Tired of looking at schematics on the Internet or printed in a magazine that you want to build but don’t even know where to start? Its time to get your projects off your valuable breadboard and make them into something more permanent. In just a few hours you can learn the fundamentals of soldering! Nothing beats being able to look at a schematic and turn it into a functional layout on a standard proto board. Take your prototyping to the next level by making a durable device that can be handled and incorporated into an actual project.

     Here at Metrix we have enough silicon and tools to make anything your heart desires. Reserve your seat at our soldering workshop and we can show you how to make a simple yet expandable binary counter out of a few items we have in the shop. At only $50 the workshop will fill up quick. Space is limited so be sure to call or give us a visit before the next scheduled class on May 27th at 7pm.

     It helps to have a small background knowledge of electronics but if you are  lacking one of our labcoats will be more than happy to get you into one of our “Introduction To Electronics” workshops and give you the head start you need. We know your up for it, all you need is yourself, steady hands and some ambition.

The print on the right is Emmett’s Screwless Heart Gears, downloaded from Thingiverse, one of our favorite sources of models and the best place on the Internet to share 3D models for printing.  The print on the left is a right ventricle, scanned from a live human heart.  A ventricle is an uncommon thing to print, not very romantic or novel on its face, but perhaps one of the most *interesting* uses of our printers to date.  Perhaps one of the most important for our collective health as well.

Ventripoint, one of Seattle’s awesome medical startups needed to test some of its technology, and they came to us for this print.  Ventripoint, using technology from the University of Washington creates anatomically accurate reconstructions and corresponding measurements of the right and left ventricles of the heart using ultrasound and knowledge based reconstruction rather than MRI.  By printing this model, submerging it in saltwater, and scanning it, they can test their hardware and software setup without using an actual organ.  From what I gathered in our brief conversation, ultrasound is tricky, and by being able to quickly 3D print problem shapes, they can regression test their hardware and make sure that anomalies that get caught stay caught.  The thin walled model in PLA holds up, is accurate enough to get a detailed reading, and would be hard to create in any other way. 

Testing for pulmonary hypertension in the conventional way using MRI is an expensive procedure and limited to those that have the equipment.  By using a combination of Ventripoint software and a traditional ultrasound, this procedure can be brought down considerably, and made accessible to many more people.

Its nice to know that we can be a small part of this.

Have you always had a really awesome laser cut design you’ve wanted to do but were worried about the price? Are you new to laser cutting and engraving and want to try it out without having to think about cost?

Take advantage of our incredible flat rate deal !

We have a small supply of 3mm birch plywood planks (5”x12”) and for a limited time you can purchase them for $15 each and laser cut, etch, or engrave anything you want on them no matter how long the design takes. However the job must be completed in one run, i.e. you can’t bring the same plank multiple times for different small jobs. There is no restriction on when you use your plank. Get one for yourself or get it as a gift for a friend who needs a project. No limit on quantity. 

The laser cutter operational hours are still 8PM-12AM but you can always purchase your flat rate plank during the day and leave it with your design for us to cut in the evening.

Have you always wanted to cut on the laser, but don’t know how to use a program that allows you to create the right kind of file? Inkscape for the Laser Engraver is happening this Tuesday, April 24 from 7-9:30PM.

This class is for beginners who have never used Inkscape before. I will be teaching you all the basics of this free vector imaging program so you can create your own laser cut projects. At the end of the class, you will receive a 3”x5” piece of birch wood and cutting time to practice your new skills. Call us (206 357 9406) or come by the shop to register. This workshop is $50. Please bring a laptop with the latest version of Inkscape installed and a mouse with a scroll wheel. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Small things hold much power for making awesome things. Come learn about microcontrollers and how you can use them at the Intro to Arduino workshop which will be held Tuesday, May 15, 7-9:30 PM at Metrix Create: Space.

The workshop uses the Arduino board platform to teach the basics of microcontrollers, inputs and outputs, sensors and actuators, and simple ways to program them. The workshop focuses both on developing an understanding of the hardware involved in making the microcontroller board work as well as of the software needed to communicate with it. This beginner workshop will allow you to get started on whatever exciting robotics projects you have in mind, both small and large in scale. No previous programming experience necessary. Basic electronics experience will be helpful but not necessary. The workshop fee of ($60) covers 2.5 hours of instruction and all materials, including an Arduino board. To sign up give us a call (206 357 9406) or come down to the Metrix Create: Space shop on Broadway.

Need some mood lighting at home? Come learn about the many useful applications of a potentiometer as well as other essential electronics components. 

The Intro to Electronics workshop covers basic electronics theory and teaches you about electronics components and how to properly connect them through hands-on circuit building exercises. At the end of the workshop you will have the building blocks to begin your own electronics projects, both small and large in scale. The workshop is great for complete beginners as well as those in need of an electronics refresher.

The workshop will be held on Tuesday, May 8, 7-9:30 PM at our shop on Broadway East. The $50 workshop fee includes 2.5 hours of instruction and all materials. Call (206 357 9406) or come by Metrix Create: Space to sign up. 

With the announcement of 2000 firings, and the statement that 2000 firings was “a drop in the bucket“, the Union of Concerned Photographers moves the flickr Doomsday Clock one minute closer to midnight. “Every round of indiscriminate firings at Yahoo! increases the possibility of the extinction of flickr, or worse yet, the possibility flickr might be bought by Microsoft and turned into Windows Live Photos 8.”

Do you use hard links for organizing files but still find them a bit dangerous? Here’s a bash function that will delete files only if their link count is greater than 1.

dnl() {
  err=0
  for x in "$@" ; do
    if [[ -f "$x" && `stat -f %l "$x"` -gt 1 ]] ; then
      unlink "$x" || err=1
    else
      err=1
    fi
  done

  return $err
}

One thing: this operation is not atomic — if that is important in your use case, please do not use this.

It’s finally spring! The season of natural creation- flowers, baby animals, and sunshine. Come celebrate by learning to create something of your own on the laser cutter at Metrix.

The Inkscape for the Laser Engraver workshop is happening Thursday, March 29, 7-9:30PM. This class is for beginners who have never used Inkscape before. I will be teaching you all the basics of this free vector imaging program so you can create your own laser cut projects. At the end of the class, you will receive a 3”x5” piece of birch wood and cutting time to practice your new skills. Call us (206 357 9406) or come by the shop to register. This workshop is $50. Please bring a laptop with the latest version of Inkscape installed and a mouse with a scroll wheel. Looking forward to seeing you there!

Make your electronics come to life with microcontrollers. Come to the Intro to Arduino workshop and learn how you can start to integrate hardware and software for all kinds of exciting projects. The workshop uses an Arduino microcontroller board to go over the concept of using inputs and outputs as ways to both understand and control your environment or different elements within it. 

We will be going over the hardware of the board itself as well as the software platform used to write programs that control the board and create its functionality. No previous software/code writing experience necessary. Basic understanding of electronics is helpful but not required. 

The workshop will be held on April 17, 7-9:30 PM at Metrix Create: Space. Call us (206 357 9406) or come by the shop to register. The fee ($60) includes 2.5 hours of instruction as well as all the materials (including Arduino board). All you need to bring is your laptop and some awesome project ideas.

You’re just a workshop away from building your own computer…well probably more than just one workshop away, but you have to start somewhere, so you might as well start with the basics.

Take the Intro to Electronics workshop and learn about current and voltage, diodes, resistors, capacitors, integrated circuits and how to start connecting all of these pieces to make things that actually work. The workshop is designed to teach you the basics of electronics through a series of hands-on circuit building exercises that cover theory as well as practical elements of electronics design. 

The Intro to Electronics workshop will be held on April 3rd, 7-9:30 PM at Metrix Create: Space on Capitol Hill. To sign up call  ((206)357-9406) or drop by the shop. The fee ($50) covers 2.5 hours of instruction and all of the materials.

We have cool boxes that need a new life and you have awesome ideas about how to do that. 

Come up with the best idea, make it happen, show it to us, and WIN a super awesome prize that will be announced at a later date. 

There are two box sizes.

Some have foam in them.

And some don’t.

Fill them up with anything, cut them, paint them, distress them in any way you want, add electronics, make them part of a larger project…anything goes.

Each box is $5 and you can enter more than one in the contest. The deadline for submitting your design either in person or by photo is March 31. You can come down to Metrix Create: Space and pick up your box any time up to the deadline. Limited quantity available.

Voltage: It’s not just for making pretty graphs!

Come learn about voltage, current, the various elements it runs through, and how you can make them work for you and your awesome projects.

The Intro to Electronics workshop will cover the basics of building and understanding circuits through a series of hands on exercises that include reading schematics and working with LEDs, resistors, capacitors, buttons, and Integrated Circuits. All materials are included, just come ready to learn!

Tuesday, March 6th: 7-9:30 PM at Metrix Create: Space

To reserve a space call us or come down to the shop.

Even though I didn’t post about it on the blog, last month’s soldering workshop was a hit! It was the first soldering class we’ve held in a while, and it sold out days in advance. So, I’m going to teach it again! The next soldering workshop will be on the evening of Tuesday, March 20 from 7pm to 9:30pm.

Just like last time, we’re going to be making a simple audio amplifier (with loudspeaker) that you can plug into a cellphone, on perfboard. Assembling a circuit on perfboard is a good way to permanentize it — a soldered circuit has most of the sturdiness of a printed circuit board, but can be made from scratch in almost no time flat. I’ll go over many of the shortcuts and techniques that can make perfboarding simple and fun!

(A working knowledge of electronics is recommended. If you want to learn electronics, I suggest taking our Intro to Electronics class, which according to the calendar is scheduled for March 6th.)

As always, you can reserve your spot in this class either over the phone (+1 206 357-9406) or by visiting the shop in person.

_DSC8718, originally uploaded by afiler.

The Nikon D3100 is a great camera for the price, the bottom end of Nikon’s DSLR range. Being a bottom-end camera, a few things are missing, like an external power connector. I’m using this camera in a fixed setup for slide scanning. The 1080p live view makes an excellent way to preview slides on an HDMI monitor, but this will drain the battery quickly. One option is to use the Nikon EP-5A, which is basically a battery-like plug for the camera, which then attaches to the Nikon EH-5A power supply. This will run you about about $108 at B&H. A spare battery will run you another $50. None of the third-party batteries available apparently work in the D3100, as Nikon puts some sort of inkjet cartridge-style money-sucking chip inside their batteries. (I’m sure the vast camera accesory factories in China are working to overcome this issue).

It turns out the answer to both these problems is a third-party D3100 battery grip, $20something from Amazon.

The left-hand battery slot in the D3100 will take the $8 third-party batteries, as the camera is happy as long as it can see a Nikon battery when it starts up. I decided to add a barrel type power jack so I can power the camera off a power supply. I suppose it’s possible that all these infidel non-Nikon parts could cause the camera to explode, so don’t try this at home, kids.

The battery grip contains a circuit board that runs the whole width.

I attached the barrel plug to the left-hand (“infidel”) battery slot. In this photo, Green is – and White is +. Most DC power supplies are center-positive, and so I used that scheme here. I picked a spot for the barrel plug that puts it right against the battery slot so it can’t easily pop out. I carefully drilled a hole in the case, squared it off, and hot glued it in.

It works perfectly. You can even remove the genuine battery once the camera is booted.

I had some Ruby code that utilized File::SEPARATOR and File::PATH_SEPARATOR to run on both unix and windows, so I wanted to stub these values to test for both platforms. There are couple examples out there, building on each other. This example adds a feature that saves and recalls the former value and this example builds on that to support class constants. Both expect Activerecord, so there’s a little working around that added here. I’m ripping this directly from my spec_helper.rb before I throw it away because it feels over-engineered and complicated.

def with_warnings(flag)
  old_verbose, $VERBOSE = $VERBOSE, flag
  yield
ensure
  $VERBOSE = old_verbose
end

# http://missingbit.blogspot.com/2011/07/stubbing-constants-in-rspec_20.html
def parse_constant(constant)
  source, _, constant_name = constant.to_s.rpartition('::')

  [constantize(source), constant_name]
end

def with_constants(constants, &block)
  saved_constants = {}
  constants.each do |constant, val|
    source_object, const_name = parse_constant(constant)

    saved_constants[constant] = source_object.const_get(const_name)
    with_warnings(nil) {source_object.const_set(const_name, val) }
  end

  begin
    block.call
  ensure
    constants.each do |constant, val|
      source_object, const_name = parse_constant(constant)

      with_warnings(nil) { source_object.const_set(const_name, saved_constants[constant]) }
    end
  end
end
####################

# File activesupport/lib/active_support/inflector/methods.rb, line 209
def constantize(camel_cased_word)
  names = camel_cased_word.split('::')
  names.shift if names.empty? || names.first.empty?

  constant = Object
  names.each do |name|
    constant = constant.const_defined?(name) ? constant.const_get(name) : constant.const_missing(name)
  end
  constant
end

Then you can perform:

  it "does something when running on Windows" do
    with_constants "::File::PATH_SEPARATOR" => ";" do
      # code
    end
  end

Cloud County 765

Photo by Jake on the AARoads Blog.

I know you don’t want to disappoint Snolon. Come learn about microcontrollers at our Intro to Arduino Workshop on Tuesday, February 7th at 7 PM.

The workshop will cover the basics of microcontrollers through the Arduino platform. You can learn to make your own happy Snowlon, or any number of other fun, useful, quirky projects. The Arduino platform is versatile and lends itself to many applications, both small and large in scale. 

In the workshop we will go over both the hardware involved in an Arduino board and peripheral electronics as well as the software and programming to make it all work. No previous knowledge or experience in either electronics or programming necessary. The workshop fee ($60) includes two and a half hours of instruction, an Arduino board, and electronic components for the hands-on exercises. All you need to bring is a computer and your exciting project ideas.

To reserve your spot call Metrix Create: Space or stop by our shop on Broadway.

Besides being fun an colorful, resistors are a very useful electronics component found pretty much in every electrically powered device we use. Want to learn how they work? Been itching to trick-out your old phone/toaster oven/lighting fixture?Interested in building your own electronics devices? 

Come to the Intro to Electronics Workshop on Tuesday, January 31 at 7 PM.

You’ll get to learn about voltage and current, diodes, resistors, capacitors, and more. Through building a variety of circuits, you’ll learn how the basic elements of electronics work and interact with each other. You’ll walk away with some very useful knowledge and a box full of components for you to start your own projects.

No previous knowledge or experience necessary. Call Metrix Create: Space to reserve your spot in the workshop or come by to sign up. $50 gets you two and a half hours of instruction and all the materials for the workshop.

201_0291.MOV, originally uploaded by metrixcreate.

My clock. It ticks.

Recently, Metrix has lent its tools to some interesting time piece projects. They both use the sky to get their time readings and they both use high-tech fabrication methods, but they couldn’t be more different in their functionality. One [top] is a digital LED clock that is run by a microcontroller and gets GPS readings through a GPS module for its time calibration while the other [bottom] is the newest addition to the ancient tradition of sundials. Read on to learn a bit more about how these timepieces were made…

GPS-set ticking digital clock

This clever little device, designed by Andy Filer, brings together the precision of 21st century technology with the best of old-school grandfather clocks-that soothing tick-tock that gently reminds us of time’s passing. Hear it go: http://www.flickr.com/photos/metrixcreate/6682336961/in/photostream

The main components that make this digital clock run are an Arduino board, which executes the code written by Andy, a TTL serial GPS module, so that the clock can set the time according to GPS data, and a relay in order to get the audible ticking sound. The rest of the electronics components are LED displays, resistors for each of the LED segments, a TIP120 darlington transistor to trigger the relay, and some wires. The real magic happens in the code uploaded to the Arduino board. Andy has been generous enough to make the code available at  https://github.com/afiler/AutoClock 

For the digital clock enclosure, he used 5mm-thick cherry veneer pieces. The joinery was created through a box-generator software that accounts for the amount of material taken out by the laser and adjusts the width of the tongue-and-groove pattern based on the desired tightness of fit. In Andy’s design, all the joints are press-fit, eliminating the need for messy glues. The laser cut box pieces are finished with tung oil, which gives them a nice polished sheen.

Old-fashioned polar sundial

Compared to Andy’s digital clock, this sundial is quite simple in how it “runs”. Align properly and just add sunlight. Its assembly on the other hand was quite the process.

It took over 70 piece to put together the sundial and its box, which also serves as its base. All the joinery is pressfit, including the layered elements. Aligning square openings were cut into the pieces that layer, then laser cut pegs were driven through those openings to attach everything tightly without the use of glue. 

First, the sundial altitude setting hinge is assembled. The sundial is designed to be able to work anywhere in the world.

In order to fit all the pieces in the box, a system of sliding joints was devised that allows the larger elements to break down into smaller components.

The storage box doubles as the base of the sundial. The timepiece attaches to the lid with a sliding joint.

The lid is then secured to the rest of the box with a set of dowels that slide into each other and lock.

The final steps are to place the dial-numbering plates in their slot and to place the assembled dial plate onto the sundial base by sliding it onto the copper shadow-casting plate[gnomon].

In order to align the sundial properly with the North-South axis, a compass slides out of the box lid and then stows away when not needed.

All of the sundial components were laser cut from 3mm and 6 mm birch plywood. It took a total of about 110 minutes of laser cutting including numerous test for fit and several re-cuts. All the pieces are finished with several layers of tung oil. This design can easily be scaled down or modified.

Do you have a fun timepiece you’ve been dying to make? Come down to Metrix and take advantage of all the great tools available. Send us and e-mail if you’d like to know more about either of these project or about the services and tools offered at Metrix Create: Space.

Want to do some quick-and-dirty work in irb on data in CSV format? With the arrayfields gem, you can access array fields by name. I’ve mixed in some code to the CSV library to use the header row to provide fields for arrayfields, e.g.:

irb> require "csvtables"
irb> t = CSV::table('employees.csv')
irb> t.first.last_name
=> "Filer"

The code:

require 'arrayfields'
require 'csv'

class CSV
	def self.table(filename, mode='r')
		open(filename, mode).to_table
	end
end

class CSV::Reader
	def to_table
		struct = Array.struct self.first.map { |v| v.downcase.gsub(/\s/, '_').to_sym }
		self.map { |row| struct.new row }
	end
end

I had a need to grab all of the Github repositories for Cookbooks, which is a Github user maintained by the Chef community for collecting many cookbooks in one place for development. All of these cookbooks should be on the Opscode Community site, which is where you should go if you’re browsing for cookbooks to use yourself. But I needed to grep through a large number of cookbooks to develop statistics on Chef Cookbook usage patterns, so I needed All The Things.

#!/usr/bin/env ruby
# 2012-01-11 Bryan McLellan <btm@loftninjas.org>
# Fetch the list of repositories from a Github user and 'git clone' them all

require 'rubygems'
require 'json'
require 'net/http'

url = "http://github.com/api/v2/json/repos/show/cookbooks"
dir = "cookbooks"

if File.basename(Dir.getwd) != dir
 if File.exists?(dir)
   puts "Target directory of '#{dir}' already exists."
   exit 1
 end

 Dir.mkdir(dir)
 Dir.chdir(dir)
end

resp = Net::HTTP.get_response(URI.parse(url))
data = resp.body

result = JSON.parse(data)

result['repositories'].each { |repo|
 puts "Fetching #{repo['url']}"
 system "git clone #{repo['url']}"
}

New workshop time!

Prompted by the shop’s collection of 7400-series integrated circuits, I’m going to be teaching a workshop on digital logic design on Saturday, January 14 2011. Digital logic is the sort of thing that makes up a computer at the deepest, darkest level — we’re talking trues and falses, ands, ors, and nots.

(Wikimedia Commons,
K-map 6,8,9,10,11,12,13,14 anti-race.svg)

You might have used an Arduino to control a simple circuit before, and thought to yourself “there’s got to be a simpler way”. For many things, there is! If you’re triggering a set of operations in a row, or waiting for certain conditions to be satisfied before another action will happen, then a simple digital logic circuit is probably all you need to use.

In this workshop, we’ll be making a few different things, such as a push-on-push-off switch and a bar-graph display. We’ll go over design techniques like truth tables and Karnaugh maps, which let you design logic circuits with just a pencil and paper.

You should be familiar with electronics before taking this workshop. If you’ve taken the Intro to Electronics workshop, you should be all set!

Like all of our workshops, you’ll walk away with some fun things. You’ll get a breadboard and a selection of ICs, LEDs and buttons and a textbook with information on how each and every 7400-series IC works internally.

Did you miss November’s Inkscape for the Laser Cutter workshop?
Well good news for you, the next one is happening tomorrow, December 13th, from 7-9:30!! You still have time to make all those amazing gifts and cards before the end of the month!
Learn how to use Inkscape to cut a variety of materials- wood, acrylic, paper, leather & more!

Want to make the perfect gingerbread house? Cut it on the laser cutter. (Yes, this has happened!!) The laser cutter is also great for cards and other gifts. (You can still use the laser for cutting out the chassis of your robot too, don’t worry. :) )
Remember, if you can’t make it tomorrow, it’s okay. Contact me for questions regarding individual lessons- allison@sweetium.com

Are you looking for an activity that distracts you (or your child) for a couple of hours, is fun and lets you get something AWESOME at the end that you’ve created? Look no further! I will be leading a Holiday Card makeshop this coming Saturday, December 10, from 2-4. Only $25!!!

Never been to a makeshop? The idea is simple. Metrix provides the materials and tools, you bring your computer and your brain and I will be there for two hours to help guide you on how to use Inkscape to cut paper for your cards! This is not the in-depth workshop that I normally lead on Inkscape. The point of this is to be creative, and let me help you out if you get stuck. Make as many cards as you have time for!

This is great for the whole family! Start your kids early on lasers! Make up to Grandma for all those missing thank-you notes with something handmade!

Call Metrix to sign up!

This blog has seen a lot of interviews with people working on really neat electronics, coding, building, and DIY projects. It’s the sort of thing that Metrix was created and is now known for. But those aren’t the only things that happen here! I recently got the chance to talk with Ryan DeMita, a video game concept artist who sometimes uses Metrix as an office for working on his artwork. As someone who has been playing video games for years, concept art is something that I’ve always really enjoyed looking at; it was really neat to finally meet someone who makes it for a living!

I started out by asking him what it takes to become a concept artist. “Concept art is weird because it marries illustration and design. There’s no really good education for it.” He told me that normally people either study illustration or design, and don’t go between. Ryan got his degree in industrial design, but also creates fine art. Unlike some people I’ve read about who get into his industry because of their love for video games, he gravitated toward his job because it’s one of the few ways you can be an artist and make a living in a nine to five job (I wish I was in his position!).
Of course when you work so many hours a week illustrating, there’s always a chance for burn-out. To combat this, he brings paints to the shop to work on something more traditional. And because of his design background, he’s used some of the tools (including the laser cutter) for working on personal projects (he’d love an excuse to try to make something out of glass). I asked him if he thought the store was a good place in general for artists as well as makers, and he said absolutely. “Any of the things in the store can be used as an art medium”, he told me. “You can print sculptures, you can cut out reliefs with the laser, or make little toys.”

Ryan comes to Metrix twice a week at least, sometimes more. Like others who hang out at the shop, he has a desk at home, but it can be difficult and repetitive to stay at home to work all the time. “The thing that’s cool about Metrix” he said, “is that it doesn’t feel like an office. It’s not work, it’s not home, it’s a nice inbetween.”
I’m glad the store could fit his needs so well! Are you an artist? Stop by and see how creative you can get!
To check out some of Ryan’s work, you can visit his site, ryandemita.blogspot.com.

If you have an interesting project that you’re working on at Metrix, and would like to be featured in the blog, email me- allison@sweetium.com.

(40+86 Tablet photo by bark)

Feel that a regular holiday card this season just isn’t going to cut it? Make a re-programmable board that displays whatever holiday cheer message you give it. Bonus: Program it remotely to show the appropriate messages of well-wishing at all other special occasions.

Feel that all the time you have to spend with your family this holiday season is taking you away from your social media? Make holiday lights that respond to Twitter feeds.

Determined to beat your neighbors in the holiday house decorating contest? Make a multi-blink pattern, GPS timed lighting display that will be the envy of your whole block, and maybe even the next block over. 

All of this is possible with just one tiny microcontroller board: Arduino!

Come to the Intro to Arduino Workshop, this Thursday, December 1 to learn how an Arduino board works and how you can program it for your exciting holiday projects. We will be going over the basics of the board, how to talk to it with your computer, and how to interface it with hardware. All you need to bring to the workshop is yourself and your computer. We’ll provide the Arduino boards and electronics.

What: Intro to Arduino Workshop

When: Thursday, December 1, 7-9PM

Where: Metrix Create: Space

Why: Because you want to make everyone jealous

How: Call or come in to sign up

Cost: $60 [includes instruction time, Arduino board, and electronics components]

Diamonds are so last year. This holiday season give your loved ones real bling and impress them with your electronics know-how. You can make unique, fun, cost-effective gifts and the skills you need for that are just a workshop away.

Come to the Intro to Electronics Workshop this Tuesday, November 29. You will learn basic electronics theory through building circuits and experimenting with common electronics components. You will get a kit of parts that includes everything you need for the workshop as well as to get started on your very own holiday gift projects. 

What: Intro to Electronics Workshop

When: Tuesday, November 29, 7-9PM

Where: Metrix Create: Space

Why: Because you want your gifts to be way cooler than everyone else’s

How: To sign up, call or drop in. 

Cost: $50 [includes instruction time and all materials]

Looking for some inspiration? 

Ken Inoue has been making wonderful presents for his loved ones this year using Inkscape, the laser cutter and some aluminum stock from Online Metals in Ballard.   He’s been nice enough to share the files to this smart and simple Tea Warmer on Thingiverse.

We love to see people make awesome things and share them with others. From the beginning at Metrix Create:Space, we have offered a Thingiverse Discount. If you share with the world, we share with you.  Get up to 40% off your laser cut and 3D printed parts by becoming a Member today!

The best time of the year for making something special for your friends and family is right now, what will you make?

You can pick your friends.

You can pick your beer.
But can you pick… a Lock?

Join us on Sunday, November 20th, from 2-4pm, as we embark on an ancient mechanical adventure to explore the inner workings of a modern lock, first developed by the Mesopotamians and Egyptians over 4000 years ago. Led by lockpickers Eric Michaud and Jamie Schwettmann, this workshop will cover - soup to nuts - everything you need to know about how common locks work… and how to pick them open.

Whether you’re a complete novice curious to find out what pin-tumbler really means, a homeowner protecting your family’s treasures, or a veteran lockpicker with questions about advanced locks and techniques, this event is for  you! With 2 solid hours of history, mechanical diagrams (“lock pr0n”), and hands-on lockpicking instruction… first we’ll open your minds, and then we’ll open some locks!

To properly learn this ancient art, you’ll need the proper tools.  By registering for a ticket with a lockpick set, this guarantees you a seat at the workshop, and reserves - all for you - a brand-new 10-piece custom lockpick set by Southern Specialties, hand-picked by Eric and Jamie to maximize utility for beginners and locksport enthusiasts alike, and offered for only $30.

If you already have some picks you’re itching to practice with, you can bring them along, and your workshop cost is only $50!

Register Now!

BONUS:  Metrix members get $10 off a ticket!  (Visit the Metrix member mailing list to get the discount code)

What does November mean to you? Remembering our Veterans? Celebrating (American) Thanksgiving? Viewing the autumn colors? For many, it’s all these things and also… shopping! Black Friday is of course the infamous day when many people buy all of their Christmas items at once, causing mass hysteria around the country. I want to let you know that it doesn’t have to be that way! While I won’t preach to you about Buy Nothing Day, you can instead sleep during the time you would have spent in line waiting for your favorite store to open at 5AM, and then come down to Metrix and create your presents instead! I will be teaching a workshop next Tuesday, November 15 from 7-9:30 PM all about how to use Inkscape to design cool things to cut out on Metrix’s laser cutter!

You may be wondering what sorts of (amazing) gifts you might be able to make, and I’d be happy to give you some examples. The first thing that pops into my mind are holiday cards. I’ve taught some card makeshops in the past, and my students produced amazing, unique cards to give to their loved ones. With the laser, it would be super easy to make a bunch to send to all your friends and family at a fraction of the price of buying cards in the store. And they’d be hand-made! Here’s an example of a card I made for Mother’s Day. Just imagine the flowers as a door wreath (perhaps with green holly, complete with red berries), and you’d have a simple and one of a kind card for winter.

Another popular gift is ornaments. Whether for your tree, or just to place and hang around your home as decor, ornaments are a cute gift for close friends and acquaintances alike. Look at this example:

And this one:

If you want to put a little more time into your gift you could make a mobile, coasters, wall art, wall clocks, custom sewing projects (yes, the laser cuts fabric!), jewelry, and much more! Come to the class and I will give you all the skills you need to make a special something for the special people in your life. Remember! November 15th 7-9:30PM, call ahead to reserve your spot. If you can’t make it, don’t worry! I do private lessons! Email me allison@sweetium.com

Put Saturday, November 19th on your Calendar.  At 2PM, Peter Zatko, AKA Mudge, a hacker and Program Manager at DARPA’s innovation program, will be going over their new funding program, Cyber Fast Track here at Metrix Create:Space.  

If you saw the Blackhat Keynote (here’s the video @32:35), or read the Slashdot post about it, you may know that DARPA is looking to get lighter, faster, and cheaper by reaching out to the hackerspace/makerspace communities.   If not, consider this your notice:  

DARPA wants YOU to make cool stuff you were thinking about making already, will FUND you to do it, and you get to keep commercial rights to it.

Come down, find out from the source how this works and see if you should apply for some DARPA dollars.   I know from the projects that I’ve seen at the shop that many of you should be down here for this.

Want to get started early?

DARPA-RA-11-52 

Anyone feel like putting together a cram session before the meeting?  Drop a comment.

Want to make a pocket digital translator? Wondering what makes robots do useful or entertaining things?

The answer to all your [technical] curiosities is Arduino!

We are teaching our monthly Intro to Arduino class at Metrix Create: Space

on Broadway, tomorrow

Tuesday, October 25 at 7 PM

We’ll be going over the basics of the hardware of the Arduino board as well as getting into some of the programming necessary to get your Arduino to make fun things happen. 

If you are intrigued but don’t even know what is an Arduino board, it is a programmable mini robotic brain that you can use in all kinds of awesome projects to make things happen your way. 

All you need for the class is your computer and your awesome ideas. We provide the rest.

To sign up give us a call or just come down to our shop.

You can also check out my home P-Wave detector software and hardware howto on building your own detector. If you get it working, shoot me a message and perhaps we could set up a network. I can also probably help you out. The hardware is all off-the-shelf. Heck, you can find it on amazon.

https://github.com/spaceneedle/P-Wave-Detector

I have decided to publish the code for my internet connected radiation detector located at http://nwrs.net/radiation/

You can find it on GitHub: https://github.com/spaceneedle/Radiation-Detector

Let me know if you end up using it!

Many thanks to all of you who came out to celebrate the Metrix Create:Space 2-Year Anniversary! And those of you who couldn’t make it: Shame on you! You missed out on a seriously fun night of drinking and making.

We know you are all dying to find out who the winners are of the very first

                           Metrix Create:Contest/Tangram Edition

It was rough out here for a Tangram creation, and a few sadly did not survive the judging process (given the somewhat impaired motor skills of our fine judges). But all were nonetheless judged…

…and here are the winners by category (as defined by the judges):

Most Creative (set of clear glass space invaders)

Tallest (blown glass bowl)

(the creation in the center-Adam)

Most Surprising (Sack of Neon Audience)

(Austin)

Simple yet Novel (Gift Certificate)

(Terence Tam-creation on right)

Most Intricate (Small blue print)

(Terence Tam?)

Most Colorful (set of three ceramic shot glasses-from our newest batch)

Best Use of Axial Symmetry (Taco Bell print)

All winners please come claim your prizes at Metrix before they get buried under our ever growing pile of things that might be useful someday.

Thanks again for sharing in the fun and we hope to see you all soon at Metrix with some awesome projects!

Metrix’s second year anniversary party is coming up tomorrow (be there at 7)! I thought I would take the opportunity to interview a couple of people close to the shop and get their takes on how Metrix has grown and changed, and a little of where the shop is headed in the future.

The first person I interviewed was Matthew “Wilson” Wilson. A longtime friend of the owner, Matt, Wilson has “been at Metrix before it even existed”. If you’ve ever stopped by the store on Wednesday evenings you’ve probably seen a group of geeks chatting and hacking away. This is Hacknight (which I’ve written about before), and Wilson has been going to these meetings for at least 10 years. It was at one of these Hacknights that the idea of Metrix: Create Space was born.

According to Wilson, “Matt got the laser cutter, and was trying to figure out what to do with it. He asked everyone what they would do if they had a laser cutter, and they all said something different. So he decided to start Metrix”. And here we are, two years later! I’ve asked him what he thinks has changed the most over time. He told me that there’s more space, more tools, and an interesting community has formed around the shop. And yet, he said, “everybody is still cool. Still friendly and helpful. This is a good place to come if you’re working on something and you need help or inspiration or are just stuck for whatever reason. You can come down here and get unstuck.”

Those were also some of the reasons that he thinks makes Metrix special. He said it was a safe environment where awesome projects happened. He cited the Clonedels as one of the coolest projects to come out of the shop, but also mentioned one project that never got finished (so you may not have heard about it). A few months ago several people got together to try to turn the giant CNC router in the back into a 3D printer. Unfortunately it eventually ran into some problems, and the project had to be halted. “It didn’t matter that it didn’t work, it was just so audacious”, he told me. People at Metrix have neat ideas and try to make them happen, usually no matter the odds.

I also chatted a bit with Plamena, the store’s newest employee. Since she interacts with many people who stop by, I asked her what newcomers are generally most surprised by. “People are really shocked that you don’t have to be a member. The fact that you can sit here, and it doesn’t cost you anything.” Most places of this sort operate on a membership only basis, and that’s actually what she thought Metrix would be like before she stopped by for the first time. She was looking to use a laser cutter, and found the place through the Internet. Since she started working there four months ago, she’s gotten to use all of the tools (I’m jealous!), and has “met tons of cool new people”.

I asked her what she thought the future of Metrix would be like. She said that she thinks the shop is going to become a much more fabrication oriented place, rather than just mainly electronics and robotics. “Some of the recent tools that we’ve acquired are allowing us to experiment with materials, various methods of production, and pushing new ideas of fabrication forward.” She’s been trying to push that experimentation with materials, and “taking things that are standard and using them, applying them in nonstandard ways.” Plamena thinks that fashion and industrial designers are seeing Metrix as a place that helps them realize their creative ideas.
I’m so glad that Metrix has survived its second year! Not only has it allowed me to create things I never thought would be possible, there are new people every day discovering its amazing-ness. Here’s to another (at least!) two years!

Besides commemorating our 2-Year Anniversary with a range of apple beverages, we will be holding the very first

                        Metrix Create:Contest / 3D Tangram Edition

Contest Rules:

• each entry must use at least one 3D Tangram kit; no maximum limit
• unlimited number of entries per person
• each entry can win only in one category
• $4 per kit
• winners do not have to be present at time of judging; contestants must label creations and leave contact information if leaving before judging
• judges will not be employees of Metrix Create: Space

Categories (subject to change at judges’ discretion):

Most Creative

Tallest

Most Surprising

Simplest yet Novel

And now the best part…

PRIZES!!

Set of Custom Cast Glass Space Invaders

These awesome glass space invaders have a nice weighty feel to them and combine digital and analog fabrication methods developed right here at Metrix.

One of a Kind Ceramic Shotglass

You can own one of 10 unique shotglasses that combine centuries old techniques of ceramic casting and hand glazing with cutting edge 3D digital design and production methods. 

Signed photograph by Matt Westervelt: high quality print on canvas              (5 small and 1 large)

Matt owns many fancy cameras and he knows how to use them WELL. These are well worth getting creative with some cardboard geometric pieces.

$25 Metrix Create: Space Gift Certificates (2)

The possibilities are endless! Some ways you can use your certificate:

• 3D print a miniature replica of yourself
• laser cut a likeness of your favorite constellation 
• buy enough LEDS and electronics components to spell out your name in lights in your entryway
• embroider 2.5 hours worth of patches stating your various opinions
• make an epic sculpture for your private neon audience (see below)

Sack of Neon Audience

Whether you have visions of grandeur or like your quiet time, the Sack of Neon Audience provides you with the silent adulation everyone needs sometimes. Carry it around with you and assemble as needed anywhere anytime.

Ten Tangram Kits

Make a monster Tangram creation.

Don’t miss out on all the fun! Come down to Metrix Create: Space and help us celebrate. 

Saturday, October 15, 7 PM until….

Metrix Create:Space opened up two years ago this Saturday.   To commemorate the event, we are throwing a party.   Just like last year, we are shutting off the laser, cutting power to the kiln and breaking out the booze.  Safety is important.

Show up at 7 to get first crack at the cider and join the Create:Contest.  There will be prizes…

10/15 Saturday night. 7pm through Midnight.

Metrix Create:Space
623 Broadway E
Seattle, 98102 

Many of you who have come into Metrix over the last few months have wondered about the ducks. As this post unfolds, it will uncover the story of the Metrix ducks, so read on…

The concept behind our army of ducks is to have a single object as a sample of the various production and fabrication methods we offer at Metrix Create: Space. Using the same object allows for easy comparisons of texture, flexibility, strength, production time, and material characteristics such as shrink rates.

First things first: In order to do 3D production, you need a 3D model. I found a STL of a rubber ducky and modified it a bit. You can find the final file as well as the 3D files for the molds discussed below at the following link:

http://www.thingiverse.com/thing:12224

The files are scaled to produce a duck that fits into a cube that is about 2x2x2 inches. The mold files take the original duck 3D file and build a box around it that is thick enough to account for the strength of the material from which it will be produced.

The original duck:

The first ducky is printed in powder on a ZCorp Z400 powder printer. We use hydroperm for the powder material, which is a mix of plaster of paris, portland cement, and silica. It behaves like plaster. The binder used to fuse together the layers of powder in the printer build bed is a mixture of water and alcohol. The duck is solid throughout and takes a little under 2 hours to print.

Because the powder material tends to be brittle and pretty fragile, printed objects can be dipped in paraffin, which infuses the top layers and makes the objects stronger. The light gray tint to the duck above is due to the paraffin infusion.

We also printed a ducky on our MakerBot. This one is printed in ABS. The horizontal striation is a product of the way the machine lays down and layers the extruded plastic. The ABS ducky is very durable, waterproof, and lightweight. It takes the same amount of time to print as the powder one; a little under 2 hours.

The great thing about powder printed objects is that they behave like plaster cast object, which makes them excellent for making molds for ceramic slip casting.

The casting process starts with a two part powder printed mold. It has to be made in two parts because of the complex curvature of the object we are casting. Being able to pull the mold apart allows for the object to be pulled out as one piece. The two parts of the mold come together, as aligned by the circular registration marks. Then the casting material is poured through the opening in the mold. The mold above is actually shown upside down. The pour hole is at the top so the ducky gets cast upside down.

This is one of the actual printed molds we used to slip cast some ducks. it took 4.5 hours to print. The large funnel at the opening facilitates pouring the casting material. The initial casting tests we did were with clay slip. This method of casting is a standard one in ceramics. Clay is mixed with water to make it liquid enough to pour into a mold. The porous plaster, or in our case hydroperm, absorbs the moisture from the clay slip, pulling the solid clay particles against the walls of the mold. As more of the moisture is sucked out, the cast object starts to separate from the walls of the mold. At that point the mold can be pulled apart and the object extracted. The resulting ducks are hollow and vary in wall thickness based on how long the slip was allowed to sit in the mold before some of it was poured back out. Each duck pour was allowed to sit between 10 and 30 minutes before pouring the left over clay slip out of the mold. 

These are some of the resulting ceramic ducks. Once a slip cast duck is pulled out of the mold, it sits for a few days in order to lose more of the water still contained in the clay. Once it is sufficiently dry, it goes in the kiln to be fired at Cone 4 temperatures. This process takes about 7.5 hours and is called the bisque stage of the ceramic object. Once it comes out, a bisqued duck is bright white and can be glazed with just a clear overglaze, like the white duck on the left or it can be painted with various color glazes and then covered in overglaze. Once the glazes dry, each duck goes back in the kiln to be fired for 8.5 hours at Cone 6 temperatures, which completes the ceramic ducky process. The ducks that come out are waterproof, fairly durable, and vary in weight based on their wall thickness. Each duck loses about 18-20% of its original size in the drying and firing process.

Using different glazes and layering them produces some pretty fancy results.

We had the opportunity to also slip cast with porcelain slip, which produced a lightweight, very durable duck with a light gray tint. After firing it, even before glazing, this porcelain has a smooth, satin finish to it.

After the porcelain firing process is complete, the duck loses 25-30% in its size due to shrinkage.

Once we started casting, we figured we would use our molds for casting some non-ceramic materials.

In order to cast a urethane rubber ducky, the mold had to be dipped in wax multiple times. It’s good to space the wax dips so that the wax layers, rather than just getting absorbed by the hydroperm. The thicker the wax layer inside the mold, the easier the urethane object will release from the mold. Also, it will have a smoother texture. This urethane rubber duck is durable and quite bouncy. It sets in about 24 hours and reaches its full curing cycle in 48 hours.

We also did a silicone cast version.

We used Smooth-On DragonSkin, which is a platinum grade silicone and takes 3-4 hours to set fully. It’s strong and highly heat resistant. It is also very flexible and has a nice translucent quality. Thoroughly waxing the mold for the silicone cast is also recommended. It doesn’t so much affect the release, which is very easy due to the nature of this silicone product, but rather makes for a nicer surface texture.

Next we thought we’d try casting glass. It took a few tries to get that process right. We had to produce a fully enclosed version of the duck mold because the glass leaked out of the two-part mold once it melted in the kiln. The glass casting process is a bit different since we start with a solid state product. The trick is to weigh out the right amount of glass pieces to fill the volume of the duck. We fit all the pieces in the funnel part of the mold and everything gets placed in the kiln. The firing happens at Cone 10 temperatures. It takes about 20 hours for the whole process during which the glass is melted and flows into the mold. Once it cools off, the fired hydroperm of the mold breaks away very easily, revealing the glass duck.

The texture of the mold gives a stippled quality to the surface of the glass ducks. This can be left as it is or filed to a smoother finish.

So there you have it! Hopefully our ducks will inspire you to make some fun things of your own. Want to cast something we haven’t done? Bring your material in and we’ll give it a try.

Stay tuned for more ducks to come. 

If you have any questions about any of our processes or materials used feel free to come in and ask :)

You have probably heard all about the Japan Earthquake Early Warning System system. If not, the prior link has a great article on the subject. Unfortunately, the United States has nothing like this. It might be coming soon, but in the meantime, we are all flying blind here.

After the Japanese earthquake, I begin to look around for some equipment to do the same. I first turned to a company called Seismic Warning Systems, who has yet to return any of my inquires to purchase hardware. So, I had to set my sights a little lower for the commonly available Quake Alarm. After connecting it to an Arduino, writing a python script, and scanning for the first sign of a P-Wave, and filtering out local vibrations, I am proud to say that we have not seen one false positive! We have not had an earthquake to test with, but after simulating a P-Wave by slowly oscillating an exterior wall, I am quite certain that it will work just fine.

Originally, the system used an iPhone app to push notifications at the moment a quake was detected. It turns out, the Apple notification system has very, very low latency, ranging from 0 to 2 seconds (Up to 2 seconds if the device display is off in standby mode). I wrote a nice little app to provide notifications, but this proved to be not ideal. First, I would have to deal with the AppStore approval and maintenance of an application, and second, I would be leaving out a chunk of users.

The system I have put online uses traditional SMS notifications through an SMS aggregator I use. The delay is usually very low, so its a close second to iPhone alerts. I have had a few folks on this system testing it, and I think I am ready to open this up for anyone else interested.

If you want quake early warnings, visit this link to sign up.

Note that this thing isn’t going to go off with one of those little quakes, but you may see notifications on 5.0 and larger. You know, the ones you might want a little warning before hand.

Since I only have one sensor (anyone else want to put one up?), I cannot provide estimated arrival time, intensity, and likelyhood of advance notice. If the quake happens close to you, but far from my sensor, you may not see any advanced warning.

UPDATE Oct 17, 2011: Software and hardware guide now on GitHub! https://github.com/spaceneedle/P-Wave-Detector

Unfortunately due to a number of factors beyond our control (apartment upheaval; extended family funeral) this Makeshop is POSTPONED.  Watch for it closer to the Winter Solstice holidays, and keep thinking of new and different things to do to improve on your stuffies!

Mod Your Plush Makeshop

Thursday October 6th 7pm to 9pm

Metrix 623A Broadway East  Seattle WA 98102

$25 with all materials, guidance, and inspiration included!