A Los Angeles Hackerspace
CrashSpace at Create:Fixate REDUX
Posted on July 23rd, 2011 by matt • Filed under Events • No Comments
CRASHSpace made a huge splash at Create:Fixate on this past July 16th. Create:Fixate is an organization dedicated to elevating the accessibility of art through mixed medium exhibitions and educational programs for emerging artists, art collectors, and musicians. We had an amazing showing. This downtown pop-up art museum hosted collections from local artists as well as some international street artists, from known to unknown.
Crashspace held its own with five interactive installation pieces designed to involve art appreciators of all ages. This is a ground-breaking venture into the gallery setting. We constructed several standalone interfaces which allowed interactive engagement without chaining our members to the demonstration table. To gauge the success of these efforts, one needs only to refer to this timelapse:
Left: Focus, a piece which rewards users for standing still. Right: Store Front Music, a piece which encourages movement.
This weekend, due to overwhelming demand and fears over #carmageddon, Create:Fixate is opening for an unprecedented second run. The outdoor area and musical soundscape will be reimagined by the long-standing Burning Man collective DiSORiENT. Bring your pornj and prepare to rock out!
Build Your Own Custom PCB
Posted on July 22nd, 2011 by at0mbxmb • Filed under Events • No Comments
This Monday, we had a special guest workshop on at-home PCB manufacturing by our very own Jonathan Toomim! The event was open to the public, and was an experimental working session for everyone to come together and explore possible methods of PCB fabrication. The method demoed involved transferring printed circuit designs to blank PCB, and dissolving the surrounding copper.
Once a chosen design was printed, it was placed face-down onto the copper side of the blank PCB in a heated press for 30 minutes at 400F.
Once the toner had successfully transferred to the copper, the leftover bits of paper needed to be removed from the print. A coin worked fine to scratch the paper off. The PCB was then cut into individual pieces and placed in a mixture of hydrochloric acid, hydrogen peroxide, and copper (II) chloride. This etching solution is reusable.
The copper on the edges of the board goes first. The toner, being hydrophobic, blocks the solution in the chosen pattern, while the rest of the copper is eaten away. Afterwards, acetone is used to remove the toner, leaving copper traces behind.
Here’s a picture of our first attempt! As you can see, there are some small patches missing from the copper. This could be alleviated possibly by giving the print more time in the press to transfer fully.
MakerBot Monthly/MakerBot 101 This Sunday, July 17th
Posted on July 13th, 2011 by theron • Filed under Events • No Comments
This Sunday, we have our monthly MakerBot activities:
2-5 PM – L.A. MakerBot Meeting
Have a MakerBot, RepRap, or other DIY 3D printer? Bring it and print up a storm, or get help if you’re having troubles with it.
Interested in 3D printing? Come and see the printers and learn more.
Open to everyone and free (though donations to CRASHspace are welcome).
7-10 PM – MakerBot 101
MakerBot 101 – Introduction To The MakerBot Cucake CNC
The MakerBot is a 3D printer. It makes physical objects out of plastic. Which is really cool.
You want to become a MakerBot operator? This is where you need to start.
This hands-on workshop will cover the basic concepts of 3D printing and step-by-step instructions on how to print physical objects with CRASHBot. Each participant will have an opportunity to print something with the MakerBot and take it home.
10 seats available. $40 for non-members, $36 for members (10% discount), $30 for superuser members (25% discount). Check member wiki for discount codes.
MEGA TAKE APART (Saturday July 9th)
Posted on July 8th, 2011 by outlawpoet • Filed under Events • No Comments
Tomorrow is the second Saturday of July, so it’s once again time to clear our hearts (and our shelves) of the lost and misled electronics of the past.
Come by to take part in this sorting and dis-assembly, or to bring by your own stuff for recycling or re-use.
Remember, many electronic goods cannot be simply thrown away, they contain harmful chemicals, mixed metals and plastics, and are otherwise difficult in materials to dispose of safely, so we sort stuff, tear apart items, and take the loads of what’s left to an e-waste or hazmat recycler as required.
12-5pm at the space, bring a screwdriver.
Neuroscience: Imaging Methods
Posted on June 22nd, 2011 by outlawpoet • Filed under Events • No Comments
Tonight at 8pm, crashspace member Jonathan Toomim will be discussing the technologies that allow us to peer inside the human brain.
Open to non-members, anyone with an interest in the science of the mind is invited to attend. For our friends who cannot be at the space, a ustream will be announced on our twitter (@crashspacela), and the recording available later.
I hope to see you there.
Neuroscience Group: Thursday June 16th at 8pm
Posted on June 16th, 2011 by outlawpoet • Filed under Events • No Comments
The second meeting of the Neuroscience Group will be this Thursday. We’ll discuss the ongoing projects of our members, I have some news from the neuroscience and DIY cog sci worlds, and a general discussion of interesting topics in this vein.
This meeting is open to the public, and requires only your interest. The meeting will begin at 8pm, and will officially run until 9, although I expect discussions will continue into the night.
The Digital Domino Effect
Posted on June 2nd, 2011 by matt • Filed under Events • 1 Comment
We built some dominoes!
We built em faster.
We built em slower.
We built em broken.
We built em rainbow.
We built em powerful.
Buy some if you dare.
What are the digital dominoes? Everyone asks.
Our Digital Dominoes are a physical demonstration of causality or chain reactions. You know, the domino effect.
One can use these simple timing elements to make some impressively complex interactions and oscillators. One can experiment with the components of the domino to gain a better understanding of the circuit and electronic principles involved.
I started by playing with different colored LEDs most wouldn’t light or barely lit. This is because the red LEDs for the domino kit are particularly low power. Adding an extra battery enabled an entirely new range of possible outputs.
I played a little with the timing. We employ a common RC Circuit to set the timing of the domino pulse. Our mix of components lends it self to a particularly pleasing one-third of a second delay. This make the smallest oscillator, 3 dominoes, pulse once each second. Trying different resistor values generally led to much faster as the standard resistor used is 6.8M and much higher than your average potentiometer.
Putting this all together with a big solid-state relay was particularly gratifying. The relay was a gift from our lovable rocket man, Micheal Clive. Incorporating it made for much higher powered fun and a little bit of a fire hazard. Only try this with having handy your power shutoff and fire extinguisher.
Digital Domino Build Night
Posted on May 29th, 2011 by Daryll • Filed under Events • No Comments
WHO:Open to the public. (Free if you have a kit)
WHAT: Build digital dominoes and make a large display
WHERE: CrashSpace 10526 Venice Blvd, Culver City CA 90232
WHEN: Wednesday June 1st 8pm
WHY: It’ll be fun.
DETAILS:
Daryll’s Digital Domino is a kit that won an editors choice award at Maker Faire 2011. Each domino can be “knocked over” by pressing the button on the board, at which point it signals the next domino in line using infrared. These kits are very easy to assemble even if you have no soldering experience you can have one together in less than half an hour. If you’re more experienced, our fastest time is about 5 minutes.
Kits are available for $20 at CrashSpace (discounts for members) which include all the parts to make four digital dominoes. If you already purchased a kit bring it by and solder it up. If you’ve already built your dominoes bring those by and we’ll see what sort of large display we can make.
The domino is an open hardware project. All the details on the parts, PCB, and instructions are available at http://lahack.com/ddd.
I hope we’ll see you there.
Learn How to Create Your Very Own Pop-Up Greeting Cards!
Posted on May 29th, 2011 by matt • Filed under Events • No Comments
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Who: Open to the public! What: 2-Part Workshop to learn how to create your own personalized Pop-Up Greeting Cards Where: CRASHSpace (10526 Venice Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90232) How: This is a two-part workshop. During the first class, we’ll focus on the basic techniques of creating Pop-Up Greeting Cards. At the second class, participants will bring in their own designs or photographs to be turned into personalized Pop-Up Greeting Cards. When:Thursday, June 23nd and Thursday, June 30th from 8:00pm- 10:00pm  Sign up Here! ($60)
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Be an architect, designer, and pop-up card creator all at once! Through learning the basics of paper cutting and folding, participants will create fantastic, personalized 3-D Pop-Up Greeting Cards based on their favorite buildings or other designs. These one-of-a-kind cards can be personal mementos or the perfect gift.
Imagine never having to rush out to the store for that last minute birthday, anniversary, or Father’s Day card EVER AGAIN! Teach yourself the techniques necessary to create one-of-a-kind handmade pieces of art. Pop-Up Greeting Cards are a great way send someone a personal greeting.
Joyce Aysta is the owner of Live Your Dream Designs. Her origami and kirigami cards are sold throughout the United States at famous buildings and museums including The Library of Congress, The National Building Museum, and some of Frank Lloyd Wright’s houses. She co-authored The Paper Architect: Fold-It-Yourself Buildings and Structures
Donations are welcomed, helpful, and necessary as CRASHSpace is entirely membership/donation funded and relies on your support to keep the doors open.
Maker Faire
Posted on May 23rd, 2011 by theron • Filed under Events • 1 Comment
Maker Faire Bay Area 2011 is over, and I think it’s safe to say a fun time was had by all. We made a lot of digital dominoes. We taught a lot of people to solder. We made a lot of alien hologram keychains. We made a little noise with Store Front Music 2.0.
And we won two Editor’s Awards! One for SFM, one for the digital dominoes!
Also, Sparkles made a lot of friends, and even got 3D scanned at the MakerBot booth!
AND, we got an awesome new phone from Noisebridge!
Thanks to everyone who helped out, before and during. And also our friends at Noisebridge, HeatSync Labs, Hacker Dojo, Ace Monster Toys, and School Factory / Space Federation. It was a great weekend, and we’re already looking forward to Maker Faire Bay Area 2012!
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Crash Space is a community-focused organization and we need cash to continue to do cool things for people. Help us out! Financial contributions aren't tax-deductible, but we are working on becoming an official non-profit.
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