Tonight’s meeting was a great success, thanks in large part to Tom’s Balloon Animals presentation/workshop. Â Members and visitors were shown, and then guided through making a variety of plants, animals, and inanimate objects. Additionally, we had a number of visitors, and worked on projects including a Peltier-cooler proof of concept and a grinder stand. We […]
Another Successful Presentation – Balloon Animals! Read More »
If I hadn’t seen this myself, I don’t know that I’d believe it. Last night, we set out to test this Popsci article, and it seems to hold up. We had 2 locks donated, a generic U-Lock, and a pretty beefy looking keyed padlock. The U-Lock’s steel turned out to be a bit too soft,
Padlock exhibits vulnerability to extreme cold (and a large hammer) Read More »
A while back, we decided that we needed a 24v power source for various “testing” applications. This source needed to be durable enough for daily use by a wide variety of people without becoming damaged. It also needed to protect the device being powered, and be easy to maintain. Given that tall list, Ben suggested
LiPo Battery Ruggedized Power Module Read More »
Just a reminder, the Omaha Maker Group’s regular meeting on Tuesday, September 4th is an Omaha Creative Week Spark Event. We have several presentations on the docket, including a summary of the Omaha Maker Group (and Making as a whole), as well as a hands-on presentation on manipulating your car’s onboard computer for diagnostics and
Omaha Creative Week Spark Event – Tuesday September 4th, 7pm. Read More »
As part of the recent OMGWTFBBQ festivities9, a contest was held, pitting the forces of gravity against the weight of cold hard cash (pennies, to be specific). Â The goal of the contest was to use soda straws to support as much currency as possible in as high of a position as possible, thus racking up
Straw Tower Contest – Results Read More »
This past weekend, Dave and Eric and I met up with quite a few Omaha Maker Group members at the KC Maker Faire, and had a blast. We were initially going to have a booth to show off the awesome projects from around the Makery, but had far more people who wanted to go See the […]
KC Maker Faire 2012 Read More »
Last Sunday (April 1st) was the first Omaha Maker Group Egg Drop. Â The competition was much in the same style as the Nerf Gun Mod Contest run last fall; This competition had a lower entry barrier, and thus far greater turnout, with 10 total entries (Eric entered twice). Â All the eggs survived the drop, but
Egg Drop Contest – Results Read More »
On Tuesday night, we were disassembling some old printers, and salvaged some large ROM chips. Patrick got the idea to use the mill to remove the top layer of the case, and expose the IC inside. Â Here are some photos we took of the chip’s insides with a microscope. Magnifications range between 4x and 40x,
Microscope Photography – Integrated Circuits Read More »
Last Wednesday, OMG member Pat Joseph (KØCTU) stopped by the Makery to see if we could make contact with the International Space Station, as it passed overhead. The Space Station has a few amateur radio operations on board, and the one we were making contacts with was an automatic mode known as APRS. The automated
Contacting the International Space Station Read More »
A Variac (also known as an Autotransformer) is a variable transformer, which allows the user a convenient way to control the power to an AC appliance. Â In our context, it’s typically used to adjust the output of a heating device. The variac currently at the Makery is a 20-amp model manufactured by PowerStat. Â We’ve configured
What is this “Variac” Thing? Read More »