The Transistor recently (just a few days ago in fact!) entered in the 2012 Red Bull Creation Challenge. For this challenge we built a fully automated, pneumatic Can Dispenser, Drink Extractor, Drink Cooler, and Can Crushing machine. This ensures a constant stream of Energy Drinks / Caffeine for those late night projects at the hackerspace. ;)
The cans are loaded into the hopper (which holds roughly 16 cans) where they wait for you to press the dispense button. Once the button is pressed, all kinds of magic (errr science) happen. First a pneumatic ram drives a spear through the front-most can, causing it to drain into an aluminum pipe which is wrapped with 10 copper pipes that ice water is circulating through. This effectively cools the drink from room temperature to roughly 40 degrees or less in about 30 seconds (the time it takes the can to drain). From there your drink runs into another funnel and into your cup. Finally a second, larger pneumatic ram crushes the empty can and ejects it out the side. As the ram retracts, gravity automatically loads the next drink into place. (Thanks gravity!)
This project was completed over the course of 3 days. Video below. Thanks for watching!
Join us for a Free Class on Blender, taught by our very own Josh.
Ted will be teaching this Free Class on creating your own Libraries for the ever popular Arduino platform.
Come join us as we celebrate the opening of our Midvale, Ut location! Festivities begin Saturday, June 16th 4:00pm-10:00pm.
We had the pleasure of having Sebastian and Daniel from 
If you haven’t used Arduino before (or even if you have) this class should be fun. We will go over; What exactly is Arduino?, The Basics of Arduino Programming, and Basic Electronics for Arduino.
Come on down and build an 
CMKT 4 returns to The Transistor, Provo’s Hackerspace Friday, May 25, 2012 7:00pm until 10:00pm!
Event: Meet the Makers
We are pleased to announce the upcoming schedule for March’s Public Night.
The Transistor will be holding an entry level class on plastic reinforced fiber laminates. The class will cover construction of basic structures, mold preparation, and vacuum bagging. We’ll also be talking about mechanical properties, different kinds of composite materials, the benefits of composite structures, as well as cutting and machining difficulties. Kits will be provided for $20. Kits will include resin, carbon cloth, 2 kinds of glass fiber cloth, vacuum bagging materials, and other items necessary for laying-up a 5 inch square laminate.
