*Wikiwikiwiki*

So we’ve finally jumped on the bandwagon and got an AHA wiki situated.  Feel free to make an account and contribute your brainmusings.

Posted in Announcements | Leave a comment

Call for All Awesome People!!

We’re looking for a couple awesome people to volunteer/help out with a few events over the next month. Let us know if you can help out!

Saturday, May 12th: Scratch at AADL
- 1:00pm to 5:00pm
- Basic GUI Programming
- http://www.aadl.org/events/list?id=13932

Saturday, May 19th: Scratch Contest at AADL
- 11:00am to 4:00pm
- Basic GUI Programming
- http://www.aadl.org/events/list?id=13932

Saturday, May 19th: Tech Twilight @ HoM
- 5:30pm to 9:30pm
- Help kids make awesome ~5 minute projects!
- http://www.aahom.org/techtwilight/

Saturday, May 26th & Sunday, May 27th: AHA Barn Raising!
- 4:00pm to 10:00pm
- Help paint, build, organize, and make AHA Awesome!
- http://www.allhandsactive.com

Friday, June 1st – Ann Arbor Mini Maker Faire!
~ Late afternoon / evening
- Help Setup for Ann Arbor Mini Maker Faire
- http://goo.gl/6wN6J <- Fill out the form : )

Saturday, June 2nd - Ann Arbor Mini Maker Faire
- 9:00am to 8:00pm (Not all hours available)
- Help run the Ann Arbor Mini Maker Faire!
- http://goo.gl/6wN6J <- Fill out the form : )

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Landan’s Sword

Here it is, in its full, finished glory. Nice!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Peer On In

State of the Space, May 6 2012.

Stereographic View of AHA

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Upcoming Events!

Weekly Recurring Activities
Sundays | 3pm to 5pm | Knitting Workshop
Sundays | 5pm to 7pm | CodeAcademy.com Workshop (Learn Javascript!) 
Tuesdays | 6:30pm to 8pm | Professional Software Developer Meetup
Thursdays | 7:30pm to 1am | Build Nights (Bring a project, or come watch/help/learn!)

Monthly Recurring Saturday Activities
First Saturday | 2pm to 4pm | Introduction to 3D Printing
Second Saturday | 2pm to 4pm | Introduction to Arduino
Third Saturday | 2pm to 4pm| Introduction to Soldering
Fourth Saturday | 12pm to 2pm | Intro to CNC Routing
Fourth Saturday | 2pm to 4pm | Introduction to Laser Cutting

One Time Only Activities!
Friday, 5/11 | 10pm to 3am |  Diablo II Ironman
Saturday, 5/12 | 1pm to 5pm | Scratch Lab @ AADL
Friday, 5/18 | 10pm to 3am | Diablo III Ironman
Saturday,  5/19 | 11am to 4pm | Scratch Contest @ AADL
Sunday, 5/20 | 2pm to 10pm | League of Legends Tournament
Sunday, 5/27 | 6pm to 7pm | Regular Expressions Workshop
Saturday, 6/02 | 10am to 5pm | Ann Arbor Mini Maker Faire!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Last Thursday

Food is a pretty cool thing, especially when you share it with a bunch of cool people. Last Thursday we had an awesome potluck at AHA, and coincidentally it was the birthday of two of our regulars! We had cake and fudge and stuff like that, good times all around.

 

 

We also had Leo bring in a steampunk rifle. A couple guys came in to fix up their Xbox and Nate added Arduino Powered LED Lighting for Dr. Keytaro.

More updates will come soon, but in the meantime, check out the event page! We always have cool stuff happening down here, and we always love to see new faces come down to check out the space.

 

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Swords, Strings, and StarCraft II

Landan’s been shaping up this duo of wooden longswords and I must say, they’re pretty intimidating. They look like real steel from a distance and they’re huge.

Kimberley was pulling up references pulling some references for Wilt from Foster’s Home for Imaginary Friends during the knitting rumble. I didn’t get to find out what was going on before I left, but I can imagine that it’s gonna turn out super-duper awesome.

We also had a massive StarCraft II tournament today and Josh surprised our contestants with some outrageously sick laser-cut custom emblems. Some of the players even came in back to look around the workshop. Good times.

So, yeah. This was a very nice weekend, and there’s a lot of magic happening down here. Remember, if you want to get in on some of these crazy things, all you have to do is drop in!

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment

Sunday Nights

What do we do down here at AHA? Here’s a run down of what happened today:


Dana has extreme focus in the video game League of Legends

Keane Wolter put together another SpikerBox for Backyard Brains. These kits allow you to hear what neurons sound like by wiring up, and then moving a cockroach leg. Add in a smartphone, and you can also see the Spikes (Action Potential)

Nathan spent part of the evening resolving some website CSS issues, discussing future plans for the upcoming wiki, and eventually rocking out a little chainmail.  We have the tools, and a fair amount of extra materials should you find yourself curious and nearby, come make your own!

Kimberly rocked out a dozen knitted balls during today’s Knitting Rumble workshop. This is an introductory class that happens every Sunday from 3pm to 5pm. Both the inexperienced and the experienced are encouraged to drop in and rock out with some yarn.

Katherine did not spend her time at AHA on a Potter related web site. She diligently studied for her finals. She did not pull up Microsoft Word to stage an image of her studying. Some people come down to AHA to relax for a little bit, some stop in to do homework. Katherine stopped by to study, and that’s the truth. 

Jacob Moga repaired an amplifier. The center channel was fuzzy. He poked at a bridged connection with a soldering iron (being quite cautious around the capacitors), and it’s no longer fuzzy sounding. I got all artsy with a mirror to take the picture.


Landon worked on some detail pieces for the wooden scabbard of a sword he has been putting together over the past few months. A mounted dremel allows him to guide the wood more steadily than if he were to handle the dremel by hand. Also, the sword is huge.

 

 Aaron, Cole, and Lucy spent some time creating a Solenoid for a UM Physics Project. They’re using an Arduino to change the current running through a wire coil, which causes a magnet to move in and out. They’re now modifying it to vibrate tightly enough to act like a speaker.

 

So that’s just a small sample of what happens here. People make, break, and fix things. They’re learning by doing, and sharing the experience with those around them. We’re open to the public five days of the week, providing a place for the public to utilize resources they wouldn’t normally have easy access to. Join us!

Posted in Announcements, Classes, Events, Projects | Leave a comment

Responsive Surfaces by Michael Senkow

 

 

Here’s a couple shots of Michael Senkow’s project for Responsive Surfaces at the U of M. Looks really tight so far.

Posted in Projects | Leave a comment

Steampunk Scanmera

Photo by the Detroit News.

Last Saturday we broke out the Scanmera at the Steampunk Twisted Toys event over at District VII. Much brass art was had, and many pictures we had as well. The Scanmera is a progressively scanning camera, which just means it takes a picture from left to right very slowly. The end result comes out looking like this:

This being Roger of i3 Detroit. He moved his hand during the scanning process, so it wasn’t captured in the end result.

Posted in Uncategorized | Leave a comment