Looking for Mr. C

Our house was previously owned by a widow and her daughter, whose last name begins with the letter C. We like digging holes in the back yard. In fact, the SIL Maker Club 2.0 just dug Hole 2.0 (a redesign of Hole 1.0, which the club made last year).

Borna from LAHS

Hole 2.0 used advanced technology, a 35 pound electric jack hammer.

 

Yes, Nathan jack hammers, while Sauyon supervises

Day One

Day Two

Smoke Machines and Lasers

As a step towards creating a laser harp, we experimented with a smoke machine and a laser pointer. To our surprise and delight, we discovered that the laser pointer will illuminate a slice of the smoke, revealing the turbulence.

We realized that the laser harp doesn't need to have discrete strings. Instead, it can be an entire pie slice, and you could slide your finger back and forth to have a continuous progression of sound.

Smoke from smoke machine, viewed with laser

smoke laser ping pong

Lissajous Figures

An old favorites of older scientists involves a special mode of some special machines, oscilloscopes. Everybody is familiar with the graph of a sine wave.

The same scopes can show two signals, such as ... wait for it ... two sine waves.

Each of the signals is the "y" value. The oscilloscope generates the "x" value: 0, .1, .2, .3, .4, ..., and displays the current value of y at that position in x. Hook up a time-varying sine wave or two, and you get the graphs above.

It gets interesting when you put the oscilloscope in X-Y mode. One input provides the y value, same as before. However, instead of the oscilloscope providing an upward counting x value, it uses the second signal for x. Now, x sweeps back and forth, say, according to a sine wave, and y changes up and down according to, say, another sine wave. The result? Lissajous Figures.

Peter's Right Arm - oh, and a Lissajous Figure

LED Strips and Other Club Business

We had a good meeting last night. Discussed:

• 3D modeling PhD thesis, presented by Peter, who promised to provide a link
• laser harp progress - Sauyon has the stepper motor stepping, Nathan has a good idea about the MIDI configuration, Cosmo is thinking about the 3D printed chassis, and Peter volunteered to research low mass mirrors
• The Tech Challenge - yes, we want to participate
• strip LEDs

We investigated a strip LED that cost under $5.

The strip can be cut at every third LED, so each maker took home about a meter in length.

To power it up, the makers had to look up the operating voltage, found a 12V power supply, measured the pinout, and then wired it up.

Alas, Peter left before we took photos.

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Keyboards, Steppers, The Tech Challenge, and Keyboard Pong

Maker Club 2.0 had a productive meeting Friday, November 21.

1. The Tech Challenge

The Makers agreed to pursue this year's The Tech Challenge, which involves building a structure that survives earthquakes. To read about it, start here, Choose the first link under Rules, and scroll way down in the document. (The document is presented backwards, describing how it is tested before it tells you what to build.)


2. Laser Harp - Stepper Motor

On our way to making the Laser Harp, the Makers need to program Arduino to drive a stepper motor. The Arduino is connected to a stepper motor controller, which is then connected to the stepper motor.

The Makers present the assembly in the photo above. (Sauyon, Nathan, Cosmo, Chris)

Assignments:

Sauyon - Arduino programming
Nathan - MIDI interface
Cosmo - 3D printed jig
Chris - focusing on The Tech Challenge


3. Keyboards

The Makers had expressed interest in building their own keyboards. For example, Sauyon envisions a keyboard wrapped around the back of a sphere, so you can rest your hands on the sphere and reach the keys with your finger tips.

To better understand how keyboards are made, we destroyed several perfectly functional keyboards. (Thanks to our sponsor MRH Electronics for providing the keyboards.) Turns out the keyboards are very simple, and a custom design is quite possible. Ask the Makers.

By the way, the new guy in the middle is named Other Chris.


4. Healthy Body, Healthy Mind

Maker Club 2.0 isn't all about exercising the mind. To keep the bodies honed to perfection, the Makers engaged in a healthy round of Key Pong.

Maker Club 2.0 - First Meeting This Friday!

Maker Club 2.0

The SIL Maker Club is returning for the 2014-15 school year, and its first meeting is

Friday, Nov. 14, 5:00 PM

in the big classroom. Everybody is welcome, no experience necessary.

We will use this first meeting to discuss projects. I believe there is a lot of interest to continue designing the laser harp. Also, there is a MeetUp making robots, which might be a good place to participate.

Thanks to Cosmo for the new name, Maker Club 2.0.

Questions to Tim, timkay@sileducation.com.

Note: originally, this point listed Nov. 7 as the first meeting, but the first meeting was pushed back a week.

Intel Science Talent Search 2014 Now Accepting Applications

Who is Society for Science & the Public?

Society for Science & the Public (SSP) is a non-profit organization based in Washington, DC.  SSP has run the Science Talent Search for more than 7 decades, including the application process, judging, finalist week in Washington DC, processing awards, and keeping in touch with alumni.  SSP works actively with Intel Corporation, who has been a generous title sponsor for the program since 1998.  

Who can enter the Intel Science Talent Search (Intel STS)?

Any student who is enrolled in and attending his or her last year of secondary school in the US and its territories may apply. Also, students who are US citizens living abroad may qualify.  Please read the Rules and Entry Instructions for more information.

See the FAQ