“Under the roof of The Concourse in Hudson, a celebration of innovation and the DIY culture is under way on a sunny Saturday in March. Mini Maker Faire exhibitors and attendees are largely indistinguishable. From the very young to the very old, participants flow through together, engaging each other and all the wonderful things their minds can conjure up. It is human creativity on full display, just waiting a chance to play.” Mitchell Brown, Tampa Mini Maker Faire: Nirvana 4 Geeks & Nerds
With these words, Mitchell Brown, a reporter for 83 Degrees, a Tampa Bay media group devoted to creating “ a new narrative for a new economy”, perfectly captured the spirit and intent of our 2013 Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire!
“It’s impossible to leave the Mini Maker Faire uninspired,” writes Brown. “Ultimately, that’s the whole idea.”
Our 2013 Event Program is now online! Hardcopy versions are being printed courtesy of Dex Imaging in Tampa, who graciously donated printing services last year, too. ! Thank you, Dex Imaging, for your support of the Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire!
At least some of them – More are coming on board in the next couple of days, bringing a rich variety of science, art, craft, engineering , music, food, and more, showcasing and celebrating the inventive spirit and the amazing work of all kinds of makers across Tampa Bay and beyond.
The great folks listed here are bringing art, music, robots, games, puzzles, inventions, ham radio, crafts, trades, jewelry, electronic gadgets and gizmos and much, much more for everyone to experience and enjoy!
Keep watching our Maker page throughout the rest of the week, to see the growing list of Makers!
Neal Ekengren is a Maker from Longwood, FL, where he works for Thompson Reuters creating Real Estate Valuation software. He is a recognized Master Gardener, historical miniatures gamer, and world traveler. But probably, he says, his longest running hobby interests have been chemistry and electronics.
The old Radio Shack electronic kits and Chemistry sets from the 1960′s were his favorite boyhood “toys”, in a time when “There were no integrated circuits or microcontrollers and a single transistor was a big deal. “
He survived the perils of these toys to graduate from the University of Kansas with degrees in Biochemistry and Petroleum Engineering.
Neal was introduced to the Maker world by a Wired magazine article on the Arduino. His indulgent wife got him one for Christmas. Neal thought he’d just play around with the thing, “learn about these fancy new toys, and light up a few LED’s. “
Then, he says, ” the Maker bug hit. “
He envisioned a single multi-project combining many of his interests. It would use an Arduino with chemistry, software development, and woodworking. MEOWSER was born.
MEOWSER is a (M)ineral (E)lement Br(owser), and consists of a cabinet full of rocks and mineral samples, with cabinet LED lighting is controlled using an Arduino microcontroller driven by a Laptop computer periodic table.
Why? Well, because Neal had been viewing all the great online chemistry periodic tables that were showing up (because who doesn’t love to do that?) , as well as the great element and mineral collections online that were linked to periodic tables. (So what do you look at online?)
And he realized he could use the same mouse-over interfaces to drive lighting in a wood cabinet full of minerals. (What do you do with your wood cabinet full of minerals?) He only wanted very specific APEX minerals (defined by Neal as, “A mineral that contains the highest concentration (by weight) of a particular element that is readily obtainable from primary ore samples in a quantity that can be viewed with the naked eye.”) How hard could that be? he wondered.
“Well, you don’t know what you don’t know,” says Neal.
Two years later he has finally completed his MEOWSER. Among the challenges he faced:
LED selection took several months of orders from China and testing in various cabinet configurations. High power wide field LEDs were needed.
Three versions of wooden cabinet configuration were constructed and discarded to arrive at the final “simple” repeatable version. A woodworking Router had to be broken in.
Transistor Array and Shift Register integrated circuits were part of the discovery process after learning about Arduino power and pin limitations.
Different cabling schemes were tested to allow modularization of the cabinets.
The APEX mineral for each element had to be selected and ordered from China. Investigation and delivery took more time than expected.
Software development issues were encountered with the serial communications between the computer and Arduino. Several versions of Arduino code were developed until the final “simple” version was created.
You can see the MEOWSER in action in the video, and get a first hand look at it at Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire 2013.
Fresh from showcasing in in Ann Arbor and Detroit’s Maker Faires, Wesley Faler, now in the Tampa Bay area, is bringing his remarkable FRETS1 Satellite to Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire in March. Powered by a homemade miniature ion engine that will actually fly in space, FRETS1 is a TubeSat-style nanosatellite that will fly at 310 kilometers high and over 17,000 miles per hour.
Intrigued, we asked Wesley to tell us more about his project.
“One day I was minding my own business in high school physics class,” he relates. ” We were learning about voltage and charge, new yes but not terribly new considering a friend and I had built a particle accelerator years prior. What was new was an idea for using high charge for accelerating particles, something that seemed so much easier to do than using high voltage. So I tinkered and built a basic, and working, ion engine in the barn. (It still hangs in my lab, all wooden and full of steel wool and nails.) It was great fun but college came along then a decade focused on my career.
“In all, it was 15 years before I started tinkering with my own ion engine design again – being inspired by “Lifters” and their stranger cousins Asymmetrical Capacitor Thrusters. It turns out all of the easy things have been done for ion engines, so I’ve been on a quest to find new effects to apply. It’s taken me into some odd corners of physics and I finally found a way to significantly boost the thrust from an ion engine.
“That was well and good until one day I read two Internet articles. The first was from the Interorbital Systems company about their low cost satellite kit and launch package. $8K for most of a small satellite’s parts and it included the launch to orbit! Fantastic, and maybe someday I’d sign up I thought. Then I read an article about MIT’s brilliant idea for a new ion engine. (You see, the world is looking hard at ion engines these days.)
“The article said the engine works in the lab but they wanted to study it for several more years before launching. I thought that seemed ridiculous when they could have several flights per year with this new company, that they should really stop theorizing and start building. Silence. Silence. Sigh. I checked my savings account and opted for a satellite instead of a new car.
“Bottom line, I build a satellite to test an ion engine because I’m never done dreaming.”
We can’t think of a better reason to build a satellite!
To celebrate the New Year, we’ve gone live a day early with our Maker application!
So have at it! Get your Make on! Wow us with your incredible ingenuity and creativity!
Set our collective minds afire with your amazing DIY inventiveness, and let’s show the world how absolutely amazing Tampa Bay is – not just for our magnificent weather, views, and recreational opportunities – but for our unstoppable creative, entrepreneurial and inventive productivity, energy and intellect.
Exhibits that are interactive or highlight the process of making things are especially desired. Here’s the process…
ENTRIES
The first step to participating in our Maker Faire is to submit an entry that tells us about yourself and your project. Entries can be submitted by individuals or groups like hobbyist clubs and schools. You can apply as a Maker, Commercial Maker (individual makers primarily selling —$50 booth fee), Workshop or Presentation, or Performer. The application asks you to to provide a short description of what you make and what you will actually bring to Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire. Photos, links and videos of exhibit ideas are very helpful. The more we can see and learn about your exhibit, the better your chances of getting Maker space at the Faire.
Here are just some of the things that we’re looking for:
Robotics
Kinetic & Installation Art
Music Performance
Hacks of Any Sort
Homesteader Projects
Workshops and Speakers
3D Printers & Digital Fabrication
Textile Arts and Crafts
Student Projects
Rockets and RC Toys
Sustainability
Green Tech
Radios, Vintage Computers and Game Systems
Electronics
Electric Vehicles
Biology/Biotech and Chemistry Projects
Puppets
Kites
Bicycles and Human-Powered Machines
Shelter (Tents, Domes, etc.)
Unusual Tools or Machines
How to Fix Things or Take them Apart (Vacuums, Clocks, Washing Machines, etc.)
Food and Beverage vendors please write info@ebmakerfaire.com for more information.
Maker Exhibit: Our standard setup for a Maker exhibit is a 10′x10′ space. If you need more space for your exhibit or project, please let us know. Use this space to display your work and/or demonstrate how you make something.
If you have any questions about participating in Maker Faire, please contact us by email: info@learningis4everyone.org
OTHER WAYS TO PARTICIPATE
Exhibitors and Sponsors: We welcome exhibitors and sponsors at our Mini Maker Faire. For more information about becoming an exhibitor or sponsor, please check out our Sponsor page or contact us at info@Learningis4everyone.org
Volunteer: For information about volunteering at East Bay Mini Maker Faire, please email us at the above address.
We look forward to seeing you at Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire 2013!
We are! Maker applications and ticket sales go live January 2, 2013! Click here to see what we’re looking for in Maker applications, for a head start on your application. We’re deeply grateful to our event partners, The Concourse, Pasco County Libraries and Learning is for Everyone, and to our fantastic event planning team who will be working behind the scenes to do everything possible to help Make Your Day, at Tampa Bay Mini Maker Faire 2013
Pepper the Parrot provided unique inspiration for Andrew Gray, a University of Florida electrical- and computer-engineering graduate student. Wired Magazine reported recently on Gray and his “pet project”.
His parrot (appropriately enough an African “Grey”) is garrulous to the point of being ear splitting, when left alone. A previous attempt to apply an engineering solution to the problem – a sound activated water gun intended to provide a little negative reinforcement by squirting the squawker – backfired when Pepper decided he liked his sound activated bird bath. He also became comfortable with a sound activated noisemaker intended to startle him into silence.
Gray reasoned that a bird beak occupied is a bird beak silenced, and the third time was the charm: a joystick operated (by the parrot!), open-loop, two wheel drive, tri-cycle platform powered by a 12v battery and controlled by a microcontroller.
Check out the video below and check out the project specs at Gray’s Bird Buggy site.
The Sun Sentinel reported recently on young inventor, William Georges, an 11 year old who’s toy invention just won Creative Child Magazine’s Toy of the Year Award. According to his family, the Sentinel reports, when Georges was just 6 years old he stuck his mother’s MP3 player through a hole in his old Teddy bear and said, “I just invented my first toy, Mom.”
Things have progressed considerably since then, with the now incorporated Pezo Pal’s first shipment of 2,000 bears arriving from China last month, preloaded with 24 hours of songs, stories and lessons for kids 3 and older.
“I love to design real things that are useful for people,” Georges says on the Pezo Pal website.
“Pezo” means “play” in Greek, which George’s speaks in addition to English. The bears are customizable, allowing kids to “build their Pals anyway they want by downloading the coolest music or adding MP3 audio files anytime! My mission was to invent a toy that allows children to express themselves!”
“Children are better at making toys than adults,” Georges told the Sentinel. Point taken.
“Under the roof of The Concourse in Hudson, a celebration of innovation and the DIY culture is under way on a sunny Saturday in March. Mini Maker Faire exhibitors and attendees are largely indistinguishable. From the very young to the very old, participants flow through together, engaging each other and all the wonderful things their minds can conjure up. It is human creativity on full display, just waiting a chance to play.” Mitchell Brown, Tampa Mini Maker Faire: Nirvana 4 Geeks & Nerds
