A community of designers, engineers and artists.
What a day! We had our first in-person meetup at the Imagine Space in almost 5 years and had a blast. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, our regular meetups there came to a sudden halt in 2020. Being back in that space and utilizing the laser cutter brought back wonderful memories. For those who missed it, we will definitely be back in January, so mark your calendars.
We had our first indoor meetup in many years at the Main Library. For me (Lakota), this brought back nostalgia from the Wednesday meetups used to hold there in 2018. A small group of us found a quiet table on the third floor, and we had an enjoyable time. An opened cassette rewinder was brought for donation, and we were able to observe the intricacies of the internal mechanical parts. It is truly amazing how so many sets and layers of gears are required for a seemingly simple, yet delicate and precise task.
However, a major source of entertainment came from something very low-tech: a windup toy caterpillar from the dollar store. Kids’ cheap windup and battery-operated toys can contain useful and intriguing parts that can be hacked and repurposed for other projects. Sometimes, it’s just fun to open them up and see what’s inside.
Needless to say, we dissected a caterpillar for science at the library, and it worked properly when put back together. 🙂
We will have future meetups at different locations (some of our favorites from before the pandemic and potentially some new ones), but overall, this one was a blast.
With the COVID-19 pandemic rocking the world, our meetups up until last year had been entirely online over Zoom. Zoom proved and continues to be a useful resource for many people in the group, as it eliminates commuting from the various parts of Ottawa. Additionally, it has enabled the group to connect with other makers and robotics enthusiasts outside of Ottawa. For a time in 2020, we (consensually) Zoom-bombed a robotics club in Sheffield, England and had several laughs and interesting conversations. We’ve also had ongoing connections and virtual meetups with the Vancouver Robotics Club.
However, despite the benefits, we’ve had far fewer opportunities to capture fun memories and share them. Our website has been very quiet over the years as a result. In 2023, with the coming of summer, we began holding in-person meetups once a month at Britannia Park or Remic Rapids. They have been well attended and have helped to reinvigorate the spirit of our group. We did park meetups again this summer and in the colder months hope to continue meeting at least once a month in an indoor location.
Both online and in-person meetups have their advantages and disadvantages, so we aim to maintain this hybrid model into the future to accommodate the preferences of all in this unique maker community.
All branches of the Ottawa Public Library will be closed on Sundays for the summer starting June 30th. This means we will not be able to use the Imagine Space on Sundays for our meetups until the fall.
For the summer, we will be holding meetups at different locations. Some locations being considered are the uOttawa Makerspace and Minto Park. There have also been suggestions from a few members about holding meetups on Saturdays so the Imagine Space can be utilized.
The calendar will be very tentative for the duration of the summer. Meetups may be held less frequently depending on turnout and host availability.
Your feedback is very important. If you have location suggestions, please voice them in the Google Group forum. If suggestions are proposed by the main hosts, please provide your opinions, both supporting and dissenting.
Proceed to the Hack613 online discussion!
Instructions
The following information describes how to adjust the frequency in which emails from our Google Group enter your inbox:
Here’s another challenge for people to have some fun with! To make a sign to post at our meetups so others can find us easily.
Rules: None
What can you win? A super cool remote control cockroach like the one Lakota has. 🙂
How to win: We keep track of questions and mentions any of the signs at the meetup. The one with the most wins.
Our mini CNC conference yesterday was a huge success thanks to InGenius and Doug.
Doug’s notes: Getting Started, CNC Overview
Also we had an amazing surprise appearance of Micah Black of A2DElectronics.ca and a laser cutter that he built. See images below. Also he has a build article.
Here’s a video:
Submit your images for Mothers’ Day portraits to darcy@inventorArtist.com this year.
Like last year we are doing portraits for Mothers’ Day!
Last year’s mom-o-matic project:.
More recent portrait machines.
Make your own robot!
Blink CNC is a group CNC build within the hack613 community!
The fist challenge is to build a drawing machine based on this electrical kit.
Two of these steppers with controllers ($3.88 CAD)
One of these servos ($1.83 CAD)
An Uno ($7.64 CAD)
A power supply ($4.31 CAD)
That comes out to $17.66. None of this links or prices are well researched, your mileage may vary. Many people will have an Uno and a power supply so for them this is a $5 project.
A drawing robot was chosen because it gets rid of the spindle. Also the servo can simplify the Z axis.
2) 2 AxisTwo of these steppers or these cheaper steppers. This motor shield. One of the above servos.The above Uno. Some kinds power supply.
3) 3 AxisThree of these steppers. One of these grbl boards. Three of these stepper drivers. Some kinda power supply.
4) 3 axis nema 17 kit: Parallel port based kit.Desktop computer with mach3Spindle kit.
5) Baby CNC 3018 kit.
6) base level cnc 3040 various machines
7) Base level cnc machine 6040 machinevarious machines
Way back a few years ago for a short time our group was called Blink. The idea was that when newcomers came the objective was to get them to be able to run the Arduino Blink program. Sort of an initiation and also a way of welcoming new people to the group.
That was pretty successful.
Our group has made many leaps and bounds since then and now we’ve got a group build of an experimental CNC machine! Newcomers can now get a CNC machine at low cost.
