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Observations of a Makerspace Organizer at the Global Community Bio Summit.

Submitted by J.R. Logan on

Biology and biotech are exciting frontiers. As a makerspace I see it as our obligation to make exciting areas of technology more approachable by providing tools and experiences. For this reason our makerspace has been interested in becoming involved in the Community DIY Bio Movement. We have hosted an informational session on bio hacking, started a bio slack channel and have some existing bio related activities happening through brewing on HERMS, the Growing Beyond Earth Contest and our burgeoning effort to grow kambucha leather. I have been interested in what a bio lab would look like at

Nour Al Ghadban AIESEC in Yale Intern in Make Haven from Kuwait

Submitted by Nour Ghadban on

In the middle of the middle east between two bordering countries which are Iraq and Saudi

Arabia in front of the Persian Gulf, Kuwait is located. Its named from the word Kut in Arabic

which means fort . It's a small country its slightly smaller than the state of New Jersey in terms

of land area as in with the population its estimated at 4.5 million total.

 

People before mostly lived near the sea because the country incomes comes from fishing,

building boats, searching for pearls, and trading. Until the petroleum was founded in the lands it stated the shift  into being a developed to be a

Bowl Carving

Submitted by Robert Narracci on

So today I departed from my neoprimitivism to see just how quickly I could bang out a bowl. I produced the a similarly goofy looking bowl as I did last time (this one has a sort of scandinavian boat motif) but this time I did it in 5 hours. Word of caution....the circular chainsaw grinder attachment I use for the fast rough-out behaves similarly to a chainsaw in that its very agressive and can pull one into a cut. This is not to be used in a careless way and should only be used with safety gear (face protection, hand protection and thick clothing.)

I took a chunk of pine that mother nature

Mast and Boat Building

Submitted by Phil Costello on

Last Winter I finally got time to layup and fabricate the Mizzen Mast and remake a better sliding cap for the cabin.  

The mast was made from Home Depote bought 2X3 by 8 wood that was scarfed on a 10 to 1 ratio and laided up into four 28 ft lengths using West Marine adhesive. The they were Glued together using PL premium The mast was then tapered and then cut in to 8s then 16s . The would had Grain denisty of  12 rings  or more per inch. The layup had to be done out side because of the shear size but the scarfs were cut and glued at Make Haven 

 

. The cabin hatch was made from ply wood frame

Lots of Energy Around Solar Innovation

Submitted by J.R. Logan on

To be an inventor you have to believe you can make a difference. If you sit and look at it alone it can feel that there is nothing left to invent, or that all the technology is too advanced for a layman to contribute a significant innovation. Recently MakeHaven hosted an event that proves the people of New Haven are not deterred and can find lot of ways to innovate.

The national network of makerspace, Nation of Makers, made us aware that the US Department of Energy was holding a contest for anyone to develop an idea that helped the solar industry. Through this contest they hoped to fuel the

Vinyl (Cu)tting DIY circuitry

Submitted by Liam Appelson on

Casting with MakeHaven's New Melting Pot

Submitted by Monica Keefe on

The melting pot is a great tool for taking 3D printed prototypes and turning them into finished products like game pieces or jewelry in a relatively quick process. I ended up making a small series of geometric, asymmetrical earrings, and the whole project, from printing my prototypes to buffing my final designs, only took a couple of days.

 

Making the Mold

 

 

To start, I 3D printed the shapes I wanted, covered them in Bondo, and sanded that smooth with 220 grit sandpaper. In this situation, Bondo is better than XTC-3D because visual surface finish does not matter and it has a much faster

The Art of Millinery

Submitted by Catherine Caze… on

               Ok, I am in love with sinamay. felt, feathers, leather, biais binding, petersham ribbon and many other ingredients that make the wonderful world of millinery. While I am stumbling in finding wood blocks - I need them in order to mold the hats -  through the years I have learned to be more patient and I truly enjoy the power of thinking outside the square. Still looking for those expensive commodities has been somewhat turned around last night, by my Australian Master Milliner Instructor Miss Elaine from The Hat Academy, bringing much hope. She is so clever.

              Elaine

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Submitted by Monica Keefe on

3D printing is an amazing technique for prototyping, and with surface finishings like Smooth On's XTC-3D, you can turn those prototypes into even better finished products.

I chose to print a small planter I designed in Fusion 360 just with one extrude and one chamfer command.

This is my original and revised print side by side. The original was not only smaller but as you can see in the following image, the chamfer angle failed to print correctly. The angle was originally set to 45 degrees, and once I set it to 40 degrees the issue was resolved and everything was smooth.

 

To prepare to

Sous Vide Hack

Submitted by Robert Narracci on

Sous Vide is a cooking method with which you immerse vacuum sealed food in a hot water bath and cook it slow and low. The hot water bath is controlled by a water heater/recirculator with a very tight range of temperature control (to one degree F). Since proteins in particular are more temperature sensitive than time sensitive, sous vide allows one to cook and hold food for long periods of time without degradation or loss of moisture. These temperature ranges for various states of doneness are often from about 120F - 160F.

Although the term is French (it translates to "under vacuum") and the