Pumping Station: One

Friday Evening, March 16 at 6:30

Dwayne Forsythe and friends from 2DKits are coming to Pumping Station: One to teach us how to solder by making Blinkies.

photo by 2DKits.com

This is where you get to build one of those LED flashing things.

You start with the kit, use the tools we have in the room. When you are
done, you will have a working blinkie. We have blinkie Techs to help you
debug any problems.

We do allow and encourage children to build their parent’s blinkie,
but the parent has to stick around and learn about the process.

• When: Friday March 16  6:30 to 9:00
• Where: Pumping Station: One
  3354 N. Elston, Chicago
• Who: Open to the public
• Cost: $5 suggested donation for non-members plus cost of kits.

Kits will be provided by 2Dkits. They cost between $7 and $21.

Making a business is just like making any complex new thing – there are new tools and materials to become familiar with, new skills to be learned in manipulating them, having a plan, perseverance and acquiring that  strange combination of mania and fear that is the hallmark of the experienced entrepreneur.  The result, with some luck, is a machine that excretes more money than it consumes.

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

When: Wednesday Feb 22 2012 7PM

What: Tales from the entrepreneur trenches and practical tips – Panel Format

Who’s Invited: The Public

Who’s Presenting:  Tim White (35 yr entrepreneur – 1o businesses & 6 jobs) & Laurie Rich (“law enthusiast”)

We will start off with an introduction by Laurie on legal matters, then I will start off by listing the names and outcomes of the ten
businesses I have started over the last 35 years (ranging from high tech to pure art), and offer some lessons learned.  Then we will open it up and see where things go.

Contact: Tim White tpwhiteco(at)gmail(dot)com

It is impossible to buy presents for my dad. I’ve exhausted my repertoire of gifts. I pride myself on giving fantastic gifts, but the man seems hell-bent on flabbergasting me. So, when I finally figured out this year’s Father’s Day gift, I felt damn proud.

A little context – my dad’s father died almost two years ago, and I’d been hanging onto a shell casing from the 5-gun veteran’s salute since then.

original shell casing

I decided to make a pen out of the casing. See a breakdown of process below. Much credit to Jordan, because you all know I can’t operate any of the shop machinery. Yet.

1. Cut off the casing end from hollow shell body and drill a wider opening. The brass is very soft so use a rubber clamp and a jewelry cutting saw.
2. Cut, hollow out, and finish hard wood shaft for pen body extension. Stain if you so choose. I used a light cherry stain as the wood was almost white.

before assembly

3. Epoxy and insert wood shaft into wide end of shell casing, and epoxy casing end to opposite end of wood shaft as pen cap.

shell casing end pen cap

4. Mold hot glue into removable stopper for pen tip using WD-40 to keep glue from sticking to ink insert and shape into cone using heated blade (neat side effect is that the glue becomes glassy and transparent). Pop in pen tip with glue stopper!

hot glue stopper for pen tip

…and fin!

finished product

I hope he likes it. I’m going to give it to him on Friday.

The most excellent Mitch Altman, co-founder Noisebridge & TV-B-Gone inventor, is in town to speak at Flourish Open Source Conference at UIC this weekend.

Mitch Altman presents ‘Hacking Cool Things with Microcontrollers’ at Maker Faire Detroit 2010

Mitch loves hackers, so he’s coming by our space for a special Thursday edition of the our bi-weekly Circuit Hacking Wednesday: Circuit Hacking Fun Night!

Come get your electrons & solder on with Mitch and other friendly hackers on Thursday, April 7th, 7pm-9pm.

Inspired by Noisebridge’s Circuit Hacking Monday, any experience level is welcome. Beginners can learn to solder and make cool stuff in a couple hours. DIY electronics kits from Cornfield Electronics (Mitch’s company) and Adafruit Industries will be available for cash sale.

And remember: Soldering is Easy!

PS:One has recently expanded its space and will be moving the workshop into a separate room to accommodate more tools and electronics.   Today, a bunch of people got together to build some new workbenches and move some tools into the new shop.

Here’s a photo of what we have so far:

The three tables were built today.  Two of them are pretty basic, but what’s that wierd stuff on the bottom of that one?

That’s a cockamamie caster system to make this table roll.  The casters are on a hinged board so the legs can still operate as normal when the board flips up, but when the table is lifted the board will flip itself down and those hinged supports above it brace the casters into position, making it a pretty sturdy rolling table.  Nathan Witt got this idea from another hackerspace.  (If anyone knows which one it was I’ll credit them, thanks for the idea!)

You can also see our new shelves behind the tables.  Jen Savage and Tim Winkler donated them and they’ll definitely see plenty of good use here.  Thanks guys!

Photo of one of Anne Petersen's finished items, by Anne Petersen.

Jen’s knitting workshop has been a great success with almost 10 attendees and many people who had never knitted before already finishing multiple projects.  Therefore, Jen is teaming up with Gretchen to run the knitting workshop every Monday.  If you want to learn how to knit and haven’t attended yet, you now have double the opportunities to learn.  Come by any Monday at 7pm and start making something!

Monday is part 2 of our Knitting Workshop series.

We will continue to work on our scarves, and any individuals who want are welcome to try their hand at spinning yarn.

Because of the amount of equipment that needs to be moved into the space for this demo, we will start this session a little late. Expect it to begin around 7:15-7:30pm, but feel free to arrive earlier.

All are welcome to attend, even if you missed the first session.

PS:One will be hosting a series of free Knitting Workshops beginning on Monday, December 6th at 7PM and continuing every other Monday.

In addition to learning to knit, you will get demos of dyeing and prepping fiber, spinning yarn, knitting machines, etc.

You can join these workshops at any time as a beginner, but if you miss the first session, please try to come in a little early so that we can spend one-on-one time with you to get you started.

Knitters with experience are more than welcome to join the group, sit in for workshops, and help beginners with their dropped stitches!

Every knitter I know has started by knitting a scarf, so that is what I will be teaching you all to do! The first session will be dedicated to showing you how to cast on and knit your first few rows of the scarf.

Materials: While the workshops are free, you still need to bring some yarn and needles. Find a craft store and look for yarn that you like in “worsted weight,” “chunky,” or “bulky” sizes. To do this, look on the side of the yarn ball at the chart showing gauges. You want something that ranges from 20 stitches per 4 inches to 14 stitches per 4 inches. The gauge will list a needle size next to it, so pick up a pair of straight needles in the size it lists. Most craft stores have knitters on staff, so don’t be afraid to ask for help in picking materials.

I will have a few sets of materials available for drop-ins, but you might not like the colors or types of yarn I give you, so please be sure to pick up your own!

If these workshops go well, we will do a group project for the space after we finish making our scarves.

See you all on Monday!

UPDATE: last day to purchase tickets is April 28 – one extra day to buy tickets!

Vermiculture or vermicomposting is a compact, smell-free way urbanites and apartment dwellers can compost their kitchen waste.  Join us and learn how to reduce your household waste while creating free organic fertilizer!

Date: May 6, 8-9pm
Ticket sales close on April 28 (after this date, there are NO refunds, we are purchasing live worms)

The full ticket price (Workshop + Materials) will include a 10 gallon bin and a half pound of red wriggler worms from our supplier in Wisconsin.  Those who purchase the information only tickets will only attend the lecture and receive no materials (worms, bin, etc..).
Notice to Attendees: if you have any available, please bring black and white printed paper, or a Tribune or a Red Eye (both are printed with soy-based inks). If you don’t have any, we will bring some too.

About the instructor:
Mary Pawlak has been educating people about the environment since 2004 and she has been vermicomposting since 2008.

Purchase Tickets Here