November 2014 | Progress Report

We are making amazing strides with Make San Antonio. We've been chatting with community members, and meeting various leaders who support our plans to build a makerspace in San Antonio. We thank you for venturing along with us as we take the appropriate steps needed to get this idea from a dream to a reality.

Here's a quick rundown of where we're at:

• We have over 100 contacts on our e-mail list and we're generating buzz on social media every day. If you haven’t signed up on our e-mail list, or would like to follow us on social media, please visit makesanantonio.com. 
• We kicked off our first Make San Antonio survey on Reddit in October and have received several responses. If you’d like to participate, please find the survey here. 
• On November 5, we pitched Make San Antonio during Café Commerce’s 1 Million Cups event and received some great feedback which we are currently implementing into our business pitch and model. 
• We recently hosted our first event, Makevember, which was held on Saturday, November 22 at Lone Star Studio.

Makevember
Although this was our first event we had over 100 people attend Makevember and had plenty of surveys filled out, including several new email list signups. We've read through the surveys and the overall consensus was a desire for a larger event and more hands-on activities. We will put your suggestions into action for our next event and try our best to hit both points.

What’s Next for Make San Antonio?

• We are actively seeking venues that could possibly house Make San Antonio. Our filtered list is any space between 5,000–10,000 sq./ft., but we will pursue any and all reasonable options.
• We are scheduling meetings with successful entrepreneurs and venture capitalists who can mentor us and help us refine our business pitch, provide advice from their own experience and help us refine our current business path.
• We are going to be pitching our business at several local events. As we've already pitched at Cafe Commerce’s 1 Million Cups event and received some amazing feedback we hope to replicate that in future pitches.
• We are starting to toss ideas around for some events in early 2015. As we are in the initial stages, thinking of possible participants, event locations and themes, any suggestions are appreciated.
• We are planning to kick off a membership crowd funding event in early 2015. We believe this will be the cornerstone that will allow Make San Antonio to receive full funding. We’re working to offer discounted membership rates for our initial contributors so keep an eye out for additional updates so you won’t miss out on some amazing deals.

In the meantime, what can you do? Support us by following us on social media, and reading our e-newsletters. Chat with your friends about us, and ask us questions. Once again, we thank you for your support so early on in this venture. We value your support in us to create a makerspace in San Antonio. We're on it!

Go Team Go! Go Make San Antonio!

#MakerMonday | Throwies

To throwie or not to throwie!

Spoiler: The answer is always to throwie. Throwies are fun, easy to make by yourself or in a group, and don’t require much to create a great effect. The elements of a throwie are pretty simple: a battery, a diffused LED, a magnet and some tape. Putting all the pieces together is not only fun but educational. Once everything is together and working the adventure begins. The essence of a throwie is exactly as it sounds, you have to throw the light onto a metal object, thus “throwie”. It may take a few tries but they’ll eventually stick if you follow the throwie recipe. So what’s so great about a throwie on a piece of metal?  What if you have 10 different colored lights or 200, like we had in our own wedding? The effect produced is pretty amazing. The life expectancy of these lights is roughly 2 weeks, but in our experience most of our lights were still working at two months and even at a year old there were a handful of lights that still had some life in them. The LED life expectancy is quite a bit longer than the battery so if you can retrieve the throwie after they go dim you can replace the battery and have a brand new working throwie once again. If you haven’t heard of or about throwies before, check out this instructable on the topic. There are some pretty bare metal bridges around San Antonio that are just begging for some color... What would you do with them?

Here's some inspiration:

http://goo.gl/wPPg9u

http://goo.gl/4pTWGh

http://goo.gl/IkzsPI

http://goo.gl/BVToxN

#MakerMonday | DIY Concrete Cufflinks

Thinking of all the things you can do with 3D printers is daunting. It may be easier to attack a list that describes what you can't do with 3D printers, but the options seems to be shrinking every day as well. Need another example to add to your list? How about 3D printing for concrete molds? Here are some DIY concrete cuff links that may spur your imagination. What kind of molds can you build for melted chocolate, wax or crayons?

Why Should I Become a Member of a Makerspace?

Makerspaces are the conduit between thinking of an idea and having a final product come into existence. Whether it’s making arts and crafts, building that desk you saw on Pinterest, learning to take more professional pictures or just working on your own personal car or bike. A makerspace provides the creative environment where these projects thrive.

Let's say we had a billion dollar idea, Taco Drone Delivery! What if we had a drone that in one way or another could deliver tacos to customers? Great idea, I like tacos and if I could get them delivered when I was at the park even better! What are the next steps? How can we build a drone? How would the drone deliver the tacos? How could it be controlled? Wait a minute ... what is a drone in the first place? There are so many questions that would arise from this single idea. What a makerspace seeks to do is facilitate the tools, provide a collaborative environment so your idea can flourish, and hopefully steer you to the answers for all your questions. 

How can we build a drone? Well you’ll need to do some electrical work, get some form of micro-controller, one or more speed-controllers, some form of remote control system, do some programming and then you'll need drone parts as well. If you want a drone that delivers tacos, you’ll have to work out a way for delivery. Can the drone delivery system, or the drone itself, be made from 3D printed parts? Maybe it can be made from Plexiglas, balsa wood or a combination of those materials? You’ll do some research on drones, take the best ideas you like of existing models, modify them a bit and make them your own. Instead of paying $1000+ for a drone that will still need to be modified, why not pay a fraction of that amount and make something completely custom that can serve your purpose? Prototyping is at the forefront of what a makerspace is all about. But a makerspace is so much more than that. What have we accomplished with this single idea and new drone product? We've thought of a method to bring tacos to the masses via aerial delivery! Well, yes but here’s the bigger picture. With this single idea we could have possibly spurred business growth, jobs, new product development and even idea collaboration. 

Stay with me here as we go over some of the possibilities. So we have our final new drone delivery product, that’s great, here are some things to think about. Could you market the drone product to established restaurants that could use this technology? What if a business saw a different way to utilize your drone delivery system? Think Amazon and package delivery. What about the specific engineered pieces of the drone themselves? What if someone sees value in a single part of your innovative drone delivery system and wants to buy the rights to use it in their own business?  What if your drone solution has gone mainstream and businesses are requesting thousands of units, how many jobs will be needed to fill the demand? All these are great possibilities, but the most exciting possibility, in my opinion, is now that you've accomplished the task of building a working drone, what other ideas and problems can you solve or build products for with the skills and experience you've learned to get you to this point? The possibilities are endless when we spur innovation, creativity and knowledge! Each project we take on, whether it’s a success or failure opens our world up to additional projects, problems and solutions. By gaining incremental knowledge though these projects we grow our skill set and gain valuable experience. What would you create if you had the experience, skills and tools required to complete your next project or idea?  What about the next one? And the next ...? 

So the question we originally asked, “Why should I become a member of a makerspace?” should really be "Do I really want to miss out on everything I can learn and experience from being a member of a makerspace?"

Side note: Think the days of taco delivery drones are years in our future? Think again, check out what Tacocopter is doing.  

Tips from an old carpenter

My grandfather was an amazing man.  He would make you laugh when you were in the worst mood, then turn around and cuss at you all in the same breath.  He worked as a carpenter his entire life and he always had a wealth of knowledge to share.  That knowledge transfer would usually start by him saying, "No seas pendejo! Mira hazlo asi", loosely translated into English, "Don't be stupid! Look, do it like this".  He grew up in a culture and era where power tools were a luxury that he couldn't afford, but looking back at some of the things he accomplished with just hand tools, is amazing.  He had a mastery of Geometry, angles and mathematics that would rival most of today's college students, but he dropped out of junior high school.  So this knowledge wasn't something he learned via a formal education.  It was shared with him by other fellow makers throughout his working life.  You could give him a circle of any size and using an L-square and a Combination square he would find the exact center of that circle with a few pencil marks.

No mathematics involved!  In my grandfathers words, "Geometry is for people who have time to think about those kinds of things.  All the math is in the tools, you just need to know how to use them correctly to get things done."  Here's another example.  Those shiny hand saws you see at the store, if you thought they were good just for cutting, my grandfather would have a name or two to call you.  Flip them over with the teeth pointing away from the cutting piece and they become an instant square.  Use the reflection of the saw against the wood and when the lines of your cutting piece are straight with the reflection you have a square line across your cutting surface.

What if you wanted to cut a 45 degree angle?  Angle your saw until the reflection you see is perpendicular and you have your 45 degree angled cut line.

Seeing these techniques being applied when I was young seemed like magic.  Even though I didn't know any better at the time, my grandfather was teaching me the principles of mathematics as young as 6 years old.  This is what being a maker is all about, learning by doing.  I could read a hundred books on the subject of woodworking but never know these shortcuts existed if it wasn't for my grandfather teaching me, via hands on learning, what he had picked up throughout his life.  A makerspace thrives on building a community where you can teach others your experiences and learn something new from their experiences in the process.  In my grandfathers words, "Everyone you encounter throughout life will have unique and valuable lessons to share depending on their professional background, knowledge and upbringing.  You just have to be willing and open to learn."  What experiences or lessons would you be able to en-part on your fellow makers?

Free 3D modeling software for 3D printers

Our two favorites would have to be GoogleSketchUp and OpenSCAD.   OpenSCAD is completely free and has a solid base in CAD modeling.  OpenSCAD is a bit more complicated than Google SketchUp, when it comes to a learning curve, but you can do some amazing things once you learn how to use it correctly.  In addition you'll gain a bit of programming knowledge on your journey.  But don't be intimidated, making everything work together isn't all that hard once you dive into it.  The great thing is that there are plenty of documentation/tutorials to help you on your way.  You can get some inspiration and possibly some help accomplishing your learning goal by checking out Thingiverse (Anything tagged customizer = OpenSCAD).

Here are some models and ideas from one of our co-founders, Greg, made using OpenSCAD and Thingiverse's customizer application.  You can always download the OpenSCAD files from pre-made models and modify them to suit your needs.

• Concrete Mold
• PVC Inner Coupler

Google SketchUp, our first choice when modeling something, has a free version, SketchUp Make, and can be used for most anything you can think of.  Google has also set up some free tutorials on the subject.  The tutorials are a bit involved but once you have SketchUp under your belt you’re well on your way to becoming a modeler extraordinaire!  Both of these tools have their strengths and weaknesses, but together there really hasn't been something we were unable to design rather quickly for a 3D printer.  Here's a Google SketchUp design Greg made for a Roll-Out Pantry.

We hope you enjoy making as much as we do.  You can learn more about us at makesanantonio.com.

Knowledge is Power - Francis Bacon

We've all heard the phrase quoted, "Knowledge is Power" but in my opinion it’s a bit misleading.  Knowledge is amazing!  Learning is what drives us to become who we are and what we want to be.  Prior to these last two decades however, an individual had to have a formal education in order to gain what was considered knowledge.  The great thing about learning now is that we've seen an emergence of the internet as the great equalizer.  You no longer need to come from a formal education to gain the knowledge needed to get ahead in the world.  Let me clarify, a formal education is not a bad thing, the more you know, the more opportunities present themselves.  But, this is the first time in human history where we are all on a level playing field when it comes to learning.  The internet isn't biased and won’t judge whether you're tall, short, purple, blue, rich or poor… If you have a computer and the internet you've got this treasure trove of knowledge available at your fingertips.  If you don’t have the internet, take your computer to a local coffee house, they’ll have free internet you can use.  No computer?  Head to your local public library, they’re sure to have one you can borrow.

So lets say we've learned everything there is to learn, memorized every single page of the internet, and can recite all of it word for word.  What good is all that knowledge if it’s never experienced or applied?  I've seen individuals who have had every privilege in their life but never amounted to more than a glorified chair warmer and individuals who from humble beginnings became millionaires.  What is the difference between the two?  How they applied the knowledge they had gained to better their lives.  “Knowledge is Power” is a great saying, used by many influential people, but not entirely true in this new era of human existence.  I think a better way to state the phrase would be “Applied Knowledge is Power”.  At Make San Antonio we’re looking to foster innovation, creativity and knowledge.  We will strive to maintain an atmosphere where you can gain knowledge and apply the knowledge you've learned in a creative environment, surrounded by enthusiastic and creative people.

What is a makerspace?

Make San Antonio of course! Well, that still doesn't answer the burning question. The best way to describe a makerspace is a gym for creatives. You become a member of a gym to use unique gym equipment, maybe take a few classes or training, and build your health. A makerspace has the same concept. At a makerspace you’ll become a member to use amazing tools, be able to cultivate your skills with general and advanced classes, maybe even start your own business or help someone else start theirs, but most importantly build your knowledge via the maker mantra of “learning by doing.” A makerspace is a DIY environment where members will be able to, after a familiarization class, use tools and software they would otherwise not be able to afford on their own and have access to a myriad of machines that will help them create anything they could imagine. Makerspaces focus on rapid prototyping and manufacturing, so a few common areas/tools a makerspace would contain would be:

• Woodworking tools
• Metalworking tools
• Textiles
• Electronics
• Rapid prototyping (3D Printing, Laser Cutting)

Each makerspace will be unique in what tools they provide for their members but all makerspaces thrive on building a creative community. You can think of a makerspace as a unique entity who is in essence owned by a community of creators. Makerspaces are a unique way for members to engage in a community of supportive individuals who can come together to create amazing things together.

The Endless Possibilities of 3D Printing

Doctors, makers, and inventors are using 3D printing in some creative ways to do some amazing things. The versatility of 3D printing coupled with a good imagination is all you really need. You could go out, show a group of people how to use a 3D printer, and each one of them would think up a different use for it. That's the power of creating and making. What could the inventor, the artist, the junior high school student come up with if they only knew about 3D printing and had access to one of those machines? Bill Gates once said, "I think it's fair to say that personal computers have become the most empowering tool we've ever created. They're tools of communication, they're tools of creativity, and they can be shaped by their user." Bill, I think the computer may have a contender to look out for.

Check out the following links to various ways 3D printing is changing the world:

Multi-material 3D printer

Doctors creating human ears

3D printed prosthetic

Paste Extrusion

What is a Maker?

You know when that kitchen appliance broke last month or when you really wanted to get something special for someone or you had a great idea about a new product and instead of going out and buying a new one you said, “Let’s see if I can fix/make/build this instead?” This is the essence of what being a maker is all about. A maker is a creative person who strives to create in a world that bombards him or her with consumption. A maker is a person who makes the conscious decision to re-purpose, fix, remake or reinvent something in their life. 

Our great grandparents were makers. Our grandparents were makers, and maybe even our parents were makers. They all sought to provide the best for their children and made do with what they had. If our current trend continues, our parents will be the last generation of people who actually made things with their bare hands. It was sometimes a necessity, other times pride but this knowledge of how things are made is being forgotten. We have strayed a long way from our ancestors path. We have all attempted to do better in our lives than our parents, but as a result, some of us have chosen not to cultivate our maker roots. It’s easier to pay for someone else to do it or buy it off a shelf. However, this type of consumer-based society has led us to miss out on amazing experiences. Letting someone else do the work has made us start to forget a big portion of how to make items with our bare hands. 

Make San Antonio seeks to regain that glimmer of a life where fixing things came easier, making things was a commonality and the pride you felt by accomplishing a project on your own was priceless.