PCB Manufacturing: First Step – Design Something
So we have this fully working PCB Fabrication setup at the hackerspace now. If you're interested in getting started we recommend having something to fabricate. Designing a circuit could be done in Microsoft Paint, but for good results we suggest something a bit more... powerful to help you get component footprints on right among other things. Electronic Design Automation tools such as KiCAD fill that spot well.
If you are interested in putting together a design, check out this tutorial to give you a great kick start on using KiCAD to design your circuit board. You'll probably want to stick to a single side board for your first round. Lining up layers can be a bit tricky with our current system. We're working on getting a system in place to make this more predictable.
If you have problems, please feel free to drop a question on the mailing list or come by when the space is open some time.
Help the Reprap Project!
Make Lehigh Valley is hoping to raise $250 in donations to match another $250 to build a Reprap Prusa Mendel i2 3D Printer! We're hoping to be resourceful and keep the necessary cash around that $500 mark. Need for printed parts around the space abounds, and this will fill a huge gap in our ability to enable our minds. If you were at our first Town Meeting tonight, you probably heard about the 3D scanner - and the statue we scanned, and how it worked. Go donate!
Lehigh Valley Tech Talk: Arduino (Feb. 12, 2013)
Jared Steckl of MakeLV is the guest speaker at the next Lehigh Valley Tech Talk. You can find out more and sign-up to attend at the Lehigh Valley Tech Talk: Arduino meetup event page.
There already looks to be a pretty decent crowd planning to attend so this may fill up pretty quickly. The last Tech Talk event was also very well attended.
“A Slice of Pi” January 26th, 2013
On January 26th at 2PM, Make Lehigh Valley will be hosting a talk by Jason Plum (@WarheadsSE of Arch Linux ARM/@ArchLinuxARM) on the Raspberry Pi, Arch Linux ARM, and uses of the Raspberry Pi for applications such as: beer brewing, Arduino replacement, and home services. The talk, “A Slice of Pi”, will discuss the ins and outs of the ARM architecture as is applicable to the Raspberry Pi and similar devices, along with the critical differences from what you may have come to expect in other architectures.
Please join us! Feel free to come by early/stay late and hang out for awhile.
Bridgeworks Enterprise Center, Suite 101
905 Harrison St.
Allentown, PA 18103
Questions can be directed to @makelv on twitter, or via IRC in #makelv on freenode.net
Get a Ride to World Maker Faire with Make Lehigh Valley
We're excited to be taking a bus to World Maker Faire in NYC this year on Saturday 9/29 and everyone in the Lehigh Valley is invited. We're starting in Allentown, PA and we'll make a second stop in Phillipsburg, New Jersey if there is interest.
Since we'll have a big enough group, we're eligible for 25% off group rate on the tickets to the faire so your ride includes entry to the fair. We're using WePay to facilitate bringing the group together. Use the "Get A Ride" button to get your ride and ticket to the faire purchased. If you've already purchased a ticket, you can still ride with us, just be sure to select the appropriate ride ticket.
You can get your hands on the Event Program here.
Directions to the Science Center can be found on their website.
Delaware – Lehigh Amateur Radio Club to offer FREE License Preparation Classes
DLARC's Fall Series of FREE Amateur Radio License Preparation Classes will begin on Tuesday, SEPTEMBER 4 at a location in Bethlehem.
Classes will be held from 7 to 9 PM on Tuesday evenings.
There will be two classes running concurently:
A 9 week course for the entry-level TECHNICIAN CLASS license, this is for those who currently do not have an Amateur Radio License.
A 9 week course for the UPGRADE to the GENERAL CLASS license, for those who currently hold a TECHNICIAN Amateur Radio License.
The course is FREE, but pre-registration is required.
For details on the classes, or if you have an interest or questions about amateur radio, please call (610) 432-8286, or email KE3AW@ARRL.NET
For more information about Amateur Radio in General visit: http://www.arrl.org/new-to-ham-radio
Young Makers at HIVE4A
We were all blown away with the success of the Arduino/TV-B-Gone workshop presented by Mitch Altman as part of his Hackers on a Train 2012 tour.
I was impressed by the turn out of young makers .... I'm glad they'll be a new generation of makers to carry the torch when we're too old and frail. Who knows ... maybe they'll be able to visit us in the old folks home and motorize out wheel chairs ....
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Hackers on a Train In the Lehigh Valley July 5th at 6:30pm
Our next event is a must attend for anyone that enjoyed our booths at the Science Festival of the Lehigh Valley. We know many missed out on some of what we had to offer simply because of the overwhelming crowds. We have good news!
"Hackers on a Train 2012" is a tour of the makerspaces of the north east US and Canada during July by train. Mitch Altman, Jimmie Rodgers and crew will be doing workshops, classes and speaking as they go. Make Lehigh Valley is excited to be hosting these folks at Hive 4A for the Arduino For Total Newbies workshop, 6:30-9:30pm. This is a great opportunity for anyone interested in hobby electronics, arduino, hardware hacking or just how the devices around your home work.
These three hours pack in just about everything you need to explore hobby electronics. As a workshop participant, you will learn the basics of Arduino, electronic components and how they interact. Then you will be instructed in soldering up Adafruit's BoArduino kit. Your boarduino will be used to build a TV-B-Gone which will include learning to use a USB-to-serial ttl cable, the Arduino IDE, solderless breadboards and reading schematics to get their.
The workshop includes the kit, tools and everything needed to complete the tv-b-gone project. Children are encouraged to attend and bring a parent. The fee is $35/attendee to cover expenses of materials.
Mitch's more exhaustive explanation of the workshop can be found on his web page, Arduino For Total Newbies. You can also check out the rest of the tour schedule or our wiki for details as we assemble them.
We're really excited to share this event with Allentown, Bethlehem and all of the Lehigh Valley.
A Simple Arduino Robot
At the Science Festival one of the things we talked about in the Arduino area was how easy it is to make a robot out of an RC car. This guy's arduino robot is pretty basic, but has lots of room to expand.
Here is a short video and associated intractable on doing exactly that.
Instructable: Make your RC car drive itself with this simple brain swap
Science Festival – Great Success!
Saturday at the Science Festival of the Lehigh Valley, we taught over 40 kids to solder, saw kids eyes light up with the potential of 3D printing, showed off the simple power of Arduinos and had a great time. We had a real solid group of folks sharing in the responsibility of the booth and I think it showed in the participation of attendees.
We also passed out every piece of literature about Make Lehigh Valley we had and started writing out the website on extra name tags. If you are looking for more information, feel free to look around here.
Thank you to everyone who came by and thank you for everyone who volunteered to make this happen.
Thank you also to AEDC and Hive 4A for being critical partners in making this opportunity available to us.
See more pictures on Facebook.
We ran out of soldering handouts at the festival. If you would like one they are available to download.
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