Champaign-Urbana Community Fab Lab

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1A86Zm3e164zXWBI2FsoPMGr22Ybi8vc6NFpEWIIMcq0/edit

This is a very advanced tool. We have no basic tutorials or guides, but instead a collection of resources compiled to aid highly technical individuals in working this machine. Many thanks to Melvin Haas for helping us to get it running again!

[Dean, your notes can begin here]

From Melvin:

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1yQj-uivXutZ1Z-SCYMKNH7Hsuj6kqiXvKPj4O27onOs/edit#

The Fab Lab will be closed Thursday November 22 in observance of Thanksgiving Day.  We will be open the following Sunday from1 to 6 pm

In a recent blog post Maggie Thrash wrote "A common misconception is that hacking=accessing other people's computers (see: any movie or news story about "hacking"). But the true meaning of hacking is much broader-- it's about problem-solving, rejecting limits set by outside forces, curiousity, and a true DIY spirit.

See http://youtu.be/gg8CgB9Dl0c

Basic setup - http://youtu.be/uY0OQZ40YR4

Vertical calibration - http://youtu.be/Mfh-Jdj8QQs

Cleaning the extruder - http://youtu.be/ld7trw8pJho

The UP! 3D printer and the Makerbot 3D printer.

See http://youtu.be/IsROH6NqGwQ

Short article about CUCFL in Buzz.

http://readbuzz.com/arts/2012/craft-man-do-and-so-can-you

Ken Denmead wrote the following about raising geeks, though I think it applies to raising and teaching all kids: "...It means teaching them an empowering worldview. It means showing them how things work and that with a little research, determinations and trial and error, they can bend the world to their will. It means raising them with the maker call to arms echoing in their ears: 'If you can't open it, you don't own it!' It means getting them to approach problems technically and solve them with imagination, which makes anything possible.

Every year the Fab Academy conducts a rigorous semester long class based on the MIT course, with remote participants working in local Fab Labs around the world.

CUCFL hosted a Fab Academy class in 2011.

If there is enough interest, we could try to have one in Jany 2013.

We need to get several (probably 3 or more) people to sign up (Note:  there is a $3-5000 tuition.) and we will need to recruit a "guru" to be the local expert here.

For more information see:

http://www.fabacademy.org/application-form/

Thanks to Dean Rose we are now able to scan people and objects in 3D! We'll be working on this more in the coming weeks.

See more pictures on Flickr.

I'm enrolled in a coursera class on HCI to help expand my resources for teaching and found this video on rapid prototyping and the design process that I thought was quite relevant to our lab:

https://uofi.box.com/PowerOfPrototyping