Friday, September 5, 2014

The Make717 Makerspace

This afternoon I was able to pay a brief visit to a new "Makerspace" right around the corner from my house. For those not from around here, "Make717" refers to our phone area code. It's in Warehouse D, a pretty cool space right next to Building Character, off of the 300 block of N. Queen St. You can find the group on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/lancoberksmakers/.

A makerspace is like a geek clubhouse with tools.
It has become a worldwide phenomenon, taking its name from the "Maker Movement" started by Make Magazine. I was a charter subscriber to Make magazine when it first began, and have every issue. I love its mix of whimsy, solid do-it-yourself cred, and wide range of subject matter. Now there's even makerspace.com - a site to help you get a makerspace started.

I was introduced to the group by my friend Phil Oles. Phil has a hobby machine shop in his basement, and he is kind of my machinist mentor. I've written previously about my fledgling adventures as a machinist (click the "Machine Shop" label to the right to see posts), and I met Phil when he was displaying his steam engines at the Lancaster Science Factory. He subsequently invited me to visit his shop, which has some great equipment: lathes, mills, bandsaws and all the supporting tools. I was amazed at what he has built from scratch. He has even built an internal combustion engine, complete with his own homemade carburetor. Here's a photo of Phil in the makerspace, with a couple of his engines:


This closeup of one of his engines shows the fine work. It's a steam engine, but he was running it on compressed air for safety. The gear mechanism in front (there are gears behind the plate too) is really good - he even made the gears from scratch on his mill. The entire gear train causes a 9 to 1 reduction in RPM. He's using that to turn the electric generator - you can just see that the LED attached to the generator is lit in the photo.


The next photo is terrible, but I found a video (click here) that explains and shows it in great depth. 


It's a "Quantum Levitator" from the North Science Museum in Lancaster. Using high-powered magnets and a superconducting disk (made of gold, sapphire, yttrium and other stuff I forget), it levitates the disk as it rotates around the track. Key to making it work is cooling the disk to -350 F (-212 C, 70 K). This was done using liquid nitrogen. To the wonderfully engaging woman demonstrating this exhibit, I apologize that I didn't get your name!

Next to Phil on the other side was Chuck Durham, who is a very serious hobbyist of radio controlled flying stuff. He had several of his 'copters on display, which can do all sorts of aerobatics and also provide an FPV (first-person view) via a goggle worn while flying the 'copter by remote control.


This fellow, whose name I also missed, is using technology to connect with art and his family tree. His mother's side of the family lives in El Salvador, and he has created art in a folk religious style that is popular in El Salvador.


Of course, the electric Saab 96 parked outside caught my attention. I visited ampREVOLT.com, the site printed on the side of the car, to get the scoop. Interestingly, I also recognized a red Miata pictured on the site as having belonged to my friend Ralph Lehman, a local bassoonist and composer. Ralph had told me that he sold the car to a guy who converted it to electric power. Surely there can't be two in the area!


If you want to help get this makerspace off the ground, be sure to visit the Facebook page at the top of the post, and sign up for the email newsletter. Let's help create a culture where folks make and repair their own stuff - the ultimate in self-reliance! 







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