NEW LOCATION and TIME - Returning to HMS Beagle Science Store this month.

Last month we heard from Dan Green and his son about TinkerCad, an easy to use 3D modeling program available for free through the Internet. They showed us how parts are drawn then shared their design for chess pieces. We were able to see how easy it was to take one of the pieces, a Rook, and push a button to have it printed on a 3D printer. Tom Collins was generous enough to bring his MakerBot in for the demonstration. One of Dan's goals is to include this as a process for immersive education in schools teaching 21st. century skills and innovation by including the STEM based Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math skills at a younger age.

3D Printer Build -

Come out to learn about our 3D Printer Project.

We are in the process of organizing sessions to build 3D printers that can be inexpensive enough for use by educational organizations, home schoolers, and individuals. Mike Grundvig will be discussing our design and selection of parts based on the ORD Bot Hadron 3D printer mechanical platform with a few design improvements. A dream in the Replicating Rapid Prototyping (RepRap) communities is to build 3D printers that can in turn build other 3D printers. This dream of robots building other robots is approaching reality by many hobbyists based on numerous RepRap designs including the popular MakerBot.

The Hadron design does not require another 3D printer to build parts for us. Instead, we are specifying industrial grade components combined with the modular MakerSlide linear bearing design to create a rock solid tool for 3D part production. In turn, we hope to minimize or eliminate the amount of tinkering required with other RepRap designs to keep them running properly. Our goal is to buy parts in bulk to get quantity pricing and save on shipping, fabricating some of our own parts using CNC equipment, and for our initial build, supplying parts at cost. Our goal is to keep the cost for parts around the $600 price range. We are also looking at ways of staging the builds so the cost of parts can be spread out.

Show Us Your Project

As usual, bring your project out to show what you've been working on and share with our Show & Tell participants.

September Build Nights

ROCKETS - Saturday October 6 is the annual October Skies celebration at the HMS Beagle. For our September Build Nights we are putting together rockets and planning to make rocket launch controllers.

Make:KC Membership

Make:KC invites you to come out and get involved with our activities but we depend on help from our community of Makers to keep the group and activities going. We are expanding opportunities with projects and workshops at both the HMS Beagle Science Store and the BTC Fab Lab. Membership with Make:KC has benefits; our members enjoy a 10% discount at the Beagle store on many items. The BTC Fab Lab offers a $10 discount for their monthly memberships with extra savings for quarterly payment.

We offer $25 annual memberships with Make:KC for individuals or $40 annual membership for families. Your membership helps support our research, project planning, outreach activities, and educational efforts.

Come join us at the Make:KC Show & Tell

• Where: HMS Beagle Science Store

• When: 6:00 to 8:00 p.m. September 4, 2012

• 180 English Landing Drive
  
  Parkville, MO 64152