What's going on?
- http://t.co/R8T78vJx4r The official fundraiser page for The... http://t.co/xju7rUILUQ about 20 hours ago from Facebook ReplyRetweetFavorite
- Come join us a The Foundry, next Thursday, May 23rd for the Fundraiser Launch Party. Totally FREE and a great... http://t.co/iUOSSJfZfj 07:42:28 AM May 15, 2013 from Facebook ReplyRetweetFavorite
- The Foundry & Buffalo Lab in the news.... http://t.co/snVLVJXpim 12:05:57 PM May 10, 2013 from Facebook ReplyRetweetFavorite
-
Happenings…
O’Reilly Media, Make:Labs Visit
It seems I stumbled into the center of the maker movement when moving to Sebastopol, Ca. Within a mile of my house, is the Make:Labs, under O’Reilly Media. They are the force behind Make: and Craft magazines, Maker Faire, Makezine.com, Craftzine.com, Make Weekend Projects videos, the Maker Shed store, and Make Project line of DIY books. Although it’s a closed shop with hired techies, I finally went and checked it out and got the grand tour and snapped a few pics. I found out a little bit about what’s going on. The biggest project they have going is probably the education initiative to make computer labs at schools into makerspaces and get the tech side into the physical world. The plan is to start with 1000 schools in 4 years and keep it growing. So, here’s those pics and an inside look into their space.
of course, there's always cool stuff hanging on the walls... biking is big in sonoma county, lots of trails and bike lanes...
i really was there, i guess they have visitors hold this up so they have proof!
hmmm, it seems makers are messy everywhere.
and the usual workbenches...
and tools...
two makerbots...
this shopbot can cut thin metals and such, programmable...
their newest toy, a laser cutter... can cut plastics and wood, etc... but not metals.
Nick was nice enough to show me what the laser can do...
Brookelynn (no, not from NY), also very helpful and sweet, showed me the layout wall which helps them to edit the mags... there were a few large offices in the back with people busy hashing out the mags and websites.
will show some of the projects they've done, here's a stunt plane that is fun to build, fly, and then CRASH! (it's easy to fix again)... plans in one of the Make: mags that Brooke gave me (previous pic). mags have all kinds of projects-from a yakitori grill to a remote that will turn off virtually any TV nearby!
cardboard tower thingie... thought it was cool... one project they're doing i didn't get a pic- it was a few banjos made from pie and cake pans, turned over onto each other- they had electric pickups... probably in next months mag...
MakerShed model- the biggest physical project i saw...
inside view... they have plans available so anyone can build it.
out back of the Lab...
a full size MakerShed... they had the white covering on it because it's been so hot, usually just the corrugated plastic.
the beams are cut so they rest on the sides... said that their "un-handy" teenage students assembled in about 4 hours.
interior thru the glass (it was locked), the chairs spell "make".
another view inside. shows the circular beams that were made on a programmable table saw. it can be programmed to cut a whole sheet of plywood at once into many shapes. also, there's another crash stunt plane hanging on the wall and someone likes to kayak. well, that's all i have, hope you enjoyed it! check out their websites (in the first paragraph) to see more about them & their stuff... and check out the rest of the BuffaloLab.org website to see how we do it back East!