The biggest problem was that neither of us really knew how to make a light box.  Most importantly we didn’t have poster board to use for the backing or lights to properly light the item.  We just built the box and covered it with some fabric we found in the space, and we positioned the box to use ambient lighting as well as we could.  If someone were to make one of these in more than 15 minutes, those would be the things to change.  That and actually looking at real instructions from people who know what they’re doing.

Happy hacking!

With the kind assistance of our members Patrick, Tim, and Jim, I’ve built HolidayBot.

Here’s a quick intro video:

For more details, go here (this link will be updated as more details on HolidayBot goes live).

Pumping Station: One will be participating in the OpenDoor Hackathon!

The OpenDoor Hackathon is a hackathon to benefit the members of hacker/maker/artist/co-working spaces by creating a standardized, Open Source access and membership management system that can be used by everyone. At the end of the hackathon, the systems (or subsystems) created by each space will be voted upon, and the best system (or combination of systems) will be chosen. Implementing the system afterward is, of course, optional.

Why are we doing this?
I know, the word “standardized” sends chills down my spine too, but I assure you that this is a good thing! Deciding upon a common system would enable the following things:

• The ability to share membership between spaces
• Crowd-sourced security enhancements and feature additions
• Easier membership management
• A warm fuzzy feeling of being connected with other spaces

What we’re envisioning (and what many of you already have) is a sort of Reciprocikey or Space Passport system. We believe that the only way to create such an awesome system is to work together on it!

When is the OpenDoor Hackathon?
The OpenDoor Hackathon will begin on Saturday, December 11th at 2pm PST, ending 24 hours later at 2pm PST on Sunday, December 12th.

How do I sign up?
You can register your space’s team at the Eventbrite here!

Join the conversation at http://groups.google.com/group/opendoorhack-a-thon!

New kids on the block, Artisan’s Asylum are out to make waves with their Wallace and Gromit inspired breakfast making Rube Goldberg Machine.  Take note of their egg cracking contraption which worked beautifully so long as you’re not picky about having yours sunny side up.  I should mention that there was some goading by our own president about Artisan’s project stealing the show.  While I’ll wait for the official word on best in show, I’ll also take a moment to compliment those Boston folk on a job well done, truly a noteworthy hack.

That’s not all the action VIMBY’s got for us though.  The Transistor in Provo, UT is our last contender coming up and I smell some pandering for the zombie enthusiast vote.

Our episodes have just gone live on VIMBY and Here they are below. We haven’t been able to talk about our project much before the release, but now the door is wide open.

By far the coolest part of the project was making UV reactant ice cream. The secret ingredient in this is Fluoroscine, whose only side effect is turning your urine neon yellow. The whole project was completed by no small effort thanks to Jordan Bunker, Jim Burke, Tim Saylor, Patrick Callaghan, Bike Man Dan, Camo, Tomerica, John Stoner, Geoffrey Topham, Shawn Blaszak & Ishmael Rufus.

There are still 3 more teams to go and we’re just as excited to see what awesome things they’ve made, so check back here to see Crashspace’s project up next.

P.S. to Zach Hoeken: Let’s start a V-neck shirt wearer’s club.

In the interest of efficiency, the following post has largely been copied (and modified) from Jigsaw Renaissance, a hackerspace in Seattle! Thanks Jigsaw!

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Use your powers of Geek for Good! First responders in crisis situations need better tools. Come participate at the 10.10.10 hack-a-thon to help them out!

What: a 24-hour hack-a-thon with food and drinks provided. Starting ideas on what to build can be found here.

Why: the reasoning is two-fold: altruistic – to build ways to assist first responders in crisis situations. selfish – you (and the space you participate with) are eligible to win $1010.

How: Register (for free). Event runs from 9a Saturday to 9a Sunday CST. Weird timing, I know, but it’s (inter)national!

Where: The Chicago event is being hosted by Pumping Station: One. Associating with PS:One and attending at PS:One  are mutually exclusive and are not required. (ex: you can mark PS:One  as your space, but not attend physically; you can attend at PS:One  but mark another space as your connection; you can hang out with us while we code and not do anything; etc) Check out the eventbrite to register!

VIMBY – Take on the Machine: Episode One

This summer PS:One participated in a secret project. VIMBY contacted us and told us to be prepared to receive an envelope from Mitch Altman one Wednesday with our challenge inside. The above video is the first in a series called Take On The Machine. Each participating space, NYC Resistor, Artisan’s Asylum, The Transistor, and Crash Space and us will have an episode airing with their project featured.

Stay tuned to find out what we did with our VIMBY money.

A quick note: my open source Scanning Tunneling Electron Microscope project has been mentioned in the MAKE blog.

PS:One GP, Pumping Station: One’s Power Racing Series team, is proud to present the video evidence of our early-bird test run.  In order to earn 100 points towards the main event at Maker Faire: Detroit, we were challenged to create a video of our car driving, at full speed, on a straight-away run of, at least, 100 feet.  You can check out the proof of our progress below: