Chicago Southland Mini Maker Faire 2016

A basic word of warning to others: Static Electricity Generators are not a great idea in high humidity conditions (relative humidity inside was over 50%).  My Van De Graaff generator experienced a mess of problems - from belt problems (thankfully I brought a backup with me), alignment of brushes and (of course) output.  The size of my Van De Graaff should make discharges at least a foot long - due to humidity I could only achieve about 1/2 inch.

This years Faire was great, even with the hot and humid weather (we were all, thankfully, inside).
See Pictures below:

 

Chicago Southland Maker Faire - 3rd Annual

It's just around the corner - The Chicago Southland Maker Faire

August 27th 10am-5pm

About Chicago Southland Mini Maker Faire:

2016 marks the third year of the Chicago Southland Mini Maker Faire (formerly Mokena Mini Maker Faire), held at the Pipefitters Local 597 Training Facility. Organized by SpaceLab and the Mokena Mayor’s Technology Committee, the Chicago Southland Mini Maker Faire has established Mokena as a learning community and technology haven in the south suburbs of Chicago.

Hackaday Prize 2016 - I'm a Round 3 Winner

I'm so amazed, overjoyed and honored that my Universal Glucometer project actually made the Top 20 of the 2016 Hackaday Prize - Citizen Scientist Round .

I've got a lot of work ahead of me - primarily on the coding side, but I'm determined and I WILL get it done, along with a fully functional prototype.

Here is a list of all 20 Winners of Round 3 Citizen Scientist  Round:

• MyComm
• Open Source Arduino Blood Glucose Meter Shield
• CODE RED
• Neuroscience of Grasshopper Jumps
• Flypi – Cheap Microscope/Experimental Setup
• Spectrophotometer
• Alli-GAIT-or Analysis
• Internet Of Things Microscope
• PULSE : Profiling Underwater Light SEnsor
• Affordable Reflectance Transformation Imaging Drone

• SunLeaf
• Universal Glucometer
• my.Flow
• Robot Missions
• CierzScience Tunnel
• Open Indirect Ophthalmoscope
• BluBEAM – A Scanning Laser Microscope
• Automatic Digital Microscope
• Arduino, EEG, and Free Will
• Murgen

Barnes and Noble Mini Maker Faire - Joliet, Illinois

Coming up this weekend at Barnes and Nobles Bookstores, nationwide, are Mini-Maker Faire's.   Friday, Saturday and Sunday (11/6-11/8)

While I thought I didn't make the cut since I didn't hear anything by Oct. 9th... I got the call last week asking if I could exhibit on Saturday and Sunday at the Barnes and Noble in Joliet, IL.  Over the weekend I found they also had an open spot for Friday.  So, SURPRISE!!!, I'll be there all weekend (I said yes to all days - of course, see below for the Meet the Maker exhibit schedule).

Friday 11/6 (Meet the Maker)

• 5pm
• 7pm

Saturday 11/7 (Meet the Maker)

• 1pm
• 5pm
• 7pm

Sunday 11/8  (Meet the Maker)

• 1pm
• 5pm

Below is a brief summary of my entry for the Barnes and Noble Mini Maker Faire:

My Project Entry was my "Musical Lightning": A tabletop musical Tesla Coil. The electrical arcs produced by the coil are modulated to enable them to produce musical notes without speakers!
The first Tesla Coil that I built, about 4 years ago, was motivated by wanting to show my daughter a "Lightning Machine". Ever since building that first coil I've wanted to build a musical Tesla Coil. After a number of failed attempts at building a solid state Tesla Coil I shelved the project with the plan to go back after I've learned a bit more.  Finally, after building a home brew CNC Machine and 3D Printer I decided to go back and try again - even though I didn't feel I really understood enough yet. I knew it would be a struggle but I registered for the Chicago Southland Maker Faire knowing the deadline would motivate me to learn what I needed to know to build it. After lots of research and experimentation, both of which continue, I learned even more than I hoped I would - about electronics, music theory, micro-controllers and programming.

I put off repairing my coil when I didn't hear anything by Oct 9th and switched to other projects - mainly my daughters Halloween costume (we like to MAKE our costumes in this house), a File Shelving project, and online coursework on micro-controllers, C programming and electronics.

After working hard for the week leading up to the faire and getting very little sleep - I made it for Saturday and Sunday (to many issues Friday - trying to get everything to work).
 
Here are a few pics of the faire:

My Table

My exhibit was received well and I had the opportunity to talk to a lot of people in education, other Maker's, people in different tech fields, and my favorite - kids who love seeing tech stuff.

 

Lego's and Little Bits

 I missed getting pictures of other tables - forgot about taking them until Sunday near the end of the Faire.

There were a good number of last minute challenges that I faced for this Maker Faire:

• First was building the Geek Groups Audio Modulation board for SSTC - only to find after all my work that the software libraries needed to use it only worked on the Mapleleaf Board - based off Arduino but different pinout and library would need to be ported to the Arduino.
• Biggest was my exhibit coil failing 2 days before the Faire and I was unable to repair it.
• Old Faithful - my backup, battery operated, coil that always works - my Mazzilli Flyback driver died.  After waking up extra early on Friday I made a brand new Mazzilli driver on perf board with point to point wiring (took me a few hours) that died also.

Saturday night I again stayed up late and built a basic 555 based flyback driver and added audio modulation - just to have a nice demo piece - finally I had something that worked (and it continued to on Sunday).

For future Maker Faire's / exhibits I need to have better backup exhibits (less  fragile, in good solid enclosures).

This Maker Faire was great and I really hope Barnes and Noble continues their support of the movement.

Check out the "Barnes and Noble" Mini-Maker Faire's

November 6-8th (2015) every Barnes and Noble store in the United States will be hosting a Mini-Maker Faire.

Announcing: Barnes and Noble First Ever Mini-Maker Faire's

This link gives a better idea concerning how it's being organized as well as the days and time for different aspects of the event B&N Mini Maker Faire's

I applied (just under the wire,but before the deadline) to exhibit at local Barnes and Noble locations (Joliet, Naperville and Bolingbrook locations).  The confirmation for my application stated that I would hear, if I was accepted, by the end of the day on October 9.  So..., it seems that I didn't make the cut.  I'm quite anxious to see who is getting the chance to exhibit their projects to the public, any chance to meet other local Maker's is a great opportunity that I look forward to (I would love to find other people to collaborate and exchange ideas with). 

My main goal is to encourage others to engage in Making - to discover and learn new things, apply what they already know in new ways, and of course to ask questions and pursue solutions.

Please, encourage everyone you know to come out and support "Making" next month (Nov. 6-8th) at your local Barnes and Noble Bookstore.

From what I can tell from the B&N link above, this is the layout:

The Featured and Sponsored Brands (I included direct links to their websites instead of just to the products that B&N are selling - so you can see what each company is all about) .

Featured brands:

• Protocol New York (http://protocolny.com/) - drones, gadgets, fitness
• Spin Master Spin Master Meccano Meccanoid G15 (http://www.meccano.com/meccanoid-about )
• Ozobot (http://www.ozobot.com/ )
• Sphero SPRK (http://www.sphero.com/sphero-sprk)
• Lego (www.lego.com ) - not clear if they are featuring building sets, robotics or both
• XYZPrinting (http://us.xyzprinting.com/) low cost 3D printer
• Snap Circuits (http://www.snapcircuits.net/ )
• Think Fun (http://www.thinkfun.com/ ) STEM education puzzles and games
• littleBits Electronics (http://littlebits.cc/ ) great electronics learning/teaching materials
• The Creativity Hub (http://www.creativityhub.com/ )– Extraordinaires Design Studio Pro (http://www.extraordinaires.com/ )
• Raspberry Pi (https://www.raspberrypi.org/ ) - looks like they are featuring Maker Media's Delux Kit
• Make Magazine (http://makezine.com/ ) (of course)

Sponsored Brands:

• Toby Rich (http://www.tobyrich.com/ ) smartphone gadgets
• Circuit Scribe (http://www.circuitscribe.com/ ) conductive ink
• Light Up (https://www.lightup.io/ )
• Makey Makey (http://makeymakey.com/ )
• Lomography (http://www.lomography.com/ ) photographic media

It looks like The B&N Mini Maker Faire's are being divided up (by times) into the following categories (or areas):

• Make Workspace
  • Product demos, tech-education. So, expect to see cool new tech and tech education products from the sponsored and featured brands named above.
• Meet the Maker
  • “Come meet the leaders of the Maker movement! These are the people changing the way we learn, ideate, design, create, and build the future. They’ll be visiting your local Barnes & Noble store to talk about their process, their creations, and their vision.” - it seems more a talk/lecture than an exhibit with hands on explanations. 
    • I believe this is the area I applied for in my application to Barnes and Noble and Make. Informed that if a local B&N store could use me that I'd be contacted by 10/9/15.

• Make and Collaborate
  • “Get hands-on experience in design, handcrafting, and construction in the spirit of collaboration and teamwork.”
    •  This looks like the area that could be the most fun and engaging to kids!

A breakdown of the days and times (compiled from the B&N website) is summarized below:

Friday	(11/6)
	03:00 PM	Make Workspace
	04:00 PM	Make and Collaborate
	05:00 PM	Make and Collaborate / Meet the Maker
	06:00 PM	Make Workspace
	07:00 PM	Meet the Maker
Saturday	(11/7)
	11:00 AM	Make Workspace
	12:00 PM	Make and Collaborate
	01:00 PM	Meet the Maker
	03:00 PM	Make Workspace
	04:00 PM	Make and Collaborate
	05:00 PM	Make and Collaborate / Meet the Maker
	06:00 PM	Make Workspace
	07:00 PM	Meet the Maker
Sunday	(11/8)
	11:00 AM	Make Workspace
	12:00 PM	Make and Collaborate
	01:00 PM	Meet the Maker
	03:00 PM	Make Workspace
	04:00 PM	Make and Collaborate
	05:00 PM	Meet the Maker

Chicago Southland Maker Faire 2015

The Chicago Southland Maker Faire was held just this past weekend.  The weather was perfect and there was a great turnout for the event (both in terms of exhibitors and attendees).

My Tesla Coil Exhibit

Cool Star Wars cosplay

Worshop88 Pen Plotter

Virtual Sandbox

Electric Racers

Overview shot from back

SouthWorks Maker Lab Network

 To see more info on  classes, etc. check out SouthWorks Maker Lab Network

Telescopes from Spacelab

Chicago Southside Maker Faire 2015

In an attempt to catch up from the past month or so, I'm posting a good number of posts over a short period of time,  For the first - Chicago Southside Maker Faire was held just a few weekends ago (Aug. 8th) at Ford City Mall.  Just like last year, I got lost on my way there (due to me and Goggle Maps).  My daughter and I did arrive before noon but only had about an hour to check out everything (not enough time) since I had to get her to a party for her school

Anyway, here are some photo's of the event: