theTransistor

Free Class: Composite Materials and Laminates

Aaron — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:18:36 +0000

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.
Please send an email to Clay [AT] thetransistor [DOT] com if you would like to reserve a kit. Note: The resins we will be using will more than likely ruin any clothing they come into contact with, dress accordingly. This is a FREE, public class. We will start at 6:30pm on February the 4th.

Free Class: 2.4GHz biquad antennas

Aaron — Thu, 15 Dec 2011 03:36:35 +0000

We're doing a class on 2.4ghz biquad antennas and that there will be kits available. Each kit will consist of the hardware to make the actual antenna, and one satellite dish. We won't include any cables or adapters in the kits at this point. An update with the price of the kits will be posted soon. This is a FREE, public class. We will start around 5:00pm on January the 7th, and should run between 30-60 minutes.
Make: Provo is held the first Saturday of each month, unless otherwise noted. It runs from 4:00pm-10:00pm. We try to offer a free class each month. Bring your projects to show off and your questions to ask.

Free Class: RFID and the Arduino

Deven — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 16:06:59 +0000

This coming Saturday we will be giving a quick class on the basic usage of RFID readers with the Arduino. We will give a basic overview of RFID, then move onto interfacing a reader with an Arduino, and finally look at some code. This is a FREE, public class. We will start around 6:30pm on December the 3rd, and should run between 30-60 minutes.
Make: Provo is held the first Saturday of each month, unless otherwise noted. It runs from 4:00pm-10:00pm. We try to offer a free class each month that starts at 6:30pm and runs anywhere from a half hour to several hours. Bring your projects to show off and your questions to ask.

3D Print Place

Deven — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 00:56:59 +0000

I received an email from some awesome people over in the Netherlands. They are launching a collaborative site which looks absolutely fun. Here's the 'meat' of the email.
"My name is Danny and my associate’s name is Sebastian. We are two recent college grads who caught the 3D printing bug and believe that 3D printing is going to explode and revolutionize the way we live our lives. We can’t wait to see the transformation take place, so we setup 3D Print Place to help facilitate this change. 3D Print Place is designed to make 3D Printing more accessible to home users, academic institutions, and small businesses, by serving as a one-stop-shop for all your 3D Printing needs. The platform is entirely fueled by user-to-user collaboration – the community creates content and value, the website solely provides the necessary infrastructure to simplify user interaction. We recently launched to the general pubic at the 3D Printing Event (http://3dprintingevent.com) in the Netherlands on October 25th and now are looking for enthusiastic people in the 3D printing community to help improve our project. You can check out the site by clicking on the link below. 3dprintplace.com We are in the process of reaching out to hacker spaces, engineering programs, and tech clubs around the world and think that TheTransistor could get a lot out of our beta site. It would mean a lot to me if you could pass on this e-mail to members of TheTransistor and to anyone else that you think might be interested in this collaboration project." Good luck Danny and Sebastian, the project looks absolutely wonderful. :)

Hack This: 24 Incredible Hackerspace Projects from the DIY Movement

Deven — Thu, 17 Nov 2011 06:17:51 +0000

I wanted to take a second to mention a fantastic book that was just released. This book has been "in the works" for about a year now. The book is Hack This: 24 Incredible Hackerspace Projects from the DIY Movement by John Baichtal. It features 24 hackerspace projects and a few other sections on things like how to start your own hackerspace. It even includes a quick write up on theTransistor's MAME cabinet. Overall it really is a good book full of interesting projects from many hackerspaces. The best part is that right now you can pick up a copy over on Amazon for $15. I highly recommend this. :)

Hacking cheap RFID readers

Aaron — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 06:17:17 +0000

RFID readers on prototype supply places are expensive. There are many cool applications for the technology, but cheap readers that include documentation and a standard interface are impossible to find. I decided to confront this problem. I found and ordered a cheap 125kHz reader off eBay for around ten bucks.

Free Class: Introduction to Oscilloscopes

Deven — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 17:16:43 +0000

This coming Make: Provo (October 1, 2011 @ 4pm - 10pm) we will be giving a quick class on the basic usage(s) of the ever popular tool, The Oscilloscope. This is a FREE, public class. We will start around 6:30, and should run between 30-60 minutes. We will have two oscilloscopes left out for the public to play with when we are done. If there is interest we may do some additional classes on more advanced oscilloscope usage. (And join us in November for our CNC machine basics class where we will cover 3d printers and cnc routers!)

CANCELED: College of Lockpicking: September 17th

Deven — Sun, 11 Sep 2011 09:49:50 +0000

Sorry for the late update folks, but it appears that the people presenting the class have had something or other come up. I apologize to all that made plans to come down this weekend, we are hopeful that they will stop by in the future! Eric from Pumping Station: One is coming down this coming Saturday (the 17th) to give a workshop on lockpicking. The class will be between $20 and $50 dollars (details below), and is open to all that would like to attend. College of Lockpicking is a hands-on workshop that includes approximately an hour of instructor-led lecture and an hour of participant-led workshop, including the history and development of pin-tumbler locks, a full breakdown of how a pin-tumbler lock works, introduction and tutorial with the pick tools, and a slew of videos on bump keys, destructive entry methods, decoders, Medeco picking, electronic locks, bike locks, car locks, and more. In our experience, everyone opens a lock at College of Lockpicking! Details are still being worked out, buy you can expect a $20 door fee, and 10-piece custom lockpick sets available for $30. Participants sign up prior to the event at an EventBrite page (link coming soon), where they can register for either the whole package, or just the door fee if they already have some lockpicks. ~~More details coming soon!~~

Prusa

Aaron — Sat, 10 Sep 2011 19:46:45 +0000

Tim has completed the Prusa! Bill (the authority on 3D printers in Utah) came down to check it out and gave his seal of approval. The prints are already impressive quality.

Computers

Aaron — Sun, 28 Aug 2011 22:48:48 +0000

We've had some exciting new developments. Thanks to the efforts of our members, the transistor has acquired computers for the public work space!

DEFCON – Pictures

Aaron — Mon, 15 Aug 2011 00:38:25 +0000

Defcon was awesome. We had a lot of fun, learned a lot, and it was an excellent opportunity to see what other hackerspaces were doing.

More pictures after the break.

DEFCON

Aaron — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 00:09:21 +0000

The transistor is attending defcon! We have a limited amount of Transistor stickers we’ll be passing out so track us down if you’d like to score one.

Make: Provo Monthly

Deven — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 20:10:03 +0000

Starting September Make: Provo will be a monthly only event. We will no longer be doing a weekly public night at that point. We have updated the website calendar to reflect this. (There will be a once-a-month public Make: Provo meeting the first Saturday of each month.) Here are some of the reasons why we have decided to switch to this model: *** It is a lot of work to host a public night every Saturday (even though we currently don't do a whole lot, we still have to make sure we are there, the doors are unlocked, etc) *** We would rather have one "big" night once a month then several small nights. *** This will give us more time to concentrate on our projects so we can show them off on the Make: Provo meetings. *** We would like to extend the hours that Make: Provo runs. (details on the calendar) *** We would like to start providing a free public electronics / science / etc demonstrations each month. This will help with that as we need planning time. If you are interested in teaching a class / giving a demonstration please contact us via email or PM on the forums. (Details will be posted a month in advance on the calendar) As an example Septembers Make: Provo will include a 30-60 minutes class/demonstration on using the TI TLC5940 ic. You are encouraged to bring a MCU and some LED's if you would like to play with one of ours for a couple hours. As a side note: we have a nice new public desk area set up for you to set up your projects, and we are working on getting computers at all 8 stations. (We do have additional seating as needed.) Please send questions / comments to deven [at] thetransistor.com Please send all flames / spam to tim [at] thetransistor.com Thanks Again, tT Staff

Progress!

Aaron — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 23:57:23 +0000

We’ve gotten quite a bit done at the transistor; this last week we completed the tables for the public work area, and it's looking great.

Teensys

Aaron — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 21:02:48 +0000

The great folks over at PJRC generously donated seven teensy 2.0 dev boards to The Transistor. We're going to set them up in the public work area so visitors without a dev board can have an opportunity to try their hand at microcontroller development.

Optimizing

Aaron — Thu, 14 Jul 2011 02:10:19 +0000

After extensive planning and discussion we've been altering the layout of the transistor to better accommodate all the members while also making the space more inviting to visitors. It's been a lot of work and there is still a lot to do, but we're already seeing it all come together. The majority of it should be done within the next few weeks.

Independence days

Aaron — Thu, 07 Jul 2011 01:52:28 +0000

A lot is happening at the transistor. Because of the increase in members we're once again altering the layout to better utilize the somewhat limited space we have. The process has been democratic, everyone has had great ideas, and thanks to Tim and Deven's persistence we have a plan that everyone seems happy with.

theTransistor Google Group

Deven — Fri, 01 Jul 2011 04:23:17 +0000

Join us on google groups at: https://groups.google.com/group/thetransistor Or email the group at: everyone AT thetransistor DOT com

Sorting

Aaron — Wed, 29 Jun 2011 02:36:59 +0000

This past week we have been going through the various components generously donated to us recently, it’s time consuming but pleasant work. As we get an idea of what’s available it also serves as a source of inspiration for future projects.

Vacuum Forming – First attempts

Deven — Mon, 06 Jun 2011 17:26:16 +0000

Here are some of the initial pictures from our vacuum forming table. Stay tuned over the next couple weeks as we 'finish' the project.

CMKT 4 Visits theTransistor… and ROCKS!

Deven — Wed, 18 May 2011 21:59:20 +0000

We recently had the pleasure of having CMKT 4 visit our hackerspace. They are touring around the U.S. right now and offering workshops complete with electronic kits and AWESOME live music (ask for the song about Waffles!) for the fantastic price of $15. This is helping to fund their trip, and is EASILY worth it. If you get the chance to attend one of their workshops, DO IT ! Here's their schedule. Thanks again guys, everyone had a great time.

Transistor Contact Mic Workshop

Deven — Wed, 04 May 2011 16:05:56 +0000

Join the members of the circuit-bent rock band CMKT4 for a workshop on building your very own EconoMIC Bottle Cap Contact Microphone (from Creme DeMentia). CMKT 4 will show you how to solder up a piezo-electric pickup and house it sturdily in a recycled bottle-cap housing of their own design! Stick around for music from the band as the tool-handle dip on your freshly built contact microphone dries. Additional take-home kits and other surprises will be available, come build a mic and see and hear some of the circuit-bent instruments you've read about on www.GetLofi.com up close. Bring your own instruments and objects to amplify! The workshop is $15, additional kits will be on sale for $10, and we'll have fully assembled mics in several varieties for sale as well. We'll have some other fun goodies also. Interested onlookers are encouraged to donate if they don't want to build a kit. CMKT 4 are Austin Cliffe, Zach Adams, and Jeff Cox. The circuit-bent / rock trio has made it their mission to leave no hackerspace behind on their way to their next Maker Faire; they want to bring new devices, sounds, and ideas to your town. They are constantly working to make new and interesting devices and music. You can find them at http://www.facebook.com/cmkt4 Workshop Details: TUE MAY 10 Contact Microphone Workshop and Performance The Transistor 560 S 100 W Provo, UT 84601 $15, 7pm

John’s Robot Arm

kiyoshigawa — Mon, 07 Mar 2011 16:47:06 +0000

This past weekend at Make:Provo, John remade his robot arm of old using sturdier components. Check out the video after the break.

Join us on IRC

Deven — Tue, 22 Feb 2011 23:27:17 +0000

Join the IRC channels #thetransistor and #utahmakers on irc.freenode.net And for those of you that can't be bothered to install an irc client: webchat.freenode.net

New Membership Options

Deven — Sun, 20 Feb 2011 20:30:30 +0000

EDITED 8/16/2011: New Membership options available. See Membership Page for details. Facilities include: MAME Cabinet, SNES, NES, Atari, Sega, XBox 360, PS2, etc Projectors, TV's 50 Mbps symmetrical fiber internet PCB Exposure / Etching Station Sink, Microwaves, Fridge (usually stocked with Soda and Hostess products), etc Electronics workstations with good lighting, nice soldering irons, scopes, etc Fully stocked electronics components selection Many metal and woodworking tools Some projects being working on currently include: Mantis CNC (Tim) Reprap Prusa (John, Deven) Vacuum Forming Table (Deven) Giant LED Display (Deven) Zombie Laser Tag v1.2 (Everyone) As a member you are welcome to help with any project that is currently being worked on. More details to come. If you are interested please stop by during Make:Provo (see calendar for exact dates).