Dallas Makerspace Show and Tell - May 2017

Post a picture and description of anything you are working on this month at the 'Space here!

It can be anything from a small craft project to a large CNC router project to building a table to 3D printing to a science experiment and so much more. There are lots of people doing cool things at DMS all the time, but most of us don’t get to see it. Post it here and share the interesting things you are doing at Dallas Makerspace this month!

Posting here helps not only promote Dallas Makerspace, but could inspire others to make something. It will also help PR post a monthly look at what can be done here on a blog post (with attribution to each maker of course).


:bulb: NOTE: Please try to include the following on each post, to help make for richer blog content!

  • a decent QUALITY photo
  • a notation about WHAT you’ve made
  • WHO you are (for attribution on the blog)
  • HOW you’ve made it
  • and WHY

As some of you might know I’m working some angles to get my school to support the purchase of a laser cutter (along with “deciding” that my idea is the best)t to appropriate some under used space facilitate a makerspace. Because begging and and politely waiting in the corner for things to happen isn’t really my jam - I’m going about it my way that I know will at least be fun for me.

I have a multi-stage attack I’m creating for my school to help assist them in making the best decision. I’m thankful to work with an amazing principal who supports my wacky approaches, rarely questions my dreams, and is a very good cake and beer kinda guy. He’s really is an amazing person and solid leader - he also won “best principal of the universe or district” or something like that on Saturday. He’s probably 85% into this idea I just need to push him over just a bit more…and I will. I have more to make on the laser (of which I will be sharing because this is just good times) I will share later in the week.

Monday: Attack of the tortillas. @mreynolds (and everyone around me) helped me understand the super easy Zing (I’m trained up on the others just never got to play with the zing) laser raster some tortillas this weekend. Why tortillas? He’s graduated from Texas Tech and they are lonely and have odd relationships with tortillas. I don’t judge I just know things and move on. I put his wacky overly joyed face on a few tortillas and put a whole bunch all over his desk this morning for him to find later. The true fun is that the natural darkness of the tortillas turned him into a man with a black eye, Gorbachev, and a boxer who lost some teeth - I found the details delightful. I was going to make some cussing tortillas but I felt it best for them to be mailed to him randomly rather on his work desk.

I blacked out some paperwork on his desk because I don’t know what all was on it. It’s not near the impact I was going for but it will be a solid chuckle.

On the Zing:
Raster image on a tortilla
45% power
100% speed
7 minute image

Words on a tortilla
45% power
65% speed
1.5 minute a tortilla

Large variation in coloring based on “wetness” of tortilla.

The tortilla burning fan club

Breaking in early and often

Being subtle is a secret power of mine

Gorbachev right?

Action shot that shows nothing


The Legend

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Love me some J. Kajs. Did you hit up Dr. Rogers, or just LHS staff? Think Bigger!

Hmmmmmmmm

Have you met Ms. Franczvai - the director of all makerspaces inside of LISD. She dresses funny and sometimes talks strange but she’s good people and writes grants like a mo-fo.

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Replaced the starter on the F150 today. Two bolts are “all” it took, but I decided to route the replacement wiring harness I previously installed correctly, so a 90 minute job became a 3 hour job. At least it was nice outside.

I could have done this at home since it requires few special tools, but DMS has a totality of tools I lack, and stacks of those consumables you never think about (tie-wraps, wire, connectors, heat shrink, split tubing) that make the job easier.

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I find myself craving desserts, so I made a tea cart that will hold desserts in a little vignette. It has two extendable trays (one is retracted in this picture). It was mostly made at home, but at DMS I laser cut the curvy pieces that made pin-routing fixtures for all the non-rectangular parts.

The cart is cherry, with a birdseye maple insert. The homemade brass casters roll and swivel. I turned the wheels on my Taig lathe (similar to the Sherline that Machine Shop is getting), and I photoetched the caster frames.

This is how it will likely be displayed. I didn’t make the desserts because, well, I had these already and was too lazy to make more.

The table contains twenty curved/shaped parts that were all pin routed. If you’re not familiar with pin-routing, it’s a useful technique to cut multiple (identical) curvy parts when you don’t want to use a CNC router.

I laser cut pieces for the pin routing fixtures. This is typically is done with a jeweler’s/fret saw or scroll saw (or even a band saw), which typically requires a whole lot more sanding and fiddling. I also engraved some notes to myself on the fixtures.

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I used a Dremel (in a drill press-type stand) with a 1/32" end mill as an overhead router. There is a base plate with a guide pin below the bit. The fixture will be guided along the pin and the end mill will trace the curve of the fixture onto the workpiece.

I made multiple passes at increasing depths - not so much because the cutter couldn’t handle it but because the cutter tends to yank the work piece out of the fixture with more aggressive cuts.

And Voila! All the parts I cut this way will be identical - sure makes assembly a lot easier.

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You do such amazing work!

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All are humbled before your craftsmanship … when will you start teaching classes? What is the minimum vision acuity?

As usual, your work is superlative.

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John [ @talkers ] taught me how to use the rotary attachment on the Thunder laser.

I made this for my wife Tracy who loves dragonflies. I found that doing the lettering in Illustrator, then converting it to paths before importing into RDWorks allows me to use whatever font I want, and I’m not limited to those on the Thunder computer.

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Chris @John_Marlow - I’m picking jaw up from floor. very, VERY nice.

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I might as well cancel my membership, there’s no way I can make anything I’ll think is as cool as a miniature dessert cart…

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Looks very similar to my 20+ year old Kubota tractor’s starter that I removed yesterday. I guess some tech is slow to change (or doesn’t need to).

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No way! Don’t sell yourself short.

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OK I admit it - I did this outside of DMS. But I did use some of the resources here to create this and I’m including this here in the hopes of inspiring others. this was a HAAS project done in brass. it is 1/2 of a wallet back. the companion piece is the scary facehugger. with the new movie coming out it’s timely. I’ll likely have that facehugger done this weekend. cheers!

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Silkscreen stencil burns and test prints of fine line artwork on a 230 mesh screen:

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Unbelievable! This is a level of awesomeness to strive for!

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Made the feet portion for the table that will go onto the table for the sherlines. I took some video to with my fauxpro. I’ll upload that later, no welding filter though.



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Great work Astrud!! :+1:

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Notes on the silk screening:
Astrud brought her own screens, hand drawn art, and skills.

She used emulsion and tools from the Space Screen Printing SIG, including the screen dryer and exposure unit. Astrud will also be teaching classes on screen printing, focusing more on the art and options such as acrylics and posters, whereas my classes will be more functional and looking at shirts and fabric. Great to have options.

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