Maker Faire Detroit 2019

Making is just so much.  If you haven't experienced it in awhile, I highly encourage you to get back at it.  I know you've done it in the past and I know it's given you a smile.  That's what making does.  It makes you feel good.  I am always striving to bring making into my teaching.  I visited the Maker Faire in Detroit a few weeks ago and loved every second of it.  I was fortunate to hear Sherry Huss, founder of Maker Faire, speak back in May.  She is the reason I attended in Detroit.  What an inspiration!!

The vibe at Maker Faire is the best thing about it.  Everyone wants to make, to share, to smile.  It's super laid back, inviting, and comfortable.  There is very little intimidation and very much interaction.  I would highly encourage you to take one in. 

I've visited the Mini Maker Faires before and those are pretty great too.  This is just such an amazing scale of creativity and collaboration.  It was the ten year anniversary for Detroit.  I'd very much like to get to the World Maker Faire or the Flagship Maker Faire.  Neither of them are on my budget/calendar at this time but they are definitely on my watch list.  Check out their site to see what may work out for you - https://makerfaire.com/

What I didn't know about 3D printing

There are so many darn options.

MakerBot is the go to, but perhaps not the best choice.  I visited several makerspaces with broken ones just lying around.  :(

Open source software is free, but you get what you pay for.  MakerGear 2 recommends Slic3r and Pronterface.  I didn't like them.  Not intuitive for a beginner like me.  Definitely not something I want to have students and staff jump into.  We're looking into purchasing Simplify3d.

Printing off of an SD card. 

Slicing. 

File types .stl, .obj, gcode

It's still incredible.

Polar3D was my first printer.  Cheap, easy as can be to set up, and awesome customer service.  Love that you can remote stop a job and watch it through the Polar Cloud.

MakerGear is my second printer.  Not so cheap, not so easy to set up, and the jury is still out on the support.  As far as I know, you cannot remote stop a job and there isn't a camera setup included.    The prints are gorgeous though!

Setting up shop!

We've been busy.  We are forming stations.  We purchased five Mac minis and hooked them up to each machine/device that required a computer.  We also bought a color printer for our space.  Here's what we have so far.

• sewing/knitting/crocheting
• cameo - vinyl/temporary tattoos/tshirt/paper cutting
• coding - raspberry pi/microbit/makey makey
• carvey
• button making
• padcaster
• 3d printing
• device charging
• robotics
• jewely - stamping, beading, clay
• crafts - paper, washi tape, duck tape, markers, cardboard
• circuits - LEDs, copper tape

We still have a ways to go, but we're getting there!

What I didn't know about the Carvey by Inventables

It's really really cool.  I knew it was cool but I didn't know how cool.

The project ideas are endless.

It's not as intimidating as you might think.

Carving is subtractive, 3D printing is additive.

CNC stands for - computer numerical control.

MDF stands for - Medium Density Fiberboard and can have formaldehyde in it!

You NEED a ShopVac.  We bought the Micro one which is super cute and cheap and easy to use.  However, it has a bag that needs emptied frequently and that gets old quick and the bags don't hold up real well, so you have to buy new ones.  We will probably upgrade our shop vac to a larger size with no bag.

Those bits will cut you up!  I had countless scratches/cuts on my knuckles.  Be careful.

It doesn't like to connect sometimes.  Green carve button means it's connected, but sometimes you click on that green baby and it stays at 0% for an eternity and nothing is carved.  Typical troubleshooting will help (try a new usb port, shutdown, restart, the software, the carvey, the computer) but we needed some new driver downloads.

Calling Inventables was the best!  They answered right away (based in Chicago so business hours there may be different for you) and got down to business.  They remoted in to my computer, assessed the problem, and fixed it immediately! Plus, they were super nice!

After each carve, the Easel software will ask you how it turned out.  If it didn't turn out, you can email Inventables.  I did not get any response to my many emails that I sent out.  Calling was key.

It can carve so many different materials!

The Forum is super active and helpful.  I posted the following question and had an awesome response within fifteen minutes!

Hello! I am a high school teacher trying to get the Carvey prepared for students and staff to use. What is the best material for starting out? Where can cheap materials be purchased? Thanks in advance for any advice!

Insulation foam from a home center is incredibly cheap, and useful for trying out toolpaths if nothing else. https://www.homedepot.com/b/Building-Materials-Insulation-Rigid-Insulation/N-5yc1vZbaxx

HDPE cutting boards can be affordable (or if one can get large sheets from a home center, e.g., https://www.menards.com/main/building-materials/panel-products/specialty-panels/plastic/1-4-x-4-x-8-hdpe-panel/p-1444424094192-c-14048.htm ) or cutting boards from a restaurant supply store: http://www.therestaurantstore.com/

Some more links which may be helpful at: https://www.shapeoko.com/wiki/index.php/Vendors#U.S.

I'm sure there is a lot I still don't know about the Carvey but I'm so excited to find out! 

The Ranger Hub

We have a name!  I think we have our hashtag too - #MakeItRanger .  That one may still be up in the air but it's definitely my favorite!

Next order of business is changing all of our social media profiles to the new name.  We are so excited to move forward with this student named and voted on choice! 

Getting ready for Students!

We have so much to do!!!

Thank goodness for Google Drive keeping us organized.  We have created shared folders among our team and now that I think about it, I should just make a Team Drive, duh!  Adding that to the never ending to do list...  Here is what else we are trying to tackle before opening day!

Tutorials - create easy to follow how to guides to store in sharable google drive folder

Inventory deliveries - what do we have?  what are we waiting on?  what do we still need?

Safety -  post PDFs near big safety concern devices; what equipment do we need?  goggles? gloves? first aid kit?

Orientation - all teachers and students come down for a quick show

Promotion - snapchat, insta, twitter, fb, school website, announcements, posters in halls

Tracking who is where, why, and all of that. - Google Forms for check in and check out

Resources - what is going fast?  what is being used most often?  how can we improve?  do we need duplicates of some tools?  monitor, react, monitor, react = improve!

Here is an example of a how to that I found for metal stamping from PJ Tool Jewelry. 

Ordering

I never thought spending money could be this hard!  It has always come way too easily for me.  Purchasing items for our new space has proved to be a serious task though.  There are so many steps and things to consider as well.  First there are just so many options out there and we want to make the wisest decisions.  Visiting other makerspaces around us was such a wise use of our time.  We were able to speak to people who have had solid experience with the tools and students.  We also reached out on Twitter for feedback on resources.  More heads is always better than one!

We had a pretty solid list before the money was ready to be spent but once we got down to it we made some changes.  We went through our list line by line in a shared google spreadsheet.  The sheet had links, prices, quantities, and it was sorted by themes.  We wanted to make sure that our space wasn't all techy or all crafty.  We wanted a good balance of themes to attract as many students as possible.  This spreadsheet has been an amazing resource.  We keep vendor information, quotes, invoices, dates of when things are ordered and received, and so much more organized and at all team members' fingertips.

Some companies are way easier to work with.  Some don't accept purchase orders.  This means we have to purchase the item and then be reimbursed.  Our savior has been our colleague, Pam, who does all of the final ordering in the building for us.  She is incredibly organized, efficient, patient, and kind.  We love working with her!

I am also spoiled rotten by Amazon prime.  When I place an order, I am used to some random stranger pulling up in his car and dropping it on my porch within the next day or two.  Sadly, ordering for our school does not work that way.  Even though we order through Amazon, as well as other vendors, the process is much much longer.  Ordering at this time of year probably wasn't the wisest decision either, but we are just so excited to get these tools into our students' hands!