Hacker Scouts: Open Lab

Posted on 17. Aug, 2012 by chriscook

Ace Monster Toys presents

Hacker Scouts

Got a Maker kind of kid?

Traditional kind of scouting not a good fit?

Want to Build community with other maker families?

Hacker Scouts is a new program designed to acquire new skills, reinforce knowledge, provide mentoring, and build community.

Join us for Open Lab and bring your own project, or work on one provided by AMT! Earn badges and skill build through specific mentor-led workshops! Workshops planned include:soldering, sewing, circuits, programming, engineering and building, leds, dumpster diving and found art, printmaking, and more!

We know age is just a number, but AMT will be targeting projects in the 8-14 year old range.

This is not a drop-off program. Parents must stay and are welcome to participate. This is a free program, though some workshops require a materials fee, and donations to the space are always welcome. RSVP’s are helpful, though not required.

Hacker Scouts Open Lab

1st and 3rd Sundays of the month

2-5pm

@ Ace Monster Toys

6050 Lowell Street, Suite 214 in Oakland, California

For more information and questions:

http://wiki.acemonstertoys.org/HackerScouts

hackerscouts@acemonstertoys.org

CNC'ing some gridbeam

Posted on 14. Aug, 2012 by davr

Gridbeam is a life-size contrusction kit. Here's a pic of one of our members creating some new beams from some 2x2's, using our large CNC to automate the work of drilling all the holes:

Laser update

Posted on 14. Aug, 2012 by davr

A picture's worth a thousand words:

Progress with powder printer

Posted on 10. Aug, 2012 by davr

We're making great progress with the 3d powder printer, check out this short video capture of it actually doing stuff!

Cory Doctorow Presented with AMT Sticker at Defcon

Posted on 28. Jul, 2012 by albill

Al was able to give Cory Doctorow an AMT sticker during this week's Defon 20 convention in Las Vegas after Cory's talk. See Al's blog post for more context.

Open House Success!

Posted on 19. Jul, 2012 by chriscook

The open house was wonderful! We had a huge turnout full of prospective members, neighbors, and Hackerspace curious. It seemed like everyone finished the evening excited about the space the how they might want to get involved. Check out the photoset.

What's happening at AMT?

Posted on 13. Jul, 2012 by davr

Here are a few pictures collected from our photostream over the last week or two:

Open house July 18th 7-9:30pm!

Posted on 12. Jul, 2012 by davr

We are throwing a full on open house complete with drinks and food. AMT hackers will be on hand to explain equipment and show off projects like:

Laser Shooting Gallery
Sous Vide (yummy)
Sewing with LED's
Lasers... cutting and etching things
Guido the CNC engraver
Midi controlled Glockenspiel
and whatever we get up to in the next month
Figure out what you might want to make next

Come on by learn about the space, meet the makers/teachers or just hang out and play a game! RSVP on meetup or on facebook! (rsvp not required, tell your friends, drop by!)

Radio Shack contest voting is live!

Posted on 05. Jul, 2012 by chriscook

Vote! Team West: Byte Blaster

Byte Blaster

A few months ago several members of Ace Monster Toys worked together to create a laser pointer shooting gallery as an entry into a Radio Shack / Popular Mechanics sponsored contest. If you saw our booth at Maker Faire then you saw the awesome results of that collaberation. Well, the contest is now live and I suggest you check out the voting site to give yourself and Ace Monster Toys a chance at $1000 prize.

Smaug Lives!

Posted on 28. Jun, 2012 by davr

After some very careful bubble removing work (pictured above), we fired up the laser and it lased! We successfully burned a spot on a piece of paper. Still to do:

1. Hook up current meter, to ensure tube isn't being over-driven

2. Clean & Align mirrors & lens

3. Level the bed (might already be ok)