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All Hands Active in Ann Arbor is a Makerspace for All Ages (Video)
This is an interview with All Hands Active's Josh Williams. He shows us a project the group is doing in conjunction with Eastern Michigan University's Bright Futures Institute for the Study of Children, Families, and Communities. This is just one project, and maybe not the most exciting one they do, but it's something simple they can (and do) cart around to schools and other remote locations. They use a laser cutter for this simple project, not because it's really needed, Josh says, but because "any excuse to use a laser cutter is a good excuse."
Josh wanted to make sure a couple of credits were given out that didn't make it into the video.
"any excuse to use a laser cutter is a good excuse"
That should be added to the Slashdot quotes.
I've got a bad attitude and karma to burn. Go ahead. Mod me down.
I'm from Ann Arbor, and I've got Josh in my phone. AHA is fantastic, and it's awesome to see this on slashdot!
I don't know any of the people involved, but I must say, I'm really proud to have this going on one town over.
If you are interested, please stop by sometime! Build night is held on Thursday evenings. Lots of neat projects going on!
There exists some positive integer N that you are the Nth person to read this signature.
What the hell is a makerspace? Can they just not say arts & crafts fair?
"Makerspace" - a culmination of pop science/Mythbusters viewers who take off-the-shelf stuff, without knowing how it works, cobble it together, and claim to be hackers.
Sad, sad world. Where's the next Steve Wozniak?
I want to delete my account but Slashdot doesn't allow it.
What is the consensus on for-profit vs. non-profit maker spaces?
Ann Arbor, for example, also has "Maker Works". I looked at their website, and also All Hands Active; neither mentions being a non-profit. So I assume they are for-profit, though I am less certain about AHA.
How much effort should we put into building up a "community" when the enterprise is actually for-profit venture? Doesn't that often lead to disappointment if the business really takes off?
On the other hand, many of us have no issue with paying reasonable rates for access to a great shop space, and also the community that often comes with it.
"All Hands Active in Ann Arbor" sounds a little less creepy than "All Hands Active in State College" for example.
Glad to see AHA getting recognition. They're a great bunch of guys.
Oh, and i3 Detroit > AHA! :P
FiremanDave - too lazy to create a /. account just to razz them!
Title: All Hands Active in Ann Arbor is a Makerspace for both Adults and Kids
Description: This is an interview with All Hands Active leader Josh Williams. He shows us a project the group is doing in conjunction with Eastern Michigan University's Bright Futures Institute for the Study of Children, Families and Communities.
[00:00] <TITLE>
"Slashdot Visits the All Hands Active Makerspace in Ann Arbor, Michigan" appears over a view the interviewer, "Slashdot Editor Rob Rozeboom" as noted in the SlashdotTV logo bar.
[00:01] Rob>
The folks at All Hands Active in Ann Arbor teach kids about science and technology through a variety of fun and interesting projects.
Today they're gonna be building crossbows out of cardboard with the help of a laser cutter.
[00:12] <TITLE>
A view of Josh Williams at the Makerspace with various hardware equipment in the background appears, with the Slashdot TV logo bar reading "Josh Williams @ All Hands Active 'Ann Arbor's Makerspace'".
Throughout the interview, generic shots of people working on the aforementioned DIY crossbow are seen mixed in with this base shot.
[00:12] Josh>
I'm Josh Williams and we're at All Hands Active at 525 East Liberty Street, Ann Arbor, Michigan.
[00:18] Rob>
And what do you do here?
[00:20] Josh>
A bunch of things.
It's always a fun - kind of complicated - question, but basically we give people access to resources, information, tools and other people.
We've got sewing machines, laser cutters, 3D printers and then just a standard soup of your normal tools: hammers, screwdrivers, drill presses - things like that.
[00:38] Rob>
And what are we doing today?
[00:40] Josh>
Today we're building laser-cut cardboard crossbows.
We're using Inkscape - open source image editing software - combined with a full spectrum laser cutter to cut out pieces of cardboard in the shape of a crossbow.
From there we use a combination of dowel rods, rubber bands, duct tape, hot glue to put those pieces together and build a simple - kind of nerf gun style - crossbow that shoots about 10 to 40 feet, depending on the tension of the rubber band.
[01:05] Rob>
Can you just go through the steps to build the crossbow?
[01:09] Josh> .. any excuse to use a laser cutter is a good excuse.
Basically, the first step is designing in Inkscape the basic layout.
We provide people with a simple template ink Inkscape, from there they modify things;
This is a unicorn from a Deviant Art user - they're pretty awesome, they've got a bunch of really cool line art.
We added that to the template.
We then took that image file, loaded up on RetinaEngrave over here, and that allows you to change the power settings and speed settings.
So we've got slightly different settings for cutting out the cardboard versus etching out the actual unicorn drawing.
Once you've done that, you've got roughly 5 pieces here, 5 sections of cardboard, you sandwich them together, leaving a little bit of space for the trigger to move.
Using just a standard wine cork, we're using a piece of metal out of a clothes hanger, and drinking straws and a rubber band and a dowel rod.
So this is all stuff that you can get at a local hardware store, just things that you might have sitting around the house.
Altogether the actual parts for this is probably less than a dollar, which is really, really awesome.
You don't have to have a laser cutter to build this; we just
[02:09] Rob>
Sure!
[02:10] Josh>
From there you attach the rubber bands, the dowel rod - the dowel rod just goes through a quarter inch hole here, tie rubber bands around, pull the rubber band back, pull the trigger, rubber band shoots forward, and you have a bolt here that launches - and that's usually just made out of a slightly larger drinking straw, slightly bigger dowel rod, which fit conveniently well inside pencil sharpe
I, for one, welcome our new laser cuter-wielding child overlords.